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Spectre hype thread

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A five-star review in The Guardian but another article calls it ‘cornier than Skyfall’, which considering I thought Skyfall sucked is bad news for this Bondage fan.

Any thoughts?

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/oct/21/spectre-review-james-bond-is-back-stylish-camp-and-sexily-pro-snowden

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Comments

    • I’d say Spectre is clearly “hyped” whether you love the film or not. A $100m+ marketing budget will have that effect.

      If you think it’s crap then it’s “overhyped”.

  5. If Skyfall had dropped the product placement, the fourth-wall breakage of the Aston Martin, some of the more ridiculous plot elements and then ended with Bond being arrested for incompetence, it might have been okay.

    It also would have meant that this one could have began with a disgraced Bond being sent on a suicide mission, similar to what happens in the novels (You Only Live Twice into The Man With The Golden Gun). And that would have rocked.

    • If I’d had any idea why anyone was doing any of the things they were doing in Skyfall it would have helped. There wasn’t a single decision made in that film that made the faintest bit of sense.

      I did like the Home Alone ending though.

      • This is it. James Bond failed his mission. And I really thought that might be where the film was going. Like, fuck me, Bond’s gone batshit crazy and kidnapped M and as a result is RESPONSIBLE FOR HER DEATH — but then instead of being bundled into the back of a van he’s being welcomed home like a hero.

        • Oh god. That ending – new boss who hated him all the way through the movie, but suddenly likes him despite/because of(?) his directly causing the death of his previous boss. Two thumbs up.

          I also had no idea why the bad guy was taking such an insanely circuitous route to achieving his perfectly simple goal. Even by the standards of Bond villains, this guy really insisted on drawing the whole thing out. It was like watching someone try to peel an orange using the Large Hadron Collider.

    • Hang on a minute, when Skyfall was out you couldn’t move for people talking about how brilliant it was, which tricked me into temporarily forgetting that Bond movies are usually a gigantic pile of misogynistic forelock tugging pro-Establishment arse. So off I went to see it, and lo and behold, it was completely dreadful. Where were all you lot then, eh?

      • Several of “us lot” thought the same as you, Mr Dynamite. It was, as you say, completely dreadful, and the new one will be the same. I liked the Connery Bonds, at the time, but it’s all become a bit like Christmas (or Dr Who) – an overblown, overstuffed, vaguely “patriotic” tradition we’re supposed to buy into, and if we don’t, we’re just Scrooges.

        Popcorn pap for the unthinking and easily pleased.

        • Hey! I resemble that remark!
          I saw Skyfall with my son at the cinema and we both enjoyed it for the implausible escapist tosh that it was. It’s mass entertainment and we were entertained. Nothing wrong with that.

  6. I’ll never see this film, but 148 minutes, yikes!

    If you have a son, daughter, niece or nephew who wants a job in the film industry, teach them to ‘edit’, and they’ll have one for life.

    • Me neither. I’ve seen bits of Goldfinger because of the Aston Martin DB5 and I tried to watch Live & Let Die out of loyalty to Macca , but as you say they never appealed.

      Same as Dr Who never appealed either.

      New thread?

  9. A fellow I know reviews movies, and I quite often go along as his “+1″…he told me in all seriousness that as I hadn’t seen Skyfall, that I shouldn’t really be seeing Spectre.

    I don’t imagine zillion dollar film franchises that have up till now been self-contained stories are suddenly going to have masses of continuity that render them incoherent unless you’ve seen the one before, and possibly alienate the potential box office takings….surely?

  14. Saw it last night. Very good, but no Skyfall. Huzzah for the single-shot opening sequence – no Touch Of Evil, but a nice homage. Works as a standalone film, but if you’ve seen ALL the Daniel Craig outings, it will help!

  17. Spectre
    A great movie for Bond fanboys, lots of nods to past films, some self-deprecating humour, very much in the contemporary action mould so good for people coming to the franchise for the first time, and leaving sufficient wiggle room at the end to suggest there could be…
    • more movies
    • no more movies
    • a complete reboot with a new actor
    …so it’s wide open.

  18. Also
    Longest Bond movie (2hrs 28 min)
    Most expensive Bond movie ($300m-$350m)
    Oldest ‘Bond girl’ (Monica Bellucci, 50 during the shoot)
    Bond movie that has pissed off most middle-aged grumpy people

  20. Can’t do this, because I only have “Paint”.

    Picture of bee’s head on Bond’s body with NECTRE across it in suitable type.

    (cross-pollinated with “B-movie” comment in other thread)

  23. All Bond films are overlong and tedious with terrible scripts. wooden acting and no sympathetic characters to really care for. There has never been a great one *

    * I did quite like On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (relatively)

    • But they do have secret lairs, car chases, cartoon villains, biff-thwok-kerpow, Benny Hill sexuality without the music (or chasing about parks), lasers, blowing-up-stuff, trials & tribulations for the hero, an immanent sense of personal history for anyone who can remember ‘their first Bond film’ (whether that’s 1962 or later), some fab supporting actors (Lois Maxwell, Bernard Lee, Desmond Llewelyn), longevity, an attachment to a sense of ‘Britishness’ that has probably now gone from the real world (neoliberals sold everything worthwhile to venture capitalists), iconic leading ladies including Judi Dench, daft character names, Aston Martins and excellent vodka martinis. But apart from that…

  29. I’ve seen it. And… God, what a mess.

    Like a man returning to his mistress, the makers of Bond can’t help but go snuffling back to the same old formula and as a result the grinding of tonal gears is excruciating.

    • I have to say that overall, I was disappointed. The set pieces were suitably impressive, and I enjoyed the greater presence of Q (Ben Whishaw is brilliant in everything) but for me there was absolutely no dramatic tension. I know we’re meant to suspend our disbelief, but at no time did I feel that our man was in mortal danger; he escaped or solved all the perils presented to him with relative ease. I found this year’s Dr Evil villain underwhelming, and his motivation didn’t make any sense psychologically or narratively. The other baddie was hamstrung by his familiar persona, there’s never any doubt that he’s a wrong ‘un. I just felt that there was too much pandering/call-back to previous incarnations of the franchise, which renders the Craig re-boot somewhat redundant.

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