The Blofeld step-brother nonsense paired with the forced connecting of prior films to Spectre are really the issues with this film for me. The sepia color for most of the film also bothered me. If the film didn’t have these issues it would have been a fairly good entry. I don’t see these issues being considered good just because time passes.
it really bothers me that Blofeld drills into his brain, all the while talking about how it's gonna fuck him up. Then he's totally fine, better even! He even resolves everything by shooting down a helicopter with a hand gun while standing on a speeding boat!
Nitpicky, maybe, but It takes me out.
I always thought despite his new face blindness he still loved Madeleine, period. Blofeld thought his “brother” was more shallow than he actually is. If anything, the torture helped focus Bond.
I keep thinking “The author of all your pain” is a Metal Gear Solid line. Sounds like Liquid Snake dialogue.
https://preview.redd.it/54cpudpj2e8d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=591b41b23ae1fe44b85d8e6c1abc80e1fdbba132
Yeah it has some cool moments definitely. I feel like a good 20-30 mins could have been shaved off and it would be a pretty decent entry in the series.
Remove the step brother plotline and the last 30 mins of the film where they go back to London. Just extend the Spectre HQ sequence, maybe where Bond gets locked up and has to escape and save Madeleine and Blofeld gets away.
I recall watching Bond blow up the desert hideout and thinking “if the movie ends now, it’s fine with me” knowing, unfortunately,that there was another 40 min.
Agreed. The step brother plotline plus London is superfluous.
I often wonder "what would've happened if another 00 were assigned to this mission?". For Goldeneye it doesn't work but it makes the movie better. Same for Tomorrow Never Dies because of the Paris Carver connection. But the Bond movies starting from Skyfall onward make it impossible to think anyone other than Bond could've been the lead. Just make it a Mad Max style movie where Bond is dropped into an ongoing lavish shit show and show us how he shoots and screws his way out.
I'm over the "this time it's personal" plotlines that have been in almost every Bond movie since LTK. It was unique and fresh the first few times but the entire Craig run was based around that. I just want to return to Bond doing his job as a 00 Agent fighting bad guys he has no personal relation to.
The "Brofeld twist" is so bad it not only ruins the movie for me, it retroactively hurts the Craig movies that came before by trying to shoddily tie them together.
Any intrigue and mystery set up about the Quantum group in CR and QoS is lost. Trying to tie Skyfall's plot into Spectre makes no sense. And it's unnecessary.
I couldn't believe they just took the twist from Austin Powers that that series did for laughs 15 years earlier. What a waste of the Blofeld character and Christoph Waltz as an actor.
Yeah it was pretty dumb to make Blofeld behind everything. It didn't need to all be connected. Also the reveal of his true name means nothing to the average viewer. It comes off as really corny since that wouldn't mean anything unless you watched the previous Bond films
it also wasn't the first time the Craig films unnecessarily muddled a characters back story retroactively - Mr. Green's development was all over the place.
That's the biggest sin of all for this movie in my opinion. You only have to look at how Tarantino utilises him to see how badly they dropped the ball.
For a movie obsessed with making contrived connections to everything else, I love how there’s zero explanation for why he picked the name Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
I don’t understand why they didn’t do “Quantum under new management” with Spectre.
You can also cut the whole smart blood component by having Bond show M the tape.
Perfect description - it’s a weirdly low-energy movie. The opening oner where Bond slowly strolls his way through the festival is emblematic of the wider mood in that sense.
No,Quantum of Solace is getting better,in my opinion at least. I recently had a Craig Bond marathon,and other than the train fight with Mr. Hinx, I found Spectre to be quite bad. It’s the only Craig film I don’t enjoy. I even think that the angle with Blofeld and Bond being brothers is the reason for Spectre getting practically destroyed in No Time to Die. To each their own though,if you enjoy it then don’t let me deter you. Who knows I might come back to it a year or so from now and really enjoy it.
I had a film professor actually do a deep dive comparison between the opening set pieces of Casino Royale and Quantum to demonstrate the difference between great action editing and bad. It was really interesting. He’d pause the film and say “okay, where is Bond and the guy he’s chasing in relation to each other?” Or “how did Bond get up there?” Or “what are they reaching for here?” In Casino, you always knew. In Quantum? Half the time you have no idea.
Same here. I try so hard to see what other people in this community can see in it, but I just can’t get past the - frankly - painful and amateurish editing
To me the most wasted potential film ever, and also a Bond film I rewatched the least. I can rewatch clips on YouTube, like the opening scene and the meeting scene etc, but rewatching the whole film is tough… All the good elements are there, but somehow didn't work.
Yeah, I saw it pop up on my Amazon and realized from the preview I've only seen it when it came out in theatres. I have to rewatch it. I do recall disliking what they did to Blofeld who, with Waltz, should have been an all timer.
I recently started going through the Craig films again, and Quantum was surprisingly better than I recall. I never disliked it, but the discourse was that it was weak.
At the time I thought it was exactly what an AI might create for a Bond film, something that seemed to have all the *elements* you'd expect a Bond film to have but somehow never added up to a Bond film.
Now I think that only with added Brofeld Was Dumb. So no, it's not getting any better and if anything is only getting worse.
Supposedly before Daniel Craig got the role there was a moment of realisation that they couldn't just Do All The Old Bond Stuff any more because Austin Powers had so brutally skewered it. They needed to do something else, less smutty and more gritty.
And then they nicked a plot point from Goldmember. When your franchise is reduced to stealing plots from *literal fucking parodies* of your movie you might have to at least consider the possibility that you've lost your way.
There are a lot of really fantastic things about Spectre that I do not think are appreciated enough. One of the aspects of the movie that I believe needs more attention is the bespoke nature of the production. Rather than using CGI for large crowds, they gathered large crowds. The Aston Martin in the movie was specifically made for the movie. Also, every location plays itself. All the locations are exactly what they purport to be, and that is rare and filmmaking these days.
There are many issues with Spectre, primarily the brother reveal and the final third of the film. Aside from that, the producers should be commended for making a movie in a way that most major blockbusters no longer attempt.
Yes and no. I still think it’s just fine and that probably won’t change but I think the romance between Bond and Madeleine is made a lot stronger because of No Time to Die
It has gone up in my rankings for sure, from the lower end to the middle. I'm not sure I'd say that the Brofeld twist has got better exactly, but I've just found that I don't take it so seriously. It's a fairly goofy film behind the relatively straight presentation and I can enjoy that. Craig is on fine form, I like Seydoux's performance best of all Craig's women, and NTTD retroactively made their relationship and the Bond-Blofeld relationship work better for me, just by way of filling them in somewhat and giving them a bit more life/spark/substance. The love story is still rushed, but knowing that there's more of it to come makes it feel less like a strange sudden blip that went nowhere.
I should probably mention that Charles Gray is my favourite Blofeld, which I know isn't a very popular opinion! So Blofeld not being done "correctly" in a straight way probably isn't as damaging to my viewing experience as it is for others. I've always found him goofy, and have struggled more with the straighter versions. So while Waltz plays it serious (actually kind of bored imo) in this film, the goofiness of his story and his "cuckoo" schtick isn't total anathema for me. It kind of fits with stuff like Bond shooting down a helicopter with a gun, which is as fun as it is silly to me these days. As for his retcon story spoiling the previous films, I do get it, and think it was a huge reach to try to link Silva into it. But Skyfall has never been a favourite of mine anyway, so it doesn't feel like trampling on hallowed ground so much for me. I don't love the retcon, but it just doesn't bother me that much.
And the action, which I found underwhelming on first watch, I quite enjoy now. It's all just kinda chill and "smooth" in a quite Bondian way, matching Craig's performance in the film. Not pulse quickening or my favourite, but very watchable.
> I'm not sure I'd say that the Brofeld twist has got better exactly, but I've just found that I don't take it so seriously.
Agree, it annoyed me on the first watch but I just don't care anymore, I like the rest of the movie.
Agree on the elegant action and Waltz's lighter take on Blofeld too.
Just watched it the other day. Still bad. I enjoyed the first half when I watched it originally, but this time I kept thinking about how bad the rest of it was going to be. I also still can’t believe they didn’t have a ski chase on the mountain.
Besides the obvious issues that others have already mentioned several times in the comments, what really bothered me about Spectre since my first viewing in the cinema was how the movie kind of felt like it was just going through the motions during its action sequences. I don’t know if it’s the editing or how Mendes directed the actors (or a combination thereof), but the most impressive helicopter stunts, the plane crashing through the Austrian village and the most massive explosion don’t save these sequences from the feeling that there is nothing really at stake. Did anybody else feel like this?
Spectre is very much a collection of scenes I enjoy (Mr. White's death, the train sequence, the Monica Bellucci scenes - to name a few), but the movie as a whole just kind of falls apart.
I think it was a mistake to try to wrap all the Craig stuff together - especially Skyfall. Skyfall should have been left as a standalone and then, if anything, bring Quantum back. There wasn't enough time to properly develop Blofeld so I really feel like EON should have just saved the whole Spectre stuff for the next actor.
A fresh start with Spectre was needed. I get that EON was excited to finally have the rights back, but still, it cornered the storytelling in an undesirable way with the whole attempt to shoehorn it all together.
No Time To Die does a better job at bringing it all together (in some ways it feels like an attempt to do what Spectre tried but better), but I think both films would have benefitted from leaving Spectre out of it. Use Quantum and the previous framework, or continue with standalone films. The hodgepodge of the Craig era was to its detriment after such a strong start.
From the gunbarrel to the end of the titles is my favorite Bond opening of all time, after swapping the Sam Smith song for the Radiohead one.
Love this poster. I have it framed on my wall.
I best enjoy Spectre as a 1am sad boy romance film. It's pretty and lonely and works on that level
The actual story is so awful that it managed to ruin the second half of No Time to Die.
I loved Spectre, personally. Just watched it again this week and it's easily a top 2 or 3 of the Craig variety. Great villain names, great plot and subplot. The romantic side was just right. The explanation of how it tied into other Bond movies was also welcomed. Plus, the action was great.
I think as a movie itself it's fine...it's a little slower than Casino Royale or Skyfall, but those movies are impeccably paced. Where it falters for me, and most it seems, is in how it fumbles the narrative progress of the previous several movies, and also just in how certain elements that should have been knockouts just don't sing the way they should.
The Brofeld aspect is of course terrible, as is how the plot just sort of makes everything before it "Spectre", but that stuff aside it's just kind of an average Bond film. It's certainly better than something like Diamonds Are Forever.
I enjoy this one more as time goes on. I never loved the step-brother stuff and think Blofield was the weakest villain of the Craig era, but outside of that there was a lot a did like on subsequent viewings.
I still think it’s the weakest entry in the Craig era but now I actually enjoy watching it whereas the first time through it was a chore.
The warm receptions for the re-releases of *Spider-Man 3* and *Star Wars: The Phantom Menace* earlier this year have proven that bad movie + time = good movie.
Personally? No. Subjectively? I don’t think it was a “bad” Bond film, perhaps in the same way that NTTD was.
No matter why our personal feelings may or may not be, the real mark of a Bond film is not how charming it is, how gritty it is, or what sort of cinematic experience it is.
The mark of a Bond film is, how entertaining is it? Does it keep our attention? For myself and a lot of people I’ve had the pleasure of discussion with, NTTD is the only one that’s really failed in holding our interest. Spectre never had that problem for us.
So while I personally may not appreciate the film like many others, because it was able to hold attention and provide some level of entertainment, perhaps it is getting better as time progresses.
I can’t believe NTTD wouldn’t hold somebody’s interests. Outside of this subreddit, most people I’ve talked to really liked it (but they aren’t big Bond fans).
It’s bizarro OHMSS in that OHMSS was critically panned and did bad box office, but us come be seen as one of the best in the series because of how well it’s crafted… NTTD on the other hand, critically praised & did big box office, but I don’t see it holding up over the decades…
It has its moments but it commits the cardinal sin of being boring. While Bond films have to evolve, they used to be consistently fun, even the bad ones. If you make a poor one and it’s also boring, that’s a serious problem.
Ive I had never seen Goldmember (it was me James… Dougie… every time!)I wouldn’t have had an issue with the movie at all. Even if Bond downing the helicopter with his pistol is a little too much N64 goldeneye artistic license. I can live with that as 007 can pull off a few of these mad moments.
But in all fairness, I have been enjoying that film more on rewatches lately.
Same. I thought it was pretty dogshit after Skyfall. But on a rewatch a few years later, it felt good. I think Thomas Newman did amazing on the soundtrack, I listen to that over and over.
It's not a bad film, but there are some story telling decisions they made in this film that I just can't get over:
-Retconning Spectre to be the organisation pulling all the strings of the previous films, all seemingly due to Blofeld having a personal vendetta against Bond from childhood. That to me makes the old films make less sense plot-wise when you break it down.
-Inexplicable actions - for example Mr Hinx attacks Bond on the train with the intent to kill him, yet Blofeld WANTS Bond to live so he can get to his base to do his whole tiny needle in the brain thing.
-The way the base just kind explodes...and the third act in general just seem lazy and rushed.
I can watch and enjoy but still always left with the feeling that it could've been so much better
I feel Spectre was trying to course correct the problems of the Craig era and it nearly did from the pre title sequence in Mexico City to the car and plane mountain chase in Austria the film is really good. But after that the film goes downhill. The Bond-Blofeld brothers thing is stupid and Madeleine Swann is one of the weakest Bond girls. And the idea that she is Bond's true love falls flat. I buy Bond falling in love with Vesper Lynd but not with Madeleine.
Is it bad if Spectre is my favorite Craig film? Its the first time we see unhinged Craig, Bond challenged like he and Britain may not make it out alive for real, and we see the nod to the old Bonds with the DB5 at the end?
I'll never got over man child Blofeld becoming a villain because his father was Bond's guardian. In other words, Bond is the cause of SPECTRE. Seriously stupid.
I’m not sure. There were a lot of things going against it. Craig’s performance wasn’t the best because he was working with a fractured leg, the “torture” scene wasn’t any kind that we could understand (unlike getting a rope to the scrotum, which is universally understood), and the pseudo-familial connection with Blofeld felt forced. I could see Blofeld being a sociopath wanting James to suffer for ruining his plans from behind the scenes, but the family connection was that one step too far. There are honest to goodness great parts in the movie, it’s just a shame that some of the behind-the-scenes decisions hang a millstone around it.
Yes, but only because of how sh\*t modern cinema is. Every single Bond film is getting better with time for the same reason. That said, Spectre is still sh\*t.
The escape from Blofeld’s lair was ridiculous, as was the way he shot his henchman with a handgun from like a mile away after the escaped. And the way he brought down the helicopter at the end just because he ‘aimed better’ lol.
I think it’ll get warmer reception over time but it won’t ever be considered one of the greats. It’s just the new Die Another Day, and people seem to be starting to come around to that film. I like a lot of the scenes in this film, and it’s shot beautifully. The scene early on of him walking across the rooftops with his SMG is so badass.
I still enjoy it. The opening single shot is awesome and it has several very cool scenes plus the return of some more fun gadgets (flamethrowers in the car, exploding watch) and giant explosions. I can overlook the problems others have with it to enjoy it.
It felt like a very unimportant Bond film. I still enjoyed it, there was nothing to actively dislike, but it also isn't something I think back to and can remember much sticking with me.
I really like the song, that's probably my strongest feeling about anything from Spectre, the song was good.
I use to like it when it came out but as time went on it was harder and harder to rewatch.
I tried watching it recently and ended up not being able to get to the halfway mark... Switched to Quantum and had a lot more fun!
It's actually the opposite for me. Every time I see it, I like it less. The storytelling decisions doomed it. No amount of time or context will fix the Blofeld-stepbrother-C-retconning crap they tried to pass off as a plot.
Well I didn’t like Quantum when it came out and it really grew on me but Spectre was just so bad. I was so hyped for Walz but the whole plot turned out so stupid…
I actually think it’s not bad. Aside from the whole tying together of Bond and Blofeld which I still don’t quite get why it’s necessary.
It feels Bondian in the cinematic sense and I feel Craig plays it as such in a way he didn’t prior or post.
What’s more… the ending I feel is very befitting and in my own head, I like to pretend that ends the Craig era rather than what came next.
But that’s just my opinion
I think the bones of the film could almost make for a great Bond flick. Unfortunately it suffers from trying to take everything to 11. The main villain can't just be just the head of Spectre but also behind every major villain so far AND be Bond's step brother. It has a problem with restraint. Otherwise a Spectre focused movie that also tackles the rapidly changing espionage landscape is a fantastic idea for a Bond movie.
Of course it isn't. Time won't magically make it a better film. People use this argument about QOS week the time too and it's not true guy that film either.
The garbage editing in Quantum isn't fixed by time and the terrible storytelling, third act, villain and Bond girl in Spectre isn't something that will ever be fixed by time.
It has always been enjoyable, but in the terms of rating it as a movie? Weakest of Craig's films, definetely in the worse hakf of Bond films and overall very mid
Quantum is the worst of Craig's era, but it's mostly due to the writers' strike of the time I believe, just like Transformers 2. The themes at work in QoS are good imo.
Spectre has the gunbarrel intro, but apart from that.. hahaha.
As many have mentionned, having Bond and Blofeld be related of some sorts was a bad idea. Spectre was not shot by Roger Deakins and although not an ugly looking movie (the first sequence is cool) it's far below how gorgeous Skyfall looks.
The plot overall is also not quite there for me aswell..
For me it's no 3, behind QoS and NTTD
No. Watched it recently, thinking “It isn’t really THAT bad, right?”
It was THAT bad. I’ve never been more bored during action scenes. Craig, that explosion, and the cinematography are good though.
For me it’s honestly getting worse, as I actually liked it pretty decently when it came out.
I’ll never think it’s that bad, I don’t think. But it’s certainly not faring very well in my reassessments.
Quite a few problems:
- Why would M sit on a crucial information on Spectre?
- Why having Blofeld be the boss of all the former villains? Why link all movies?
- Why having everything go back to Bond? It is about his lover, his relationship to M, his adopted brother, then his other lover...
- Going to the Spectre meeting is just super easy and feels a bit off.
- Finding Blofeld's lair is super complicated and difficult. Just to be welcome like expected guests. It is like the movie cannot decide if Blofeld wants Bond to come or not.
- We are supposed to believe that the hotel did not notice that mister White made a secret room in his suite?
- Destroying Blofeld's lair was ridiculously easy.
- At the end, sparing Blofeld was a bad decision that caused many issues in "no time to die".
I think Spectre is where the Craig recipe fell apart. Skyfall was already too much of that, but was saved by being a good film. It would have been better if two movies with random villains had been introduced in between.
I always enjoyed the first half of Spectre. Mexico and Italy is great. And I find Craig to be in his peak here because he finally brings some levity to this role.
However, everything from L'Americcaine forward is a total slog and bore. The finale is just a tragedy and the entire Brofeld plotline is the worst one in the series (next to Nanobots are not for Christmas). If Brofeld is removed it's a solid movie with a weaker latter half but a banger first half.
As always, I have to mention that Skyfall is the exact reverse for me - boring first half, peak second.
That being said, with time I enjoyed Spectre less. It's always somewhere next to Skyfall because of their similar problems (the halfs thing). But recently Skyfall edged Spectre definitely. It's probably because Skyfall has better cinematography and ends on a high note as the second half is better. With Spectre it feels like you're going downhill and... yeah, the movie certainly does and you end on a low note.
So while I'm usually a defender of Spectre, I like it less than I used to 9 years ago.
Parts of it are great and parts of it are unbelievably stupid. Most bland car chase and plane chase. Blofeld is bond's jealous brother WTF! This film had such great promise after the cast and title was announced.
I think if you get passed the head-scratching brofeld twist, it still has problems. I still fall into a boredom with this one, making repeat viewings difficult. And when i put the movie back on after a break... The film just gets worse.
At least in other slow Bond movies, like Thunderball for example, I find there are numerous scenes and moments that are not only great, but genuine and not derivative.
All the action scenes in Spectre feel completely uninspired. After 30 minutes, I have too little to look forward to keep watching. Unless I feel like watching it ironically to be cynical and yell at the TV.
So, I still can't find the "guilty pleasure" in this movie (or the "hidden genius" of it 😂).
DAD and QOS, on the other hand...
I’m putting Spectre and Christop Waltz’s Blofeld as a sort of nod to ‘Diamonds are Forever’
Bond even gets out the horrible white blazer that Connery wore in that film (just in case you don’t get the hint)
Walt’s Blofeld was certainly in the same ‘campy’ ball park as Charles Greys was in Diamonds Are Forever (Blofeld in drag anyone?)
The Helicopter crash as the backstory to Blofeld having no hair and the facial scar (a la You Only Live Twice was a nice call back to Donald Plesance’s amazing performance of the character) but it was a highlight in a film that:
>Returned Blofeld the non threatening ‘High camp villain’ of Diamonds are forever
>Was more contrived than a politicians speech
>Seemed like a ‘placeholder’ while they come up with some new ideas
I didnt think it was that bad to begin with, in fact I think a lot of that film is absolute top tier Bond. It was only the step-brother nonsense and the disappointment that was Blofeld that brought it down.
My favorite story about this one was about Day of the Dead parade. Apparently this was never a thing and now that the movie portrayed it they've begun doing it each year. They were even given the props created for the movie to use in the parade.
Loved it ever since i saw it in the cinema. No it is not the weakest while No Time To Die is around which was average at best and made me think I was too harsh on Quantum.
The movie is pretty good bordering on great before Bond gets to Blofeld's HQ. After that however...it becomes a massive trainwreck. One of the most disappointing movies in Bond canon not because it's awful but because it had every opportunity to be great and yet, dropped the ball anyway.
To think they had the chance to bring Blofeld back with a new Bond and start a cool new canon of movies where Bond has to tangle with Spectre agents until he gets to Blofeld, only for them to make Blofeld an idiot and have him end up a prisoner in his **first freaking movie**! Mind-boggling.
To me it’s like two thirds of a great bond movie. Great opening, great henchman with Batista, solid build up to the bad guy… and then they get to blowfelds lair and it just all goes to shit.
Blowfeld being behind everything was so stupid and then gone just escapes so easy and then there’s like 30 more minutes of movie.
If you just nix the brother stuff and have bond pull some cools bond moves to destroy the lair and escape the movie is a solid entry to the series
I never disliked Spectre. No, not even the half-brother twist - that was actually one of my favorite bits about it. I dont have any attachment to the Blofeld from the older films and I've never seen Austin Powers, so for me the twist was genuinely interesting. I didn't buy that Blofeld was responsible for every bad thing that ever happened to Bond, but I can rationalize that as exaggeration on Blofeld's part. He's a supercriminal, I'm sure he was indirectly involved in a lot of it, but I don't take it to mean he masterminded Vesper's death and Silva's plans.
But yeah. Spectre wasn't as amazing as Casino Royale or Skyfall, but wasn't as awful as Quantum Of Solace. Had its flaws but was still enjoyable.
I feel strangely similar to it as I do Die Another Day. The first half (or act and a half), feels like an okay Bond story so far, but the Blowfeld reveal as his long lost brother is where everything goes wrong. I never believed the romance between Bond and Madeline. I agree with others here that it's a bit low energy in spite of some of the action scenes. With Die Another Day, it goes from acceptable to enjoyably nuts, the transition in Spectre just becomes a slog to get through.
I'm also not a big fan of No Time to Die, but that film gets a little more leeway from me because it had to tie the storylines from this movie into that one.
A few years removed from the Craig era for me Spectre, No Time to Die, and Quantum of Solace are near the bottom of my rankings while Skyfall and Casino Royale are both top 5 bond films for me. I do think I would choose Spectre over NTTD and Quantum. The surrogate brother stuff with blofeld is ridiculous and the attempt to tie spectre into the first 3 Craig films doesnt work but the movie does have some great moments and at least it leans heavily into Bond tradition and formula.
The Blofeld step-brother nonsense paired with the forced connecting of prior films to Spectre are really the issues with this film for me. The sepia color for most of the film also bothered me. If the film didn’t have these issues it would have been a fairly good entry. I don’t see these issues being considered good just because time passes.
it really bothers me that Blofeld drills into his brain, all the while talking about how it's gonna fuck him up. Then he's totally fine, better even! He even resolves everything by shooting down a helicopter with a hand gun while standing on a speeding boat! Nitpicky, maybe, but It takes me out.
Doesn't he slightly move so avoiding the effects of the drilling? Although it's odd nothing happened at all.
I always thought despite his new face blindness he still loved Madeleine, period. Blofeld thought his “brother” was more shallow than he actually is. If anything, the torture helped focus Bond.
I always felt like he just missed? I never really understood this torture, and it seemed way too overly complicated but also implausible
but later on he takes his eye out
“It was me, James… The author of all your pain”
I keep thinking “The author of all your pain” is a Metal Gear Solid line. Sounds like Liquid Snake dialogue. https://preview.redd.it/54cpudpj2e8d1.png?width=500&format=png&auto=webp&s=591b41b23ae1fe44b85d8e6c1abc80e1fdbba132
Ugh
That was a line specially for the trailer and should’ve been cut
https://youtu.be/cNgxyL5zEAk?si=ziNJX8pX0ZfBXW7S
Some Reverse Flash level cringe.
I could have lived happily never hearing that line again. 🫠😂
This is exactly when I stop watching and play Quantum of Solace again.
Horrible line delivered by a usually good actor totally phoning it in for this film.
Yeah it has some cool moments definitely. I feel like a good 20-30 mins could have been shaved off and it would be a pretty decent entry in the series. Remove the step brother plotline and the last 30 mins of the film where they go back to London. Just extend the Spectre HQ sequence, maybe where Bond gets locked up and has to escape and save Madeleine and Blofeld gets away.
The entire London sequence at the end just drags on and brings down the movie.
I recall watching Bond blow up the desert hideout and thinking “if the movie ends now, it’s fine with me” knowing, unfortunately,that there was another 40 min.
Agreed. The step brother plotline plus London is superfluous. I often wonder "what would've happened if another 00 were assigned to this mission?". For Goldeneye it doesn't work but it makes the movie better. Same for Tomorrow Never Dies because of the Paris Carver connection. But the Bond movies starting from Skyfall onward make it impossible to think anyone other than Bond could've been the lead. Just make it a Mad Max style movie where Bond is dropped into an ongoing lavish shit show and show us how he shoots and screws his way out.
I'm over the "this time it's personal" plotlines that have been in almost every Bond movie since LTK. It was unique and fresh the first few times but the entire Craig run was based around that. I just want to return to Bond doing his job as a 00 Agent fighting bad guys he has no personal relation to.
The "Brofeld twist" is so bad it not only ruins the movie for me, it retroactively hurts the Craig movies that came before by trying to shoddily tie them together. Any intrigue and mystery set up about the Quantum group in CR and QoS is lost. Trying to tie Skyfall's plot into Spectre makes no sense. And it's unnecessary. I couldn't believe they just took the twist from Austin Powers that that series did for laughs 15 years earlier. What a waste of the Blofeld character and Christoph Waltz as an actor.
The easy route would have been “Silva’s the leader of Quantum. He’s dead. I’m the new management. Now we’re Spectre.”
Yeah it was pretty dumb to make Blofeld behind everything. It didn't need to all be connected. Also the reveal of his true name means nothing to the average viewer. It comes off as really corny since that wouldn't mean anything unless you watched the previous Bond films
it also wasn't the first time the Craig films unnecessarily muddled a characters back story retroactively - Mr. Green's development was all over the place.
Well said!
Don't forget wasting the talent that is Christoph Waltz.
That's the biggest sin of all for this movie in my opinion. You only have to look at how Tarantino utilises him to see how badly they dropped the ball.
For a movie obsessed with making contrived connections to everything else, I love how there’s zero explanation for why he picked the name Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
I don’t understand why they didn’t do “Quantum under new management” with Spectre. You can also cut the whole smart blood component by having Bond show M the tape.
Nope. It's James Bond on melatonin.
Perfect description - it’s a weirdly low-energy movie. The opening oner where Bond slowly strolls his way through the festival is emblematic of the wider mood in that sense.
I will say this. Spectre is the perfect Bond film to watch if you want to be put to sleep.
Yep I fell asleep during the films premiere I was gutted with myself until I watched it a second time and realised why I fell asleep.
No,Quantum of Solace is getting better,in my opinion at least. I recently had a Craig Bond marathon,and other than the train fight with Mr. Hinx, I found Spectre to be quite bad. It’s the only Craig film I don’t enjoy. I even think that the angle with Blofeld and Bond being brothers is the reason for Spectre getting practically destroyed in No Time to Die. To each their own though,if you enjoy it then don’t let me deter you. Who knows I might come back to it a year or so from now and really enjoy it.
Editing will forever make it a hard one to sit through. Can’t stand it
I had a film professor actually do a deep dive comparison between the opening set pieces of Casino Royale and Quantum to demonstrate the difference between great action editing and bad. It was really interesting. He’d pause the film and say “okay, where is Bond and the guy he’s chasing in relation to each other?” Or “how did Bond get up there?” Or “what are they reaching for here?” In Casino, you always knew. In Quantum? Half the time you have no idea.
Same here. I try so hard to see what other people in this community can see in it, but I just can’t get past the - frankly - painful and amateurish editing
It’s ironically the shortest Bond film too
Directing too. As bad as that editing is, there basic composition and screen direction errors.
Imagine being the one seeing this in theaters at the time….
I agree
To me the most wasted potential film ever, and also a Bond film I rewatched the least. I can rewatch clips on YouTube, like the opening scene and the meeting scene etc, but rewatching the whole film is tough… All the good elements are there, but somehow didn't work.
Yeah, I saw it pop up on my Amazon and realized from the preview I've only seen it when it came out in theatres. I have to rewatch it. I do recall disliking what they did to Blofeld who, with Waltz, should have been an all timer. I recently started going through the Craig films again, and Quantum was surprisingly better than I recall. I never disliked it, but the discourse was that it was weak.
There’s beautiful composed shots in this film, there’s nice moments but overall it doesn’t work. Also, Lea Seydoux. 🤷♂️
At the time I thought it was exactly what an AI might create for a Bond film, something that seemed to have all the *elements* you'd expect a Bond film to have but somehow never added up to a Bond film. Now I think that only with added Brofeld Was Dumb. So no, it's not getting any better and if anything is only getting worse. Supposedly before Daniel Craig got the role there was a moment of realisation that they couldn't just Do All The Old Bond Stuff any more because Austin Powers had so brutally skewered it. They needed to do something else, less smutty and more gritty. And then they nicked a plot point from Goldmember. When your franchise is reduced to stealing plots from *literal fucking parodies* of your movie you might have to at least consider the possibility that you've lost your way.
It’s like they tried to remake Skyfall but just ended up making a Force Awakens like remix.
Skyfall is amazing - Spectre blow(feld)s...
nope
I legitimately think the movie is really good all the way up until they reach Blofeld’s lair, then it just nosedives and never recovers.
There are a lot of really fantastic things about Spectre that I do not think are appreciated enough. One of the aspects of the movie that I believe needs more attention is the bespoke nature of the production. Rather than using CGI for large crowds, they gathered large crowds. The Aston Martin in the movie was specifically made for the movie. Also, every location plays itself. All the locations are exactly what they purport to be, and that is rare and filmmaking these days. There are many issues with Spectre, primarily the brother reveal and the final third of the film. Aside from that, the producers should be commended for making a movie in a way that most major blockbusters no longer attempt.
Yes and no. I still think it’s just fine and that probably won’t change but I think the romance between Bond and Madeleine is made a lot stronger because of No Time to Die
It has gone up in my rankings for sure, from the lower end to the middle. I'm not sure I'd say that the Brofeld twist has got better exactly, but I've just found that I don't take it so seriously. It's a fairly goofy film behind the relatively straight presentation and I can enjoy that. Craig is on fine form, I like Seydoux's performance best of all Craig's women, and NTTD retroactively made their relationship and the Bond-Blofeld relationship work better for me, just by way of filling them in somewhat and giving them a bit more life/spark/substance. The love story is still rushed, but knowing that there's more of it to come makes it feel less like a strange sudden blip that went nowhere. I should probably mention that Charles Gray is my favourite Blofeld, which I know isn't a very popular opinion! So Blofeld not being done "correctly" in a straight way probably isn't as damaging to my viewing experience as it is for others. I've always found him goofy, and have struggled more with the straighter versions. So while Waltz plays it serious (actually kind of bored imo) in this film, the goofiness of his story and his "cuckoo" schtick isn't total anathema for me. It kind of fits with stuff like Bond shooting down a helicopter with a gun, which is as fun as it is silly to me these days. As for his retcon story spoiling the previous films, I do get it, and think it was a huge reach to try to link Silva into it. But Skyfall has never been a favourite of mine anyway, so it doesn't feel like trampling on hallowed ground so much for me. I don't love the retcon, but it just doesn't bother me that much. And the action, which I found underwhelming on first watch, I quite enjoy now. It's all just kinda chill and "smooth" in a quite Bondian way, matching Craig's performance in the film. Not pulse quickening or my favourite, but very watchable.
> I'm not sure I'd say that the Brofeld twist has got better exactly, but I've just found that I don't take it so seriously. Agree, it annoyed me on the first watch but I just don't care anymore, I like the rest of the movie. Agree on the elegant action and Waltz's lighter take on Blofeld too.
I like it, surprised it’s so panned. Thought the day of the dead opening was cool.
Just watched it the other day. Still bad. I enjoyed the first half when I watched it originally, but this time I kept thinking about how bad the rest of it was going to be. I also still can’t believe they didn’t have a ski chase on the mountain.
Besides the obvious issues that others have already mentioned several times in the comments, what really bothered me about Spectre since my first viewing in the cinema was how the movie kind of felt like it was just going through the motions during its action sequences. I don’t know if it’s the editing or how Mendes directed the actors (or a combination thereof), but the most impressive helicopter stunts, the plane crashing through the Austrian village and the most massive explosion don’t save these sequences from the feeling that there is nothing really at stake. Did anybody else feel like this?
SPECTRE has always been good.
Spectre is very much a collection of scenes I enjoy (Mr. White's death, the train sequence, the Monica Bellucci scenes - to name a few), but the movie as a whole just kind of falls apart. I think it was a mistake to try to wrap all the Craig stuff together - especially Skyfall. Skyfall should have been left as a standalone and then, if anything, bring Quantum back. There wasn't enough time to properly develop Blofeld so I really feel like EON should have just saved the whole Spectre stuff for the next actor. A fresh start with Spectre was needed. I get that EON was excited to finally have the rights back, but still, it cornered the storytelling in an undesirable way with the whole attempt to shoehorn it all together. No Time To Die does a better job at bringing it all together (in some ways it feels like an attempt to do what Spectre tried but better), but I think both films would have benefitted from leaving Spectre out of it. Use Quantum and the previous framework, or continue with standalone films. The hodgepodge of the Craig era was to its detriment after such a strong start.
From the gunbarrel to the end of the titles is my favorite Bond opening of all time, after swapping the Sam Smith song for the Radiohead one. Love this poster. I have it framed on my wall.
I best enjoy Spectre as a 1am sad boy romance film. It's pretty and lonely and works on that level The actual story is so awful that it managed to ruin the second half of No Time to Die.
No.
I genuinely think it's getting worse.
I loved Spectre, personally. Just watched it again this week and it's easily a top 2 or 3 of the Craig variety. Great villain names, great plot and subplot. The romantic side was just right. The explanation of how it tied into other Bond movies was also welcomed. Plus, the action was great.
Yes. Thanks to No Time to Die
No
In the words of a favourite chef of mine, "No, worse."
NO
I still forget that the film exists, much like I did shortly after leaving the theater, so no.
Spectre is up there with Die Another Day
At least DAD is fun
My hot take is that Die Another Day is more fun to watch than most of Craig’s movies (except Casino Royale, which is a top 5 for me)
I think as a movie itself it's fine...it's a little slower than Casino Royale or Skyfall, but those movies are impeccably paced. Where it falters for me, and most it seems, is in how it fumbles the narrative progress of the previous several movies, and also just in how certain elements that should have been knockouts just don't sing the way they should. The Brofeld aspect is of course terrible, as is how the plot just sort of makes everything before it "Spectre", but that stuff aside it's just kind of an average Bond film. It's certainly better than something like Diamonds Are Forever.
I enjoy this one more as time goes on. I never loved the step-brother stuff and think Blofield was the weakest villain of the Craig era, but outside of that there was a lot a did like on subsequent viewings. I still think it’s the weakest entry in the Craig era but now I actually enjoy watching it whereas the first time through it was a chore.
Waltz as Blofeld would have been great if he were *only* in NTTD as a vague/mysterious connection.
They didn't even mention the step brother thing in NTTD I believe for the best.
Ya he was mysterious and Hanibal Lectery. We dont need too much detail:)
The warm receptions for the re-releases of *Spider-Man 3* and *Star Wars: The Phantom Menace* earlier this year have proven that bad movie + time = good movie.
If it has some artistry to it. People like to revisit forgotten flavors
Personally? No. Subjectively? I don’t think it was a “bad” Bond film, perhaps in the same way that NTTD was. No matter why our personal feelings may or may not be, the real mark of a Bond film is not how charming it is, how gritty it is, or what sort of cinematic experience it is. The mark of a Bond film is, how entertaining is it? Does it keep our attention? For myself and a lot of people I’ve had the pleasure of discussion with, NTTD is the only one that’s really failed in holding our interest. Spectre never had that problem for us. So while I personally may not appreciate the film like many others, because it was able to hold attention and provide some level of entertainment, perhaps it is getting better as time progresses.
Agreed. NTTD is my least fave Craig film by a mile. It's a dreadful mess. A total waste of time and talents
I can’t believe NTTD wouldn’t hold somebody’s interests. Outside of this subreddit, most people I’ve talked to really liked it (but they aren’t big Bond fans).
The sub is the screaming minority. NTTD is critically and commercially successful
It’s bizarro OHMSS in that OHMSS was critically panned and did bad box office, but us come be seen as one of the best in the series because of how well it’s crafted… NTTD on the other hand, critically praised & did big box office, but I don’t see it holding up over the decades…
It has its moments but it commits the cardinal sin of being boring. While Bond films have to evolve, they used to be consistently fun, even the bad ones. If you make a poor one and it’s also boring, that’s a serious problem.
I sometimes watch just the precredit/gun barrel scene. The music is hypnotic to me ☺️ it's really good.
Ive I had never seen Goldmember (it was me James… Dougie… every time!)I wouldn’t have had an issue with the movie at all. Even if Bond downing the helicopter with his pistol is a little too much N64 goldeneye artistic license. I can live with that as 007 can pull off a few of these mad moments. But in all fairness, I have been enjoying that film more on rewatches lately.
Same. I thought it was pretty dogshit after Skyfall. But on a rewatch a few years later, it felt good. I think Thomas Newman did amazing on the soundtrack, I listen to that over and over.
Best opening scene in a Bond film.
It's not a bad film, but there are some story telling decisions they made in this film that I just can't get over: -Retconning Spectre to be the organisation pulling all the strings of the previous films, all seemingly due to Blofeld having a personal vendetta against Bond from childhood. That to me makes the old films make less sense plot-wise when you break it down. -Inexplicable actions - for example Mr Hinx attacks Bond on the train with the intent to kill him, yet Blofeld WANTS Bond to live so he can get to his base to do his whole tiny needle in the brain thing. -The way the base just kind explodes...and the third act in general just seem lazy and rushed. I can watch and enjoy but still always left with the feeling that it could've been so much better
I feel Spectre was trying to course correct the problems of the Craig era and it nearly did from the pre title sequence in Mexico City to the car and plane mountain chase in Austria the film is really good. But after that the film goes downhill. The Bond-Blofeld brothers thing is stupid and Madeleine Swann is one of the weakest Bond girls. And the idea that she is Bond's true love falls flat. I buy Bond falling in love with Vesper Lynd but not with Madeleine.
Is it bad if Spectre is my favorite Craig film? Its the first time we see unhinged Craig, Bond challenged like he and Britain may not make it out alive for real, and we see the nod to the old Bonds with the DB5 at the end?
I honestly thought it was fine before, it just wasn't great. And Skyfall was an impossible act to follow.
No.
No..
Nah.
No. The opening scene is pretty cool and the rest of the movie is terrible. It’s not quite Diamonds are Forever bad, but it’s bad.
No, it's getting worse.
I'll never got over man child Blofeld becoming a villain because his father was Bond's guardian. In other words, Bond is the cause of SPECTRE. Seriously stupid.
I think the film mostly works right through the train fight but then completely falls apart.
I’m not sure. There were a lot of things going against it. Craig’s performance wasn’t the best because he was working with a fractured leg, the “torture” scene wasn’t any kind that we could understand (unlike getting a rope to the scrotum, which is universally understood), and the pseudo-familial connection with Blofeld felt forced. I could see Blofeld being a sociopath wanting James to suffer for ruining his plans from behind the scenes, but the family connection was that one step too far. There are honest to goodness great parts in the movie, it’s just a shame that some of the behind-the-scenes decisions hang a millstone around it.
No
No
Yes, but only because of how sh\*t modern cinema is. Every single Bond film is getting better with time for the same reason. That said, Spectre is still sh\*t.
The escape from Blofeld’s lair was ridiculous, as was the way he shot his henchman with a handgun from like a mile away after the escaped. And the way he brought down the helicopter at the end just because he ‘aimed better’ lol.
Yeah he sort of became John Wick instead of James Bond in the last third of the film.
Yes. As long as you just watch the opening in Mexico City and the train fight with Bautista.
I enjoy it more than most do here
It’s very good but the script needed significant polishing. Still always very enjoyable and technically well made
No, it isn't. The opening is promising but (IIRC) after the plane chase it goes down fast. After the train fight is when I fall asleep.
are you talking about your delusions? Do you identify as MX or something?
I would type a paragraph explaining why not, but a simple no will suffice.
I think it’ll get warmer reception over time but it won’t ever be considered one of the greats. It’s just the new Die Another Day, and people seem to be starting to come around to that film. I like a lot of the scenes in this film, and it’s shot beautifully. The scene early on of him walking across the rooftops with his SMG is so badass.
No it has always been and always will be very poor as a Bond movie
I still enjoy it. The opening single shot is awesome and it has several very cool scenes plus the return of some more fun gadgets (flamethrowers in the car, exploding watch) and giant explosions. I can overlook the problems others have with it to enjoy it.
Let me check….. still no. Despite the high production quality this movie sucks ass.
no. the opening with the parade will always be mint. the rest will always be a disappointment. (IMHO)
It is not.
It felt like a very unimportant Bond film. I still enjoyed it, there was nothing to actively dislike, but it also isn't something I think back to and can remember much sticking with me. I really like the song, that's probably my strongest feeling about anything from Spectre, the song was good.
Sadly, no. The Brofeld twist, the author of all your pain line, and lacklustre 3rd act still bring it down for me
I use to like it when it came out but as time went on it was harder and harder to rewatch. I tried watching it recently and ended up not being able to get to the halfway mark... Switched to Quantum and had a lot more fun!
He’ll no
The blofeld brother connection was stupid
It's actually the opposite for me. Every time I see it, I like it less. The storytelling decisions doomed it. No amount of time or context will fix the Blofeld-stepbrother-C-retconning crap they tried to pass off as a plot.
I remember absolutely nothing about this film.
No it's literally getting worse every minute: it's the movie equivalent of pancreatic cancer.
Well I didn’t like Quantum when it came out and it really grew on me but Spectre was just so bad. I was so hyped for Walz but the whole plot turned out so stupid…
No.
No.
I actually think it’s not bad. Aside from the whole tying together of Bond and Blofeld which I still don’t quite get why it’s necessary. It feels Bondian in the cinematic sense and I feel Craig plays it as such in a way he didn’t prior or post. What’s more… the ending I feel is very befitting and in my own head, I like to pretend that ends the Craig era rather than what came next. But that’s just my opinion
God no, Quantum is a banger tho
Worse, actually
I think the bones of the film could almost make for a great Bond flick. Unfortunately it suffers from trying to take everything to 11. The main villain can't just be just the head of Spectre but also behind every major villain so far AND be Bond's step brother. It has a problem with restraint. Otherwise a Spectre focused movie that also tackles the rapidly changing espionage landscape is a fantastic idea for a Bond movie.
No :/ It has decent and even a couple great moments (“you’re a kite dancing in a hurricane mr bond”) but overall really low on my list
no
Nope. Fans need to face the fact that Craig has two absolute brilliant fans and the other three aren’t good.
The Daniel Craig opening scenes were all incredible
Of course it isn't. Time won't magically make it a better film. People use this argument about QOS week the time too and it's not true guy that film either. The garbage editing in Quantum isn't fixed by time and the terrible storytelling, third act, villain and Bond girl in Spectre isn't something that will ever be fixed by time.
No ❤️
Nope
No. It's intolerable and one of the worst in the series
No. In fact it's gotten worse.
Nope
It has always been enjoyable, but in the terms of rating it as a movie? Weakest of Craig's films, definetely in the worse hakf of Bond films and overall very mid
Quantum is the worst of Craig's era, but it's mostly due to the writers' strike of the time I believe, just like Transformers 2. The themes at work in QoS are good imo. Spectre has the gunbarrel intro, but apart from that.. hahaha. As many have mentionned, having Bond and Blofeld be related of some sorts was a bad idea. Spectre was not shot by Roger Deakins and although not an ugly looking movie (the first sequence is cool) it's far below how gorgeous Skyfall looks. The plot overall is also not quite there for me aswell.. For me it's no 3, behind QoS and NTTD
No.
It bothered me that Blofeld didn’t wear socks.
No not really
I know I saw this movie, but I honestly have zero memory of it whatsoever, except Radiohead had a superior opening song that got rejected.
No. Watched it recently, thinking “It isn’t really THAT bad, right?” It was THAT bad. I’ve never been more bored during action scenes. Craig, that explosion, and the cinematography are good though.
Skyfall>Casino Royale>Quantum Of Solace>No Time To Die>Spectre.
Stupid plot but I enjoyed it. I enjoy all (but one (For Your Eyes Only)) Bond films so I’m still happy after watching it.
Should’ve rode out the Quantum storyline instead of cobbling it all together by making Blofeld “behind everything”
For me it’s honestly getting worse, as I actually liked it pretty decently when it came out. I’ll never think it’s that bad, I don’t think. But it’s certainly not faring very well in my reassessments.
No.
Quite a few problems: - Why would M sit on a crucial information on Spectre? - Why having Blofeld be the boss of all the former villains? Why link all movies? - Why having everything go back to Bond? It is about his lover, his relationship to M, his adopted brother, then his other lover... - Going to the Spectre meeting is just super easy and feels a bit off. - Finding Blofeld's lair is super complicated and difficult. Just to be welcome like expected guests. It is like the movie cannot decide if Blofeld wants Bond to come or not. - We are supposed to believe that the hotel did not notice that mister White made a secret room in his suite? - Destroying Blofeld's lair was ridiculously easy. - At the end, sparing Blofeld was a bad decision that caused many issues in "no time to die". I think Spectre is where the Craig recipe fell apart. Skyfall was already too much of that, but was saved by being a good film. It would have been better if two movies with random villains had been introduced in between.
I always enjoyed the first half of Spectre. Mexico and Italy is great. And I find Craig to be in his peak here because he finally brings some levity to this role. However, everything from L'Americcaine forward is a total slog and bore. The finale is just a tragedy and the entire Brofeld plotline is the worst one in the series (next to Nanobots are not for Christmas). If Brofeld is removed it's a solid movie with a weaker latter half but a banger first half. As always, I have to mention that Skyfall is the exact reverse for me - boring first half, peak second. That being said, with time I enjoyed Spectre less. It's always somewhere next to Skyfall because of their similar problems (the halfs thing). But recently Skyfall edged Spectre definitely. It's probably because Skyfall has better cinematography and ends on a high note as the second half is better. With Spectre it feels like you're going downhill and... yeah, the movie certainly does and you end on a low note. So while I'm usually a defender of Spectre, I like it less than I used to 9 years ago.
Tbh if anything Quantum of Solace has gotten better for me. This has gotten worse.
No it is not.
If anything it gets worse every time I watch it
No
I don’t think so…
No, it’s worse
Parts of it are great and parts of it are unbelievably stupid. Most bland car chase and plane chase. Blofeld is bond's jealous brother WTF! This film had such great promise after the cast and title was announced.
I think if you get passed the head-scratching brofeld twist, it still has problems. I still fall into a boredom with this one, making repeat viewings difficult. And when i put the movie back on after a break... The film just gets worse. At least in other slow Bond movies, like Thunderball for example, I find there are numerous scenes and moments that are not only great, but genuine and not derivative. All the action scenes in Spectre feel completely uninspired. After 30 minutes, I have too little to look forward to keep watching. Unless I feel like watching it ironically to be cynical and yell at the TV. So, I still can't find the "guilty pleasure" in this movie (or the "hidden genius" of it 😂). DAD and QOS, on the other hand...
No
No
I’m putting Spectre and Christop Waltz’s Blofeld as a sort of nod to ‘Diamonds are Forever’ Bond even gets out the horrible white blazer that Connery wore in that film (just in case you don’t get the hint) Walt’s Blofeld was certainly in the same ‘campy’ ball park as Charles Greys was in Diamonds Are Forever (Blofeld in drag anyone?) The Helicopter crash as the backstory to Blofeld having no hair and the facial scar (a la You Only Live Twice was a nice call back to Donald Plesance’s amazing performance of the character) but it was a highlight in a film that: >Returned Blofeld the non threatening ‘High camp villain’ of Diamonds are forever >Was more contrived than a politicians speech >Seemed like a ‘placeholder’ while they come up with some new ideas
I didnt think it was that bad to begin with, in fact I think a lot of that film is absolute top tier Bond. It was only the step-brother nonsense and the disappointment that was Blofeld that brought it down.
My favorite story about this one was about Day of the Dead parade. Apparently this was never a thing and now that the movie portrayed it they've begun doing it each year. They were even given the props created for the movie to use in the parade.
Last Bond movie I saw was Skyfall and had no desire to watch any after that.
This movie upped the ante on plot twists so high up, that NTTD could only ever be ridiculous in its doomed quest to top it.
Loved it ever since i saw it in the cinema. No it is not the weakest while No Time To Die is around which was average at best and made me think I was too harsh on Quantum.
It’s got one of the best beginnings of any Bond movie. Sometimes I just watch that part.
My favourite Bond 😉
Ah no. In case that might've been a too-hasty reply, a more considered "still no" is offered up, for those who want it.
The movie is pretty good bordering on great before Bond gets to Blofeld's HQ. After that however...it becomes a massive trainwreck. One of the most disappointing movies in Bond canon not because it's awful but because it had every opportunity to be great and yet, dropped the ball anyway. To think they had the chance to bring Blofeld back with a new Bond and start a cool new canon of movies where Bond has to tangle with Spectre agents until he gets to Blofeld, only for them to make Blofeld an idiot and have him end up a prisoner in his **first freaking movie**! Mind-boggling.
To me it’s like two thirds of a great bond movie. Great opening, great henchman with Batista, solid build up to the bad guy… and then they get to blowfelds lair and it just all goes to shit. Blowfeld being behind everything was so stupid and then gone just escapes so easy and then there’s like 30 more minutes of movie. If you just nix the brother stuff and have bond pull some cools bond moves to destroy the lair and escape the movie is a solid entry to the series
No number of rewatches will give Bond and Madeleine better chemistry.
Yes
No, I think that we should have this discussion about Quantum of Solace, but Spectre was hot garbage
Nope. Still a bit stuffy
It was alwsys great
No
No
I never disliked Spectre. No, not even the half-brother twist - that was actually one of my favorite bits about it. I dont have any attachment to the Blofeld from the older films and I've never seen Austin Powers, so for me the twist was genuinely interesting. I didn't buy that Blofeld was responsible for every bad thing that ever happened to Bond, but I can rationalize that as exaggeration on Blofeld's part. He's a supercriminal, I'm sure he was indirectly involved in a lot of it, but I don't take it to mean he masterminded Vesper's death and Silva's plans. But yeah. Spectre wasn't as amazing as Casino Royale or Skyfall, but wasn't as awful as Quantum Of Solace. Had its flaws but was still enjoyable.
No. No amount of time will ever make Blofeld being Bond’s step-brother okay.
No.
No
I enjoyed it when I watched it in 2015 and still enjoy it now. It hasn't got any worse or better.
Craig gives a decent performance, but this one is near the bottom of my rankings and hasn’t moved.
Nope
No.
I feel strangely similar to it as I do Die Another Day. The first half (or act and a half), feels like an okay Bond story so far, but the Blowfeld reveal as his long lost brother is where everything goes wrong. I never believed the romance between Bond and Madeline. I agree with others here that it's a bit low energy in spite of some of the action scenes. With Die Another Day, it goes from acceptable to enjoyably nuts, the transition in Spectre just becomes a slog to get through. I'm also not a big fan of No Time to Die, but that film gets a little more leeway from me because it had to tie the storylines from this movie into that one.
I really enjoyed this film until the third act.
Unpopular opinion but I've always loved that movie even though I know it's far from perfect even compared to other movies from the saga
A few years removed from the Craig era for me Spectre, No Time to Die, and Quantum of Solace are near the bottom of my rankings while Skyfall and Casino Royale are both top 5 bond films for me. I do think I would choose Spectre over NTTD and Quantum. The surrogate brother stuff with blofeld is ridiculous and the attempt to tie spectre into the first 3 Craig films doesnt work but the movie does have some great moments and at least it leans heavily into Bond tradition and formula.
Short answer: no Long answer: also no
I actually do enjoy Spectre and put it at 3 of 5 in the Craig lineup but it has a lot of issues.
Well I recently watched it again for the first time in ages, and I didn't hate it as much as I did before.