YE SPOILERS AHEAD
I liked the opening a lot. I also liked portions of Newman's score -- the "Spectre theme" with its mysterious sound was much more up Newman's alley than his action scoring -- but eventually I was worn down by how much of it there was in the film. 100 minutes (or more?) of scoring in a Bond movie is ridiculous IMO -- especially in this film where nothing happens for long stretches at a time.
On balance, I definitely agree with Paul, it's a better score than SKYFALL, though did he even write a love theme, or just orchestrate the Sam Smith title song in the underscore? It's kind of like SKYFALL where a few people gave him credit for using the Adele song in a few cues which he also had nothing to do with.
One thing I also liked was the twist on the usual "sacrificial lamb" with Monica Bellucci. Obviously that whole role was really a throwaway (and probably a disappointment for many expecting her to play more of a part in the story) but it served a purpose and instead of killing her off, Mendes and the gaggle of writers did something different, which was appreciated.
I liked Spectre better than For Your Eyes Only
To quote John Scott, "
I didn't!"
I also appreciated that the film addressed the danger of unchecked government surveillance "in the name of the greater good".
I must have missed the Bernie Sanders bumper sticker on your car! lol
Seriously though, thinking back on the movie, and along similar lines -- I found the stakes in general
low. For a movie involving Spectre and Blofeld, what exactly did they do that was so bad? So they want to spy on everyone, well, so does every government. I felt the movie might've benefited from having Blofeld be Blofeld and actually do something beyond just kidnapping Bond's girl (which played out like M's kidnapping from The World is Not Enough) and having him run around in the catacombs looking for her, which only happens in the last 10 minutes of the movie.
As for the "Bond family" connection, perhaps if Craig was more emotive or looked like he gave a damn, I might've bought in or found an emotional component to it. Instead it was treated as if it were perfunctory and not particularly well developed either.
Waltz is somewhat wasted, and his motivation strains credulity to the breaking point, but otherwise, I had fun with this.
Waltz was about as intimidating as a bad guy in Scooby Doo revealing his true intentions. "I'm the architect of all ya pain, James!" lol. No, he wasn't on-screen enough, but frankly, he didn't really deliver either in the sequences he had.
MJ -- I do not want to hear about you having an issue with long running times EVER AGAIN if you did not have a problem with THIS movie being absurdly 2.5 hours long. lol.
Of course, we're also arguing over the difference between giving it a 6/10 and a 7/10 too...so it's not in the big picture much of a disagreement.
I will say the film is better than QUANTUM OF SOLACE (nowhere near SKYFALL or CASINO ROYALE) which I should go back and re-review because it was worse on second viewing than the first time I saw it. DIE ANOTHER DAY is flawed and I didn't like it as much the 2nd time, but that film's tone and energy are wholly different than any of the Craig movies. What I liked about it is something MJ despises about all the Bond films with humor. It's more of a Roger Moore movie, and comparing a Roger Moore movie with a Craig film is like comparing two films from different genres. And I still firmly believe the first half, at least the set up, of the film was real good before it got silly and completely ridiculous.
I also think it ties in with how much you like Craig. I am obviously not a huge fan. I find him difficult to read at times and stone-faced most of the way in all four of these films -- and
especially here, where his reaction to everything that happens is one of two different expressions basically -- and I'm just not a big fan of his as an actor. He's like the modern British equivalent of Charles Bronson, who made a career out of saying little but looking pissed off or constipated. That worked fine in "Death Wish" but in a James Bond movie I've always found something fundamentally lacking from Craig's "brutish" interpretation. Dalton was also "serious" and "intense" in his two films (especially Licence to Kill) but he managed to be much more expressive an actor by comparison.