Spectre > Skyfall

Just got home from this. Really Enjoyed it overall though slightly slower to develop. Set up for future bond films very well

I thought the uber villain was a little overplayed (and a little out of left field, never having been mentioned before) but overall I liked it.

Question: how is it set up well for moving forward? Seems like any villain after this one is going to kind of be a let down.

I enjoyed Spectre , but the movie certainly had it's obvious flaws. You could tell it was rushed, despite being the longest Bond film ever. It was obvious in so many scenes as it felt a little choppy. To the post production team's credit, they were given hardly any time from the wrap date to the premiere and it clearly showed.

I had my hopes up going into this film because the leaked script I read was the "perfect" Bond movie. But so much was eliminated and so much was rewritten that shouldn't have been.

Additionally, several of Bond's Bond-ish one liners were also eliminated. Not to mention Thomas Newman's embarrassingly bad score ruined so many scenes for me. People fail to realize just how powerful a film a score is and it has the power to make or break a scene. Newman's score belonged in a Disney or Men in Black film, not a Bond.

I honestly feel had they been granted more time in post, the movie would've been a lot better. I still prefer the original script to the final cut.

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People fail to realize just how powerful a film a score is and it has the power to make or break a scene.

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Agree. That said, I love how they didn't have any music for the train fight. It was perfect and very raw. A throwback to Connery's fight in From Russia With Love.

SPOILERS

I liked it but I think Waltz was underutilized.

I don't mind the family connection at all, but I felt that maybe a little more organic reveal would have been better than an exposition fest. For those that say it is absurd, I think that it helps to think of Culkin's character in the Good Son as a prelude. It wasn't that it turned a good guy bad out of jealousy. It just kicked already present sociopathic tendencies into overdrive.

But I do mind the hamfisted way the movies connected. It doesn't magically add depth to the story to have a villian to say "it was all me," without plot points from the past movies or the current to back it up or to illustrate the connection. Bringing back White helps a lot, but it is still just a character talking. You could replace him with just being a random ex-Spectre character and the story still works.

Something also felt off about Blofield's sinister menace as a villian. Under no circumstances did I even suspect that Blofield was dead after the complex explosion. I felt that he was a threat because the writer's wanted him to be, so he will magically get upper hands as needed. Compare to Silva who really came across as a genius mastermind who was only taken down when he allowed personal issues to goad him into an obvious trap. And even then, Bond's victory was a very narrow margin and a pyrrhic one at that.

Seriously, how much of Blofield's menace actually came from his words and actions, and how much came from the character's introduction where he was in shadows due to a camera trick, spoke very quietly and singly in a manner he doesn't follow again in the movie, and it was made clear that other characters feared him.



One thing I'll give the movie major props though is that they made it clear that the twist of C's treachery wasn't being considered a twist at all by the characters. By the time it was obvious to the audience, the characters were also speaking and acting that it was obvious to them too.

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Nowhere near the movie that skyfall was. IMHO.

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I'm a huge Bond fan and thought Skyfall was overrated. The third act is a mess and Silva's plan is a ripoff from The Joker in TDK and is actually a stupid plan to begin with. SPECTRE felt a lot more like a classic Bond movie to me. It wasn't some gritty personal introspective where Bond tries to find himself. In this movie, he is fully formed.

It's not as good as Casino Royale but I enjoyed it a lot more than Skyfall.

Here's a review that sort sums up my thoughts: LINK

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I really want to drive home the point that this is not Skyfall 2. And that is a very very good thing! Finally, after three brooding films and nine years of depressing Bond stories we get something that manages to complement the series perfectly - it’s almost unbelievable how successfully rounded this film is in terms of it’s callbacks to both Craig’s era and before - in a fun and entertaining manner without diving too far into pastiche or ridiculousness.

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SPECTRE is a movie about threading the Bond series. Many other reviewers are writing about how it feels like it’s come full circle, back to the camp-ness of the series before Craig’s era, and how it feels like a step backwards. To me, it’s exactly what it needs to be. It’s a very fun movie. Yes, it throws in some emotional moments, but doesn’t dwell on them. As I said, it’s made very clear early in the film that both Bond and main-Bond-girl Madeleine Swann’s character wounds have healed, and they’ve moved on. The balance between Sam Mendes drama and rompy Bond flick is level.

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I think the issue most of the reviews I read are facing is that they’ve seen the previous three Criag films, they see that Sam Mendes is directing this, they see the marketing of the film selling it as some sort of character drama, and then the movie delivers something that takes it’s time (no pacing issues, as far as I’m concerned), has a laugh, and doesn’t complicate the plot. It has the looks of an Oscar winner with the material of the best-of-the-best James Bond stories. You haven’t even seen the second half of the film in the trailers!

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Here's a piece of trivia that's also a spoiler: On Her Majsety's Secret Service was intended to end with Bond & Tracy riding off after the wedding. Tracy's death scene was shot but wasn't supposed to be included until the next film. Something to think about with how SPECTRE ended.

*Spoilers*







Overall I enjoyed. Script and score were a bit of a letdown. Didn't use Waltz as much as I would've liked. Very hopeful he'll return in the next movie or the one after. Would be weird if they brought him for one movie and barely had him in said movie. I felt like C was a bad character, rolled my eyes every time I had to see him, just wanted them to cut back to Bond. Bautista was great as the villain who just continues to show up against all odds and cause mayhem. Action was well done and entertaining. Hoyte Van Hoytema's camerawork was wonderful.

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The title song is God awful though. Might be the worst one of any Bond movie.

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The song in Mexico City before the title song as he was walking through the parade was awesome. The whole first sequence was really cool then *spoilerish* he left the hotel and the whole movie didn't pick back up for me. It honestly didn't feel as much like a Bond movie to me.

Spectre was fine. Sky fall was fine.

I enjoyed both. I'd imagibe most James Bond fans enjoyed both.