Why Spectre is the perfect Bond film.

As the Rotten Tomatoes score dwindles day by day and my ears resonate with an ever-increasing influx of reservations and criticisms of 007's latest outing, I thought it an appropriate time as any to do a little feature on why exactly Spectre is my favourite Bond film of all-time; and do my best to explain why some aspects of the film which have been subject to criticism, are in my opinion some of its most excellent features.

Though I'm hardly the biggest Bond fan ever, I do have a great deal of affection for many of them. I liked most of the early Sean Connery ones a great deal; they're a bit dated, admittedly, some of the plotlines and setpieces were rather ludicrous, and boy was some of that dialogue on the nose, but all in all they were very enjoyable entertainments for pure, undemanding amusement--perfectly in line with the source material of Ian Fleming's novels. On Her Majesty's Secret Service was a great directorial achievement, in particular with that astonishingly heartrending ending, and possibly my favourite before Spectre, it's a shame it's all let down a bit by a lacklustre George Lazenby; the Roger Moore ones I didn't much care for, but nor did I find them offensively bad. In fact I appreciated them for what they were: lighthearted, even more campy brainless action flicks with tongue firmly in cheek. Very interesting to compare them to say, the more tonally muted nature of the Timothy Dalton outings, and of course the more gritty, grounded nature of the past four Bond films, Casino Royale,Quantum of Solace, Skyfall and Spectre. Now though I did like Casino Royale and in particular, Skyfall, quite a bit, I didn't see them so much as Bond films as films that happened to have a character called James Bond in them. They were fine action spectacles, had some great setpieces, and one magnificent villain in the form of Javier Bardem's Silva. But I just never got that classic Bond vibe from them which prevented me from loving them, even though in a very technical sense, and script-wise, they were miles ahead over anything from the Connery days.

What differentiates Spectre from the pack then, you may ask? Well, many things, and I suppose a little blog post isn't really sufficient to fit in all of them. But sit down and have a chat with me sometime over a martini, shaken not stirred (by the way fantastic joke in the film's midsection regarding that trope) and I'll give you even more insight. For the timebeing though, forthcoming are my thoughts on why Spectre is my favourite film of the year so far, and the perfect Bond film.

Daniel Craig has finally won me over.

From Daily Mail

I might as well start with both the centrepiece and trump card of the film: Craig, in his fourth outing as the superspy, and his revelatory inhabitation of the role. I walked in expecting to come out with the same feelings towards his tenure as Bond as before: grudgingly accepting, but quietly willing that he'd vacate the spot soon for Henry Cavill, Idris Elba, Chiwetel Ejiofor or Tom Hiddleston etc.

That's right, I wasn't a fan before. Generally I find him to be a bit lacklustre as an actor; my favourite performance of his before Spectre was actually his kinda-comic turn in Layer Cake where, funnily enough, he sort of plays a parodic version of his onscreen 'tough guy' persona, which I wasn't a big fan of in the likes of Road to Perdition, Munich, and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. It's not that I find him actively bad or anything, just a bit bland in most of them; I appreciate underplaying in acting styles but Craig's method of doing so, up till Spectre, had left me a bit cold. I thought he was very good in Casino Royale in emphasising the streak of violent intensity to his killer, but a bit lacking in terms of charisma. Quantum of Solace wasn't very good and though I appreciated his efforts in it, he just didn't really engage me there either, and really was let down by the film.

In the fantastic Skyfall he has some very good moments, like the scene where he's forced to test out his rusty aim, and his exchanges with Q demonstrated some comedy potential; however, most of the time he's regulated to a bit of a stoic, straightforward action hero (for the film's sake, and it works), and quite overshadowed by Bardem, and Dench. There were hints of a great performance but the very nature of the film didn't allow Craig to explore it as fully as I'd have liked.

Anyway, onto Spectre. Craig's opening scene here is absolutely fantastic as he revels in the role like I've never seen him before. He's as adept at handling the action nature of the role as ever as he kicks ass across Mexico City, but what I particularly liked about him here was the added complexities he gave to both the physical  state of Bond all the way through. He's quick, strong and as much of a beast as ever, but Craig does incredibly well in showing how the years have kind of taken a toll on Bond as each action is accompanied not with fatigue but almost a sense of repetitiveness. Indeed the whole physical representation of Bond in Spectre is immaculately handled by Craig as he once again makes for an engaging action lead, but also adds in an extra bit of mechanical-ness to his actions.

It seems like Craig's entirely comfortable in the role now, and I loved how he had a little bit of fun with it; for example, the moment in the opening scene where a sofa saves his life from a deadly drop. There's that usual stoutness with which he reacts to the contrivance, but also an almost fourth-wall breaking sense of wry humour acknowledging the ridiculousness of it all. Having known before that the film would revert back to some of the more OTT, incredulous plot elements of the Connery + Moore films, I was glad to see that Craig followed suit with his performance. He's still a deadly killer, but there's just so much more charm and sass to his portrayal here than in previous films that it makes him so much more fun to watch.

More importantly, Craig handles the humane aspects of Bond very well here, the main surprise I had regarding his portrayal. I'll get more onto his onscreen squeeze in a bit, but I really liked for example, his scene with Monica Belluci. Technically speaking it was very much extraneous stunt casting, wholly unnecessary, but come on, it's a Bond film. Tell me how many of the sex scenes from the Sean Connery era were REALLY necessary? Anyway I loved Craig's method of seduction here which showed the usual rough edge and animalistic allure he has (not going to lie, Craig is a very good looking guy), but also an added bit of tenderness and genuine care to not let any more innocent lives go to waste. Craig in one film, manages to find an arc for Bond that I felt he was short-changed with the previous 3 films.

Christoph Waltz was awesome (albeit differently to how I expected)

From The Independent

Yes, he is a bit lacking in screentime (although compared to say Donald Pleasance, he has oodles). And he doesn't get an awful lot to do. In fact most of what he does is monologue, monologue, monologue. But hey, it's Christoph Waltz. Hans Landa. Dr King Schultz. You LIKE hearing him talk. Do you want to spend time watching him blow stuff up, shooting people, actually doing stuff, or would you rather listen to him so eloquently, so beautifully menace Bond and literally everyone else around him from within the shadows, in that exquisitely campy Blofeld (oops) attire, working on a torture machine, and digressing about his villainy, his past with Bond and everything in between with an almost metatheatrical edge of knowingness?

Blofeld is a mastermind. He doesn't need to be doing anything; he's not really out for revenge like Silva, he's not desperate to save his own skin like Le Chiffre. He's got the whole world in his palm, and Spectre is on the rise; what more is there to do than just have fun? And boy does Waltz have fun. In fact, not since Inglorious Basterds have I seen such relish to each and every word that flows out of the Austrian actor's mouth as you, the audience, become utterly convinced that he's been behind every single mishap and tragedy Bond's encountered in his life. The aforementioned torture scene where he to put it bluntly, trolls and trolls Bond, with all assortment of physical pains and barbed comments, and a little kitty cat, it's incredibly silly

Also, in a sense I have a feeling (with the way the character's arc ends in the film) that we'll be seeing more of him soon; so Spectre may well have been a mere set-up for even more Waltz villainy. If so--that's a BINGO.

The Bond girls were classic Bond girls: in other words, fantastic.

From The Guardian

I've mentioned how I didn't find Bellucci's scene as wasteful as others have. If you think about it she's essentially done the whole 'decoy' Bond girl act quite well, there's always at least one of them in a good Bond film, and I actually thought she was very good within those constraints. Anyway onto Lea Seydoux, my official new favourite Bond girl of all-time, surpassing Diane Rigg's Tracy Bond from On Her Majesty's Secret Service. She's a stunner, firstly, but more importantly she's an incredible actress. She starts off her character arc as Madeline Swann with that icy doctor routine that's really quite effective in establishing her independent nature. Even when kidnapped she's no helpless damsel in distress; unlike Eva Green in Casino Royale whose otherwise excellent performance I felt was slightly derailed by her becoming that very trope, Seydoux maintains that underlying strength of character through all her scenes. When she gets emotional it's properly moving; the scene where she watches footage of her father's suicide completely broke my heart. It's been a while since we've had a female Bond lead who's not only sexy and resourceful but carries sufficient depth to make the emotional beats of the

When she's flirty and playful it works equally well as her character really is a bit of a mess. A complex mess is what Seydoux makes out of her, and I thoroughly enjoyed and was even entertained by her whole routine as she shows so many different sides to this apparent cold individual; I really hope we do get to see more of her in the next film (although it's not really the norm for the series).

The supporting cast is great.

From thecelebrityauction.co

All hail Ralph Fiennes' big comeback. After a fantastic comedic lead turn in The Grand Budapest Hotel last year he's just splendid as M here. A properly intimidating authoritative figure to be sure, but this time round he gets to show a bit more than in Skyfall. He gets the juiciest punchline in the film and in between the action gets a whole lot of opportunity to make the character his own, and it's just wonderful. Speaking of wonderful, how good is Ben Whishaw? The talented chameleon has been a bit underutilized thus far in films like Suffragette but here his Q has once again, some fantastic chemistry with Craig, as well as some standalone moments that are hilarious. His response to finding out Bond's location, his reaction to threats against his two cats, are all comedic gold, and he brings the right sort of gravitas to the more serious moments too. Naomie Harris and Rory Kinnear don't get much to do, but are solid as always. Andrew Scott is the most obvious secondary villain ever, but nothing wrong with that--he milks it for all it's worth and I thoroughly enjoyed him hamming it up. David Batuista is the only member of the cast who I thought was underused. He's actually very well utilised as far as his physique and athletic prowess is concerned, and I'll get onto his highlight moment in a second, but Guardians of the Galaxy has convinced me that he can do so much more than punch faces in.

The action, drama, and humour are incredibly well merged

From Entertainment Weekly

The tone of Spectre hearkens back to that of the old Bonds, whereby the plot is essentially a sequence of 'moves' from place to place, in contrast to the more plot-driven nature of the previous three films. The nature of how the film leaps around both tonally and schematically could've gone awry had it not been for Craig's excellent handling of it in the lead role. There's a homage to From Russia with Love with Batuista enacting the Robert Shaw mode of silent intimidation (nowhere near as good as Shaw but then again that was Robert Shaw, and Batuista's still a beast). We bounce from one pictaresque location to another, sometimes simply for the sake of it. And it's great.

The whole existence of Spectre itself is a large pill to swallow and Mendes, sensibly, makes no mistake of hiding it. It's a classic Bond villain hideout which, merged with Waltz's tenuously close to the fourth wall approach, is just a deliciously extravagant touch.

Non-Deakins cinematography is still beautiful

I won't put any pictures here, just go see the film.

Sam Smith's 'Writings on the Wall' is my all-time favourite Bond tune

Move over McCartney, Durand Durand, Sheena Easton. Though he's been malinged a fair bit by the internet community I stand by Smith. It's just so perfectly fitting to that highly stylized opening credits, the lyrics just give the film such a sense of incredible grandeur, the way it's played in the leadup to the love scene between Craig and Seydoux is just scintillating.

In short: Spectre blends together the finest 'campy' elements of the old Bond films with some of the gritty realism of the new ones, is very innovative and intelligent in its mixing of the two, and is just a fun watch but also a deeply impactful one between the lines. See it if you haven't seen. Re-watch it if you have, and don't quite share my enthusiasm--my mission is to try and make as many people see Spectre for the masterpiece it is.