NOVEMBER 9, 2015
You will not be surprised to learn that the latest James Bond film, “Spectre,” has its own Facebook page. But if the folks behind that page ever want to participate, they could post the entire “Spectre” film and call it “Throwback Thursday.”
For a franchise that reinvented itself in 2006 with Daniel Craig and “Casino Royale,” “Spectre,” which marks Craig’s fourth and final go-round with Bond, plays more like a greatest-hits homage, with repeated references and dialogue from the previous 23 Bond films. An interesting choice of direction, to be sure, but coming after the rugged “Casino Royale” and emotionally-powerful “Skyfall,” I suppose the question is “Why?”
One Bond tradition that should never be tampered with is the opening stunt extravaganza, and the one that opens “Spectre” is a doozy — one of the series’ very best openings ever. The film begins on the streets of Mexico City during a Day of the Dead celebration, where we follow a man wearing a skull mask through the streets, up the stairs of a hotel, into a hotel room, where he ravishes his girlfriend, removes his skull mask and costume — surprise, it’s James Bond! — and in an impeccably-tailored Tom Ford suit, grabs a rifle, runs across the city’s rooftops and gets his target in his gunsight…all in one single shot.
What follows is an exploding building and an out-of-control helicopter careening right over the heads of thousands of terrified partygoers in a city square. It’s absolutely thrilling and gets “Spectre” off to a start to which, unfortunately, it never quite measures up.
Back in London, Bond, thanks to his Mexico City antics, is grounded by the new M (a fine Ralph Fiennes, replacing Judi Dench), but M has bigger problems — MI5 and MI6 have recently merged and are now under the control of the Joint Intelligence Service headed by a snide new agent C, played by “Sherlock’s” Andrew Scott. (When you cast Moriarty in a role like this, you know he’s up to no good.)
C intends to close down the Double-0 section and replace it with electronic surveillance (drones, etc.), so M has to find a way to keep the 00- program alive. If this sounds familiar, it’s the exact same plot template as 2014’s “Captain America: The Winter Soldier” and this summer’s “Mission: Impossible — Rogue Nation.” If you saw those movies, you pretty much know how this one is going to turn out.
With the help of Q (Ben Whishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Bond has gone rogue (of course) and following a from-the-grave tip from Dench, he travels to Austria to meet with Mr. Green (from “Quantum of Solace”), who asks Bond to protect his daughter Dr. Alexandra Swann (French actress Lea Seydoux), who will lead him to the latest madman who is threatening the world. That madman is thought-to-be-dead Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz, in his best smiling villain mode), the head of the evil organization known as Spectre (about which Bond is strangely unfamiliar), which is working with C back in London to control the world’s intelligence surveillance.
If it sounds like you may have seen this movie before, you have — “Spectre” is very much a throwback to the old style of Bond films. This is not to say that “Spectre” isn’t professionally done. The stunts are still hair-raising, and the art direction & cinematography are downright gorgeous at times.
And director Sam Mendes has been careful to cast good actors in even the most cartoony parts. Craig has been criticized by some for being checked out in “Spectre,” but I found him to be engaged, even if he isn’t given the same emotional arc that he had in “Skyfall.” Fiennes is a welcome addition as M, and Whishaw & Newton are still solid as Bond’s loyal comrades. Though she appears in only two scenes, Monica Belluci as a mobster’s widow is everything you’d want in a Bond girl — at age 50! On the baddie side, Weitz and Scott deliver the menace that they’re best known for, and as Mr. Hinx, Dave Bautista (so good as Drax in “Guardians of the Galaxy”) joins Oddjob and Jaws in the Bond Hulking Henchman Hall of Fame — Hinx is ever-stylish in a three-piece suit while breaking your bones to bits.
There’s an awareness of the previous Bond films here that is striking. The Bond catch-phrases are here in force, as are some veteran characters. Mr. Green from “Quantum of Solace” is physically brought back, and there are specific shoutouts to characters such as Le Chiffre from “Casino Royale” Silva from “Skyfall,” and his longtime love Vesper Lynd (his sensual chemistry with Eva Green as Vesper in “Casino” was something that Seydoux doesn’t come close to matching here). And the shape-shifting opening credits from older Bond films return, complete with a gooey ballad, sung this time by Sam Smith. Just like in an old Bond extravaganza.
But there are some things that just don’t make sense. Bond has never heard of Spectre, despite the fact that he spent the first 7 films fighting them. What??? And Waltz’ Oberhauser suddenly reveals his actual identity is that of one of the most famed Bond villains ever, but Waltz is younger and that villain was old and was killed off many many films ago. What’s going on here?
My great fear is that Sony is planning a reboot, just as they did to mixed results to the “SpiderMan” series. You know, a young hunk James Bond, and a 20-something Dr. No? Please Sony, just say no. No no no no no.
If that’s the plan, “Spectre” may be the last of the kind of James Bond film with which we all grew up. It would be a shame, but if it happens, then rest in peace, 007.
GRADE: B-
