To its credit, every penny shines on the screen with cars, explosions, suits, jewelry, stunts, and locations, as any good Bond film should. Crossing the finish line over budget and costing between $300-350 million, "Spectre" is tied (with the third "Pirates of the Caribbean" debacle) as the second most expensive film of all-time. Another answer was throwing money at the problem. It feels every bit that long, making it ripe for trimming, condensing, and, unfortunately, a few yawns. At 148 globe-trotting minutes, "Spectre" is the longest James Bond film ever made. Madeline Swann (French rising star Lea Seydoux), Bond pursues SPECTRE and the familiar face from his own unspoken past (two-time Academy Award winner Christoph Waltz) that appears to be their leader.Ĭircle back to examining solutions to the questions of raised expectations. White (a returning Jesper Christensen), an old foe from Bond's past since "Casino Royale." Diving further into mystery with the assistance from Mr. He starts in Rome with Sciarra's widow Lucia (Monica Bellucci) and learns that the symbol represents the SPECTRE organization and its shadowy presence in seemingly everything connected to terrorism, including Mr. is also building a new multinational consortium called the "Nine Eyes" to further modernize the antiquated spy game where information gathering is paramount.Īmid the new power struggle created by Denbigh's oversight and M's slipping control, Bond defies orders to leave the country and follow his leads. and played by Andrew Scott (best known as Moriarty from BBC's "Sherlock"), MI6 is being merged with MI5 and the Double-0 program is in jeopardy of being eliminated. (Ralph Fiennes) removes Bond from field duty upon bureaucratic pressure from the sweeping changes in British security and intelligence since Raoul Silva's terrorist bombing and attack on MI6 Headquarters in "Skyfall." Under the leadership of Max Denbigh, designated as C. Returning to London after being off the reservation in Mexico City, the new M. Hit the Sam Smith song and let's push on. The biggest clue he has to go on is a ring with a black octopus symbol. (Judi Dench) assigned to him before her departure in "Skyfall." In a thrilling pre-credits sequence, Bond gets his man but discovers he may be part of a bigger organization. Opening in a sprawling and macabre Mexico City during their Dia de los Muertos parades and festivities, James Bond is acting on his own to pursue Marco Sciarra, a final target the former M. "Spectre" stands as exactly that precise first step down from a summit on its way to find the next mountain and next great challenge. The best this film can do is continue the momentum and build to the next game changer. How do you top "Skyfall?" How do you improve or follow a game changer like that? The first answer is you can't. With the arrival of "Spectre" for Daniel Craig's fourth outing as 007 and the returning follow-up of Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes, questions arise to the notion of raised and renewed expectations. Raising the stakes and ramping up the character development, "Skyfall" was a game changer on multiple levels. The continuous story thread woven and built across three films by the writing team of Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan peaked with 2012's billionaire blockbuster "Skyfall," the most successful film of the then 50-year-old franchise. The unified creative presence have taken the tongue out of the cheek to take what became a laughable caricature and turn it into the intense, heroic, and rightly lethal icon we have always deserved. What Daniel Craig and company have accomplished with their modern reboot of James Bond since 2006's "Casino Royale" is nothing short of extraordinary.
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