Jumped from a bottom of the barrel model 2013 civic, with dead AC, decaying interior, and an original clutch surely hanging by a thread at 176k miles… to the 2026 RAV4 woodland PHEV. I couldn’t be happier, especially right as the summer heat is rolling in, and these gas prices being what they are. Ready to have this storm trooper broken in so I can let all them horsies stretch their legs a bit.
My partner and I have been making our way through the entirety of the James Bond franchise over the past couple months (thank you Walmart for the incorrectly priced Blu-ray boxset of $30). We recently got to Craig’s movies, and of course we loved Casino Royale, Luke warm on QoS, had a blast with Skyfall… then came SPECTRE… I know this sub has not treated it all too kindly. I hadn’t seen it since it first came out in theaters, so a good 10+ year gap. I have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. In fact, I really only have a few criticisms of the movie.
One, and this silly, is that all the locations felt incredibly empty. Every street that has a car chase is devoid of pedestrians and other traffic UNLESS it’s needed to impede bond. We would even jest when we would see extras and say “oh good, I’m glad they had the budget to hire 6 extras for this scene”.
Another criticism is I wish we would have gotten a bit more info on Bautista’s character. In his introduction, you see him ruthlessly kill a guy within SPECTRE to prove himself worthy… and you see he has metal thumbnails - an ode to Jaws in a weird way? Potentially. He’s a mammoth of a man, very strong, very few words, and relentless. So it kinda fits. But then those nails are never emphasized again, and Bautista is just sort of a persistent mini boss until Blofeld (sorry, Brofeld) is introduced. Don’t get me wrong though, I still greatly enjoyed him, and that train fight scene is sick (and also devoid of passengers, strangely).
And then came Blofeld. I felt like the reintroduction of the character was an awesome idea - the Craig era bond movies were already more connected than any of the other bond eras… might as well tie em all together with SPECTRE. He was a major part early on in the bond franchise, then the whole idea kind of dissipated after Connery’s time. I have no problem with the twist, either. I mean, why the hell not? I didn’t find it any more eye rolling or ridiculous than any other aspect of bond films. Was it lifted from the spoof films that paid homage to it? Maybe. Was it really necessary? No. Did it ruin the movie for me? Not at all. It’s a lot better than the comedic, looney tunes “killing” of Blofeld in the beginning of FYEO. I’ve seen people complain that Blofeld shouldn’t have been introduced and captured/thwarted in the same film… but that’s… just… kind of what happens in bond movies. Sure, Blofeld had a longer run throughout connery’s era, but this was the 4th film in Craig’s era, and we knew he wouldn’t have much time left.
Otherwise, what I also appreciated was them leaning a bit more into the humor of things. The car chase with Bautista where Bond is trying to flip the switches in the Aston Martin, and then either not working, or being mislabeled was a fantastic nod to gimmicks of old. There are a couple other comedic moments that made me smile in an era that felt overly serious and gritty.
So say what you will, but I still think it was a quality Bond flick.