Oh, yes! And I also think of „The Roy Black Story“ on RTL.
He definitely had that look when he was young.
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Waltz’ problem with Bloferhauser isn’t so much the weird backstory or the nonsensical name change IMO - it’s that the role doesn’t make enough of his charming side, nor lets us see him do evil. His connection should have been with Madeleine and his initial role should have been as Bond’s ally, ideally really making Bond and us fond of him. The impact would have been that much more involving if the audience shared the rollercoaster with Bond.
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Like Hinx he was overexposed in the PR to be underused in the actual movie.
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There is some quality that doesn’t make it to the screen the way you’d expect it to: the photography is undercut by the colour scheme idea, the fabulous Hinx shines most in the single good fight, Bellucci leaves the tale too soon and without consequence, the abduction happens almost offscreen and the chases are, for all their spectacular potential, less involving than they could be.
SPECTRE is the strongest in its quiet moments, the cemetery scene, the wait at the train stop in the middle of nowhere, the meteorite scene, Mr White’s last interview above all. They all have a touch of surrealism, rare moments where the big screen turns into an intimate theatre stage. I even love the idea of using that hideously ugly Lego ruin as setting for the final act.
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Bond handing Madeleine the gun on board the train is another good sequence, and their brief attempt at dinner before Hinx rudely interrupts really gets to the heart of Bond’s existence. I think the SPECTRE boardroom meeting hit the right note, too. Hinx didn’t reach the heights of Jaws or Stamper but his introduction was very old school cool, and I’d like to see more of that.
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In preparation I tried to watch SP but some time into the movie I switched it to Moonraker and then had a great time, watched Knives out with Craig and had a good time, SP really has fallen lower in my appreciation.
I do hope that Craigs last one is a swansong, he certainly deserves one.
All good sequences.
I’d also add the brief scenes showing Bond and Madeleine entering their respective rooms at Blofeld’s base, as nice old school touches, too. Plus I enjoy the Q scene in his lab.
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The needle drills starting up close to Bond’s eyes is genuine horror. And the two crows flying out towards Bond in White’s cabin is similar to Glen’s pigeon scares.
I always wanted a fifth Craig film but SPECTRE’s coda with Q and Madeleine worked nicely in terms of a conclusion. Really curious to see how NTTD compares in that regard.
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The longer I wait for NTTD the more SP grows in quality for me - and I have not even rewatched it for years!
Something about some of its sequences sticks in my mind and makes me think this is the first Bond film which leans toward the horror genre. LALD incorporated parts of that, too, but balanced those with Sir Roger‘s suave humoristic approach.
SP really goes to dark places, which I assume is Mendes‘ goal since his depiction of Silva (the jaw prothese) already went there.
SP might not have been the Bond film I wanted in 2015. But it surely is one that gives the franchise a different spin.
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It has some truly Bondian moments that are mindful of the first four Connery films. But like all Bond films since TLD, it’s lacking a big battle of armies at the end. This should have happened at Blofeld’s lair with Felix bringing in the cavalry (after Bond mentioned his CIA friend to Monica Belluci earlier in the film.) Credit them for attempting something different (the girl dumping him before the finale, Bond resisting killing Blofeld once captured.) I’m looking forward to how they continue Bond and Madeleine with Bond having to deal with her “betrayal”, whatever that may be, relative to how he handled the loss of Vesper. Too often, Bond movies move on from the latest Bond partner, either killing her off during the film, or disappearing completely between films. Will be interesting to see how Bond carries on while not “with” Madeliene.
The books often mention how his relationships petered out or failed. He exchanged Christmas cards with Gala Brand in Moonraker, and lived with Tiffany Case for a while after Diamonds Are Forever (ala Paris Carver in TND.) It’d be nice if sleeping with James Bond wasn’t always a death sentence (something M mentions to him in both CR and QoS.)
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Watching the Bond meets Swann-scene/psychology evaluation, I must say again, how brilliantly written and acted this is.
NTTD needs to really work to approach that level.
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I watched it just now, and I’m a fan. It’s widely known the London finale falls flat, but individual scenes before that are very good indeed. My prediction is that NTTD elevates the appreciation of SPECTRE, with it now becoming an extended prologue for what seems to be a popular conclusion.
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For me, the funniest line is “Don’t let me interrupt.”
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It really gains from being connected to NTTD. And now that it does not have to carry the burden of being Craig‘s swan song anymore, it becomes its own. The horror film Bond, with an eerie nightmare quality. I can even appreciate the final act now since it contributes to the feeling of surrealism.
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The social critique that the UK is literally represented on the world stage by Voldermort and Moriarty
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To think that I hadn’t noticed this before 
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Summary
The NTTD version seems even closer to Voldemort…
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Spectre is vying with CR for first place in my Craig rankings, mainly because it is the only one in his canon that ticks most of my boxes - in that it starts and ends like a good ol’ Bond film, with plenty of Bond-like moments in between.
NTTD is in no danger of replacing either. Even more than QoS and Skyfall, it’s not telling a story I want to watch unfold repeatedly.
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Saw this last night. Apologies if it’s already been posted:
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More dark tunnels in NTTD just when we’d seen so many in Skyfall and Spectre!!
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