Spectre: 5 Awesome Things (And 8 That Sucked) In The New James Bond

7. A Familiar Waltz

Christoph Waltz is a brilliant actor, but Franz Oberhauser is a paper-thin character. Problem is, he's more of a mystery than a person. His role is to be 'puppet master', shadowy, illusive, so that when he finally does step out of the shadows and starts to talk, it's all a bit... nothing. The filmmakers rely on him being the 'Head of Spectre' way too much, content that because fans recognise the evil cabal as being 'important to Bond's mythos' that it automatically makes Oberhauser a distinct and memorable villain, when it really doesn't. He just stands around and talks about beauty, horror and being the author of James Bond's pain. There's none of the preening sexual menace of Silva, or the staunch, dead-eyed cool of Mads Mikkelsen. He's just Christoph Waltz. It's a clear-cut example of screenwriting laziness. They don't really imbue Oberhauser with personality of his own, rather they expect Waltz to provide all of the character beats by himself. The problem with that is, we've see Waltz be an iconic villain by this point. When Oberhauser giggles or says "Cuckoo" it's just Hans Landa sniggering or saying "Bingo" all over again. We recognise all the affections, and there's very little in the script, so it's all a bit 'been-there, done-that'. A terrible shame.