Sociable Movie Guy
REVIEWS
A Dull Addition to the James Bond Franchise Hello there! Long time no see! Hope all of you are granted with health, happiness, and opportunity to watch movies anytime you want. I’m so terribly sorry for abandoning this blog for quite some time. Like usual, I still watch movies (a lot) but my main focus was on something else so I didn’t have the time to write the reviews. Now that I’m back to business, what better film to review than the long-anticipated Bond’s 24th film, ‘Spectre’? Let’s dig in! ‘Spectre’ focuses on James Bond (Daniel Craig) who’s doing a secret mission for someone from his past. The newly-minted M (Ralph Fiennes) is not happy about this for two reasons. First, Bond brings chaos to the place where he’s doing his secret mission. Second, MI6 is on its way to be merged with MI5, whose leader C (Andrew Scott) is so eager to shut down the ‘00’ program because he thinks it’s outdated. So what Bond is doing is basically adding another reason to close the program. Unbeknownst to Bond, not only does the secret mission bring him a dangerous threat, but it also takes him back to his long-lost, deadly past. Let’s talk about that iconic opening title scene. It is downright great! Combined with the equally great Sam Smith’s ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, it looks artsy yet sexy, sorrowful yet majestic. I smiled ear to ear with goose bumps all over my body watching it. It is that good. Another positive take-out from the film is the acting part. Everyone gives a nice performance to their role although no one comes up as a standout here. Daniel Craig is as charismatic as ever playing the rough James Bond. Ben Whishaw is as adorably geeky as ever playing Q. And Lea Seydoux is also screen-grabbing as the new Bond Girl Madeleine Swann, although her role is more damsel in distress than femme-fatale here. As the big villain, Waltz is chilling as ever with his on-point gesture and deliverance. Frankly speaking, this is as far as I can go talking about the good parts in the film. It is because the ugly parts do outshine the good parts. Let me first start with how this film doesn’t do Monica Belucci justice. This film is just wasting her. Her character is almost unimportant it can be portrayed by anyone else than Monica Belucci. It feels like she’s there just to be exploited by Bond. Having said so, the writers should have given her a better material to play. In fact, there’s a cameo performance in the film that is way better written than Monica Belucci’s character (hint: the character’s name rhymes with Monica Belucci’s first letter). Ironic, isn’t it? The screenplay is also not sewn tightly. It resulted in a lack of intensity throughout the movie despite a lot of action scenes all over the film. Speaking of action scenes, it’s only natural that they’re accompanied by a great sound to elevate the cinematic experience. But the sound here is just too noisy without ever really connected to what happens on the screen. The duration is also too long, though it doesn’t make the film feels draggy, but it could have been shorter. The last one is the sex scenes. They’re just… pure bad. The first sex scene involves Monica Belucci and it feels very exploitative, not in a good tantalizing way. The second one is the worst of all, it involves Lea Seydoux in a very cheesy scene. If you expect to see emotionally arousing steamy scenes, you’ll be greatly disappointed.
All in all, Spectre is a disappointing addition to the Bond franchise. It’s overlong, noisy, and almost unintense. Considering all the talents involved, the film could have been and should have been way better. Score: 2.5/5 P.S: I’d just like you to know that this November my blog is turning one. When I first started, I never thought I would go through another month, let alone a year. Of course I could never accomplish this without you. So yeah, thank you so much for your unbelievably kind support and I’ll always try my best to keep this blog alive. Cheers to great years to come! :)
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AuthorA self-acclaimed movie guy who likes to socialize |