Bond Number 24: Spectre

Did Skyfall really come out three years ago? It feels more recent than that, and yet I can't really remember a lot about it, except that I was underwhelmed and loved Ben Whishaw as Q.

Today I saw the latest installment in Daniel Craig's tenure as 007, Spectre. After seeing Steve Jobs last week, this film felt a bit like the opposite. Sorkin is known for his extremely talkative scripts, and is famous for the "walk and talk". Bond is a man of few words. Jobs used small sets and the relationships between the characters was important. Spectre takes places in myriad locations - Mexico City, London, Tangiers, Austria, Rome - and relies on Bond being Bond.

I can't say I particularly enjoyed this outing of Bond. For me, it has been a steady decline in enjoyment since the stellar, Casino Royale. (Royale was pre-blog, Quantum of Solace was seen in NYC, and I never finished my review for Skyfall). The gadgets and helicopter fights and seducing women and fast cars don't really do anything for me.

I know this is a silly thing to complain about, but I can't help it. Dr. Swann gets taken away from her office by thugs who worked for her father. And yet, she somehow has a fancy evening dress, lipstick, a blow dryer, and a (killer) white outfit over the next couple of set pieces. Where did they all come from?! That's what I was thinking about during the film.

Also, she is all feisty one moment, telling Bond she won't fall into his arms and find solace after the death of her dad. Then, like a day or two later, she tells Bond she loves him. What?! Seriously, what?! I'm still a big fan of Vesper Lynde, and no one has been as good as her since she came to a watery end in Casino Royale.

Some thoughts on the film that reflect my own:
"But Craig has never handled the series’ humor well and Mendes can’t decide whether he’s making a straight 007 movie or inviting us in for a goof. … Spectre is a movie that wants to have fun but simply doesn’t know how.” - Ty Burr of the Boston Globe

"The story is tangled and complicated, but not in a clever or revelatory way: It’s needlessly obtuse, like a first draft in dire need of tightening.” - Rene Rodriguez of the Miami Herald