Spectre

Spectre is a 2015 spy film and the twenty-fourth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions. Directed by Sam Mendes and written by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Jez Butterworth from a story conceived by Logan, Purvis, and Wade. It was distributed by Sony Pictures Releasing.

A posthumous message from the previous M leads MI6 agent James Bond to carry out a mission in Mexico City, foiling a bombing attempt on a stadium during the Day of the Dead festival. Bond infiltrates a meeting, where Oberhauser targets the “Pale King” for assassination. Moneypenny identifies the Pale King as Mr. White, a former member of the organisation’s subsidiary Quantum. Bond tracks White down to Altaussee, where he is dying of thallium poisoning. Bond offers to protect White’s daughter Madeleine Swann. White commits suicide. Bond finds Swann, who is reluctant to trust him until Hinx and his forces abduct her. Bond rescues Swann. Arriving at the base, Bond and Swann confront Oberhauser, who reveals Spectre’s involvement in the Joint Intelligence Service and the Nine Eyes programme. C, complicit in Spectre’s scheme, plans to give Spectre unrestricted access to intelligence gathered by Nine Eyes. In London, Bond, Swann, M, Q, Bill Tanner and Moneypenny gather to arrest C, but Swann and Bond are separately abducted by Spectre operatives, while the others proceed with the plan. After Q stops Nine Eyes from going online, a fatal struggle between M and C results in C’s death. Bond is taken to the ruins of the old MI6 building, scheduled for demolition after Silva’s bombing,[N 2] where Swann is held captive. Bond finds Swann and they escape as the building collapses. Bond shoots down Blofeld’s helicopter, which crashes onto Westminster Bridge. Blofeld survives and is arrested by M.

OK. That was a lot. Now, on to the ratings.

Bond; 85 out of 100. Daniel Craig just going through the motions is still pretty good. But that’s what he’s doing here. He’s still got the physicality, the rough charm, all of the Craig basics. I think part of the issue is the plot, which has some holes. Not bad, but not his best.

Villains; 85 out of 100. Again, great actors but not extraordinary performances. I love Andrew Scott, and I think he does good work with what he’s given, but I don’t get a lot of range here. Snotty tech wizard vibes. And I also really like Christof Waltz, and he gives us Christof Waltz delivery here. It’s good. It works. So 85 feels about right.

Bond Girls; 94 out of 100. Monica Belluci. Even in a glorified cameo. Classy, sexy, seductive, even as a mourning widow. Léa Seydoux is amazing as well, strong, smart, sexy and serious acting chops. And Naomie Harris definitely adds heat to her portrayal of Moneypenny.

Theme Song; 60 out of 75 “The Writing’s on the Wall” Sam Smith. I’m not a huge fan but he does good work on what I think is a so-so song. And it won the Academy award.

Henchman; 48 out of 50. Dave Bautista as Hinx . The only reason he’s not getting 50 is that I think there are more iconic henchmen on the list. But there is no better person to play a henchman, even when he only speaks one word in the entire movie.

M, Q, Moneypenny & misc; 25 out of 25. It’s cool that the newer movies have given these characters more, well, character. And Ralph Fiennes, Ben Wishsaw and Naomi Harris take full advantage. It’s almost not fair to the older movies, but I’ve got to recognize game.

Total; 397.

Scoreboard;

1. Spectre-397
2. The World is not Enough- 367
3. Octopussy- 255

Next week- The Living Daylights.