Spectre

It's been a few weeks since I've seen Spectre and the extra time spent mulling it over hasn't convinced me that it's anything other than a pastiche of past 007 films. There are direct lifts from:

• Casino Royale - suggestive dialogue scene with female lead in a train's dining car
• Quantum of Solace - all the malarkey in the desert lair of the lead villain
• Skyfall - some of the scenes in London and the old MI-6 building
• From Russia With Love - fight scene in aforementioned train
• For Your Eyes Only - snow chase sequence

There may be more but I'm not a full-on Bondiac. It specifically acts as a summary of the previous three Daniel Craig films, perhaps as those involved see it as his final installment. This isn't altogether bad. Some of those films are very good. Two of them are great (From Russia With Love and Casino Royale). But I think they could have been more imaginative, especially if it is to be Craig's last.

Spectre starts incredibly well with a long 'single take' tracking shot, which ends pretty much here:



It's reminiscent of Touch of Evil and possibly Snake Eyes or Serenity but even within this praise is the word 'reminiscent'. I don't think this detracts too much from the pre-credit sequence, which is probably the film's high water mark. It was the one moment where I was physically tensing up.

But from the milky, irritating theme song over the oddly octopus-inflected opening credits, Spectre slowly starts petering downhill (admittedly with the odd bump now and then). The third act is soddenly underwhelming, as though the writing team had just run out of steam. Bond even has to say to his co-star near the end of the second act, "This isn't over", which actually may have been necessary, as I was just about to check my watch. A major player's death is particularly middling - again, slightly reminiscent of Hitchcock's Vertigo. Too much homage soon starts to feel like a lack of invention.

Craig is again very solid, he's grown into the part and seems more relaxed here (though not necessarily better) than in his previous outings. It's just a shame the material didn't give him more to work with.

Lea Seydoux is tough and indomitable and pretty close to the best ever Bond female lead (setting aside Judy Dench as M, of course). I reckon Diana Rigg in On Her Majesty's Secret Service and Olga Kurylenko in Quantum of Solace relegate her into third place. It's a shame Monica Bellucci was given such piffling screen time in a fairly soporific role.

Cristoph Waltz was okay but he's more watchable in both of his Tarantino films and even for Terry Gilliam in The Zero Theorem. Another case of better material required.

There are several other points to make, but they are questions along the lines of "Why did ##### try to ##### when ##### didn't #####?". These come back to script issues and I reckon I've flogged that particular horse enough.

So ultimately, I'd have to say this is a disappointing entry in the Craig series of Bonds - well below Casino Royale and even a touch under the much-maligned Quantum. A new direction awaits, it would seem.