Rate SPECTRE (out of ten)

I rented this last night on Amazon.

I still can't get over the shitty script. The editing is all over the place, as well, but I think this has something to do with the poor writing.

Such a shame. What a waste of great talent, beautiful locations and a fine score.

I'll rate it a 4.

Moore wrote:

After only one viewing I'd give it a 3. That might change once I've had a second viewing, but I'll wait for the DVD.

Of all the Bond's I have seen in theaters, it was the first time I ever sat there and realized in the middle of the film that I was truly bored watching it. Those thoughts quickly turned to criticism of the film. Then "When is this going to end?"

Hell, for all the flaws of QoS and the atrociously bad editing in the first 20 minutes of the film, I knew in theaters I was not watching a great Bond film. But I wasn't bored. I wasn't critical while watching it. I still enjoyed it as a decent run of the mill Bond film. FFS, at least DAD had a solid 45 minute stretch before it turned to shit.

Problem with the film is that the Mexico stuff is the best part of the film. It's a great pre-title sequence. Problem is: it's the best action scene of the film. Nothing comes close to topping it. The rest of the film is generic action scenes. Despite this, I still felt something was missing. It seems like the scene didn't have that final polish. But that could be said of the whole film which, if reports are true, and it was that expensive to make, it certainly did not follow the adage of showing every penny on screen. Speaking of which, the Blofeld grey control room looked like a shoddy set they pulled from an 80s Doctor Who episode.

Everything about Blofeld was horrible and unnecessary. Waltz was boring. Craig looked bored. Whether that's them or the script, who knows. Hinx was good, but underused. Blofeld was wimpy. The crappy backstory solidified that. What could have been a grand reintroduction was a massive, embarrassing dud for the producers.

Action scenes were meh. The Lucia/Bond scenes were just odd. Seydoux could have been a good Bond girl, but the script gives her nothing to do. Film should have been cut by about 45 minutes. Bring it down to QoS length. It's okay if it has little substance, just make it a reasonable running time for us to handle. You could have easily cut that without losing any plot.

It's getting ridiculous with each film they try to re-write the events of the prior film. Let's hope to god with Bond 25 they move on from the events of CR, QoS, and SF and let them be. We don't need another film trying to re-write the story of CR, QoS, SF, and SP.

Instead of SPECTRE they should have just called it UNINSPIRED.

Agree with a lot of this, especially about the best action scene being at the beginning, which really deflates a lot of the action that comes later. Also, Blofeld was terribly wimpy. Never intimidating or threatening. This is Waltz's fault as well as the script. I'm not a big fan of Waltz aside from his work with Tarantino, who I think has utilized him best, and I think he's as bad as he's ever been here. Boring and never once gave off anything resembling menace. Almost felt bad for him at the end. "Poor Blofeld."

I don't think Waltz is at fault. He still gave it his all and I still enjoyed watching him on screen. The writing of his character and SPECTRE just let him down - the global surveillance plot just seems so pedestrian for SP and further, it isn't fully realised.

I finally caught up with the film and actually really enjoyed it, yes the story is the weak link (unnecessarily contrived and lacking a driving threat) and it squanders Waltz but he's great when he does appear while Fiennes and Whishaw score some great moments too..... The mexico stuff was actually a disappointment for me - more stupid than much of Casino Royale's 'fat headed moron in action' (putting potentially more people at risk from a crashed Helicopter than might otherwise be saved). But on the whole it's a fun if undemanding romp with some decent character moments, delicious location work (I do think Mendes brings his locations to life in a way not seen since the 60's) and a minimum of angst despite the central (and admittedly very, very stupid) conceit.

So 7/10 from me.

Rating Craig's era so far...

1. Skyfall - Finally giving the labored pretentious themes of the preceding 4 films a decent treatment - 8/10
2. SPECTRE - A fun Bond, almost bravely formulaic given it is 1997 since the last of its kind, but one sadly restrained by a modern conceit that has to revolve its entire universe around one character - 7/10
3. Quantum of Solace - A few moments actually glimpse Bond at his best albeit they are all too easily missed amid a mire of inept editing and an inconsistent storytelling - 6/10
4. Casino Royale 5/10 - One of Fleming's best works struggles to be heard above a car crash of monosyllabic action, charisma free characterization, a bloated run-time and perhaps the most unconvincing romance to date (yes Twilight wasn't till 2008 folks).

I'd probably order Craig's run in the same manner, maybe swapping SP and QOS around.