Sequel Month - Mini Review - Spectre

It’s Sequel Month

Ah James Bond, it’s been around for so long that it’s a part of British Culture but I have a dark secret. Skyfall was my first Bond and even now, over 2 years after my review of Skyfall, I’ve only watched the Craig movies in full. I’ve caught snippets of the other movies whilst on television but I’m usually not hovering around long enough to see it entirely.

But yes, I’ve seen Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace now, if you want my thoughts, they’re on my Facebook page. But it’s interesting leading into Spectre, the one that tries to connect them all.

Made on a spectacularly high $250m budget, the movie made over $800m, the second highest bond gross but for the movie immediately after Skyfall’s $1bn performance. Whilst it was at least successful commercially, critics were not as kind to this one, with a 64% Rotten Tomatoes rating compared to Skyfall’s 93%. Is that fair? Well here are my thoughts

Guilty Pleasures #14 - Skyfall

Ah, James Bond, an icon of action, suspense and damsels in distress, and to be honest, despite my film preferences, 007 was never really something I grew attached to like I have with superheroes. But my curiosity piqued with Skyfall. Due to not booking a ticket online, I never saw it in the Cinema, but I was quick to get a DVD copy.

Production involved in this film looks quite complicated. MGM, the producers of the films was undergoing financial troubles and the project, which had started just after the release of Quantum of Solice, was suspended. During the suspension, the original writer of the story, Peter Morgan departed leaving Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan to finish it off. In fact filming didn’t begin until November 2011.

These delays didn’t hamper the success of the film. Made over a billion dollars world-wide, the highest of any Bond film, on your average blockbuster budget ($150-200m) and getting praised by most critics. However, I stand by this as a Guilty Pleasure because despite all this, the story has some pretty big flaws.

Before I begin the review, I will say this. I have not watched any other of Daniel Craig’s Bond movies, in fact this is the only Bond movie I’ve watched unless it’s a few bits I’ve seen on television. I am not reviewing this as a 50^th Anniversary for Bond, I’m watching it as a movie and it will stand or fall on its own merits.  With that out of the way, let’s take a look.