I just finished (re)watching the James Bond movie Spectre. Bond movies have gone back to forgettable, sadly. I absolutely loved Casino Royale, the first Craig Bond. It was fresh, it was serious, Bond didn’t joke around and drop silly-assed one-liners all the time. I was excited to see a Bond movie again.
For me, Quantum of Solace was an awesome follow-up, literally starting moments (in universe) after the end of Casino Royale. Though the ultimate bad guy felt a little weak to me, and the final burning building escape silly, I also loved the story. Particularly at the end, when M told Bond to come back, and he said he never left.
Skyfall was a little complicated, but for the most part I enjoyed it. The Bond babe was also just the sort of thing I like (really into dark-skinned brunettes) and the villain, while a bit over the top, had reasonable (to me) in-universe reasons for dragging everything out.
And then there is Spectre. I was looking for DVDs to watch as I relaxed this afternoon, and saw this one. I didn’t remember watching it, so popped it in. As seemingly iconic as the opening scene was, I didn’t realize I’d already watched it until the over-the-top helicopter battle. I kept trying to recall what would come next, but struggled. Now, I freely admit a crappy memory for detail (made getting through college hell, let me tell you), but so much of the movie was reminiscent of the old-style, what I call Silly Bond, with the absurd one-liners, the unbelievable action sequences (really, the plane disintegrates as he goes down the mountain, yet he still manages to catch the bad guys, then can’t be spared a bullet to be sure the baddie bad guy is dead? Man budgets are tight at MI6!). I understood more why I failed to remember, toward the end, when the head bad guy, instead of simply blowing Bond’s brains out, has to toy with him until Bond gets free. Oh, let us not forget the entire absurd sequence blowing the building up.
I wonder if the next one, “Bond 25,” will be as forgettable. I even forgot the opening credits music, and I loved the one from Skyfall. It’s sad to see what once had so much promise now falling back to the old boring Silly Bond style.
