What makes Spectre so bad is that there was no reason for it to be. Craig knew the role inside and out, it had a great cast, a seasoned director. At least QOS had outside forces that made it what it was. Writers strike, last second rewrites, etc. Spectre was like Joe said, bland. I walked out of the theater so bored, the ending felt like a bad ripoff of Lethal Weapon.

After recently watching Quantum. Yes Spectre is Craig's worst, with the boring padded plot, boring action sequences, all of the recons of Craig's previous movies, the ending and the worst Blofeld's being Bond's foster brother was unforgivable!

SPECTRE was a huge disappointment. Worst Craig Bond movie, and one of the worst overall Bond movies, IMO.

This film was essentially the studio going "oh, oh, oh WE HAVE THE SPECTRE RIGHTS! Quick, let's make a movie. What's that? Take time? No, do something with spectre. Anything!!"

Original producers Albert Broccoli and Harry Saltzman would have been greatly disappointed in Spectre.

Everybody says Quantum was Craig's worst but I disagree!

I liked SPECTRE all the way up until the ending in London. The climax of the movie should’ve been in the desert, with more buildup and a more prolonged escape from the bad guy’s lair by Bond and Bond Girl, reminiscent of Dr. No and others. Btw, I thought the reason Blofeld played the video was ostensibly to reveal that Bond handed him the gun, but that ultimately didn’t develop into anything.

I thought it was Craig’s worst by far. The relationship with Blofeld, wasted DB10/Jag in a mundane “chase”, wasted a potentially great henchman in Hinx. Drilled in the head made him the perfect shot at a base made out of nitroglycerin and a finale with the Scooby gang blowing up the riverhouse (which is still there last time I looked) and driving away to retirement in the DB5 which was blown up in Skyfall to get away from doing this for a bit. Makes Diamonds look like a classic. Not a fan.

The fight scene on the train is one of the best fight scenes I’ve ever seen. The thing that makes this so frustrating is that absolutely none of it makes sense in the context of story. Directly before the flight there are passengers and employees on the train and everything seems normal. Then out of nowhere Hinx shows up and suddenly the train is empty. If Blofeld knows that bond is on the way to him and wants him to come there so that he can do his big reveal and then personally kill bond then why is Hinx showing up on the train to kill bond and stop him from coming there. Wouldn’t he try to capture James Bond to deliver him to Blofeld? Directly after the scene when they’ve shot a part and busted apart half of the suddenly empty train it’s time to make love. Is this a dream sequence? What in the world just happened? And seriously, where did all of the passengers and train employees go? Was Hinx on the train the whole time? Was Bloefeld controlling the entire train? Did Bloefeld want Hinx to kill Bond and prevent him from arriving at his HQ? The following scenes don’t suggest anything of the sort. I’m not being picky here, I’m genuinely confused.

So glad to finally hear someone criticising that horrible sepia tint over the beginning of SPECTRE, to spend that much time and money on a set piece and then make it look like CGI was utterly baffling.

I literally just watch spectre 5 hours ago! My main gripe is how under utilize the christoph waltz is use. Comical escape scene in the desert and the shooting a helicopter with a pistol.

I guess it's me, I'm a lone voice here. I'm a life long Bond fan and I liked Spectre. I liked it better than Quantum. I've seen it 4 or 5 times and I still enjoy watching it. I loved the action, I loved Blofeld (2nd best after Telly Savalas), I loved the car chase. 2 things I did not like, neither of you brought up. I did not like the childhood connection between Blofeld and Bond, the whole "I hate you because you stole my daddy" thing was unnecessary and bit ridiculous. I did not like the easy escape from the building at the end. That net was just too convenient. But I have to say I loved everything else. I thought the plot was good, the fact that Spectre was going to be hooked into every intelligence agency in the world was awesome and scary to me. I care about my privacy. But art is subjective. A midst all the criticism, I still manage to enjoy Spectre every time. As a Craig film it still takes the Bond seriously and plays him to reality. I'm not a Roger Moore Bond fan. Except for Live and Let Die and For Your Eyes Only all his films were farcical and almost Austin Powers comedies. I thought Moore, who is a great actor, just made fun of Bond and treated him with a little contempt. A View to a Kill is the worst Bond film by far, it's unwatchable. That's a bad movie, not Spectre.

Spectre has some really great scenes, I loved the Mexico one shot, the Altausee and Rome scenes and the plane crash. The movie also has some of my favorite bond outfits. But the movie completely falls apart in the London finale for me. It's a poorly written, rushed ending. The gun range scene, finding Madeline in this huge complex basically by accident, convenient net they can jump into, even more convenient rhib to chase the heli and then shooting it down with a 9mm handgun... What the hell?! This completely destroyed the immersion and the movie for me.

I was laughing so hard when you imitated the singing. It made my day 😂

I agree with everything in this review. And I'd add: the casting of Andrew Scott. Thanks to his work on "Sherlock", whenever he comes on the screen now it practically screams "VILLAIN!!"

It's always hard for me to understand why such high budget movie has such a bad script..... not understand why they hire the same writers time and time again. by the way: great video guys!

One name... Christoph Waltz... if they had a script that fully realized his talents as an actor and developed the Bond/Blofeld backstory... the film would have been ten times better. Just look at him in Inglorious Basterds or Django... the script was a waste of his talent.

Loved that one.. There are far far far far worse Bond films...

I managed to watch the whole Spectre only once..worst bond movie ever

end of casino royale: bond is bond quantum: bond is amateur bond skyfall: bond becomes bond again spectre: bond is the bond we see in goldfinger-thunderball

You two should review every Bond movie like that

It's far and away his weakest. Shame too since I love CR, QOS, and SF.

17:40 Bond asked Madeleine to look at him while the video of the suicide was being played by Blofeld coz Bond didn't want her to see her dad committing suicide on video. Yes, she already knows he took his own life as told by Bond, but it would be traumatising for her if she had seen that happening on video. Hence why Bond asked her to look at him and not watch the video. I'm surprised you guys didn't really see it for what it was. I thought it was a powerful and very emotional scene.

Spectre is one of my favorite Bond films. So many great nods and Blofeld reborn is fantastic. Madeline Swan is great, the DB10, the opening sequence is fantastic and they broke a record with the largest film explosion in history.

Quantum of solace is the most hard core daniel craig james bond serious with broken heart fighting is one of the best after casino royale

It’s so interesting getting the perspective of the non-British audience. To us Brits Bond can do no wrong. But you can look at it more objectively. I am also impressed with your observations around the subtleties of the character

Falls apart in third act. Crazy thing is, from the Sony email leaks we know THEY knew the script had a weak third act. And yet...they still shot it. Weird.

Actually I just rewatched Spectre and Quantum tonight, back to back. Surprisingly I actually liked QOS! I don't remember it being that good. I guess I was comparing it to Casino Royale when it first came out. Craig was in great Bond form. I also liked Spectre better this time around, despite the flaws mentioned, which are still valid (horrid song, ridiculous yellow filter, botching Blowfeld). Some beautiful segments in the film though. The biggest flaws were in the last half hour.

There is a lot to love about this movie. The simple solution to its flaws would be to make the climax in London the penultimate scene and to stage the final confrontation with Blofeld in the desert with maybe a bit more exposition in their relationship.

If Lynn spilt Sunny Delight over my copy of Spectre, I wouldn't give a toss.

Another excellent video - love your joint videos! Spot on as always!

In the Cinema here was just four of us for an early morning showing and when I saw the urine coloured screen I thought "do I need to tell someone about this?" I literally spent ten minutes wondering if the colour balance was off on the projector. awful.

Boy it's not a good sign when a Bond actor has two movies that are so bad it's hard to decide which is worse

The only quality action scene in Spectre was the train fight. Even that doesn't hold a candle to any of the action in Casino Royale. Almost every action scene in Casino Royale felt like a finale. Ahhhhhhhh........ Oh yeah, we're talking about Spectre. Spectre sucks.

New Theory: The 3rd film is where the actor finds his Bond.

Oh I really enjoyed this! Spectre for me is easily the worst of Craig's. I've come to appreciate QoS a lot more since the last two, because it has more energy, great action, and Bond is mostly on his own, without the Scooby Gang as you say- although they're still often on the phone.. It also has a lot of great funny quotable moments such as " I don't think he smoked" and M saying "damn him, he killed him", to name a few. It's a memorable Bond film and Marc Foster is unfairly criticised for certain stylistic choices he made. But at least he didn't bog the film down with 'emotional' baggage, 'secrets', the modern popular way of selling a film (the promise of twists and reveals) and clumsy self aware references to older films. I was hoping for a similar film from NTTD but it seems to be a mix of the best and worst aspects of Craig's films. But let's hope they all fit together for a more satisfying film of which we can confidently say "yes, that was a great Bond film!" and still enjoy each time we rewatch it. ALSO you did a great job with the retro trailer at the end there! I'll have to watch some of your other reviews in this series. Cheers.

"SPECTRE: Is It Craig's Worst?" That's like asking, "Was Tommy Wiseau's 'The Room' a bad film?"

What I miss about the Craig films is the scuba diving scenes but that is just me.

So glad you mentioned that bit in the hotel from QOS David, I Love it!

Gents: The ease of infiltrating SPECTRE via the ring is simply Blofeld 'letting' Bond into his lair - he's clearly expecting him.

The yellowing of Mexico City scenes has always angered me (and I lived there for 2 years). This piss-yellowing frequently gets applied to so-called third-world countries in western-made films for contrast, I guess, but it's almost a put-down. The City if strikingly beautiful without filtering!

I really thought Skyfall ended beautifully so much so I believed Daniel Craig would have signed off with a trilogy. Spectre was quite underwhelming for me. Craig’s best films were Casino Royale and Skyfall.

And the torture scene, Blofeld drills into Bond's brain, says it's broken now but...he's totally fine? Does Blofeld not know how to use his own equipment? Did the writers forget what they wrote previously again??

SPECTRE: Is it Craig's Worst? Me "YES"

Is it Craig's Worst? YES! love your content David. No Time To Die is less than 90 days away.

9:05 the song is a ball squeezer

Just FYI The reason behind Blofeld showing Madeleine the recording Well first of all there was no way that Blofeld would’ve known that bond had already mentioned to her that he was present when her father took his own life second and easily overlooked is the fact that bond never told Madeline that he had provided her dad the weapon to do it and it this point bond feared the impact it would have on her hence why it’s very likely he reacted the way that he did. Lol just that I’d share. 😄

Hi David, and Joe. Here are my thoughts. Of the four Daniel Craig films it is my personal favourite. Infact it's my favourite Bond film. Partly because I saw it at the cinema, as well as Skyfall. I loved the locations, I loved the pace, I enjoyed the soundtrack. I admit that there are problems with it though. But I don't mind them. The interesting thing for me was a local television channel in England ran Spectre with cuts in it, that annoyed me. As it softened the film too much. Thanks for the chat though

I don’t know which I dislike more, Spectre or NTTD. Both had great scenes, but both had glaring flaws. Casino Royale was definitely Craig’s best, Skyfall second.

Did you upgrade your camera...looked like amazing video quality.

If you didn't like Smith's song, here's mine which I recorded BEFORE the film, but knowing the title - enjoy! www.reverbnation.com/rene/song/23848206-spectre

Rewatched Spectre last night, and had to pause it and do some other activity half way through as it just wasn't engaging enough. I recall dozing off in the cinema on my first viewing. I watched the supercar chase scene, in the beautiful Rome setting, perplexed how it could feel so boring. Mendes got Skyfall so right and this so wrong, or the writers did, at any rate.

Enjoyed the debate ... Agree Spectre ( The yellow wash movie) was a missed oppertunity.... DC posted in the performance of Bond ... Blofeld was mis written and played .... And the story was clunky ... Fingers really crossed for NTTD.

Another great discussion David just stated listening to Being James bond too I still like this film but def a step down

You forgot to mention the step brothers BS.

I would have preferred to have seen Lucia Sciarra be with Bond throughout the movie instead of Madeleine Swann...even though it would stuff up the plot - not that it was the best anyway lol! Excellent retro take on the No Time To Die trailer too...looks and sounds much better than the original (thumbs up)

The happiest memory of seeing Spectre for the first time was the fact they got the classic gun barrel back at the start. It features the dullest car chase in the franchise, but the train fight echoes FRWL and was great. The ending was just too dragged out, would have preferred a helicopter chase in the desert after escaping.

The building they used for MI6 in Spectre is the treasury building in Westminster. Churchill lived there for much of WW2 (the Churchill War rooms you can visit are in the basement) and gave the VE speech from its balcony. As someone who has worked in that building that was my highlight. Film felt like a bit of a mess with too many ideas.

It's not just one of Craig's worst, it's easily in the bottom three of all Bond films, truly shambolic film

I went to the James Bond cinematic museum on a 10,000ft mountain 🏔 in Austria 🇦🇹 ski resort called Sölden. It’s where they filmed most of Spectre. The museum is spectacular and you can visit whilst wearing your ski boots. I can tell you, the first room which is a long tunnel like a battery of a gun plays the Spectre music and it’s spectacular. So whilst you may not like the song with the lyrics, the instrumental is extremely powerful

The film is an absolute mess. Everything appears phoned in and the script is secondary to the film. I'd describe this piece of crapola as one big Vanity Fair photo shoot in sepia tone. Honestly, I don't think 'Skyfall' was much better. 'SPECTRE' suffered from the same faults in scriptwriting with a director who was clearly more focused on hodgepodge "poetic" evocations than logic and quality.

There are many satisfying scenes, like the whole Monica Belucci sequence. There are many more cringe-worthy moments- like the step-brother reveal, "touch it!", and the ending (Bond "arrests" Blofeld??). 3. The movie feels completely deadline-driven, like it was finished in a panic. Like David, I feel it was a missed opportunity, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy parts of it.

Loved this video. I agree with everything both of you have said. Such a huge opportunity to bring back Blofeld as an intimidating presence in an elaborate lair (not a freakin' conference room) and to leverage Christoph Waltz's maniacal side and they blew it. I'm hoping No Time To Die comes back strong and is more cohesive. Casino Royale had one main goal. Goldfinger had one main goal. The last few were all over the place. After the strong Bond song for Skyfall, I thought the one for Spectre was putrid. Bring back Shirley Bassey or Nancy Sinatra or even Tom Jones for chrissakes, or st least get someone who can do a Bond-type song. The other thing I'd love to see brought back from the old days is Bond's worldliness, his bon vivant side with knowledge of fine wines, caviar, etc., I know Craig could do it if the writers captured Bond a little better and weren't trying to compete with Bourne and Mission Impossible. Casino Royale captured the magic (probably because Martin Campbell understands Bond). None since have captured it, not even Skyfall, which was a far sight better than Quantum or Spectre, and a great film in general, but broke from the Bond formula a little to much for me. Just my 2 cents.

Loved it guys. True Bond speak hear. To me key issue of Spectre is the same as Quantum. It just feels rushed and diced together. There are moments at make you smile and feel like they had the right idea but overall it doesn't fit together cohesively.

I initially hated spectre. Watched it again and didn't take it too seriously. Somewhat liked it- great opening, good action sequences and beautiful cinematography. However, I was not a fan of the final act. Towards the end, it felt bloated and contrived. I couldn't buy the twist at the end that tried to connect the previous films. I felt that undermined the arcs in the other Craig films; where the villains had their own motives.

I am gong to say "Yes" it is the worst of the Craig films so far despite many saying "Quantum of Solace" being the worst one. I can see why many would say Quantum of Solace" is worse than "Spectre", but like how the two great Craig films in "Casino Royale" and "Skyfall" have one thing over another whether it depends on taste or objective points, the same goes for the two weaker ones. The weakest for both films are the scripts, but I think I will give Quantum of Solace" over "Spectre" on this one on the basis that it at least has the excuse of the writer's strike for its faults, something "Spectre" really can't even before the Sony leak. The feeling that I get after watching "Quantum of Solace" is a very middling like feel or to quote Futurama: "I have no strong feelings, one way or the other", whereas with "Spectre" I get a huge sense of frustration as I am watching it. None helping factors include the fact that as follow ups to their previous films, I say "Quantum of Solace" works a lot better as it at least for the most part understood the point of "Casino Royale" from a thematic stand point even if the film in places feel like one of those DLC missions from a video game that doesn't really add anything to overall story. "Spectre" felt like a film that missed the point of "Skyfall" with it continuing to go back to Bond's past despite the ending to "Skyfall" making it clear that a back basics of the Connery era and moving forward from the past was the direction they were going to go for. Sure "Spectre" had some Bondian elements to it, but they have the same issues to that of the Brosnan film in which they felt they were there to fill in a checklist and the film kind of has an identity crisis of wanting to be a tradition Bond film in terms of scope and humour, but also ants to carry on with the psychology and character development that has somewhat defined the Craig films and doesn't do well in either cases. It also helps that "Quantum of Solace" is mercifully short as parts of "Spectre" REALLY drag on.

Some harsh truths from the 'A Tale of Two Cardigans' team there but fair nonetheless. I don't want to be disappointed in Spectre because I love Craig and I love the idea of Spectre's return to the series. But yeah, there are some clunkers in there which seem inexplicable in hindsight. Piss yellow is not a good look for a film either. It has in no way dampened my enthusiasm for the next film however. Maybe the opposite actually. Anyway, good review and worth watching to hear David's attempt at the song which was almost as great as his 'Another Way to Die' rendition!

4:37 That's my favorite James Bond fight scene, easily. I've watched it over a dozen times, it's amazing. But the rest of the movie is mostly dull.😴

what kinda watch are u wearing here David ?

Totally agree! When they get to Blofeld‘s lair the whole thing jumps the shark. Shame. Especially the „it was about you all along“ twist made me hurl. Knowing there was a different version of the last part makes this even sadder.

I THINK with time 'spectre' has grown on me, but. i think you have to invest in the fact that Bond & Blowfeld have a back story. once you are able to do this the film is better & the car chase was epic !

I like to think that the torture scene re-tunes 007 and he gains this massive accuracy skill.

Telling someone what happened and showing it is two different things so it's easy for me to understand that part. The Plane sequence might not be Daniel Craig bond scene, but it is a bond scene and this is a bond film.

Blofeld being Bond’s brother? Dude they already did that in Austin Powers in Goldmember! 😂

I loved this series. I hope you guys review all the movies.

I was nonstop laughing throughout this whole video... you guys are spot on, haha I'm dead.

You are right-When I first saw this I loved it! As time went on....and I saw it several times....well not so much. It’s got lots of great moments...I like the pre-titles...I loved seeing Blofeld again...I thought Hinx was a classic 007 Henchman...Craig was great as usual... but the film overall seems flat. The action-outside of the great train fight-is very average and forgettable. I especially hate the action at Spectres base...just compare that with YOLT base and it’s not even in the same universe! (And that was almost 50 years ago!!) Everything about the finale was awful-I bet all of us 007 fans could have come up with a cooler ending than they did! And of course,the Austin Powers -Dr Evil brother connection was so ridiculous that it’s unbelievable someone at EON didn’t say “NO!” Hopefully No Time To Die will be get everything back on track!! Hey-FANTASTIC trailer at the end David!!😎😎😎👍👍

They could have done so much more with this. The best part was Sam Smith song. Waltz was a boring Blofeld, Telly Savalas was the best.

As of doing my most recent ranking (not just of the Craig films but of the whole series) I was shocked to realize that Sam Mendes directed both my favorite and least favorite Bond films out of the entire series. Wild, man. Just goes to show how all-important the script is.

Just look at this as your typical Bond movie and it’s great. Viewed as your typical Craig movie it’s a huge step down. It’s the evolution of the typical nuttiness they were reintroducing in Skyfall like a larger than life megalomaniac and the usual puns that were featured more prominently in the older movies.

Excellent review

The reason why bond told her not to look is because it is much different when someone is told how your father died and actually to watch your father's death. It makes sense. It's the psychology of how the brain processes information. As a trained spy/assassin bond is trained to understand how someone will respond or not respond. Mi6, cia, mossad, ccp etc are trained in psychological warfare. I think you forget who james bond character is in the movie's.

The reason Craig was snoozing through his lines in Spectre was because he was on painkillers after his knee operation.

I thought Quantum was much better thatn Spectre, even taking my first impressions into account (Quantum's fast cut editing was very annoying but the film was otherwise ok and has grown on me somewhat) - but i think what you say about Craig is very true - He was still all-in when he did QoS, he seems to not give a shit anymore, which makes his pouty performances that much worse to watch.

The only real issue I have with spectre is the love angle. Didn’t make sense. They had no rapport and just met.

Can you do a best bond watch video?

The problem with Spectre is they tried to make Bond a slow burn indie spy film. It ended up being boring and not fun. I wish the writers wrote a more unveiling story of this evil organization and make Bond more of a detective. But it is what it is.

It's incredible that they got Christoph Waltz to come back for the next movie after this, I guess he never watched it Loved the remix of the no time to die trailer

I felt underwhelmed by the film after first coming out of it. I agree on joes point about bond having to win over m although I feel it started with dalton though in the living daylights a little and more so in licence to kill. in licence to kill though it makes sense in though with the plot.

In Spectre they recycled the score from Skyfall. 🤮

22:09 There's a similar theory about Minority Report - after Anderton is captured and put into a coma in the future-prison, the rest of the movie (including his escape) is just his dream.

Blofeld showed Madeleine the tape to point out "the things that bring people together" LOL He was trying to justify his organizations actions in a subtle weird way.

I hate that some stuff from spectre found its way into NTTD ( obviously ofcourse). Blofeld, madeleine having a kid, Bond having more luck than skill. I really dislike that.

Craig is EON’s worst 007. While Casino Royale was a good movie the entire Craig era is a lowered standard. They should have made him a different double character and rebooted the franchise with him as 006,5,4,3,2,8 or 9

Do I think this is Craig's best? No (Casino Royale is the best, in my opinion). Do I think this is Craig's worst? No (Quantum is hard for me to enjoy, coming off of the greatness of CR). However, I do enjoy SPECTRE a lot. My whole problem with it is the whole Blofeld/Bond connection and that all the previous movies have been Blofeld tormenting Bond. Just seemed silly and too convenient.

I enjoy Spectre very much. My only problem is that it lacks a proper climatic action sequence.

I love SPECTRE in that it marked the return of my favorite fictional criminal organization to the EON films (I have the TB SPECTRE logo tattoo on my left arm). However, it does have its flaws. Concur with the issue re: shooting down the helicopter with a hand gun, especially since a weapon that could have done the job was seen in Q's lab earlier in the film, arrrrrrrrghhhh!!!!!!!!! They (the writers) could have found a way to get it to him prior to the boat/helicopter chase. Same with the car chase, two great cars, the Bond theme sung by a choir, but it was too lack luster with no sense of danger (filming restrictions in Rome rearing its ugly head I guess). The car chase with the DB5 in the NTTD trailer is already far superior. I liked the opening graphics, and if someone else had sung Writing's On the Wall, it would have been brilliant (look up covers of that song on KZfaq and you'll find amazing performances that blows away the original). Missed opportunities all around.

Agreed that Spectre is worse than Quantum. It’s safe to say that Spectre’s car chase is the worst chase scene of all bond films.

I can’t believe they turned down that stunning Radiohead song for that Sam Smyth dirge.

The problem is it's a jigsaw of different script drafts which is why the characters are all over place and it's a patchwork of the worst ideas from substandard writing which probably confused the actors so affecting their performance just making things worse Quantum at least had a writers strike as a reason for it's problems this hasn't