The first thing to say is that Spectre is a very good film. Theres a lot to enjoy about it - in particular, the opening tracking shot is fabulous, the action sequence in Mexico is a thing of rare intensity, Christoph Waltz is excellent, the MI6 gang come into their own, and the cinematography is absolutely glorious at points - but its far from perfect. Were it an instalment in the Mission: Impossible stable, for example, it'd be very much a superior film. However, it's a Bond film, and therefore ought to hold itself to higher standards of excellence than the rest of its ill-bred action-thriller ilk. Its wits need to be sharper, its tension more taut, its witticisms more cutting. In all honesty, it suffers a little just for not being Skyfall. That said, the problems aren't so glaring and structurally damaging that they couldn't have been sorted out with a few quick fixes here and there. Hopefully Sam Mendes will see this piece in time to sort out a tweaked Director's Cut DVD package. Before we begin: SPOILERS AHOY.
9. Give Us Some Notion Of What Spectre Intended To Do With All That Information
So Spectre are after this enormous mine of information about absolutely everything in the entire world, though as they prove early on in the film its not like they necessarily need it to get on with their evil doings. Theyd even managed to infiltrate half of MI6 by the looks of things so were doing perfectly well without it. Im all for general malevolence but the malevolence Spectre were projecting felt a little bit too general. What exactly would they have done with this massive intelligence network that was so much worse than what they were doing already? The threat of one big imminent attack which was enabled by the new intelligence pot would have just given the climax a bit more pep. We did get two ticking clock finales, but the resolution to the main plot just got sorted out by Q, and mostly off-screen at that. Fortunately M and C were having their heart-to-heart at the same time so it didn't get dull or anything, but while the threat of all that information getting into Spectre's hands is obviously A Very Bad Thing, the threat felt a touch vague and limp.