For fans of the Craig-universe Bond films, there’s a pretty even divide between those who thought Casino Royale was the best of the series and those that thought Skyfall was the best. The former category will feel betrayed by Spectre for reasons that become evident within the first 15 minutes of the film: Bond is without full support. So, fewer gadgets and little in the way of grand plans. No million-dollar poker games. Just a man and his gun. But then again, I’m in the latter category. I like Skyfall for the squeeze put not only on Bond’s life, but on his entire way of doing things. But even then, Spectre didn’t impress.
To be fair, there’s great action in Spectre. High-intensity helicopter twirls, refreshingly funny car chases and a train fight that calls back to Jaws of old. But encounters with Spectre and its leader, played by Christoph Waltz, feel unoriginal and, worse, hollow. For me, the entire plot of Spectre was done first, and better, in Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation. But I don’t think you should enter a Bond film expecting originality, especially when the producers promise references to the entire canon of Bond films.
Each of Craig’s meetings with Waltz felt cut short and incredibly predictable. There was a hunch that I needed to know something I didn’t, in order to add significance to the meeting, but at the same time I had the feeling that I already knew exactly what was going to happen. The steps taken forward in Skyfall — the fight between new and old, between data and surveillance and in-the-room espionage — are shortened to stutter steps. The trope of drones and big data was done before in Skyfall and done better in Mission Impossible. And the political issues of 2015 and beyond go largely ignored for an exposé of the perils of the merger of governmental surveillance networks — but the audience already saw the movie, back in 2012.
Joe Morgenstern at The Wall Street Journal‘Spectre’ Review: A Dim Ghost of 007’s Past
“This time James takes on the threat of Spectre, the shadowy organization whose plans for global domination now turn on surveillance. ‘Information is all,’ says the current archvillain, who calls himself Oberhauser and is played by Christoph Waltz. In fact, information is nowhere near enough to energize the turgid tale, with its odd echoes of plot lines from ‘Mission Impossible.’” wsj.comA.A. Dowd at A.V. Club‘Spectre’ is the most traditional—and uneven—of the recent Bond films
“For all the talk of its scary global reach, Spectre itself comes across as just another collective of disposable goons. And despite having been born to play a Bond villain, Waltz never comes within striking distance of the volcanic menace of Javier Bardem’s Skyfall heavy; perhaps the former has done the false-civility thing too many times for it to land anymore. Like most of Spectre, he’s not quite old, not quite new, and not quite distinct enough to shake (or stir) this sequel out of second-tier Bond lethargy.” avclub.com Mark Kermode at The GuardianSpectre Review – Another Stellar Outing for Bond
“Add to this a button-pushing score that goes jaga-jaga-jaga when Bond turns a plane into a snowplough or plays dodgems with a helicopter, a fleeting visual gag about Butch and Sundance in Bolivia, and an impressively forceful showing from Naomie Harris as Moneypenny 2.0, and Spectre pretty much shoots to kill. I’ll be sad if this turns out to be Craig’s last hurrah (he’s been the best screen Bond to date), but if he walks away now he does so on a high note.” theguardian.com Manohla Dargis at The New York TimesIn ‘Spectre,’ Daniel Craig Is Back as James Bond, No Surprise
“In 1966, Kingsley Amis attributed the success of the Bond stories partly to what he called the ‘Fleming effect,’ noting how Bond’s fantastic world, ‘as well as the temporary, local, fantastic elements,’ are ‘bolted down to some sort of reality.’ The Bond movies have always managed to tap into reality by switching on a camera, a connection to the material world that lingered no matter how far out the villains, their wild lairs and intrigues. The current Bond team is trying to keep the audience entertained with new tricks and gizmos while keeping it kind of real, which perhaps explains why this Bond sweats buckets, tears up and even bares his feelings. Mr. Craig is very good at selling Bond’s humanity, though in truth, what has always really turned us on isn’t 007’s humanity but the reverse.” nytimes.comAngela Watercutter at WiredIn ‘Spectre,’ James Bond Battles His Midlife Crisis
“It’s lost on no one that the guy who recently said he’d rather slash his wrists than do another 007 movie ends this one by saying he’s “got something better to do.” And at every turn, director Sam Mendes takes pains to foreground the shelf life of all the movie’s tropes. This Bond notes that he drinks ‘too much’; M defends people’s decision-making over machines’ because “a license to kill is also a license not to.” It’s nice to see a 007 movie that keeps up with the times, but it would better if it didn’t spend quite so much time telling us that how hard that is to do.” wired.com RogerEbert.comReview: ‘Spectre’
“If ‘Spectre’ were a great movie, or even a consistently good one, this might be wonderful, or at least intriguing. But this is a weirdly patchy, often listless picture. The Craig Bonds are so expensive and expansive that they can’t help but impress with sheer scale. And every now and then they come up with bold images, like the silhouettes of Bond and a foe grappling in front of neon signage in Skyfall, and the overhead shot of Bond entering the bombed-out ruins of MI-6 headquarters in Spectre preceded by a shadow four times as long as he is tall. But an hour or two after you’ve seen Spectre the film starts evaporating from the mind, like Skyfall and Solace before it. It’s filled with big sets, big stunts, and what ought to be big moments, but few of them land.” rogerebert.com
