GUEST POST BY DAVID ROBINSON, 11
Daniel Craig is back in Sam Mendes’s “Spectre”; Sam Mendes’s second direction of the 007 story, Daniel Craig’s fourth portrayal as everyone’s favorite British assassin and the twenty-fourth installment in this timeless and memorable franchise. “Spectre” has a returning cast of Ralph Fiennes as M, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Ben Whishaw as Q and of course Daniel Craig as James Bond 007.The film also introduces a new cast of Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx, Lea Seydoux as Madeleine Swann and the iconic Christoph Waltz as the film’s antagonist Franz Oberhauser.
“Spectre” is a direct sequel of Sam Mendes’s previous James Bond film, “Skyfall”, and centers around a determined and motivated James Bond, who receives a cryptic message that asks him to investigate the sinister organization SPECTRE.
What results from this story is a classic and immensely entertaining Bond flick that has you captivated the second the gun barrel sequence appears. This movie is flourished with plenty of intense vehicle chases, nail-biting fight scenes and classic nods and references to previous Bond films; all of which were extremely satisfying to see on the big screen and made me love this franchise even more than I already did going into it.
All I can say about Craig’s performance as Bond is, “Craig does it again!” Daniel Craig presents his impeccable ability to portray the smart, dangerous, witty and lovable super-spy. There are often moments in this movie that you feel as though Craig has finally begun to fit into the shoes of Sean Connery, due to his charming, suave behavior and elegant persona. Seeing Craig play the ideal James Bond had me going, “Please don’t let this be your last time as Bond, Daniel…”
Along with Craig, almost every cast member in this movie does a great job of bringing their assigned character to life and making the audience feel fascinated by them. In particular, Lea Seydoux does an awesome job of playing the perfect Bond girl for the perfect Bond flick.
Dave Bautista also perfectly executes the big, bad, overpowered henchman that is present in almost every Bond flick and radiates with a chilling sense of intimidation.
Both of these actors, Craig and almost every other supporting character does a good job in their roles, but one stands out in particular; yes, ladies and gentlemen, you guessed it! The one, the only, the cunning Christoph Waltz. I couldn’t have been more excited when I heard that Waltz was cast as the main Bond villain for “Spectre” because I adore this guy’s acting in films like “Inglorious Bastards” and “Django Unchained”. I sat there refusing to doubt that he would play a phenomenal Bond villain and all I can say is he did not disappoint.
The minute you hear his German-accented voice and see his shadowed figure, you are saying to yourself, “My God, what took this guy so long to become a Bond villain?” You are constantly, throughout this entire movie, invested in Oberhauser’s character and you are constantly questioning what his motives are and what tricks he’s got up his sleeve. The only complaint I have with Waltz as Oberhauser is that I didn’t see more of him in the movie.
In addition to acting in this movie, the camerawork, lighting and visual aspects of this film are all done extremely well and are eye candy for Bond fans like myself.
Daniel Craig recently said in an interview that one of the things he loves about playing Bond is the sets that he gets to work on. After seeing this movie, I can completely see how he loves these sets due to their creativity, attention to detail, interesting locations and overall ingenuity.
The only criticisms I have for “Spectre” are minor and brief:
One, depending on what type of James Bond flick you like, the nods/references to the previous films and refusal to stray away from them like “Casino Royale” did, could be considered unoriginal and boring.
Two, (SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT), there is a subplot in this movie about Andrew Scott’s character, C, wanting to utilize surveillance to replace 00 agents. I personally found this plot-point to be very overused and felt that the writers could’ve been a little more creative there.
Overall, “Spectre” is a massively entertaining, classic and smart Bond flick that I highly encourage you to see. Only see it, however, if you’ve at least seen “Skyfall” though because characters and elements from the previous Daniel Craig/Bond film is brought up in this movie.
I’m going to give Sam Mendes’s “Spectre” an “A-”. If you’re looking for a good night out, a classic action/adventure movie, a fun Bond film and/or a good story, head on down to your favorite theater and buy a ticket to see “Spectre”.
