Spectre (James Bond)

[Cookie Monster]

The newest James Bond film will bring back one of his most iconic enemies.

The producers of the 007 franchise announced on Thursday morning that the 24th Bond flick — the fourth starring Daniel Craig — will be known as Spectre. The title recalls the global terrorist group that appeared in the very first Bond film, Dr. No, as well as novels by Ian Fleming. It is an acronym, at least in those old installments, for “Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion.”

For the last month, Christoph Waltz has been rumored to be joining the film as classic villain Blofeld, who happens to be the head of SPECTRE in the source material. Thursday’s announcement confirmed that he indeed will join the cast, but as a character named Oberhauser.

Worry not, classic Bond fans. This is a spy series after all, so that could be a code name or alter-ego.

Guardians of the Galaxy star Dave Bautista also joins the cast as an enforcer named Mr. Hinx, while Sherlock's Andrew Scott joins as Denbigh. The two Bond girls will be Blue Is the Warmest Color star Léa Seydoux as Madeleine Swann and Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra.

The film, which will be helmed by Skyfall director Sam Mendes, will bring back Ben Whishaw as Q, Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, and Ralph Fiennes as M.

If all that news wasn't enough, here's the official plot synopsis: "A cryptic message from Bond's past sends him on a trail to uncover a sinister organization. While M battles political forces to keep the secret service alive, Bond peels back the layers of deceit to reveal the terrible truth behind SPECTRE."

And now, behold, the first teaser poster for the film, which is due in theaters on Nov. 6, 2015:

Sauce

 

[Ghost X]

This is how you hype a movie.

Also, next up in information that can be easily google translated:

"Oberhauser" apparently means House of Lords. Does Germany have a UK-style house of lords? Seems to only be an insignificant town name. WHAT DOES IT MEAN!? .

 

[Ⓐaron]

Those casting announcements have me super excited.

 

[Super Mario]

I hope Christoph Waltz is Blofeld, but my main curiosity is how does SPECTRE corelate with Quantum now? Is Quantum their branch of organization or Rival? Is Mr. White ever going to return and finish his part in the two films they started?

Better yet, could Silva be a Rogue Agent or part of SPECTRE in secret? 8)))

 

[Marcus]

I was at work (naturally) when this announcement was made, still reading up on it now but I'm glad that it looks like it is going back to it's traditional routes. The casting has me super excited I'm glad Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harrisand Ralph Fiennes will all be reprising their roles as well as the announcements of the villains.

The old movies where Bond was battling Spectre are still my favorites so I'm super super glad it's going back to that organisation.

Also that new Aston Martin.... WOW

 

[Russell]

I am excite.

Monica Bellucci is looking good for 50.

Spoiler

 

[Cookie Monster]

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2014/12/new-james-bond-script-spectre-stolen-in-sony-hack/

An early version of the script was apparently stolen during the Sony hack.

Damn.

 

[Super Mario]

Oh this ruins my day.

 

[X-SOLDIER]

X

 

[ForceStealer]

That looks incredible.

I was looking forward to it as I look forward to every Bond film, but I seriously can't wait now. A return to using the theme, and car gadgets?!

 

[Cthulhu]

I haven't spotted any CGI either, that's different

 

[Ⓐaron]

To be fair, Bond films have usually relied mostly on practical effects, with few exceptions.

But yeah, that trailer is amazing.

 

[Cthulhu]

Also because most of them were made before CGI was a thing,

 

[Ⓐaron]

True, but even the recent ones don't use much CGI

 

[ForceStealer]

Die Another Day was probably their biggest foray into CGI. ANd look how that turned out (Actually though, only the wind-surfing looks BAD. The cars and other action scenes are largely practical, and the invisibility effect looked fine. Die Another Day's problems didn't really lie in the action.)

 

[Hisako]

Yeah even like, the car battle on the ice was fucking awesome and that was basically practical effects (the flipping of the car even, lol)

 

[ForceStealer]

I freakin love that car chase/battle.

In fact, if you go through Die Another Day's action scenes, skipping everything else, you could be forgiven for thinking it's a good movie

 

[Ⓐaron]

Die Another Day's action scenes were indeed pretty awesome

 

[X-SOLDIER]

X

 

[Roger]

Spoiler

Just got back from seeing it. Very enjoyable but I can't say it beats Casino Royale and Skyfall.

 

[Lex]

Hey guys, just saw this. It's been out for a whole week but I've been busy.

I've got to say, I really enjoyed it.

Spoiler

It didn't blow me away like Skyfall but I felt myself getting into it more and more as the movie progressed. Much like Skyfall, it's quite a long movie but I didn't feel that it dragged on particularly long.

I also particularly loved that

Spoiler

JudiDench!M left him a "dying wish", which is something that went unspoiled for me. Considering the villain turns out to be someone you're not really expecting coupled with it being tied to Bond's past is also something I enjoyed.

Also fuck me are there

Spoiler

previous Bond references GALORE. GALORE. I was like "k then". Pretty well done too, particularly with who is that says them.

And can I just say

Spoiler

I loved the involvement of Q, Moneypenny and M in this one. They get a nice amount of screen time.

Also on the ending:

Spoiler

pleased with that tbh, it's been a while since they've had a Bond end like that and it didn't feel forced.

 

[Cthulhu]

Spectre and MI: Rogue Nation are the same movie

 

[ForceStealer]

Hey guys, just saw this. It's been out for a whole week but I've been busy.

I've got to say, I really enjoyed it.

Spoiler

It didn't blow me away like Skyfall but I felt myself getting into it more and more as the movie progressed. Much like Skyfall, it's quite a long movie but I didn't feel that it dragged on particularly long.

I also particularly loved that

Spoiler

JudiDench!M left him a "dying wish", which is something that went unspoiled for me. Considering the villain turns out to be someone you're not really expecting coupled with it being tied to Bond's past is also something I enjoyed.

Also fuck me are there

Spoiler

previous Bond references GALORE. GALORE. I was like "k then". Pretty well done too, particularly with who is that says them.

And can I just say

Spoiler

I loved the involvement of Q, Moneypenny and M in this one. They get a nice amount of screen time.

Also on the ending:

Spoiler

pleased with that tbh, it's been a while since they've had a Bond end like that and it didn't feel forced.

Finally saw this the other day. I enjoyed it, Lex summed up my feelings pretty well. No, not as good as Skyfall, but Skyfall was unusually good, so that's not completely unexpected.

I'm also happy that they're slowly (very slowly) starting to integrate the actual Bond theme back into the movies again. Although I could still do with more.

Definitely with you on the involvement of other characters and the ending as well.

 

[Hisako]

I watched it on a whim a few weeks ago and I came away from it mostly lukewarm. To me it felt like a perfectly average, functional Bond movie but not much else.

First of all, the opening song did not warm me up to the film as much as any previous Craig-era Bond film and it might just be my least favorite out of them. Say whatever you will about Quantum of Solace's bad pacing but it had an incredible cracker of an opening and a really fun song to go with.
The action of the opening scene in Spectre was great, but it takes a really, really well-nuanced voice and some good mixing for me to enjoy a falsetto and Sam Smith's one really takes me out of the mood when it goes solo for the majority of the chorus, multiple times. It's a shame because I think the melody is a killer and the atmosphere of the orchestra is amazing, and the visual stuff is still pretty good, on par with Skyfall. I think Adele did a much better job reconciling the classic Bond vocal theme with modern sensibilities.

I like all the cameos and appreciate the attempts to connect everything in the Craig era to a single villain (a particularly well-done one, too) but it all smacks of something that was devised for the moment rather than something written in. Quantum was supposed to be the arc, and that was quickly scuttled when people didn't like it.

There are times where I wonder whether or not the film is trying to take the piss out of itself. Madeleine Swann seemed like a pretty interesting Bond Girl when she insists that she wouldn't be another conquest, but then, you know. I know it's a classic trope, but a post-fight smash cut to them tearing at each others clothes had me seriously rolling my eyes.

Speaking of, I felt Bautista and Bellucci were wasted somewhat. Bautista chews up the scene every time he's in it, and he inhabits the character as if he's having the time of his life. It's great and I wish he maintained persistence of the previous henchmen that he evoked so well. Bellucci's role feels so pithy that it's painfully obvious that she was cast as the secondary Bond Girl.

I was hoping the pencil pushing, sallow-faced smarmy bureaucrat guy (C, I think it was?) wasn't going to be who I thought he was from the very start of the film, but I guess it wouldn't have been on-the-nose enough for the story's themes.

Overall for me it was really the really great performances of the actors that kept it afloat, because the film itself felt so tropey and formulaic compared to the previous ones. I still had a lot of fun watching it, but overall on the scale of QoS to Casino Royale and on the back of Skyfall, of all movies, I wouldn't grade it particularly high.

 

[Ghost X]

Radiohead's song initially intended for Spectre (scroll down for song), if anyone is interested .