12 November 2015
Spectre
reviewed by Adam McCormack
Cut and paste cinema. Early reviews of Sam Mendes’ second Bond offering have cited the number of subtle homages to 50 years of 007 as a positive. They would indeed be impressive if they did not actually make up most of the film. Pretty well every piece of action has been lifted from previous films; from the 3 Blind Mice parade in Dr No (now a carnival in Mexico), through the shooting gallery scene in The Man with a Golden Gun (transposed from Thailand to Westminster) via roof top running (Quantum of Solace) to a micro-drill torture scene akin to the classic laser between the legs moment in Goldfinger. There are of course also the predictable car and boat chase sequences used in almost every Bond movie since inception.
Even the new characters are lifted from other films, with Christopher Waltz’s Oberhauser an agglomeration of several previous bond villains and Mr Hinx far too close to being Jaws (the Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker). Once you strip this out you really do have nothing new, which might be acceptable if there was a credible and compelling plot, or new insight into the key characters. There is little tension created (and so no sense of jeopardy), with just the backdrop of universal surveillance to make it seem current
The characters, beyond the short interaction with Monica Bellucci (who is on the screen for a ridiculously short period), are very 2-dimensional, which is disappointing after the advances made in Skyfall. There is no chemistry between Lea Seydoux and Daniel Craig, but at least Mendes does make good use of the talents of Ralph Fiennes and Ben Wishaw (although they do make Craig’s Bond seem even more wooden).
Rory Kinnear and Andrew Scott are sadly given very little to get their teeth into. Real Bond fans will probably not care about many of these issues and will be happy with the non-stop action and product placement, but for me I felt I had found a new venue called “CGI Friday”.
