007 reporting for duty

Rating: 6/10 (21 November 2015)

James Bond, one of the most iconic characters of all time to brace the screens of Hollywood is back for his 24th instalment. Daniel Craig is as witty and badass as ever as he returns for his fourth (and potentially the last) time as Bond.
After the events of Skyfall that challenged him both physically and mentally, Bond is now on a personal search for the shady organisation Spectre. This a story that very much attempts to tie up all loose ends of this gritty and more realistic world that Daniel Craig has been a part of with the film featuring many ties to previous films. I think that one problem with Skyfall was that it was an escape from classic bond- the one with the gadgets, cars and the cheesy one-liners. Nevertheless, from the marketing campaign alone we could see that director Sam Mendes was going to make Spectre more "bond- y" than previous renditions; and it's a great thing because in a year where Spies are a prominent genre (Mission Impossible, Spy, Kingsman, The Man From U.N.C.L.E, well you get the point) Spectre really needed to stand out.
I remember hearing about Spectre's rather long running time at 148 minutes before watching the film, but I can happily say that through Bond traversing in several different locations across the film, the pacing is decent. Speaking of which, Mexico, Morocco and Austria are all captured beautifully by cinematographer Hoyte van Hoytema, who excels in allowing the audience to immerse these gorgeous settings. I must say that the opening Day of the Dead sequence shot is Mexico was near incredible, apart from the slightly off-putting GCI.
The loud and distinguishable soundtrack scored by Thomas Newman helps add to this whole notion of going back to the old Bond, and when it kicks in, the hairs on your arms just can't help but stand up. Sam Smith also lends his vocals to the theme song "Writings on the wall." I can't say it's a step up from Adele's Skyfall theme song, but it fits nicely with the opening credits.
In terms of performances, for Daniel Craig, it is sets up as if it's one big final performance as Bond, but with its rather abrupt ending, there's still room for one more. I have to say, the trailers make it seems that there is going to be a big showdown between Christopher Waltz's Blofield and Craig's bond and ultimately it's just a let down. Christopher Waltz is a phenomenal actor, but in this particular film Blofield falls into the stereotypical, clichéd villain whose motivations are a little less inspiring and the whole connections to the other films do not much make sense. I was excited when Christopher Waltz's was announced to be a part of the film, however it feels as if the casting directors chose him based on his wonderful performance as Hans Landa in Inglorious Bastards and were unsure as to how to use him effectively. The trailers gave me the impression as if he was going to delve into the mind of Bond like no other, but I just didn't see this threat. In the vein of being surprised, I was also stoked to see Andrew Scott (of Sherlock fame) added to the cast, and thankfully his character 'C' helps supplement the story back in England- where 'C' is pushing for a system where the 00 programme ends. This means more screen time for Ralph Fiennes's M and Ben Whinshaw's Q, which was great in comparison to their absences in Skyfall. One thing I found surprising was how little Naomi Harris and Monica Bellucci were featured, with their characters not adding much to the overall story. Lea Seydoux doesn't initially fall into the trap of the bond girl, however her character development is weak. Her sudden change of attitude in the film didn't make all too much sense. Lastly, Dave Bautista's on- screen presence as Mr Hinx was a nice treat, especially to finally get an intimidating henchman.
Overall, my final impressions of Spectre are that it just wasn't memorable enough. The performances and Cinematography were great, though the narrative was underwhelming and is hardly as dark as I thought it would be. I have talked a lot about taking Bond back to his cheesy roots, and I feel that films such as Kingsman got the gist of how a Spy film should be.