SPECTRE (2015)

Today, our James Bond marathon unfortunately comes to an end with the 24th and final (thus far) film, SPECTRE (2015).

SYNOPSIS:
James Bond (Daniel Craig) receives a cryptic video in the mail from the late M (Judi Dench): In the event of her death, kill a particular man and see who attends his funeral.  Following her advice, Bond finds clues that lead him to the heart of an international terrorist organization known as SPECTRE.  And its leader, Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) happens to be a man who knows James Bond very well...

Meanwhile, the new M (Ralph Fiennes); his assistant, Moneypenny (Naomie Harris); Chief of Staff, Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear); and Head Quartermaster, Q (Ben Whishaw) find themselves at odds with a new player in the intelligence community: Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), whom Bond nicknames "C."  C has plans to shut down MI6 and the 00 program for good, replacing it with his modern international organization that shares intelligence digitally across numerous countries.  Can James Bond confront his past and stop SPECTRE?  Will M save MI6, or become a forgotten relic of the past?

REVIEW:
With the triumphant return of SPECTRE to the official James Bond franchise, there will be tons of spoilers in this review, so I'd recommend skipping it if you haven't seen the film yet.

The new SPECTRE logo

Continuing the story from the previous 3 films, James Bond goes out on his own to pursue the shady organization that's eluded him thus far.  When he causes a scene in Mexico, M grounds Bond, taking him off active status and ordering him to stay put in London.  He has Q install nanobots in Bond's bloodstream so they can monitor his location and activities.  But Bond isn't done chasing leads, so he asks Moneypenny to be his insider for information, and Q to let him "off the leash" for 48 hours.

Q issues Bond a new Omega watch; standard except for the "really-loud alarm," if you know what I mean.  He also teases Bond with a new Aston Martin DB10, but claims it's been reassigned to 009, since Bond is grounded.  Bond ends up stealing it anyway, and leaves Q a bottle of wine in its place.  We also see the frame of Bond's 1964 Aston Martin DB5.  Q is still rebuilding it since it was blown up in Skyfall (2012).

The Aston Martin DB10 was created just for this film! It's so sleek and sexy...

Bond claimed a ring with a sinister octopus on it off the finger of his first target in this film, and he uses it to enter the meeting place of SPECTRE, where he overhears some of their global plans.  He witnesses a new henchman take over for the one he killed: Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista), a large silent man with metal fingernails on his thumbs.

Mr. Hinx looming over his prey

Mr. Hinx is an amalgam of two classic henchman in the James Bond franchise: Oddjob, the mute, stout man with a metal-brimmed bowler hat, and Jaws, the mute giant with metal teeth.  Something about a large, imposing, silent man is very intimidating, and Dave Bautista pulls it off.  In a one-on-one fight, Bond finds himself outmatched against the relentless villain.

In my last review, I mentioned that we'd learn more about Bond's past in this film.  Well, Bond eventually runs into Franz Oberhauser, whom he knows as his step-brother.  Yes, after the first 5 or so James Bond films inspired the Austin Powers franchise, now this film will take a page out of Austin Powers' book and make the main hero and villain brothers.

After James Bond's parents died in a climbing accident, he was taken in by Hannes Oberhauser.  It was assumed that Hannes and his son Franz died in an avalanche.  But Franz was actually jealous of the good relationship between Bond and Hannes, so he staged the avalanche to kill of his father, then ran away.  Years later, he's the founder and leader of SPECTRE, spreading chaos across the globe in order to seize control.  And since he ran away, he's changed his name: Ernst Stavro Blofeld, named after his mother's side.

Blofeld tells Bond, "Me. It was all me, James. It's always been me. The author of all your pain."  All the previous villains in the past 3 films were all members of SPECTRE.  And as Bond took them down, Blofeld made sure to hurt Bond.  The death of Vesper, the death of M.  As he put it, "You interfered in my world, I destroyed yours."  So this entire rebooted franchise has been leading up to SPECTRE.

Like the classic films, Blofeld's been behind everything since the start

Kevin McClory, the writer/producer who made a successful legal claim for the rights to the Thunderball (1965) screenplay, passed away in 2006.  In 2013, EON Productions purchased all associated rights from McClory's estate, finally ending the 50-some year dispute.  SPECTRE and Blofeld, along with anything else associated with Thunderball (1965) and Never Say Never Again (1983), finally belong to the official James Bond franchise.  So that's how SPECTRE (2015) got made.  Quantum was made as a replacement organization originally, but with SPECTRE available for use, Quantum became a sub-organization of SPECTRE.

Oh, and remember Blofeld's first physical appearance in the franchise?  You Only Live Twice (1967) revealed his face and he was a bald man with a scar running over his right eye.  Well, SPECTRE (2015) gave him that scar, when a bomb Bond set off cut his face and blinded him in one eye.  Blofeld is in the trailer for the next Bond film, so it'll be interesting to see him continuing to be a thorn in Bond's side.

The sinister scar gets an origin story - and Bond's to blame!

An interesting note: When arguing for MI6, M tells C that you can't rely on drones and computers.  That sometimes you need a person to pull the trigger.  And he mentions that a license to kill is also a license to NOT kill, and when you look your target in the eye, you have to be able to make that distinction.  It's cool that the film ends on that note, with Bond standing over the injured Blofeld, pointing a gun at his head.  While Blofeld eggs him on to "finish it," Bond clears his weapon, then comments, "Out of bullets."  He made the choice not to kill, even though he had every right to.  And that's the distinction between 00 agents and intelligence officers sitting safely behind a computer.

James Bond, having stopped Blofeld, has to make the hard choice

The title theme song, named "Writing's On the Wall," was performed by Sam Smith.  Despite being a softer song, it's pretty emotionally impacting.  Not like the soft, love ballad theme songs from the late '70s/early '80s.  I really enjoy it, even if the artist's singing voice is so high, I can't sing along without dropping two octaves.  You can listen to it here:

RECOMMENDATION:
This film had a good mix of classic Bond and modern Bond that I really enjoyed.  We got to see SPECTRE and Ernst Stavro Blofeld again, plus their secret headquarters.  The stakes are higher, as SPECTRE has agents embedded everywhere and are taking over governments and intelligence communities.  This film brings the rebooted James Bond full-circle, giving a solid origin story for the character and his nemesis.  If you're a big fan of the James Bond franchise like I am, you can't miss this film!

Now unfortunately, Daniel Craig's final film as James Bond was due to be released this month (April 2020), but due to COVID-19 messing up all our lives, the film was pushed back to November 2020.  I was hoping to do this entire marathon to catch up with the Bond series so I'm primed for the latest (and last Craig) film.  But sadly, this is where we have to leave off for the next half year.  When No Time to Die (2020) releases in November, I'll be sure to review it for you all.  Until then, I hope you've enjoyed reading my reviews!