Spectre

An essential Bond film. I could have plenty of reservations about it (everything people hate is objectively true), but here, reason loses out on points because when all the important proprieties slowly begin to emerge from the shadows in that rambling style, and you enthusiastically tick them off, it carves itself out in the end into a full-blown epilogue of one acting decade that has reached a complexity beyond most other things. (15/11/2015)

Sam Mendes set off on a campaign that was already lost, trying to elevate everything that worked in Skyfall even higher. As such, Spectre brings a lot of quiet moments, where the viewer can hear a pin drop, a lot of nods to Craig's predecessors, and even more complex intertwining of storylines from the previous three films. After the second viewing, freed from the tense anticipation of wondering where it has yet to climb, I don't consider all the points of the film to be the best of the current Bond, but I will be one of the few who considers it even better than Skyfall. The dull spots have disappeared, the spine-chilling moments have increased, the grandiose and dangerously playful revelations do not disrupt the logic, and my beloved Léa Seydoux also receives enough room as one of the few truly worthy additions to the Bond Girl gallery in many years. Spectre has style. Individuality. It takes a while to get tuned in, but now I never want it any other way. (11/01/2021)

Ironically, it's true that in this year of Bond films, the main Bond film doesn't finish in first or second place, but it defends its third place decently. The perhaps unnecessary hype surrounding Spectre is swirling. I honestly enjoyed it twice as much as Skyfall. Maybe Spectre doesn't have an elaborate enough script with intelligent dialogue like Skyfall, but at least it's not needlessly overwrought and confusing, the action sequences, perhaps for the first time in a Bond film, are clear and spectacular (during the whole opening scene in Mexico, the insane helicopter scene and one of the best fights in Hollywood, where Dave Bautista and Daniel Craig demolished almost half the train, I wasn't holding my breath and had a compulsive need to scream f*ck across the cinema). Apart from that there is a flashy, albeit cautious, but still brisk car chase through beautiful Rome, a plane chase in the Alps, a couple of short liquidations and the finale. So I can't say that there was little action, if there wasn't action, and when there wasn’t action Bond made his first ever wisecrack (and an excellent one!) or we were entertained by the smiling Christoph Waltz, who, although could have given a more expressive performance, I still give him a lot of credit as an actor. A plus for the once again excellent soundtrack by X Factor winner Sam Smith, who is indeed far from Adele. The final impression is positive and I would happily watch Spectre again. 80% (07/11/2015)

Probably the weakest Bond with Craig... Primarily it doesn’t make sense and yes, it’s great that it contains so much wink-wink references to older Bond movies and hidden meanings, but... it doesn’t make sense and doesn’t answer questions that the viewer asks himself during this expensive spectacle. The excellent casting is degraded by illogical changes in characters’ behavior, badly thought-through jokes in Roger Moore style Bond from the 70s which are ok for the Muppet Show, but in a dramatic action thriller this is seen as unsuitable (the villain simply says “Fuck" in the face of unavoidable death) and spoils the whole effect of an otherwise brilliantly directed scene. I don’t know if the screenwriters went on the rampage, or if Sam Mendez wanted the abandon the brand because he’s had it up to here with Bond. No consistency, just a couple of great moments that you mustn’t think too much about. It stinks of big money. (08/11/2015)

It’s not as dark as Skyfall. Actually, objectively it is significantly worse than Skyfall. James Bond is like a walking robot in this one. He knocks down everyone who just look at him the wrong way. Nobody can stop him, and I literally mean nobody. Count on it being much worse than usually. Plus there is a huge amount of cool lines. Even though there are no emotions, it shows that kind of harshness possessed by old action heroes in the nineties, which I’ve never seen in any Bond movie with Daniel Craig before. It’s a pity that the title song is so extremely slow that it’s really a pain in the ass. Similarly, the arch enemy Christoph Waltz was not really scary. The only strong positive of this movie is Léa Seydoux, who was a great fit. Maybe because I’ve known her for a while now and she is nice to look at. A little bit different Bond movie, but when it comes to the good old action movies, it fulfilled my long-time desired dream. (12/07/2018)