Spectre (2015)
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Spectre Movie Review
Spectre is a 2015 spy film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz and Lea Seydoux. It’s a solid, but problematic movie.
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“It was all me, James.
It’s always been me.
The author of all your pain“
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I actually liked the story here which is at times quite interesting, mysterious and also very appealing and well developed in the relationship between Bond and Dr. Swann. That relationship is the standout part of the film as it was well done and I liked their interactions quite a bit.
Lea Seydoux is definitely memorable here, although somewhat too powerless in her role. I did like the character quite a bit, but the performance itself is far from her best works. The same goes for Daniel Craig. Bond is pretty good here, but his performance is the weakest so far in the role. It’s honestly frustrating to witness such a downgrade in the acting department.
As for Christoph Waltz, he is typecast once again and honestly I didn’t like him at all. His villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld is never as powerful or as menacing as the character is so obviously meant to come across and that’s in large part owing to Waltz’s very weak and typical performance. He surely is one-note in his acting abilities.
Spectre has good intentions in Bond’s backstory and it is interesting to witness, but still not entirely necessary and I couldn’t shake the feeling that the character was better off mysterious instead of revealed in his history. That was certainly quite problematic.
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What I did like though is the action as some of it was pretty good and the cinematography is also very strong as some scenes are so well shot and the locations are memorable. The same goes for the score which is pretty good along with its opening number Writing’s on the Wall sung by Sam Smith. It received an Oscar and it definitely is a pretty good, well sung and moody number well fitting to this franchise. As the 24th and last Bond film, I have to say that Spectre is pretty solid and much better than ‘Quantum of Solace’, but so much weaker than both ‘Skyfall’ and ‘Casino Royale’.
Spectre is a solid, but problematic movie. I liked the central relationship and the interactions between the two, the action sequences are mostly pretty good as is the score and some plot points, but Bond’s backstory being revealed was not all that necessary, the villain is frustratingly weak and the acting across the board is very disappointing this time around.
