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First half: some cracking action, gorgeous cinematography, good henchmen, real fun, and holy shit, Ana De Armas kicks some serious ass.
But once Rami Malek comes into the picture full time, we get lots of speeches about "the past" and "we're the same, you and I" (material far better trod in the previous two movies), we get Malek doing his whole very mannered thing, and we get, worst of all, a completely inexplicable plan. I'll cover this in some moderate spoilers at the bottom of this post in very clearly labeled fashion... but this movie screams "redone on the fly." As a result of everything getting so messy, the stakes, which they attempt to ratchet up big time, just... don't really play. And all of this makes Malek pretty easily the worst of the Craig Bond villains... and probably one of the worst in some time beyond that.
So the final act is mostly free of suspense-- save for one really terrific oner action sequence-- and the impact of the very end just doesn't hit nearly as effectively as it should. I haven't rewatched Spectre in a while (going to do so this weekend)... but this may be my least favorite of the Craig Bonds. Which is a shame, considering the first half is really good.
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*** LIGHT SPOILERS BELOW ***
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*** SOME SPOILERS ***
I can't for the the life of me figure out Malek's plot. So okay, at first, it's revenge against Spectre, it's nanobots targeting DNA, cool, I'm with it... but then he's got an island where he's growing poison and he's got a lake filled with acid or something but he's still doing the nanobot plot only now it's against huge chunks of the world for some reason and I've absolutely no clue what his deal is or how it's working. Is he still making nanobots? James wants to blow up the island-- will that prevent nanobots from getting in the water? If it's even nanobots? Or if it's poison, isn't putting that in the ocean bad? Wouldn't the stuff targeting people's DNA just be in the water now? Or, if that needs to be activated or whatever like it was before, can't they just blow up the computer and not the island? And he kidnaps Madeline for some reason, maybe he's obsessed with her or something... but then he lets her go pretty easily? And lets the kid go INSANELY easily?
Like, I hate to be The Guy Who Needs To Know How It Works, because normally I don't give a shit, but there's just sooooooooo little explanation. So at the end of the day, it's not like Bardem or even Waltz where it's so clearly a specific character. He's just kind of Rami Malek, Guy With Poison Or Something Who Gets His Revenge But Then Also Wants To Kill A Shitload of Other People Maybe.
Also, the complete removal of Ana De Armas after the Cuba sequence is such an absolute waste-- and definitely does *not* seem like it was planned to be an early exit. They give this enticing bit at the end of that sequence, where it's clear she's undersold her experience, and we don't know why, so she's kind of mysterious and sexy and interesting... and then WE NEVER SEE HER AGAIN. Huh?? Why tease something interesting about a character if you're just going to ditch her? Much like the finale in general, that feels like a post-production choice. Maybe there's more of her that got cut out. No clue.
So yeah, lots of mess in this movie. Just all over the place. Rather disappointing. But the first half? Pretty righteous. Probably worth the ticket for that alone. Just brace yourself once Malek comes in for a lot of exposition, repetition, and inexplicable plot.
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