Great in parts but so patchy

Rating: 5/10 (23 November 2015)

This film has incredible mise en scene, tremendous command of the cinematic medium, a long-take opening to rival Touch of Evil, and breathtaking set design. It also has dingy cinematography that won't show up well on TV, an annoyingly hand-held camera style in some static two-shots, and, most frustratingly, a sadly weak story. The initial plot spring is Bond's urge to tie up a loose end left for him in a video message by the late M (Judi Dench). This is not really enough. It's not really a mission – since she's already dead she's not in dire peril any more. This takes him to Mexico, then Rome, then Austria. He's getting involved in one thing after another, people are trying to kill him and he's running away, but he's not really seeking a fixed objective, just following little clues. The clues do of course help him penetrate the villain's evil lair - as if, as in the old days, this was key to saving the free world. There are tremendous car chases in deserted nighttime cities (Rome and London), yet another snow scene (a vertically- boarded barn that appeared first in OHMSO and then again, to the same design in The Living Daylights, has been rebuilt again here, and is again knocked down), and it all looks and sounds tremendous. There are some great sound effects – we have a train fight much improved by natural sounds and no music. In amongst all this, there are also various scenes that seem just plain odd. There is an elderly baddie-with-regrets in a derelict lakeside house in Austria, where every room is equipped with internal CCTV cameras that look like those in a corner shop to protect the sweets. Monica Bellucci's celebrated senior 'Bond girl' moment seems to be a character who (in looks, clothes and plot purpose) merely reprises Mrs Beckerman in The Italian Job; I was reminded of Michael Caine's mock reproachful 'And you in your widow's weeds,' as he undresses her. Bond's longterm leading lady, Lea Sedoux, is apparently an expert psychiatrist with a very expensive private practise (on top of a mountain) yet she turns out to be unable to handle a few glasses of wine. This was odd, as there is usually plenty of drinking and very little drunkenness in these films. Even stranger, Bond does not take advantage of her when she drops off to sleep. Instead he starts talking to a mouse. This is about the dullest moment of the film The dialogue is too spare, not funny enough. Some lines, I'm sure, are word for word retreads from Bond's previous outings, like 'Psychiatric wards are full of visionaries', and the Villain's ubiquitous 'Shall we?' which always means 'Walk this way, Mr Bond, poke your head even deeper into the lion's mouth.' There is a supposedly surprising twist about how old arch enemies can turn out to be childhood friends or family under the skin - a tired plot device, this reminded me of TV series such as Dr Who or Sherlock (there's a casting connection with the latter.) Christoph Waltz is of course excellent though he has to make up, with charm and great timing, for the shortcomings of the dialogue - Tarantino's flowery language serves him better. For most of the story, Bond is going rogue. This has happened before, and a prolonged period of disloyalty to his own organisation can retain our sympathy if we can see he has a good reason why. But here there is no obvious motivation, so audience interest suffers. Ultimately circumstances come to Bond's rescue: Spectre has penetrated the Secret Service. A lot more could have been done with that idea, but it seems to have been 'bolted on' late in the day - so that, in the climax, while Bond is running through a ruin looking for the leading lady, it's left to the new M and Q to save the world through their fighting and computer skills. The final scene is the most improbable of all – Bond has reclaimed his Aston Martin DB5 from Q's workshop, where it has been renovated for the umpteenth time with public money. He then drives away down a Whitehall so deserted I can only assume a plague has struck London, or else the English Tourist Board are using this film as the main plank of a misleading marketing campaign aimed at Americans... It's a beautiful shot, though. This is one of the most British of Bond films - so I wish I could have liked it more.