Spectre [Blu-ray] [2015]

SPECTRE is not a great Bond film but it is a very good one, the minuses - aside from a pitifully bad Andrew Scott in an unfortunately substantial supporting role (as the person behind me muttered in his third scene, "Who'd he *beep* to get the job?") - are more niggles than gaping sores. As the final scene of Skyfall which rebooted the series to its 60s prime indicated, it’s in many ways a more traditional Bond film than Craig’s previous films, adding a bit more Roger Mortis direlogue and another gadget filled Aston Martin for those in the US market that keep on kvetching about wanting more jokes and gadgets, but never enough so to drag it back to the series camp dog days of the early 80s. And, of course, it reintroduces SPECTRE and the series most iconic villain complete with a very 21st century spin on world domination, at once seeing himself as a technological visionary while pursuing a much more personal vendetta with Bond that is more than just being miffed at his plans constantly being foiled. And it’s quite a neat little scheme that ties in with the organisation’s criminal origins from the novels and the modern cyber surveillance era that governments put their trust in over those pesky human elements. Which, in turn, neatly ties in with the intriguing thread of uncertainty running throughout Craig’s tenure.Over the course of four films we’ve seen Craig’s Bond progressing from the question of whether he'll make the grade to whether he'll keep his job - resigning for love, forced out by the new broom as unfit and, now that they're in that "Will he do another?" phase (of course he will), playing on the whole does he or doesn't he still work there thing as Whitehall bureaucrats who put their faith in drones to do what the old 00s used to do see his occasional bull-in-a-china-shop approach as the perfect excuse to close up MI5 and pension off M for good. Bond’s status is left noticeably open in the film’s postscript that could just as easily act as a wrapup for his era, just in case, but in many ways this is a continuation of the way the series has been feeling the need to justify its continued existence in an age when people claim that the lower grossing Bourne films - which lift so much so brazenly from the Bonds - supposedly make him irrelevant, just as with GoldenEye the series was making its case that it was still relevant after the fall of the USSR and a seven year hiatus, but it seems almost a defining feature of Craig’s flawed superspy and his learning curve.Unfortunately the Whitehall subplot falls victim to Andrew Scott’s absolutely dreadful non-performance: an actor who only seems to be able to work in two registers, Graham Norton on steroids-style hysterical screaming queen or bored somnambulist mumbling his way through his dialogue in the dreariest way possible, he opts for the latter option here. While his stereotypical bean counting minor politician’s obsession with buzz words and technology is the kind of thankless role that a better or even merely competent actor could have made at least something out of, it just falls completely flat thanks to his droning delivery. Still, at least Tanya Roberts can now take comfort in only giving the second worst performance in a Bond film involving more than two lines of dialogue. The film’s other miscast is Thomas Newman, whose intentionally anonymous score doesn’t get in the way of the film but doesn’t lift it either, only briefly working in the car chase (which acknowledges the problems of trying to drive fast in Rome even in the middle of the night) and when he quotes the title song (or at least the section that sounds suspiciously like the intro to GoldenEye).Thankfully the rest of the film is strong enough to overcome these problems. It’s both plot and character led rather than simply hoping from action set piece to set piece via the odd romantic liaison, giving the mission a very personal motive as Bond has to confront the ghosts of his past while also tying up all the loose ends from the previous films, such as the fate of Quantum and Jesper Christensen’s Mr White. Not that there isn’t the requisite action, the film kicking off with the most spectacular (in the cast of thousands epic sense of the word) pretitle sequence in any Bond film, Sam Mendes taking his lead from its Mexican Day of the Dead setting to throw in a Touch of Evil-inspired lengthy unbroken opening shot, and there’s a lengthy fight through several carriages of a train with Dave Bautista that almost threatens to rival the punch up in From Russia in Love but can’t resist ending on a joke that seems to have slipped in from an old Roger Moore film. And in many ways this does resemble one of the more serious Roger Moore films rather than the Connery-leaning previous Craig entries, with a lighter tone and the dry humour that usually goes over the heads of those complaining that the Craig films are completely humourless replaced by more obvious gags (the punchline to two separate scenes is the same four letter word) while the gadgets are simultaneously prominent and dismissed in a running gag that owes a little to Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. They haven't as overtly Americanized the formula as they so disastrously attempted with Licence to Kill (which was designed specifically to increase the franchise's appeal in the US and ended up being the least successful there), but this definitely leans more to Roger Moore's more serious and US-friendly Bonds than Connery.It’s also a film that references Bond’s literary and cinematic heritage and reworks it in interesting ways. While there are a lot of nods to earlier films, they’re much more subtle than the constant poking in the ribs of Die Another Day, working more as Easter eggs for the hardcore Bond aficionados (there's a nice Hildebrandt Rarity reference that plays on how few people know the title, Q stays at the - presumably Tom - Pevsner Hotel, the title sequence starts off with a recreation of the Bond with no face OHMSS poster and, like the OHMSS title sequence, has clips of earlier adventures, and there’s even a riff on TV’s The Man From U.N.C.L.E.’s bulletproof glass pretitle sequence). It also puts a nice reversal on the traditional destroying the villain’s fortress finale by choosing a very different battleground for the final confrontation that brings things much closer to home, at once acknowledging the formula while reworking it in a different way than you initially expect. That approach is particularly intriguing in the way the writers weave the Oberhauser back story from the books (Oberhauser was Bond’s guardian after the death of his parents) into the Blofeld mythology of the films. Indeed, Christopher Waltz’s Oberhauser is given the same kind of introduction ‘Number One’ got in the first Bond films, a great entrance presenting him as a faceless figure dominating the room with a quietly commanding voice (his first line even sounds like Eric Pohlman’s Number One), and, thankfully, unlike other Oscar winners who can do menace tend to when cast as Bond villains – and yes Christopher Walken and Javier Bardem, I do mean you – he doesn’t camp the role up but plays it straight. The menace doesn’t come, but he remains a credibly motivated figure rather than a clownish stereotype.One of the reasons the menace never really materialises is that he’s more of a manipulator than taking the direct approach. The film’s torture scene – which seems inspired as much by the 1973 BBC documentary Omnibus’ recreation of the circular saw scene from Goldfinger with Graham Crowden as the surgically clad villain as by the book itself – doesn’t really work because even though he’s in the same room, Waltz remains at a remove from his prey. It’s too hi-tech, too coldly remote, especially compared to the intimidating simplicity and directness of Casino Royale’s dank brutality: pushing buttons just doesn’t carry the discomfort of a shivering and completely vulnerable man tied to a chair and a villain casually swinging a length of very heavy rope. But it’s certainly no deal breaker, and it’s a character you feel still has places to go if they decide to bring him back.One of the most pleasant surprises in the supporting cast is just how good Lea Seydoux is, particularly after how terrible (and very, very badly miscast) she was in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol. In many ways she’s the perfect partner for Craig’s version of the government assassin with commitment issues (and all three major characters in the film have issues stemming from their parents) and it would be intriguing to see her return in the next film to see how their relationship worked, or didn’t. It’s also nice to see M, Moneypenny, Q and Bill Tanner get out of the office and into the field to take care of business even if there is a bit of the Scooby Gang about it at the end when Paddington Q demonstrates his internet superpowers by hacking into the most complicated security system in the world in 25 minutes, and in a moving car under attack from baddies too. It’s not the only moment that strains even a Bond movie’s suspension of disbelief (Bond tracks down SPECTRE’s HQ because – wait for it – its mysterious boss hasn’t changed his mobile phone for years!) and there are moments of redundant direlogue like “You’ve got a secret. Something you don’t want to tell anyone” (thanks for the definition, guys), but then the Bond series has never been Le Carre territory.All of which probably sounds more negative than positive, but while it’s a film that doesn’t scale the heights of the series, it’s a very entertaining entry that feels more like a two hour film than a two-and-a-half hour one, balancing some interesting ideas with the big action the Bond formula demands. And for most of those two-and-a-half hours, I was sitting there with a big smile on my face.Sadly, as is increasingly the case as the physical media home video market declines, the extras package on the Blu-ray is nothing to write home about: a few inconsequential internet video blogs, a longer one on the opening sequence, stills gallery and three trailers.

Does the job

Having been less than impressed with Skyfall, I was hoping for something better for Daniel Craig's fourth outing as the suave spy with the 00 prefix. There's no doubting that a Bond film is a major cinematic event, you only have to look at the pre credit sequence to realise how much the producers realise that. However, there does seem to be a difference between seeing this on an Imax screen during it's first week of release with other Bond fans, and sitting down at home to watch it on your own TV screen. The thrill factor seems to be missing. Spectre is very much a Bond's greatest hits, throwing in references to previous films, be it throwaway lines or variations on scenes. However, as a story arc, tying up threads from Craig's previous three films, seems more like film for the fans than one for a general audience and that is the major stumbling block for the series these days. Craig's Bond is a more human, flawed character than the vodka martini drinking, gadget laden, skirt chasing character of yesteryear, which can only have been introduced to satisfy the demands of the modern day demographic, audiences wanting more rounded characters than escapism. However, if you neuter the character, do you risk losing the edge he has?. There's no doubt Craig has the potential to be the Bond Connery was, but he needs stronger material both from a character and a screenplay perspective than a lot of flash sequences. Two elements of this film disappointed me. Firstly, the theme song. Orchestrally, it is very strong, however, Sam Smith's vocal delivery is too weak. It may be an Oscar winner, but that does'nt make it a classic, not these days. Theme song wise, Bond films have tended to struggle since Chris Cornell's powerful You Know My Name in Casino Royale, and have tended to be like the films, not very memorable or memorable for the wrong reasons. Then, there's the Aston Martin DB10. If, as Q indicates in the film, it is a £3 million prototype, surely it should be showcased better than seen in Q's laboratory, then for 10 minutes during a car chase, in dimly lit streets, used as a plot device for Bond to have a telephone conversation with Moneypenny for Bond to then dump it in the bottom of a river. When I watch a car chase in a film, I want to feel alive, I want to put myself behind the wheel, I want to feel 10 years old again, not sit there thinking, my god what a rubbish looking car!. In the case of the Bond women, they seem to be becoming less and less memorable with every film. Monica Belluci's widow of the assassin Bond kills in the films opening sequence,in particular seems underused. He character is bedded by Bond, told to contact Felix Leiter to ensure her safety from those wanting to kill her, then forgotten about. Whilst there are some "typically Bond" touches in the film, such as when Bond nonchalantly drops from the sky, after dumping his car, unhooks his parachute and casually says "Good evening" to a bemused passer by before walking off, there are'nt really enough to sustain a film of 2 and a half hours. With uncertainty as to whether Craig will continue in the role, maybe a change of direction is needed for the series, with fresh ideas. The films have become somewhat po-faced.