Film Review : Spectre ( James Bond )

'Spectre ' by Sam Mendes ( 2015)

Images Courtesy of Columbia Pictures

 Daniel Craig Hemmed in by 'Playing it Safe'  Scriptwriting

When I was a spotty faced youth in college, I studied History. Sometimes, at least. A fellow undergrad and buddy explained to me how he chose his history courses ( It wasn't easy deciding what to focus on - the intricacies of the wool trade in the thirteenth century, or fourteenth century farming methods ?) .
" Yeah" he explained " I just choose the courses that are closest to what I studied in high school" .
" Really ? " I asked ; " Isn't that kind of boring ? Don't you want to study new stuff ?"
" Nah" he replied : " This way I just have to rehash my old high school essays, which are already good,  and then I'm passing easy, with time to kill."
I kinda feel like that is what Sam Mendes has done with Spectre.

The appeal of Daniels Craig's Bond, at least to me, was the dark realism of what we imagined spy work was really about. When Bond contemplated  his first kill in Casino Royale, and later almost had his man-bits smashed off with a rope in a  torture scene, we knew were dealing with a fresh, if somewhat unsettling take on the debonair British spy. It was chilling, but exciting, and rang true. This was Bond post 9-11 ; he was a thug with high tech skills, who radiated menace in a world of no mercy. But, in an apparent homage to the old Bond traditions, Mendes now plays it safe in Spectre. Consequently he somewhat loses the unique appeal of Daniel Craig's Bond that was such a breath of fresh air in Casino Royale.

 

A small detail in the opening action is perhaps a  hint of things to come. As Bond inadvertently collapses a building, he flees a wall that tumbles towards him. In Casino Royale, he would have run faster and made it out of there unscathed. In Skyfall, he would have slipped and twisted an ankle with dark but interesting consequences. But in Spectre, he plops nonchalantly onto a sofa that has fallen with him. It' s a telling metaphor for what is to come  ; some chuckle-level humour is substituted for breathtaking danger. Bond is never quite up to it, and yet we never feel he is in real danger either. In Skyfall the consequences of being an aging spy were laid bare and grim ; in Spectre they are politely ignored. Bond breezes airily through the danger of the movie, only really fighting for his life in one scene (  reminiscent of Connery and Shaw's classic train fight in From Russia With Love ). It's a promising slug-fest that is thrown away at the end. David Bautista's henchman had a promising introduction, and should have been sent off with a more intimate and brutal end. Eyeballs for eyeballs, me thinks. But Craig's character now seems unable to summon the dark, cool rage that would have kept Casino Royale's Bond alive. This was always part of the problem inherent though in Craig's Bond. The menace was in no small part due to physical presence and attitude ; difficult to maintain in late middle age. In Skyfall this was confronted head-on and dealt with effectively. In Spectre, Mendes tip- toes unsatisfactorily around the issue. Bond has transferred an inch from his arms to his belly, and the response is to scale down the effectiveness of most of the villains. The latter part of the movie is guilty of  'storm-trooper syndrome', as Waltz's henchmen can't seem to shoot fish in a barrel.

The story of the film revolves around the organisation Spectre, who it turns out is behind all the previous machinations since Casino Royale ( a stretch, and sloppy plot writing, or at least uncomfortably contrived ). In a plot akin to Quantum of Solace ( not a good sign ), Bond must penetrate the shadowy organisation that is threatening to take control of the worlds spy agencies. The problem is, the implications of Spectre actually winning are not really made menacing enough. Bond is not be killed by Spectre, but instead... fired by them, as the 007 program will be closed down in a menacing merger. Oooh ! Corporate callousness and job insecurity ! Shiver ! Will Bond survive without dental benefits ? He is British after all ! A '1984' scenario is only hinted at, as is Spectre's amoral involvement in the sex trade and human trafficking. It's all rather vague and never really made real and concrete to the viewer. At least in The Winter Soldier the war machine was going to proceed immediately to liquidate liberals and opposition with some really big guns. Or even in Skyfall, Bond actually met a victim of human trafficking, and the personal tale of revenge felt more real from Javier Bardem.

Christoph Waltz is part of the problem here ; his villain in Spectre is far less frightening than the Nazi of Inglorious Basterds. His personal connection to Bond is revealed with as much passion as the reading of a menu in a cheap restaurant. Perhaps the scriptwriters needed to think back to what made Le Chiffre so chilling in Casino Royale ; the man swung a low tech rope to devastating effect. Waltz meanwhile, in the formulaic 'Bond trussed up' torture scene, directs needles with a laptop whilst wearing slippers. He seems disconnected and mildly bored . So was I. The effect is of a slightly uncaring dentist. Perhaps it was intended to be reminiscent of Dr Mengele, but it falls flat. When Bond jokes that he would prefer death to listening Waltz anymore, you can hear some seriousness in Craig's voice and tend to agree with him. He really does seem a little less excited than in previous outings.

The dentist will see you now.

Throughout this film, we constantly feel like we have seen this all before. Exotic locations, bad guy headquarters, car chases, etc. Its pleasant, it's comforting, it's safe. Even the soundtrack is 50 % Skyfall, as if Mendes was afraid to venture beyond the confines of any previous Bond film. The theme seems to be a mix and includes that of Skyfall ; that 'the old ways are sometimes the best' ; but it's clumsily handled and lacks focus. There are few memorable quotes in this outing. The one original direction Bond is taken in is a strange one for the character ; his journey to potential normal family man. We almost went here before with Timothy Dalton, and it was not good ( Sorry, Timmy, I love you in everything else ). Towards  the end, Bond and Madeleine, the main heroine, even feel more like a couple on holiday than agent and tag-along.

 Nobody watches Bond films for this " I'm just like you" stuff. Callous as it sounds, we don't really care about Bond as a character that much. He knew what he signed up for, and we wanted to see him do a job, not become a rounded character. If anything we were more interested in what it took to do such an extreme job, and how it might change a man. In Casino Royale we sang with relish : "The coldest blood runs through my veins, you know my name ".


The film ends with Bond picking up his Aston Martin, as if to reassure us that he really still is the dangerous Bond of  (relative Craig ) old. Unfortunately, I'm not convinced. The bar was set high in Skyfall, and it was always going to be difficult to reach it again. By all means go see Spectre ; it's a competent Bond film, as exactly as it was supposed to be, and no more. It's a good film , but it could have been great if the writers had taken more risks.