SPECTRE is haunted by our expectations.

SPECTRE’s record breaking box office figures are certainly justified by the Flashes, Bangs and Wallops it delivers – but how does it rank among the recent Bond releases? 

Of course it has a lot to live up to after the impact of Skyfall,  and the producers have assembled a mighty crew.  Jez Butterworth, the award winning dramatist, scriptwriter and director was brought into to help the usual Bond scriptwriting team of John Logan,  Neal Purvis and Robert  Wade.   The Cinematographer (Hoyte Van Hoytema), Editor(Lee Smith), Production Designer (Dennis Gossner) and Composer (Thomas Newman)  have contributed to previous Bonds, as well as  Edge of Tomorrow (aka Live, Die Repeat), Interstellar,  The Dark Knight, Interception,  Into The Woods,  American Beauty,  O Brother Where Art Thou? and many other highly regarded movies.     

SPECTRE was expensively shot in Mexico City,  Rome and Lazio, Tangier, London, Austria and Morocco.     Christoph Waltz was recruited as the Villain in Chief,  (You came across me so many times, but you never saw me’ he tells Bond – contradicting many previous Bond movie plots).   Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) is the heavy Heavy, and Lea Seydoux (Blue Is Not The Only Color) is the love interest.     There is also a new Aston Martin  produced exclusively for this movie.   

So how does it rate?

   

As an action movie it is first class.   The money is ‘on the screen’ as they say.  The ritual kinetic opening sequence is terrific, and the rest of the movie has many well conceived and executed fights (including a virtual reprise of the train fight with Robert Shaw in  From Russia With Love) and chases , with a variety of cars, helicopters and planes involved.   

A usual Bond is missing from duty, severely reprimanded or suspended from the Service early on.  (“They say you’re finished’ Moneypenny tells Bond.  “What do you think?”   “I’d say you’re just getting started.”)   

We are not told what eventually happens to the first woman Bond  beds (the mature beauty Monica Belluci)  but he does fall for another, much younger, woman, (Lea Seydoux).    There is a secondary villain,  a mole, played by the ever-reliable Andrew Locke,   whose Moriarty-like character is obvious to all who meet him.    “You know what C stands for, don’t you?” M asks him, and of course we do, but not out loud in a 12A movie.  

But this script tried to bring all the other SPECTRE centered movies to a conclusion, connecting them to Bond’s personal as well as professional history.    With such a varied filmic history to take into account this requires considerable sleight of hand.    Do we include SPECTRE from the Connery and Moore plots?   If not the history is rather short.    In fact in Casino Bond seemed to be a new recruit to the 007 gang.      I think this drawing together of previous plots might have worked better if the villain had more weight – and a better script.  But despite Waltz’s best endeavors his part is underwritten, and he is given a laughable torture scene to play out.  Admittedly Casino raised the torture bar considerably,  but this movie does not clear it, it limbos under it.      I personally thank that Javier Bardem’s  Silva was brilliant,  and Mads  Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre was up to the job.     But Waltz, a great actor, is undermined by the SPECTRE script.  

David Bautista, a previous heavyweight  world wrestling champion who very successfully took his acting skills out of the ring and into Guardians of the Galaxy,  may be the most impressive physical presence we have ever seen confronting Bond (Jaws came nowhere near this).     Naomie Harris’s Moneypenny is also underused – and she has a boy friend, which is sensible of her but disappointing for those of us who would have liked their relationship to build on the Macao scenes of Skyfall.        Ranulph Fiennes’s M earns our respect,  even if we still mourn Judy.     

But the love interest in SPECTRE is unconvincing.   There simply isn’t enough screen-time or chemistry  between Craig and Seydoux  to persuade us that the man who loved and lost Vesper Lynd would give his heart to this woman.    Vesper’s tragic death in Casino Royale still carries weight,  as does the death of Judy Dench’s M in Skyfall.    

Do we really want ‘emotionally engaging’ Bond movies?   Obviously the Producers do, otherwise why offer us the tragic deaths of Vesper and M?    Bond is now a real and even thoughtful person, he has evolved from Connery’s cynical hero and Moore’s comedy act.    He has a heart.  He has a history.  He is emotionally and physically vulnerable.     He wonders if he should really be doing what he does.     

And the new Bond movies address real issues, be they the arms trade, water wars or, as here, the extension of surveillance and the sacrifice of privacy – and national autonomy – for so called enhanced security.  The timing could hardly be more topical,  as the British Government tries to extend the Intelligence and Police  services access to our personal social media information.   (I am writing in early November 2015). 

So I rate SPECTRE as matching, even surpassing Skyfall  and Casino for pure action and production values.  It is way above Quantum in every  respect,  but not as emotionally engaging as Casino or Skyfall.    

 Never mind; Bond can drive or fly anything expertly,  survive any crash or fight, has mastered the art of moving sophisticated weaponry across international borders,  can seduce any woman in moments, has a diamond universal credit card, and can produce immaculately tailored outfits at the drop of a hat, anywhere in the world.     The trouble is we have now been trained to expect more.     SPECTRE is haunted by (some of) our expectations.