Review of Spectre

Let's be honest, here. The dead is indeed alive. It's nice to see the words, Spectre come back from the dead, after a 40 year absence from the franchise. It has been way too long. The reason for this, is that when 1961's novel 'Thunderball', was being made; original James Bond author, Ian Fleming opt for some help from his friends, such as screenwriter, Kevin McClory & some others to make a film version of it. Only to screw them from writing credit, when the film script version was completed in 1964. This lead, to a long legal battle, between McClory & Fleming, until McClory won out, in 1976; retained the filming rights of the novel. With that deal, came the lost, at least ten previous own literary properties & titles. One of them, happen to be the Spectre Organization in which, James Bond fight against in the novel, Thunderball. Once, considered as a future James Bond title in the 1960s & 1980s, Spectre wasn't made into a movie, until November 2013, when Eon Production and McClory's estate formally settled the issue. This allow, MGM, Eon Production's mother company to acquire the full copyright film rights to the concept of Spectre and all of the characters associated with. Still, the production for this film was troublesome. First off, the movie went, highly over-budget, and over-schedule. Many of these problems, came from the fact, that Sony demanded rewrites after a 2014 email hack. They really want to cover up, and recon the leak spoilers, even beyond when filming started. This cause, the movie to have a very incredibly underwhelming and at times, nonsensical third act. I have to say, its shows. The main plot of James Bond (Daniel Craig) trying to unravel, a new terrorist organization, doesn't match, well, with the sub-plot of M (Ralph Fiennes) trying to stop, his government from creating, a unified New World Order surveillance network. It was very uneven. I also get that the movie takes place 18 months, after the events of 2012's Skyfall, but it really seem, like all the flaws that James Bond had, in the last movie, is non-existence in this film. It's really odd, how he can barely hit his target in the last movie, and now, he's has the power of improbably aiming skills. It's so jarring. What happen to all of his weaknesses? For an action movie, this is probably, the weakest in the Daniel Craig's James Bond series of films. There are way too much, badly done, CGI effects. It's always stale, when we see the same, repetitive action. Most of all, lots of bad guys just standing around, talking and making idiotic decision making. Still, they did, get some hits on Bond. Sad, the whole torturing scene isn't one of them. I didn't like the whole, non-selling. It was a bit confusing on what the hell, was going on! However, I do like the demolition scene that the villains plan. Still, the filming process must have been extremely miserable for both the returning director, Sam Mendes & main actor, Daniel Craig. There has been times, when, Craig had joked that he would rather slit his wrists than play 007 again, and Mendes threating to leave, the production. However, I guess, cooler heads prevails, because they were able to pull, the movie, off. It was far from being a total disaster! In my opinion, the movie that has James Bond's first encounter with the global criminal organization, Spectre, since 1971's Diamonds Are Forever was mostly alright to me. I have only a few problems with it. First off, the movie length. It's a really strained watch. Since, the movie does have some slow & often clichés parts, you really feel, the long runtime. Still, the movie does have a lot more, humor than the previous Daniel Craig's films. I like, how the writers were a lot more open to a lot of old school Bond mannerism. It's nice to see that side of Bond, again. Also, I do love the cool references to the older films. Great homages. I also like, how Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) & Q (Ben Whishaw) are given, more to do, than minor background characters. Some of the best scenes, are with those characters. However, this movie is missing the emotional drive. The chemistry between Bond and his main love-interest, Dr. Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux) is questionable at best, due to the age different. I really found, their love-affair, kinda forced. While Seydoux was alright as eye-candy. Her acting, not so much. Her French accent is a little distracting. I kinda wish, the minor, bond girl, that Monica Bellucci plays, had a bigger role in the plot. After all, Daniel Craig indeed love, working with her, the most. She might be 50, but she's still gorgeous. Christoph Waltz as the villain, Franz Oberhauser AKA Ernst Stavro Blofeld did a great job at being the charming host/criminal psychopath. I also didn't mind, Dave Batista's minor role as the henchmen. However, I kinda, wish, he had more lines. There was a lot of grief over Sam Smith's new Bond song: "Writing on the Wall, but it sounded grand and a fitting Bond song over the credits. It's not amazing, but sure it's better than a lot of other recent efforts like Madonna. I just didn't like the weird octopus porn opening, but I did dig, the Día de los Muertos opening with Thomas Newman's score. Cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema did ensures that Mexico City are never less than ravishing. Don't care, if they got taxation benefits, because of that, but I didn't, how the movie travels from one exotic location to another. It was too much! Too hard to keep, track of it. Overall: While, it fails to pack the emotional punch. Spectre is 007 out of 10. It's still worth seeing.