Rewatch: Spectre

2015, Sam Mendes (Jarhead) -- download

I didn't have much to say about Spectre the first time around. It did not make much of an impression on me beyond the incredible opening sequence centered around a Dia de Muertos parade & celebration in Mexico City. Interestingly enough, such a parade did not exist in Mexico City, the idea of parades not being in vogue for the Mexican day of celebrating lost loved ones. But apparently, it created such tourist buzz, that Mexico City has since begun having said parade. 

But yeah that sequence, which I believe was meant to harken back to Live or Let Die, feels more like a Caribbean event than a Mexican event. Now knowing it was entirely fictional, and having recently rewatched the two animated movies depicting Dia de Muertos (Coco and The Book of Life), it felt even more so. Sure, there are some very comparative imagery, but many of the costumes seem more Papa Legba than Calacas. But, I am of neither culture, so it may just be my ignorance.

That said, that whole scene is evocative! So full! From the walking on the street into the hotel and then onto  the adjacent roofs. Poor girl, never does get her Bond on. Which reminds us of exactly how callous Bond is, how ... sociopathic. He brings down the face of a hotel, which in turn takes down another building. The body count must have been incredibly high, and yet has no impact on Bond who is not there to stop something, not to foil a bad guy's plot, but is just hunting clues related to the shadowy organization M set him after before (or actually, just after) her death. Still, I guess he did foil something worse.

Unlike other Bond flicks, this one is not about 007 sent on a mission against a colourful BBEG. Bond has his own mission, having been grounded because of Mexico, and because of a merger happening in the British intelligence community. MI5 Head, C (Andrew Scott, Sherlock), is moving to shut down the whole 00 program. C believes technology, drones and data sharing between cooperating nation states is where things should move. The MI6 leadership doesn't agrees with him, and of course, we suspect him for also being a Bad Guy. Meanwhile, I just assumed that everything he wants to "add" to the MI6 program would have been in play already, making use of the 00 Agents only when a human tool/weapon is needed. I mean, with Q around, how can they NOT being using drones and massive computer aided analysis?

Bond is supposed to stay at home in his spartan apartment, but does he listen? No, Bond never listens. He follows the leads to Rome where he attends a gathering of the shadowy organization M suspected of existing. I am thinking the organization that we later learn is called Spectre is just this world's version of the multiverse Hydra or whatever they call the crime syndicate that runs the world in John Wick. James also recognizes the leader from somewhen in his past.

Eventually the clues lead him on another misty boat ride down an inlet (Mendes seems dedicated to certain imagery) to where Mr. White (yeah the guy from the previous movies) is hiding out, not only from Bond, but from his own org, which wants him dead AND has already poisoned him. Bond trades the safety of White's daughter for more info, which leads him to Madeleine, who runs some sort of mental health clinic high on a mountain peak last seen invaded by Leonardo DiCaprio in Inception. Which then leads him to...

You get where I am going with this. 

Bond movies are all about exotic places, violent action set pieces and shadowy underpinnings of espionage. At least in this one, Bond has a reason for scurrying from one exotic place to the next, as he chases down whom he believes is responsible for M's death, and a lot of the trouble in his life of late. But Mendes seems intent on mixing Bond nostalgia with his grim view of things. We meet Blofeld, and see where he gets his signature scar. We do expensive car chase scenes. We chase Bad Guys on a snowy mountainside. We cause a lot of damage on a luxury train ride. We are shown a secretive Evil Lair that Blofeld claims is all about data gathering and analysis, but seems rather 'splodey once Bond shoots a few pipes. We also see Madeleine go quickly from rebuffing Bond to "I just met you but I love you" --- I think Bond relies on the trauma that surrounds him to convince women to care for him, or more accurately, have stress-releasing sex with him. Eventually the exotic places come back to the hollowed out shell of the critically damaged MI6 building, where stooges are unmasked (bye bye C), damsels in distress saved and Blofeld caught. CAUGHT ! Not blown up or shot dead, but captured. Cue the next movie, which was the point of this rewatch.

Don't get my facetiousness wrong. I enjoy these movies. They do the tropes and nostalgia well, as they are the creator of many of them. But Mendes has a certain sense of style that lends itself well to Bond in 2010s, mood and grit and the use of a hammer, instead of a stiletto blade. We watch them again and again, not for an intricate plot, but for the independent set pieces and Bond's sociopathic charisma.

And now to watch the latest.

Also, Kent on Spectre. Of note, Kent watches the movies and reviews some of the elements, including the opening song piece. I recently learned that Radiohead recorded an opening song for the movie, so we muted Sam Smith and listened to the Radiohead version, thanks to someone who re-edited the opening sequence with their song. It doesn't quite fully line up, but it made for a better experience for me.