Jack's Thoughts - Spectre

I am not going to lie about how much of a shameless James Bond fan I am. Well at least I used to be, until this latest installment Spectre absolutely killed any enjoyment I once had of the classic series of films. Now while not every film has been great, this Daniel Craig film has hit a new low, with more attention paid to fan service than actually trying to make a good movie.

Bond starts out in Mexico, investigating an Italian crime boss who he was directed to by the former M (Judi Dench) in a video message she recorded before her death. This leads him on a journey to uncover a secretive criminal executive named SPECTRE, led by his older foster brother Franz Oberhauser (Cristoph Waltz). Meanwhile, the current M (Ralph Fiennes) is facing pressure from a committee set up by C (Andrew Scott) which is proposing a new surveillance program that would make the 00 Section redundant.

I think what has hurt the last couple of Bond movies the most is this need to make them a continuation of the films that came before. The end of Skyfall seemed so clear cut as though EON Productions were saying that we're going to start afresh and give you a new standalone adventure. But that isn't the case at all. So much assumed knowledge is needed from the previous films it's laughable. Gone are the days of simply enjoying a wacky adventure with a man in a tuxedo. Now you actually have to work when you watch this movie. Top that off with a shitty plot that had me squirming with discomfort and a final revelation that was so obvious that I was actually saying the dialogue in synchronisation with the characters.

I was shocked to learn that this film cost $350 million dollars, but then again I can see where it all went. Maybe spending millions on 10 exclusive Aston Martin cars that will never be available to the public, one of which you destroy completely is not such a great idea. Or maybe spending a lot more on an explosion that will get you into the Guiness Book of Records and not at all add to the enjoyment of your film is an equally bad idea. There is way too much action in this movie. I understand that it's trying to say something about mass surveillance, but I feel as though it's coming a little late to the party.

The film is lacking lots of things, but one I noticed above all else was the lack of sauveness. Bond is a partygoer and the definition of cool, but none of his actions in the movie indicate that. I mean you can still wear a suit and not do cool things, just look at Dave Bautista's Mr Hinx (full disclosure, his fight with Bond on a train was probably the only thing I liked about this film.

I was confused with the choice of cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema to make the colour palatte of this film a dull brown. His previous work on films like Her and Interstellar had been so vibrant, but here it matched Daniel Craig's enthusiasm to play Bond. And speaking of that, he just brought the whole movie down. Toward the end I was hoping that they'd just kill him and put us all out of our misery.

Look how much he hates your enjoyment

Look I'm going to go so far as to say I hated this movie and it's the worse Bond film since Die Another Day. In fact it's much worse. I can at least sit through that film.