InSPECTRE Gadget?

The new Spectre trailer came out yesterday following the teaser a few months ago. As a 007 fan I’m keen to throw my odd-job hat into the ring of debate. To validate my own opinion and help you calibrate fan level status; when Skyfall came out in 2012 my university friends and I went to the cinema in tuxedos and my answer to the dinner party question if money was no concern what would you buy? is always the Aston Martin DB5.

-          As an aside I would like to mention that there is an Aston Martin Vanquish owner in my neighbourhood who has the plates JBD 007. However, it’s painted black. It just feels wrong.

I thought I’d give you a few hand-picked moments from the trailer for discussion. Let the nit-picking begin!

Dialogue

Firstly a word on how trailers have tried to tell too-much of the film in their brief two minutes. Whilst I appreciate that this is a trailer and that the actual lines are edited and cut differently in the film there is a lot of ham-fisted dialogue in an attempt to encompass the whole film. The fact is all the Mexico-City scenes could be cut with no impact on the impact of the trailer. Particularly as the “dry-wit” pay-off before the logo isn’t that funny. Ralph Fiennes setting the scene in his first outing as M irks unnecessarily for the sake of crow-barring in a start to the trailer. (Like I said though I know this isn’t how it goes down in the film. See: sitting behind desk vs standing for his lines). For another example see: “Its name, Spectre”; clearly two different non-sequential lines.

Tech

The DB10. Sleek and silver (like it should be) it delivers a healthy taster of the vicarious fantasy life that makes 007 films so appealing.

And then Q ruins it all with one distressing line.

There is one thing I have continually praised the reboot for; keeping the deus ex-machina gadgets to a minimum. I can forgive the endless product placement for this reason as it keeps us grounded in reality by having to use real technology. (Cue a thousand examples of how I’m wrong; Q’s hacking network in Skyfall, Sony Ericsson with ridiculous OS in Casino Royale. Etc.) Bond appeals to me most when he is just a well-trained, brawn and brain spy. He does not when he is Inspector Gadget; saving the day and defying death with the touch of a sci-fi button.  So when Q states the DB10 has “A few little tricks up her sleeve” it gets me worried that we’re slipping back into Brosnan territory.

Old Man

Another credit I give to the reboot is Bond’s and the wider cast’s realness and mortality (see: Fleming’s Casino Royale novel. Praise master book-reading race! Stay tuned for in detail Game of Thrones books vs show differences). James bled his way through the fight with the henchman in Casino and got battered and dusty in the desert in Quantum which stands in contrast to the ever-pristine Brosnan 007 who barely even sweated. It’s comforting then to see old-man Bond huff and puff through his lines on the mountain top. After the M bomb-shell in Skyfall and the threat of a new reboot not far away the chance of slipping the mortal coil is not inconceivable.

Referencing

There are several moments that mirror scenes from the previous films. Now I love a good reference (perhaps more than most). For instance, the classic trope of the “muscle” bad guy and the “smart” bad guy combo from in-series films such as The Spy Who Loved Me (Jaws and Stromberg) and out-series films like Raiders of the Lost Ark (Rene Belloq and the beefy-Nazi-from-the-plane-fight). However, there comes a point where it seems almost like lazy film making. Why do Bond and Q have to sit facing away from each other on a bench à la Q introduction in Skyfall? Is that dogma now? Do we meet new love-interests on trains purposefully now? Can villains only be revealed through hacker gimmicks on a (SONY) laptop?

Perhaps I’m being over-critical (I am). A friend of mine commented that the train scene is deliberately designed (and shot) to remind the viewer of Vesper and put them on edge; will 007 make the same mistake twice? “Make me disappear” likewise acts as a cheeky wink to the audience after the DB10 reveal in reference to the “Vanish” in Die Another Day (this thankfully relieved me of some of my gadget fears – it’s all just a tease; don’t worry).

Something more concerning though is Waltz’s (Blofeld’s??) line of “You came across me so many times yet you never saw me”. A well-orchestrated over-arching plot is a difficult thing to do right and it cannot be made up for after the fact. For example, the Marvel Cinematic Universe does well to plan ahead and tie the plot together throughout many films. On the other hand something that was not done well was J.K Rowling trying to shovel-in wand ownership and make the books retroactively align to that concept. I cannot say right now which Spectre will be. If there are genuine moments we can go back to in the previous films and say “Yes, I can see now this was actually Spectre” then this will be a tremendous bit of plotting. However, if we are now treated to flashbacks of re-shot scenes with Christophe Waltz now lurking in the shadows I will not be pleased.

Best Moment

Bond’s name on the war memorial. Gave me chills. A seriously good bit of cinematography.

-Norris

A final thought.

Andrew Scott given a split second looking evil? Really? Was there no one else to cast as the management level bad guy? I appreciate he fits the bill. I’d appreciate it even more if it’s a bait and switch and he turns out to be 006 or otherwise.