Mr Mendes – let’s just face it. You don’t ‘get’ Bond. Either that, or the Bond that I’ve been a fan of - especially in the Pierce Brosnan era and post that in Casino Royale – the one that was like a guilty pleasure that took me on an action packed, escapist adventure albeit with a wafer thin plot – is more a matter of me not being mature enough and nothing to do with your seeming intent to kill everything that is beloved about this (so far) wonderful franchise. I sincerely doubt that is the case though.
I was appalled after watching Spectre and I wouldn’t recommend it to anybody – least of all fans of the action adventure Bond like myself. I had a sneaky suspicion post Skyfall itself – while the world was marveling at what Mr. Mendes had achieved – humanizing Bond and all that drivel – I saw it as a ‘wannabe Dark Knight’ that didn’t even come close and a homage to HomeAlone in its second half. Still, I wanted to give it the benefit of the doubt. Skyfall had its moments – maybe Sam Mendes too could do justice to Bond.
After sitting through an agonizing 2 hours 30 minutes of Spectre though, I am firmly convinced -if you want to save the Bond franchise, please hand over the reins to someone who understands him better. We might as well invite Mr Mendes to Bollywood though – what with true love, heroic rescues and even I love you moments, why he would fit right in.
Spectre doesn’t feel like a Bond movie. The start is promising – one explosive action sequence makes you sit up and take notice. And then, it all just dies a slow and painful death. Bond is supposed to be about Bond himself, his death defying stunts, his dogged single mindedness on the mission and his outlandish actions to stay on course with one action sequence leading into another – a web of deceit, espionage, sabotage and master plans galore. Instead Mr. Mendes will have you see the natural beauty, sights and sounds of the various places Bond ends up visiting. There will be slow ‘supposedly’ meaningful close up shots and as you gear up for something interesting to come, it’ll abruptly cut to the next scene leaving you wondering why was there a close up in the first place. This happens too many times to keep count.
The good and there is very little of it in my view, is the handful of action sequences that are shot well and keep you somewhat interested. There’s a ridiculous one involving a plane – I don’t allude to that one. In between, it also manages a street car race/chase which could easily have been straight out of the Fast and Furious franchise. Let’s ignore that one as well. The camera angles and cinematography is the other plus.
Daniel Craig is also in sleepwalk mode in his role. Christoph Waltz plays his act well and has commanding screen presence. Ralph Fiennes is a fine actor but he is wasted as the new M and the new Q is too much of a kid. Like so many of the Bollywood remakes of old movies, Mr. Mendes just seems intent on re-modelling Bond to the very opposite of all that it was, even if it shreds the very soul of the franchise in the process.
I guess Spectre is aptly named – it is truly a sinister apparition that threatens the Bond franchise to have the most painful of last memories. This is not how I want to see the Bond franchise end. He deserves a better farewell than this. There was some talk of Nolan taking over this franchise, before Mr. Mendes unfortunately decided to oblige us one more time. Maybe Nolan can provide some saving grace. Somebody, anybody – let’s do justice to Bond – get one more action packed adventure and let him have his moment in the sun one last time before he fades into the sunset.
