Having lived with this franchise for a long time through various portrayals of James Bond, I have to admit that my favorite of the actors who has played him is Daniel Craig. He seems to have the right combination…he’s not excessively good looking, he carries his athleticism well and he seems psychologically edgy enough to be believable in his characterization of a guy who, basically, is a sociopathic killer who has found employment in the British spy agency.
As Spectre starts, Bond has gone semi-rogue, attempting to kill a guy from his past, causing a big ruckus in Mexico City during a Day of the Dead parade. Bond’s pursuit of the character leads him to a clandestine group, known as Spectre and the predicable encounter with the gussied-up widow of another villain. The shadowy head of Spectre, Oberhauser, has old ties to Bond that are revealed as the plot unfolds. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, in London, Bond’s MI6 handlers are trying to reel him back into the organization, just at a time when traditional spying is under threat from a new head of Intelligence, who wants to replace “feet on the ground” spying with a pervasive, real time surveillance regime that can see anybody, anywhere.
It’s about this time in the story, when Bond usually meets up with the “Bond Girl”, in this case, Madelaine Swann (Lea Seydoux). She’s the daughter of a former associate of Bond, younger and better looking than the widow. He meets her when he delivers the news of her father’s death. Questions about her father follow, as do furtive glances, romantic sparks and eventual high adventure.
What would a Bond flick be, however, without some sort of sneering, criminal super genius? In this case, it’s Oberhauser, creator of the electronic spy system that’s about to be sold to and implemented by the British government. Oberhauser has been conspiring with a bunch of mysterious guys with fast cars and expensive suits and arranging for strategic terrorist attacks that would convince the world that a global surveillance network is needed. He and his criminal buddies can manipulate it to their own nefarious ends, tightening the noose, threatening global control and obviously collecting the profits. Oberhauser is played by Christopher Waltz, one of filmdom’s more recent, soft-talking, creepy Germanic guys, a guy who reminds you of some combination of Dr. Strangelove and a sadistic Nazi.
Well…it is worth the hype? If you like these sort of movies, I’d definitely say yes. We all know, going in, that there’s going to be lots of action, shooting, blowing up stuff, car chases with super fast, expensive sports cars, as well as the inevitable romance with the Bond Girl. As I mentioned, I do like Daniel Craig as Bond and he does nothing to ruin his reputation here. Craig has said, in real life, that this is his last Bond movie. Is that true, or is this story out there to boost ticket sales? I don’t know. I guess time will tell. As for Lea Seydoux as the new Bond Girl, she does fine, isn’t bad on the eyes and brings something to the action aside from just set decoration. Christopher Waltz seems like a variation on the other characters I’ve seen him play and does nicely as a depraved villain. Ralph Fiennes plays M, Bond’s boss as well as the minor character needs to be played, as does Ben Wishaw as Q, Bond’s geeky friend in the agency, who sticks with Bond when he’s out of the loop on his rogue missions. The rest of the cast is fairly minor, consisting of bad guys, fall guys, scary assassins and other Bond associates.
Direction by Sam Mendes, who also directed Skyfall and The Road to Perdition, is on target. Action never lags, the pace is fast, but not frantic and the suspense continues to build, right up to the end. The cinematography is quite good, even with the large amount of digital FX that was need to juice up the conventional movie stunts. I never had the feeling that I was watching a pixellated version of reality…it all fits together quite well. If you’re looking for action, noise and lots of it, and don’t care much for subtlety, this is a fun movie. There are enough nods to the past to keep continuity. The only thing I didn’t like was the usual song, performed by Sam Smith. His voice is “fingernails on the chalkboard” to me, but at least it was over at the beginning. All told, the audience was quite engaged, as was I. There's nothing profound here, but it's enjoyable entertainment, in great form.
