Spectre

You are empty, Mr. Bond, and you live in a world full of ruins. I think this was heard somewhere, and Mendes filmed it. Spectre is lethargic in its pace, muffled by Hoyte Van Hoytema's darkened visuals. Only Newman tends to push it forward dramatically. A Bond film wrapped in squid and drenched in the ink of ruin. In many ways naive, superficial, but it kept my attention reliably for 150 minutes. Objectively, the film does not deserve to be under full fire, because in a similar rank this year, a thematically similar MI V reigns uncompromisingly. But this stumbling walk through depopulated areas before demolition concludes in a dignified way the four-part psychotherapy of the most tired Bond, who doesn't really want to be who he is. But he doesn’t know how to be anyone else... If this is the end of the series, I'm happy. Btw. props for the hidden message that Heineken is only good enough for watering mouse holes. (2015-11-05)

Although bad (however nicely subversive) Bond movie, but a nice watch. And it could have been much better. However, the screenplay would have to back a way to long footage without particular reason, the tension between the 007, bond girl and the bad guy would have to work better, and the whole thing would have to be at least a little more spectre-style like the opening scene. Anyway, thanks to the open end, I would like to see another Bond movie with Daniel Craig. And even with the same team. (2015-11-05)

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% (2015-11-07)

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. (2021-01-11)

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. (2015-11-15)