Film Review - Spectre (contains top secret spoilers)

Film Review: Spectre

Daniel Craig is my favourite Bond. Followed by Tim Dalton. Then (in this order) Connery, Moore, Brosnan, Lazenby and finally Niven (sorry...). Such is the regard I have for his four outings, that I actually quite like the maligned Quantum Of Solace (Marc Forster). He's brought an icy seriousness to a role made silly by an increasingly smug Brosnan, and has a nasty streak not seen since Dalton. For evidence, I give you the killing of a henchman in Quantum where Bond applies a choke hold while checking the pulse to calmly confirm the kill. Craig's Bond is what Bond should have been all along: not a suave, Teflon-coated, womanising super spy, but a damaged, alcoholic killer.

I suppose only Doctor Who is the only other franchise allowed to reinvent itself when age and contractual squabbles rob them of their star, but, overtaken in the excitement stakes by the likes of Jason Bourne and Jack Bauer, the series was forced to reinvent or retire and in the pairing of Craig and director Sam Mendes, Bond found its perfect cocktail. Casino Royale (Martin Campbell) was a fine film, although the final shootout felt a little tacked on. Quantum suffered from a muddled plot and a weak villain but still delivered some fine set pieces. Mendes' Skyfall saw the Craig era, arguably the entire franchise, hit new heights. It simultaneously threw away the rulebook and raised the bar, mixing insane set pieces (the digger-train jump is a stroke of genius) and personal touches (Bond actually comes from somewhere??) which gave our hero an emotional heft not seen since Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) ruined his wedding day back in 1969.

This brings us to latest offering Spectre, again directed by Mendes. First things first: bringing Mendes back is a wise choice; he is a craftsman and not just a bloke who's handy with a set piece. His attention to detail and ability to create an atmosphere makes his two entries into the Bond canon easily the best-looking in the series. Bond movies with distinct colour palettes might sound odd but trust me, these films will endure more than previous efforts. You want evidence? Look at Brosnan's four films: they already look and feel dated, and whose fault is that? The directors. Good films don't get old.

Spectre is also follows the Craig-era tendency for continuity; something quite alien to previous incumbents. Where Quantum took place minutes after the end of Casino, this takes plot threads left dangling in the other three and knots them together in a nice big noose for Bond. While the cynic in me would say that shared universe continuity is in cinematic vogue right now and that this is a marketing strategy, I honestly think its just more satisfying to have them all connected. There surely can't be that many insane billionaires in the world without them occasionally getting together to compare notes, can there?

As a film, it has a lot to live up to and this is perhaps unfair. Pre-Skyfall, audiences perhaps just expected another Bond films every couple of years, with no exploding alarms and no surprises, but now that Mendes made one so damn good and so damn different, we're perhaps asking a bit much of it. As it happens, Spectre is at times disappointingly by-the-numbers. There are satisfying plot turns (finding out who Christoph Waltz's Oberhauser is, and who he is, turns out to be great fun) but at the same time the ease with which Bond finds, escapes and destroys his (actually brilliant) hidden headquarters is quite unsatisfying and feels unearned. Also, the two female leads, the Rome-based car chase and main henchman Hinx (Dave Bautista) are weak (that latter only figuratively). Overall, while it's nice to see him flying round the world doing actual spy stuff, and Craig has only really done this in Quantum before now, parts are a little too as-expected, and other parts could do with a trim in the editing suite for the sake of pace.

There is also a lack of a defined global threat for Bond to combat. This may sound silly, but Daniel Craig has genuinely not had to save the world during his tenure. He's prevented terrorists getting rich through poker, saved Bolivia's water supply, tried to prevent a revenge attack on Judy Dench's M and now prevents the titular Spectre organization from accessing your porn preferences and private emails. Yes, Craig's films have done admirable jobs in contemporising what was originally a Cold War character, and cyber terrorism, environmental issues (Dominic Greene's evil plan in Quantum appears to be just Nestle's corporate strategy, according to this film) and Orwellian surveillance are all real concerns covered by Bond recently, however none of the villains are trying to provoke nuclear war with China like they did in the 70s.

Bond himself, however, is still very good. Mendes likes his Bond just the right side of funny, with the eyebrow primed but not quite raised. He is also emotional but controlled, simmering rather than boiling over. Craig once again nails it: cocky but not arrogant, funny but never silly. Skyfall's genius was in weakening Bond early on; this sees him in full flow, recovered and deadly.

The set pieces are again mostly brilliant. The Mexico City-set pre-credits sequence is stunning, both perilous and cheeky, and a train based throwdown between Bond and Hinx is brutal and well choreographed. It also features a nice hat-tip to Jaws, thereby acknowledging Robert Shaw's Red Grant (From Russia With Love), who was the first of Bond's first 'superhuman' opponents, of which Hinx is the latest.

Mendes does a nice line in referencing previous Bonds without being all Die Another Day about it: Skyfall saw the “for her eyes only” line and the obvious Goldfinger special edition of Top Gear. Spectre is loaded with them if you know where to look. The exploding watch is a Brosnan device (in the plot sense...) all day long, as is the MI6 boat launch from The World Is Not Enough. The train smackdown echoes Russia as well as Live And Let Die. Oberhauser's costume design and choice of pet are obvious callbacks to Telly Savalas and Donald Pleasence villains from previous eras (but I won't get into that...). The enemy base in a freakin' meteor crater is a pure Bond villain moment and recalls You Only Live Twice or even Moonraker. My favourite, however, was the almost Joker-like house of horrors booby trap left for Bond in the ruins of MI6. The whole sequence is pure Man With The Golden Gun and works a treat, even if the ensuing chase is one helicopter-in-peril too many.

I liked Spectre but I didn't love it. It's a well crafted film, not just another Bond film with trope after trope, and as such will endure. Mendes uses every trick at his disposal to make Bong jump out of the screen with maximum practical effects and minimal CGI nonsense. It has a strong, if underused villain, half the battle when you have such a brilliant hero. It's contemporary, relevant and to my knowledge only the second film (after the 9/11 reference in Casino Royale) to make reference to an actual date. So don't get me wrong, it's a fine evening's entertainment, even if it's an evening that is naggingly familiar in places. If this turns out to be Craig's swansong, and I really hope it doesn't, then he's doing out with a bang and on top of his game. It's a very very good entry to the Bond canon... but it's just not Skyfall.