“Blu-ray or Bust”
SPECTRE (2015, PG-13, 148 minutes, COLUMBIA PICTURES/MGM)
It has been interesting to watch Daniel Craig’s James Bond
simmer and punch his way into our hearts. Of course, at first, he was more like
a punk with a license to kill, barreling through walls and bad guys like a
mechanical bull with legs.
With SPECTRE, his fourth turn at the character, we get to
see how smooth and refined that transition has made him. The Bond we see now
isn’t the ruffian from CASINO ROYALE. But even back then, we knew he would, one
day, grow up. Now is that time.
The latest installment of the Bond franchise may not be the
best of the bunch, but it is at least as good as SKYFALL was, if not better.
Not only do we witness the culmination of all of that hard work and training,
we also get what could be the best executed Bond film in years. Sam Mendes
(SKYFALL, ROAD TO PERDITION) has written a two-and-a-half hour love letter to
the Bond films of yore. The opening sequence itself is worth the price of the
disc; how he managed to execute a five minute continuous take in the middle of
Mexico’s Day of the Dead is mesmerizing. From the ground, which is covered in
parade revelers decked out in costumes of the dead, up through a building, and
onto a rooftop…again, a mesmerizing shot. And that’s just the first five
minutes; I haven’t even told you about how you should never, and I mean NEVER,
trust a freaking helicopter.
The best things about this film is Mendes’s need to take you
back to the sophisticated take on the character that was the smooth Sean
Connery, the debonair Roger Moore, all rolled up into an aging but still very
capable Craig. This grown up Bond gets to travel to exotic locations; he races
cars through the nighttime streets of Rome, turns an airplane into a multi-purpose
vehicle in the Alps, and…those damn helicopters…
I refuse, as always, to give you any spoilers. Rest assured
that the other bright spots in the film is every other stinkin’ cast member;
Christoph Waltz is the bad guy, his muscle is Drax (also known as “Dave
Bautsista”), and Bond’s women are the still stunning Monica Bellucci and the
lovely Léa Seydoux, who has grown up a bit from her days in BLUE IS THE WARMEST
COLOR and THE GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. But I do have one teensy little complaint:
can the writers find nothing better to do than to put the hero’s job and
department on the line? It is an over-used plot device, most commonly used in
every freaking MISSION IMPOSSIBLE film, and a few times in these new Bond
films. Find a better plot line, people. That one is getting used more than my
favorite pair of man-panties.
This is a must on Blu-ray; buy it for the familiar twangs
and booms of the soundtrack, or buy it for The Largest Explosion Captured on
Film. Just buy it. The special features are comprised of what the studio calls
“video blogs”, which are nothing of the sort (two minute commercials, really),
and one twenty minute doc dedicated mostly to that opening sequence. Kind of a
must see.
While there has been no confirmation that Craig will return
as Bond for a fifth time, it will be interesting to see what level the next
film is taken to. As grandness goes, this one beats the other Craig vehicles.
And while the story may feel a bit bloated at times, this is classic Bond,
modernized. It’s almost enough to make you miss that time he killed the other
guy with a bathroom…
Film Grade: A-
Special Features: B
Blu-ray Necessary: Absolutely
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