Release date:
|
November 20, 2015
|
Director:
|
Sam Mendes
|
Cast:
Language:
|
Daniel Craig,
Christoph Waltz, Lea Seydoux, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci,
Naomie Harris
English
|
Is this the life you
always wanted? Always in the shadows? Always looking behind you? These
questions are gently tossed at James Bond by Dr Madeleine Swann during a brief
conversation on a train in the latest Bond film Spectre.
“I never stop to think about
it,” he replies.
“What will happen if you
do?”
“Stop?” he asks.
“Yes,” she replies.
James does not know the
answer.
It’s a quietly
ruminative exchange that should have set the tone for a quietly ruminative
new-age Bond flick, as hormonally charged as the series has been in the past,
yet thoughtful too as it has been in recent years. The old Bond elements are
all also on offer in this scene: he is sexy, she is gorgeous, the music is
effective and they are travelling through stunning locations.
Unfortunately, although Spectre ticks off many of the boxes on
the list of Bond essentials, the writing does little to lift it beyond being an
enjoyable yet generic franchise film: not bad while it lasts, but the memory
does not last much after the end, quite like James’ numerous love affairs.
Spectre starts with an unauthorised shooting in Mexico City
involving James. He is making out with a beautiful woman when he takes off to
fire at a man in the shadows in a hotel room. There follows an explosion, a
collapsed building, a spot of wry humour in the middle of a high-adrenaline
stunt sequence, a chase involving a helicopter and a stadium full of people.
All this set to pulsating music. When the world’s most famous British secret
agent gets back to the MI-6 office in London, he is suspended, but goes ahead
with what is up his sleeve anyway.
This is vintage Bond fare
so far, everything that fans have come to expect, including a haunting opening song
in Sam Smith’s voice (lovely yet not great like the Academy Award-winning title
track sung by Adele for Skyfall in
2012). What could have made Spectre
special is a deeper exploration of the issue of surveillance that it brings up in
the context of terror attacks – particularly relevant as we debate government
intrusiveness in our own lives – and the unnerving personal bond James shares
with the pivotal bad guy of the story. Regrettably though, director Sam Mendes and
the writing team don’t dig deep into any of the plot elements, using them primarily
to stitch together a bunch of fabulously shot even if not remarkably original action
scenes. A pity since Sam earlier helmed the excellent Skyfall.
“You are a kite dancing
around in a hurricane, Mr Bond,” says a character to James at one point. This
line somehow seems apt for Spectre too,
as the film struggles to strike a balance between the old-school Bond and the
new.
Casino Royale knew precisely what it wanted to be, as it
upped the IQ level and lowered the MCP-ism of the series without cutting down
on its testosterone. In the pre-Casino
Royale era, I wouldn’t have bothered to point out the silliness of a scene in
which an aeroplane, smashed from all sides, races down a road but does not
burst into flames because, well you know, our hero is piloting it. I wouldn’t
have bothered to notice that James attacks a convoy of vehicles to rescue an
abducted woman, without considering that she too could have been killed in his
attack. I would not have bothered to ask why he did not tell a woman that she
had no reason to be scared as he jumped down a building with her in his arms since
he was aware there was a massive net below. I would not have asked, because
those earlier films were unapologetic about their audacious stupidity. In the
more intelligent post-Casino phase
though, these questions do arise.
Spectre also sinfully wastes its talented cast. Ralph Fiennes is
one of Britain’s finest actors and such a worthy successor to Dame Judi Dench
as James’ boss M, but he is barely around in the story. And the amazing Monica
Bellucci’s appearance as a grieving widow in Rome pushes Halle Berry down to
the No. 2 spot on the roster of talented and acclaimed star actresses who have
played much-hyped, impactless, inconsequential characters in Bond films.
Why did one of Europe’s
most respected actresses accept this bit part? Why, after making such a big
deal about the fact that at 50 she’s the oldest woman ever to be a female Bond
appendage, did the producers squander away her presence? These are questions to
ponder for those of us labouring under the mistaken notion that gender
discrimination in cinema is limited to India.
To make matters worse,
India’s Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) seems to have shaved her
role down further with a very abrupt chop right at the start of a love-making
scene.
Lea Seydoux from Inglourious Basterds and Blue Is The Warmest Colour is more fortunate
as Madeleine Swann (read: she fares better at the hands of the filmmaker,
though the CBFC does not spare her either). Bond is a traditionally macho franchise
– under the circumstances, hers is a substantial role. That being said, her
chemistry with Daniel Craig’s James is limited.
Daniel himself chooses
to play his character with the same expression on his face throughout. We get
that he is hot and capable of a lot, but that knowledge cannot compensate for his
low-energy performance in this film despite the alluring, trademark intense
stare.
Spectre does have two stars though: Christoph Waltz as the villain
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, earlier known as Franz Oberhauser; and the music.
Christoph sinks his teeth into the film’s best written part with lip-smacking,
salivating delight to deliver a deliciously cheeky, unrepentantly evil
character. And Thomas Newman’s background score beats at our skulls like a persistent
drummer, contributing as much to the adrenaline rush from the action scenes as
the action itself.
Also interesting is the
young British actor Ben Whishaw playing MI-6’s gadget-producing wizard Q. These
elements combined with the film’s delectable locations, lavish cinematography,
fisticuffs and chases are what makes Spectre
worth a single viewing.
But no more than that.
At one point, the film makes an unexpected bow to an old Hollywood classic when
Madeleine and James visit a Café L’Americain in Tangier. The place is as pretty
as that other famous Moroccan city, Casablanca, where Rick’s Café Americain was
located. Individually and in other
films, Lea and Daniel have been wonderful. They ain’t no Ingrid Bergman and Humphrey
Bogart though, at least not yet, and Spectre
is unworthy of tying the shoelaces of Michael Curtiz’s Casablanca.
Still, I enjoyed the
deathly surface calm that pervades Spectre
even in its most charged-up scenes. What the film needed was richer writing. Without
that, even Christoph Waltz and a fantastic background score can’t make it stand
out.
Rating (out of five): **1/2
CBFC Rating (India):
|
U/A
|
Running time:
MPAA Rating (US):
|
147 minutes
PG-13 (for intense sequences of
action and violence, some disturbing images, sensuality and language)
|
Release date in US:
|
November 6
|
This review has also been published on firstpost:
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