[Casino Royale] Ending sequence of events : plotholes

I don't know if I can publish this article here, it might be deleted due to copyright, but here it is.
Eva Green on coping with crippling anxiety: ‘I’m very shy… I wish I was a silent movie star’
Gavanndra Hodge25 APRIL 2020 • 5:00 AM
I meet the actor Eva Green on one of those strange, early March days when we are yet to truly understand the implications of coronavirus – when people still hug each other and say, ‘Whoops, sorry!’ afterwards. Which is exactly what Green and I do when she arrives at Clifton Nurseries, a chic garden centre and café near her north London flat. She’s dressed in a black woolly hat, huge black puffer jacket and sunglasses.
‘Let me show you something so scary,’ she says, showing me a passage on her phone from Dean Koontz’s 1981 thriller The Eyes of Darkness, which seems to predict the pandemic with eerie prescience, appropriate passages circled in red.
Meanwhile, Green’s mother, who lives in Paris and to whom she speaks daily, has been telling her not to shake hands with anyone, not even to leave the house. Yet here we are, sitting perilously close, ordering fresh mint tea, ready to talk about Green’s new film, Proxima, directed by César-winning French screenwriter and director Alice Winocour.
In the film, Green plays French astronaut Sarah, who is preparing to depart for a year-long mission. But despite the hi-tech robotics and presence of Matt Dillon, Proxima is not your average space movie; it is not concerned with distant galaxies or alien life forms. The film is about Earth and the things that tether us to it. Sarah is an astronaut, but she is also a single parent; her daughter Stella played by the excellent 10-year-old actor Zélie Boulant.
‘It is a love story between a mother and a daughter,’ says Green. ‘And these people who are going to the International Space Station, all the way to Mars, they will lose sight of the Earth. It is like a self-sacrifice, like a death.’
In preparation for the role, Green undertook an arduous fitness regime with a Russian instructor in Cologne. ‘He was so harsh, treating me like a real astronaut. In the end he was so rude and mean that it became funny.’ She also spent time at astronaut-training centres, like Star City in Kazakhstan. ‘That was my favourite thing. I felt like I had entered a sacred realm.’
The film is a departure in many ways for Green. In Proxima, she is make-up-free, dressed mostly in overalls, dealing with the struggles of a working mother. It is beautiful and solemn – and her performance has been described as a career-best.
Green is probably most famous, though, for her glamorous role as Vesper Lynd in the 2006 reboot of the James Bond franchise, Casino Royale, featuring Daniel Craig as 007. At first she didn’t want to audition for the part (in retrospect, she says she was being ‘pretentious’), but when she read the script, she changed her mind. ‘I thought it was a very strong role. But I didn’t like when they said “Bond girl”. I would say, “I am not a Bond Girl, I am a character.”’
She loved making the film, though: ‘The set was joyous. Barbara Broccoli is amazing, one of the best producers I have ever worked with. I wish they were all like her: passionate, kind, caring.’ Green admits that she has had less pleasant experiences on set. ‘Of course, a lot. It is hard; it is the anti-glamour.’
Eva Green was born and raised with her non-identical twin, Joy, in Paris. Her mother, Marlène Jobert, was a successful actor who gave up her career for her family, and her Swedish father, Walter, is a dentist. It was, Green says, a very ‘Parisian bourgeois’ upbringing. She attended drama school in Paris, followed by a 10-week acting course at Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art in London. ‘It was very intense, in a good way. But because my English was not very good, when I had to do Shakespeare, it was very hard. Often I couldn’t even understand what the teachers were asking me to do,’ she says.
Back in Paris, Green won parts in a couple of plays, but had such a bleak time, getting stage fright and ‘having blanks’, that she considered giving up acting. It was, she says, the Italian film director Bernardo Bertolucci who saved her. She was in her early 20s, when she heard about a Bertolucci audition. ‘I was obsessed with him, obsessed with Last Tango [in Paris]’, she says.
The audition was relaxed, and soon afterwards she was offered the lead role in The Dreamers, an adaptation of a Gilbert Adair novel – sexy and incestuous, and suffused with the riotous politics of Paris in 1968. ‘My mother told me not to do it,’ Green says. ‘She was afraid that I was too sensitive, that he [Bertolucci] was going to be quite violent with me,’ she says, referencing the fact that the actress Maria Schneider had found the making of Last Tango in Paris emotionally challenging. ‘And that it would destroy me for life. I was like, are you kidding? It was the chance of a lifetime.’
The film, which was released in 2003, was a critical success, but did more for Green than simply launching her career. ‘Bertolucci gave me faith in myself. He was like a little angel.’ After seeing her performance, Jobert agreed that she had made the right decision; but the rest of Green’s family found the film’s explicit intimacy shocking. ‘When you are not in the business and you see something so sexual, it is too brutal. I mean, it was horrific for me when I saw it. But I hate watching myself anyway.’
She hated the ancillary elements of being an actor, too, not least the red carpet. ‘I remember my first time. The Dreamers was about to come out. It was an Armani event, and [Martin] Scorsese was at my table. I said to my agent, “I can’t go, I have nothing to tell him!” But then [Giorgio] Armani took me aside and said, ‘We are going to do the red carpet!’
Green still doesn’t enjoy ritzy events, which she says is down to a lack of confidence. ‘I am very shy. It is a handicap. I am never good when there are lots of people. It is a thing from my childhood, I can’t even explain why.’
It is something that she has learnt to deal with, though, by taking herself off to the loo to do breathing exercises to calm herself, and wearing elaborate gowns (her favourite designer is Alexander McQueen) and melodramatic make-up as a kind of armour. ‘It protects me. Because otherwise it is very violent for me,’ she says. ‘I just wish sometimes that we didn’t have to talk, that we were just silent movie stars.’
And here is the conundrum, one that Green herself has said she does not quite understand: why someone so shy (although, one-on-one, drily funny, thoughtful and open) would do a job that is so emotionally exposing, both on screen and off it.
In a 2017 radio interview, Green’s mother revealed that Harvey Weinstein had attempted to physically assault her daughter when she was a young actor in a hotel room in Paris. ‘She managed to escape, but he threatened to destroy her professionally,’ said Jobert. Green has never been keen to go into details about the event, but she is happy to say how relieved she is that Weinstein has been sentenced to 23 years in prison. ‘I am grateful that justice has been served. I praise the brave women who risked so much in coming forward, not only their careers and reputations, but the pain that they have suffered in having to relive being raped in order to put this sexual predator out of harm’s way. Their courage has changed the world.’
This change is something that Green is living through – on the Friday before we meet, she attended the French César awards where Roman Polanski, who pleaded guilty to unlawful sex with a minor in the US in 1977 but fled before sentence was passed (and with whom Green made the film Based on a True Story in 2017), was given the award for best director in absentia, resulting in many of the members of the audience walking out.
‘It was so tense,’ said Green. ‘I have never been in a situation like that before.’ She is enjoying the shift in the power dynamic in the film industry, working with female directors like Alice Winocour, making female-centric stories, like that of the astronaut Sarah, where there is not even a whiff of romance. ‘It is good, and there is still more to do,’ she says. ‘It is so radical – for men it is very hard, they take so many hits. There are very good men.’
One of the best men, as far as Green is concerned, is director Tim Burton, with whom she has collaborated on three films, most recently last year’s Dumbo. There have been rumours of romance between Green and Burton, who has two children with his former partner, actor Helena Bonham Carter, but Green has always denied this, maintaining that their relationship is purely professional. ‘My dream as a child, and later on, was always to work with him. I love his world. He is such a nice person as well.’
Green says she does not have a partner at the moment – her main companion is her miniature schnauzer, Winston. ‘Winston is so clever; very serious, very sensitive. I can’t lie to him,’ she says, showing me a picture of him, looking serious and sensitive in a tartan bow tie. ‘This is how I dress him.’
Green has lived in London since her early 20s, when she got a British agent and promptly moved into their spare bedroom in Primrose Hill. She loves London, but her circle is international – her sister, Joy, lives in Italy, on a vineyard with her Italian count husband and two children. ‘She is very different [to me], very down to earth. We are so different that it might have been a bit tense in the past, but we really get on now.’
When asked to elaborate on these sibling differences, Green considers, before saying, ‘Maybe I am a bit weird? If I mentioned tarot, things like this, she would go, “You are crazy.” So I don’t talk about any of that.’
Green became interested in tarot in 2014 when she was filming the Showtime series Penny Dreadful, a drama set in the Victorian occult underworld starring Josh Hartnett and Billie Piper. Green was nominated for a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Vanessa Ives, a young woman prone to satanic visions and demonic possessions.
‘If it [tarot] is done properly, it teaches you things about yourself. It is fast-forward therapy.’ She does not go to normal therapy, although she did a little when she was younger. ‘But if you have a few tools, you can become very connected.’
Her toolbox includes regular meditation. ‘I am very into this guru at the moment, Teal Swan, who lives in Costa Rica. She does guided meditations that really calm you.’ She also exercises every morning for 45 minutes, sometimes with a trainer, and uses the Wim Hof cold-water-therapy technique, which involves a daily 10-minute cold shower. ‘It is all about the breathing and helps you when you are stressed. It makes you get rid of all that s—t.’
These techniques are a proactive way of managing anxiety. But Green also likes a glass of red wine in the evening (‘Of course. I’m French. I have been doing that every day of my life since I was 18’), going for long walks, taking photographs, and compiling collages of black-and-white images.
She is not on social media – ‘it is very narcissistic and not in a great way’ – and her greatest pleasure is travel: trips to places like Namibia and Bhutan, long walking holidays, often alone. ‘The first day is always quite scary, but then you connect much better with your surroundings, with people as well. Your senses are more awakened.’
The opportunity to travel was just one of the reasons Green accepted a role in the upcoming adaptation of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries. Set in the 1860s during the New Zealand gold rush, the BBC Two series stars Eve Hewson, the actor daughter of Bono, while Green plays scheming brothel-keeper Lydia Wells. ‘I love characters like that. You think she is one thing and then you discover that she is something else. Of course she is manipulative, but she is not a baddie. She is a very strong woman.’
Lydia is also an astrologer, another of Green’s interests. ‘I am completely into that stuff.’ Her star sign is cancer, and in July she will turn 40, although there will not be a party. ‘I am not a birthday girl at all. I always want everyone else to feel so good that I cannot relax.’ The fact that it is a landmark birthday is adding to Green’s feeling of unease. We talk about how age brings maturity, wisdom and a sense of acceptance about who we are.
‘That’s true. And then there’s the immediate thing of, “I’m going to get old, what did I achieve, are people still going to desire me?” Especially as an actor, I think, because I’ve always heard that when you reach 40, it is going to be difficult to get roles. What about as a woman: can you still be attractive, do you have children? If you don’t have children, are you kind of a social failure? These are clichés, but people say, “You don’t have children?” and you feel like not a woman when you say, “No, I don’t have them.” It is hard… But then, I feel like I am 12 still and now I am about to be 40. What happened there?’
And yet, she does have a plan… ‘I want to get a farm. I know it sounds like a whim, but it is something that I have been thinking about a lot. Maybe Wales, I love Wales. The scenery is amazing. Sitting in the city, it is choking me sometimes, and there is nothing better than to connect with nature. You feel whole.’
Source: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/life/eva-green-coping-crippling-anxiety-shyi-wish-silent-movie-sta

So over the summer I had been reading/watching a ton of different media and entertainment fan theories, "what if's," Lore, and so on. And thinking on this I recalled reading years ago about the theory of Finn being a double/secret Imperial agent.
I spent several weeks combing over the two movies so far, and other forms of Cannon material and some non-cannon, other shows/event and even real life as inspiration for this argument. With less than 1 month to go until the final act of the trilogy comes to an end I thought I might as well post the unfinished work i started earlier this year. Hopefully you find it interesting and if not, well sorry for wasting your time.
(This work is mostly my own, if anything seems like it comes from other articles or posts, its entirely possible, I don't know if i kept a list of all my sources or if i listed them in this document. Don't take offense if I failed to cite something, remember this is "unfinished" and most likely wont be as time has passed and unfortunately got away from me on this project.)
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***Please note this doesn't read like a book or story. If you ever enjoyed spy thrillers, movies, tv shows then come into it with the mid set of "how hard would it be to live this kind of life?" or "If this were a real spy, how might their body language behave?" or "How would I act if I were forced into a spy role if i had some form of military training, based on what i "Know" or have "Seen" of spy's in entertainment form?" Coming in with this kind of mindset may help ease some of the "quite the jump to that conclusion" retorts.***
Enjoy:
The Double Agent:
A Conspiracy Theorist’s Comprehensive View of FN-2187 aka Finn
I believe there is sufficient evidence to prove that the Resistance Hero: Finn is actually a double agent by means of some form of mind wipe. Think of Total Recall, Jason Bourne, Cylon sleeper agents or some alternate combination of different types of “mind control.”
I will provide approximate timestamps of both movies shown between the events of SW: TFA and SW: TLJ that will explain these statements. As well as other examples, which will, call upon some external sources and sites that further prove my statement. Some of these examples may seem like a bit of a stretch, so adjust your tin foil hats and let us jump in.
So for a bit of context I may have read an article or reddit post about this particular theory several years ago. I wanted to give it more thought so I re-watched the new movies with the idea of a Finn being a double agent. I got to thinking that a deeper darker character would make these movies much better by the end if the trilogy if they planted a deep cover agent into “Team good guys,” which by the way has not been done to this extent or over an entire trilogy (in the sense of Star Wars.)
By having a character who starts off as “the bad guy” morph into a hero you love then make a drastic turn to be something more sinister by the end would blow the viewers mind. Similar to the theories of Jar-Jar being the “drunken fist” version of a Sith master makes Phantom Menace better. In addition, the Obi-wan and Anikin are in a love triangle with Padme makes AotC and RotS better. Keeping the idea of Finn as a Double agent in mind, I re-watched TFA and TLJ and there are many subtle hints from what he says to body language to convenient tidbits of information that make this stand out.
The main issues I have with Finn, as a First Order deserter and Resistance Hero are these: his knowledge is too diverse, especially when it comes to the FO compared to the history of SW. Examples: ship schematics, R&D tech, Base locations & layouts, Shields & Security/exotic beasts/current events etc. His service history also changes about five times between the two movies. (One could argue he is omitting the information however each time he tells what his “position” was, it is to several different people when no one else is around with the exception of Poe introducing him to Leia.) Lastly, the combination of those makes him such a linchpin to the resistance aka; he is too perfect to their cause.
More importantly, if you choose to believe the story of a stormtrooper leaving the First Order to join the resistance this makes any regular ole trooper a major liability whether they defect or are captured and interrogated. Let this sink in for a moment, we are to believe that a stormtrooper knows virtually everything about the First Order. He is not a high-ranking Grand Admiral or Moff, or General but a stormtrooper. This is such a fundamental flaw for any organization let alone a military group. Let us look at it this way. Would an infantry soldier in the US army knows about or have access to troop deployments, vehicle schematics, top-secret research projects and security clearance above his paygrade and so on? That would be a major problem. At its core if a Stormtrooper knows EVERYTHING, then the FO has no security through segmentation of ranking officials, and creates a huge plothole.
His “story” constantly changes…slightly
· The first time is when he “rescues” Poe; there is no need to tell him what his position is. He strolls up wearing Stormtrooper armor. This is self-explanatory and from Poe’s position does not warrant further question.
· Second, when he meets Rey she assumes he is part of the resistance, which he haphazardly agrees to however, he later tells her the truth, (1:02:50) “I’m not who you think I am. I’m not resistance…I’m a stormtrooper.” *I believe this is the truth*
· Third, (1:22:37) coming from Poe “He’s familiar with the weapon that destroyed the Hosnian system, he worked on the base.” Since he does not say this at any point during the movie, you are lead to believe this conversation takes place off-screen.
· Fourth, Han asks him “What was your job was when you were based here?” Finn’s reply “Sanitation.”
· Lastly in TLJ during the conversation with Rose and Finn (41:44) she asks “but who knows where the breaker room is on a Star Destroyer?” his reply “Except for the guy who used to mop it.” This leads you to believe he either belonged to a maintenance or sanitation crew stationed on a Star Destroyer. Similar to a “scanning crew” in ANH at (1:06:55) or Matt, the Radar technician not a standard stormtrooper.
The rebuttals I have heard is that the FO has the ability to cross train their forces, or they double up the duties of the enlisted or due to disciplinary actions they would be temporarily demoted or that FN-2187 could have been a terrible trooper and simply transferred around from base to base or ship to ship. While all of these are plausible, let us first ask why or what need would the FO need to cross train its soldiers. Are they that short on members of their army? By the start of TLJ the FO reigns. To me this means they are larger than ever, even with losing Starkiller base, a planetary sized military installation, which I assume houses a very large number of Infantry, Pilots, Maintenance, Command, Special forces and possibly other types of soldiers.
I assume that like any military group they probably accept recruits, coupled with the fact that they “abduct children” to join the cause I do not see a real need to force diversity in training. I also highly doubt that any disciplinary action would result in a stormtrooper mopping decks for long periods. Regardless if the FO consists of a massive number of people enlisted, what is the need to have specialized divisions but then have its members belong to multiple groups within? I do not see the tactical need.
Next I will walk through both movies start to finish to spot light these interactions we see Finn from a third person perspective. Keep in mind all the scenes are actually not from his perspective but from someone else’s point of view is even though we are supposed to be focusing on his character. I believe this is vital.
At (5:37) into TFA, we see Poe shoot several stormtroopers, the last being someone FN-2187 knows. I surmise that this person is a close friend or possible lover. (Yes there are female stormtroopers you even hear one talk on Starkiller base towards the end of the movie) and up until this point he was actively engaged in live fire. However, the moment this unknown trooper dies in front of him (regardless of affiliation) I believe it triggers the same confusion/PTSD as seen in say Saving Private Ryan during the “storming the beach” scene. I do not believe it is simply “Finn’s awakening.” He then is looking around for a bit of cover as there is live fire coming back at them now.
Shortly after Poe is captured (8:40), Finn and the remaining troopers are ordered to execute the remaining villagers. He is still suffering at this point from the confusion/PTSD and only been a few minutes to process what just happened to following an order to execute the remaining civilians, which are not threating now, would explain his “hesitation.”
At this point Kylo Ren being someone who embraces the dark side or emotions can sense his anger and confusion. Not his reluctance to follow orders. Fast forward a bit to (9:11) and make note for later, you see three lone stormtroopers destroy Poe’s X-wing. Two using the standard blasters and the third using a heavier carbine.
In the next scene, you see Poe depart the shuttle on the Resurgent-class Battlecruiser aka; the Star Destroyer. At (10:00) FN-2187 walks past Poe and you can hear the anger in his heavy breathing as he enters one of the troop transports and removes his helmet. I say his emotions are similar to walking past someone you just seen murder a close friend, family member, or lover in a courthouse and not having the power to take revenge or seek “justice.” He is angry, frustrated, and emotionally hurt by being so close to the person who caused this, and yet powerless to do anything.
As this scene ends, Phasma shows up and says the following: “FN-2187, submit your blaster for inspection.”, “And who gave you permission to remove that helmet?”, “Report to my division at once.”
This is where I want to take a quick break and make the following observation; FN-2187 is not under the direct command of Phasma until shortly after this order. Let me break it down. There are a couple types of “divisions” to my understanding. The first example would be Engineering, Command, Stormtrooper Corps, FO Special Forces, Maintenance, Deck Crew, etc. The second example would be a subsection of those like the 501st or the 401st or different squadrons, Red/Gold/Blue/Rogue (original trilogy rebel squadrons)
I will admit I am not familiar with Finn’s service record before the events of TFA but will acknowledge that Captain Phasma trained the FN corps. In addition, they were considered by Phasma “to be the greatest in the FO” according to https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/FN\_Corps. According to https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/First\_Order I surmise that Captain Phasma being a “commander” and part of the triumvirate alongside General Hux and Kylo Ren -one of three High Ranking officials- has special command access and resources that others simply do not. She probably commands several units and has access to top-secret projects. Which leads to the point above, she gives FN-2187 a “transfer” command, which she later says he “He reported to her division, was evaluated and sent to reconditioning.” This is where I believe he either volunteered or recruited to become the Deep Cover Agent for the FO. I have also spoken with a couple veterans and asked them to give me their interpretation and so far have agreed, it sounds like an order to transfer to her unit.
Let us take another break to make an important declaration. The events of the movie do not give us a clear timeline of events in the essence of we are not shown how long Poe is being interrogated. This could range from hours to days. How it is acted out makes it “look” as its mere moments between scenes yet I disagree I believe in this context its days.
At this point FN-2187 reports to Phasma’s division, undergoes a psych evaluation and debriefing and is sent to reconditioning which according to the starwars.fandom.com site they link Reconditioning to a “Memory wipe” for droids. (https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Phasma%27s\_division links to https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Memory\_wipe) I further surmise that they would have the ability to implant false memories and information*** vital to his mission (similar to Total Recall) for planting a double agent since your opponents have force abilities such as reading minds and emotions. After this process completes Finn receives new orders: Free the resistance pilot Poe, escape with him, and recover the map to Skywalker. Essentially placing Finn “in play.” This is where we see him enter Poe’s interrogation room (19:20) *with a brand new shiny suit of Stormtrooper armor.*
Note: I will notate with *** next to information Finn should not have access to that could be explained from this information being implanted or transmitted to him throughout both movies.
The Escape!
Note: Any enthusiasm that Finn displays is just a subversion ploy to convince resistance allies he is a part of them. In addition, Finn’s transition to Double Agent “unlocks” the use excessive force or the ability to break imperial protocol when it comes to killing other FO forces to keep the illusion he is a resistance fighter and Imperial defector.
FN-2187 leads Poe out and unconvincingly –to me- tells him “I’m rescuing you.” Because he needs a pilot. This is played off for comic relief but the body language says to me; “I’m trying to convince Poe to trust me and were in a hurry.” In other words, he is too eager to start his mission.
FN-2187 and Poe get into a Special Forces Tie Fighter. Which according to https://scifi.stackexchange.com/questions/111988/do-first-order-tie-fighters-have-hyperdrives does have shields and hyperdrive capability just for context. Now remember how three storm troopers destroyed a parked X-wing without the use of demolitions? We witness the Tie take several hits during its tethered takeoff, but it deals no real damage unlike the total destruction a few minutes earlier. This is explained by the ability to control the “level settings” on blasters. This example is shown in an early season of Star Wars Rebels in an episode where Ezra joins the ranks of stormtroopers and is involved with their basic training. *Strap on or adjust the tinfoil hat* The troopers firing could have been ordered –by Phasma- to adjust their blasters to a low damage output so as to not damage or prematurely cripple the Tie, this would allow them to keep up the façade of their “escape” by expending pawns in their attempt to plant their agent.
***Another observation of Phasma, General Hux and Kylo Ren belonging to the “unofficial triumvirate” of the FO they could/would also act as Finn’s handlers. As such he was probably given (or implanted with) a list of code phrases, similar to actual double agents. This observation explains why Kylo Ren does not throw a tantrum when their most valuable asset escapes. Instead he’s calm and calculated and knows who helped him escape (at this point in time General Hux is not let in on the secret) which lets Kylo humiliate Hux in front of his officers on the bridge by saying “his troops are good at committing high treason.”
In the cockpit at (23:22) Finn’s position is cemented with Poe and he starts spouting off real important information any resistance leader probably wouldn’t approve of given three minutes into the defectors escape.
Had Finn and Poe escaped to the planet together I surmise that once BB-8 was located Finn would turn on Poe and recover the information for the FO. However since they are separated on reentry and Finn is forced down the path of playing “imperial defector.”
Skipping ahead to (32:49) Finn is in the gunner seat of the Falcon and yells to Rey “Stay low, this confuses their tracking.”*** For someone who has flown in a Tie fighter exactly once probably would not know of this vulnerability. A Tie Pilot would probably know after hours of flying but not Finn. Moving along to (40:00) as they are being boarded by Han and Chewie, Finn throws out another tidbit about stormtrooper helmets being able to filter out smoke, but not toxins.*** To me this is an example of “textbook” information implanted to him. Think of it like this: in the IT world, many end-users do not know the inner workings of how computers work, they only care about the fact that it DOES work. I assume that average stormtroopers would be of the same mentality. Sure, they have field manuals that provide this information or it is in some training program early on but this obscure info would be something easily passed over or forgotten completely.
When Finn first finds out how “Han” (41:20) is he refers to him as the Rebellion General and War Hero. *** One could argue that Finn simply heard of the “legend” from stories told during his imperial service. However, I believe that this is another example of vital information that was implanted. (Mission parameter) Assess potential allies especially if they have ties or allegiances with past rebellions. Han fits this bill. At (43:00) we find out what Han is smuggling: Rathtars. After Rey asks “what’s a rathtar?” Finn replies, “Ever heard of the Trillia Massacre?”*** For being an ex-stormtrooper Finn sure does know a lot about events that take place on other planets and their exotic beasts. https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Trillia\_Massacre
Moving along to (55:00) the conversation between Han and Finn, he paints himself as a big deal and follows up by asking he there are any known conspirators or first order sympathizers. This doubles as “I’m resistance and concerned” and “I can possibly get information back to my handlers.” Meeting with Maz, this is where his “reconditioning” starts to pay off as she has some ability to “read” people but cannot get anything very useful on him.
Taking another short break to make another observation. Han tells Finn we have a problem: women always figure out the truth. I believe he suspects Finn of either being a liar (either not with the resistance because he knows who is actually in the resistance OR that he is still with the FO. In addition, he simply does not care at this point in his life. He is no longer “IN” the rebellion/republic or “WITH” Leia, he is back to being a smuggler and potentially wanted by both the Republic and the FO. Therefore, he does not want to get involved, but he is hinting that if Finn really likes her he will have to tell her the truth and/or make a decision on what path he will take (resistance or FO)
Finn’s actions in the cantina scene remind me of the relationship between James Bond and Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale. About 2 hours in, they are together on the beach he actually considers leaving MI6 to be with her, that he loves her and he probably would have given it all up had she not betrayed him. Finn does the same thing as he leaves the cantina –only not as elegantly- (1:02:45) Finn tells Rey the Truth about himself. “I’m not who you think I am. I’m not resistance. I’m not a Hero…I’m a stormtrooper.” I believe this is foreshadowing and the actual truth from his perspective. He is subtly telling Rey he is not a good guy, that if he stayed there he would end up betraying her, however, he would leave it all to be with her IF they left.
Finn lands on the resistance planet (1:21:03) the only ally that trusts him so far is BB-8. Rey captured. Han still skeptical of him. After losing sight of BB-8 Finn spots the droid and Poe who is alive after all. This is Finn’s “in” to meet with the resistance leaders, aka other high value targets. At this point Finn is still under loyalty to the FO but still has feelings for Rey. Think of it as “two birds, one stone.” Finn enters the War Room and you can tell from his body language he is actively looking and taking mental note of valuable resistance information. A normal person would make a straight line and pay little attention to the surroundings if they were truly on a mission to rescue their friend.
Poe introduces Finn to Leia (1:22:25) as a valuable asset, someone who used to work on the base. This leads him to compile a report of the base’s location*** but also doubles as a trap as you later find out that the FO tracks these recon ships after leaving the system where Starkiller base is.
Breaking off slightly again. Leia sums up the resistance real good, they are desperate for any information he can provide. Finn’s plethora of knowledge makes him a linchpin for the resistance. Right here Finn becomes the most valuable asset the resistance owns. To backtrack and reiterate an earlier point if every grunt in the FO knows what Finn knows (assuming Finn is not a double agent) why not just preform simple gorilla style raids and take prisoners and break them into revealing information vital to the success of the resistance and republic? According to TFA audio book that goes into much more detail between Phasma and General Hux when reviewing his service record after he escapes, Finn was described as nothing more than an average stormtrooper. There was nothing special about him. Leia is the one who turns Finn into this “Big Deal.”
During the War Room briefing (1:32:33), they start talking about the new super weapon. *** Finn conveniently knows what powers this weapon and its weak points (the thermal oscillator.) In addition to the base’s location. Finn leads them to believe that he can disable the shields but he has to be there on the planet to accomplish this. This is a three-way motive. 1) This is a ruse; he is helping the resistance disable the shields/base. 2) He actually does want to go rescue Rey. Finally 3) He is still loyal to the FO, this is just another parameter of his mission to destroy the resistance from within alongside retrieving the map to Skywalker.
My issue with Finn knowing the base to this extent becomes a problem when compared to ANH; they had to have engineers analyze the technical specs of the Death Star plans to find the weakness. Now everyone is looking around at a hologram and this “engineer” just “KNOWS.” “Oh it probably needs something like uh I dunno a thermal oscillator?” And Finn is all like “uh yea it’s got exactly that, right here!” Imagine if TK-421 the bestest Stromtrooper knew about the exhaust port weakness of the Death Star just from moping the 4x8 foot platform with no rail where two random people adjust laser knobs.
Just after landing on Starkiller base (1:36:44) Chewie, Finn and Han are sneaking around. This is where Finn admits he does not know how to lower the shields and tells Han the truth. He just wants to rescue Rey. He then tells Han “oh, we will just use the force.” I see this as classic diversion, a way to change the subject. The scene just after that Han reminds them they are on a tight time restraint and says “…The shields…” Here is where Finn has an “idea.” I believe one of two things happens here, first he gets very lucky and bumps into Phasma, which is not part of his “idea”, or, second he knows she will be on the base due to secret communications with one of his handlers. I believe it is the latter. Let me elaborate.
There would be no way he would know that Phasma is currently stationed on the base in the building (precinct 47) they are breaking into this is too much coincidence. Finn got lucky that Phasma was not overseeing command on a Star Destroyer or in a different building on this “Planet.” However, no, she is conveniently just a few doors down on patrol and Finn knows where to find her or that is what we are lead to believe.
Now between the two scenes where Phasma “betrays” the FO by lowering the shields, this is where Finn and Phasma can communicate through code phrases. This example is similar to other works of entertainment involving spies and undercover agents; they tend to include the confrontation scene. This is where your hero (the spy) is in a situation where facing his handler or former friend and they speak in code to each other to let them know “look I’m not really a traitor” or convey whatever message they want to in their unique situation. In addition, if this is true it explains how she was able to escape with ease her “trashy” fate on the base.
One might say, well the comic book miniseries that follows Phasma shows she blamed some other fella then killed him to cover her tracks. How do you explain this? Simply, military politics of the FO. Remember only three people know of this plan (potentially only 2 until the start of TLJ) this would be Phasma and Kylo. I will explain later why Hux does not know at this point. Therefore, she does this to protect their asset in play, Finn. Yea but it leads to the destruction of the superweapon and massive base. How can that be justified? Again simply, by the opening events of TLJ, the crawl screen declares that the First Order Reigns. Remember according to SW lore the First Order is comprised up of many remaining imperial fleets (from the original trilogy) plus thirty years of rebuilding fleets and training new soldiers from these unknown regions of space. The loss of one base and super weapon could be a justified sacrifice for eradicating any resistance and potential allies, the complete destruction of the “remaining Jedi order” and finally displaying an impressive command of fear throughout the rest of the galaxy. Who says this is the FO’s only super weapon?
Finn’s final scenes of TFA is the fight between Rey and Kylo Ren and himself. With ease, Kylo picks up Rey and throws her into a tree. He stated earlier that she seems to be growing exponentially in the force and I suggest that he knows even if she’s knocked out she may still be able to recall or remember these events when she wakes up or in the future. So he decides to keeps up the façade of Finns nature due to them losing a base and super weapon, but potentially gaining much more. Alternatively, altering their plans for a long-term cover agent incase this attack does not immediately favor the First Order. To put it simply they prepare to play the long con.
As stated in other theories but I too believe that Kylo is just putting on a show in the battle with Finn. His ability to command the force compared to Finn, this battle should have been over instantly. All he would need to do is ignite the lightsaber Finn is holding and use the force to stab himself. Instead he lets him live with superficial flesh wounds with no lasting repercussions. Unless making Finn look like a hero in the eyes of the resistance, further cementing his position deeper and deeper making him a “Trusted” ally was the intention.
The Remaining conjecture takes place during the events of TLJ.
First, let us compare the Empire of the Original Trilogy to that of the First Order. We see Vader execute commanders and officers who fail both in the movies and written material (both cannon and no-cannon) this example is very similar to the way Sun Tzu enforced discipline and order in his army in the book “The Art of War.” The commanders of the Empire knew the consequences for failure. From what we have seen in both TFA and TLJ there is not the same discipline and structure. Kylo or Snoke do not go around executing officers when a mission fails or a prisoner escapes, or a stormtrooper defects to the resistance. This is more like a “modern” era approach to the military where they have other forms of punishment for failure. It is not simply Death.
The Empire of old was very disciplined and structured we could see this with the way the commanders and officers spoke with each other, their body language. Again, to compare it with the First order we see a lack of discipline in both their body language and their general composure. Let’s call it “relaxed.”
After the loss of the Dreadnaught Snoke publicly humiliates Hux but this is the extent of his particular punishment. Hux in turn tells them (12:36) that the resistance cannot escape, they have them at the end of a string. The scene then cuts to Finn just now waking up. I believe this is foreshadowing to the secret agent aboard the ship. Perhaps an implant used to wake him up violently. Jumping further ahead to (16:30) we see Kylo walking off an elevator to a conversation between Snoke and Hux already in progress. Snoke, laughing followed by “tied on a string indeed.” I like to think this is where Hux fills Snoke in about the plan to insert a deep cover agent into the resistance. You might say, “Well this is where Hux tells Snoke about the Hyperspace tracking or whatever.” Possibly, but as a “supreme leader” one would assume that he knows of all R&D projects or if this new tech he would be the one to know of its existence. So why would someone of a lower rank tell a higher official about current/new tech. Snoke would probably have signed off on the paperwork to start the work or knew of its existence. However, the existence of a deep cover agent on the other hand, this type of information would probably need to stay limited to only a few people to maintain its secrecy.
At (26:55) lead to believe that what we see is Finn seemingly looking at charts trying to fill in the gaps between the events of Starkiller base and this point in time. I offer up the following: Hes trying to gather as much intelligence as possible since they are now on the run. Therefore, any useful information he can glean would give him an invaluable advantage in this situation. He innocently asks, “Where’s Rey?” and Leia shows Finn, their new most valuable asset, potentially one of their greatest secrets. A cloaked beacon. At which point he walks up to the command station console and “rests” his hands there. I would like to believe that any sort “spy” would be good at “misdirection” and “sleight of hand” and can use this to get a signal back to the First Order, who conveniently show up almost instantly. One could also explain it as a lucky break at this point by the First order making a calculation based off their last known trajectory. (Since previous version of hyperspace tracking requires a device attached to the ship or possibly after 30+ years of development turned into nanotech via implant) We have seen two examples of tracking based off trajectory. First would be assumed during the events between Rogue One and the opening scene of ANH, the other would be where Boba Fett follows the Falcon to Cloud City. There wasn’t any special tech involved in these cases.
Leia assumes at this point that they must have come up with a way to track through hyperspace and Finn can use this as part of his story later. Finn also conveniently picks up the tracking beacon that the resistance is placing their entire faith in by giving Rey a way home should her mission succeed and she returns with Luke. This part is important for later.
We hear a speech by one of the resistance officers at (35:30) I would assume that this speech is broadcasted to the remaining resistance ships and it tells them that almost all of their leadership is gone and how they are down to around Four Hundred souls left between the remaining ships. Shortly after this Admiral Holdo does something that Leia failed to do especially with Finn. She does not give Poe –who’s been demoted- access to information that he shouldn’t have. We have not seen this done at all what so ever with Finn this entire time. We just accept that he is the “good guy now” because he is the only one ever to defect from the Empire or FO, its bad logic.
Around (38:20) we see Finn packing his bags, we could assume that he knows the command structure has shifted and he is essentially a “civilian” in this resistance faction with no rank. He decides to run (with the tracking beacon for Rey…) He later plays this off as him just trying to protect his friend. However, let us think this scenario through.
Scenario A: Rey is successful in her mission to return with Luke to the resistance forces and fight against the FO. However when they meet up with whoever has the Beacon (spoiler: its Finn.) Following his intentions to run and protect Rey, they would no longer know where the fleet is, or IF there is even a fleet left! So what does Finn gain by “saving” her? A pissed woman with a lightsaber and disgruntled Luke, also presumably with a Lightsaber. They would eventually end up splitting ways.
Scenario B: Finn is trying to escape back to a FO ship with the beacon, leading Rey and Luke into the hands of the First Order once they have wiped out the remaining resistance ships. (Remember they are down to three according to the speech) Once they execute Skywalker, Finn can then try to rebuild things with Rey, or use the same-ish tactics he used on Poe, and attempt an escape with her to get away from all this fighting and chaos of the FO and start a new life together.
Either way Rose (an engineer) busts his plans. The resistance labels him as “A Hero” simply because he left “The First Order and what he had done at Starkiller base.” This is where he needs to use his knowledge from earlier and improvise, letting Rose know of the hyperspace tracking system. (40:37)
HYPERSPACE TRACKING PRINCIPAL
Rose says, “Hyperspace tracking is new tech but the principal must be the same as any active tracker.” So what is an active tracker, there is very little information so I surmise it’s simply a device that allows the scanners of a ship to track the movement, ship type, life signs etc. of another ship (within range) then relay that information and telemetry back to the officers. This then becomes useless once a ship is out of that specified range.
The examples we have seen of Hyperspace trackers are:
1) A R&D tech project in Rogue One.
2) Seen in SW Rebels: as a prototype device that attaches to a ship that allows tracking through hyperspace.
Now Finn whose background is that of a “stormtrooper of no special history” can work through this logic with an actual engineer is beyond me to where they can finish the sentence together, let alone he knows EXACTLY where it is. How you ask? He used to mop that exact floor or area of a star destroyer. How convenient.

First off, this is just what I've been calling the list for years. It doesn't really have anything specifically to do with being a "man" I suppose. They're just lessons that I think are important. So, I'm sticking with it for now.
This post will contain spoilers for the films, but I'll try to not totally blow the plotlines/endings ect. Also, a lot of this has to do with love interests, but I guess it can be applied to a lotta other stuff... Roll with me.
Movie 1- Tears Of The Sun. A team of highly disciplined Navy SEALs has to go get someone out of escalating danger. The mission is to just get that one person out, and at first the SEALs follow their orders to the letter, but quickly realize there's a bigger picture. Sometimes you have to turn the helicopter around. It's important to note that they still complete their original objective, the situation is weighed carefully, and they have contingencies in place, but it costs them.
Movie 2- Raiders of the Lost Ark. I mean, if you haven't seen this movie, I don't know what to tell you, but there's a key moment that may be subtle to some people. Indy has dragged Marion into this mess, and subsequently gotten her killed. He knows it's his fault. Indy's nemesis, Belloq, invites him to speak to him, Indy entertains this. Honestly, just watch the scene, but keep this in mind- Indy never looks at Belloq, he hates him, and when Indy finally turns to him he stands up and puts his hand on his gun, and just then everyone else in the bar draws a gun on Indy. Indy was going to kill Belloq, and die to avenge Marion. Now, this is a touchy area, I'm not suggesting anyone should go out and get a revenge killing, but it's important to know what your actions have cost people, and it's important to take responsibility. In Cairo in the 30s, that might get ya shot...
Movie 3- Casino Royale. This one is big spoilers, and unfortunately blends some of book James Bond with movie James Bond. James Bond falls in love with Vesper Lynd. So in love, that after finally achieving his 00 status, he sends in his resignation to be with her. But he was blinded by love. Vesper has been extorted by the enemy, and is going to foil MI6's entire operation. But she loves him as well. Overcome with guilt, she takes her own life, as this plot is revealed to Bond. It is only then that James Bond truly becomes James Bond, because now (like Indy) he's going to not only get vengeance, but (this is a bit of fan theorizing) he has a death wish so that he can die properly for her. Like Indy, Bond knows what role he played in her death, and could only be the cold blooded assassin he is because he couldn't give a shit about dying, because he wants to die for her. Bond makes his passion his job (and his job his passion), and is MI6's greatest asset, but he kinda does it all for her.
He also names his signature drink after her, and despite her betraying him, keeps the name. Because he really does love her. I also highly recommend the Vesper martini, make sure you use high proof vodka, and don't use Lilet, because they don't make it like they used to, you should use cocchi americano because it has a bit of quinine. They're delicious, and WILL get you messed up.(Let's not talk about Tracy.)
Movie 4- Casablanca. Do I need to explain this one? Bottom line- Rick does the right thing. Try as she might, Ilsa can not sway Rick. Rick even leads her on right up until the end, because he won't put her in danger. Fortunately, Captain Renault drinks at Rick's, and Rick (like the SEALs in Tears Of The Sun) weighs his options, and is pretty sure he can pull off shooting a Nazi point blank and walk away clean.
Movie 5- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Butch and Sundance are in deep. Like, waaaay deeper than you wanna ever be. They've been on the run all the way to Bolivia, and the men after them aren't giving up. After a hell of a shootout, they're pinned down in a small building. Wounded, they tell each other it's not so bad, and they just gotta get outta this scrap. Little do they know, a whole fuckin regiment of the Bolivian army is waiting outside. But Butch and Sundance are tight. And like the rest of the guys on this list, they know what they got each other into, and they have a pact. This pact is NEVER even questioned. There's no deliberation. Butch and Sundance bust out of the doorway, guns drawn, ready to take on the world. And the Bolivian army takes them on.
HONORABLE MENTION- Top Gun. Pretty much nothing about Top Gun is really how you should be a man. It does provide a good litmus test for homophobes though. Ask anyone why that volleyball scene is in the movie, and you'll usually get one of two answers. The correct answer is- Because a lot of guys dragged their girlfriend to Top Gun, and you gotta put something in there for them. Or whatever you're into, I don't care, you get the joke. Anyway, the honorable mention is that Maverick isn't Top Gun, Ice Man is. At the ceremony, Maverick swallows his pride, walks up to Ice Man, and simply says "congratulations." That's how you handle that. After all that bullshit between the two of them, suck it up, say congratulations, shut up, and move on.
EDIT: I forgot the second reason Top Gun is an honorable mention. After Goose dies (sorry, spoilers), Meg Ryan comes to Maverick, and she's obviously devastated. It takes every goddamn ounce of Maverick to not breakdown into a million pieces on the ground right in front of her, but he knows if he does that, she'll be even worse. She needs him to be strong for her, and he knows it. And he keeps his shit together. Not because he's some tough guy hyper ego fighter pilot who doesn't cry, but because he knows she needs his help to make it through.
I suppose an overarching theme of this list is- Know what you're getting yourself and others into, and take responsibility for it. Also, weigh your options, and have contingencies. Don't get caught thinking "wow I really fucked that up, why didn't I get here a half hour early?" or some shit like that.

What makes Casino Royale so good is that it's a deconstruction of the formula and a haunting character study of what being James Bond might actually do to a person. James is kind of a monster who hates everything about what he does, but doesn't know how to live any differently. The tragedy is that when he finally meets someone who can rescue him from this, she betrays him and hardens his heart even further. It's perfect. Quantum of Solace, despite its flaws, provides a pretty good epilogue to this tale during which Bond forgives Vesper altogether. So we have this fully developed Bond, who understands love and death and the weight of his actions ready to face a larger world. Awesome.
So why do Skyfall and Spectre spend so much time trying to drag Bond back to where he was in the sixties? Skyfall starts by saying Bond is past his prime, which is just ridiculous since the last two movies were spent explaining how Bond arrives at his prime. He learns the last lesson he needed to, just to become old hat. He regresses into the same smarmy, self-righteous asshole the first two movies were actively trying to portray as a coat of armor. And while Skyfall is going out of its way to call James Bond old, it introduces archaic tropes like Moneypenny and Q Branch, which immediately feel outdated in this new Bond environment.
Spectre is the worst offender. The idea that Casino Royale, a pretty self contained film, was just the machinations of a hackneyed villain like Blofeld is incredibly insulting, to the movie, to Vesper, and to Bond. I want to punch this movie. It's like Sam Mendez watched Casino, thought it was stupid and just wanted to make From Russia with Love Parts 3 and 4. It's infuriating.
Feel free to disagree below. I just rewatched Casino Royale so I got riled up, but it's entirely possible I completely missed the mark regarding Skyfall or Spectre. I haven't seen those since they were released.

There have been a fair number of really intelligent and thoughtful critiques (1, 2, 3) of Spectre since it came out, and I think it’d be fun to see if we can pick the movie apart and reassemble it to make it great.
My suggestion follows (with the obvious caveat that it’s totally arrogant to assume that I would have written a better movie originally, etc. This is just an exercise for fun). It’s rather long. ^{Also if you like pictures and pretty formatting, you can find this post on Medium.}

The Problems

• The Blofeld “reveal” and everything associated with it: “cuckoo,” Franz Oberhauser, “I am a supervillain because Daddy didn’t love me,” “author of all your pain.” This is the most glaring issue, and the one I’ve seen most often addressed in critiques. Christoph Waltz is an extraordinary actor. It is freakin’ known, Khaleesi. But he comes off way less threatening in this film than Javier Bardem did in Skyfall, and I’d argue it’s because of the script. Blofeld does not, at any point, show us why we should be scared of him, and his overly intricate backstory mystery only makes him less threatening. His continuous failures (mentioned in point 3) do even more damage to his menace.
  
• Madeleine Swann < Vesper Lynd. If Bond is going to quit MI6 and walk off into the sunset with a lady, she needs to be just as impressive and badass as Vesper. Moreover, we need much better evidence that she’s The One than Blofeld’s throwaway line about the daughter of an assassin being the only one who could understand Bond. She almost manages this in refusing to jump in bed with Bond seeking solace for her dead daddy—but then goes back on this statement, what, ten minutes later? She’s never shown to be Bond’s equal intellectually or emotionally; there’s no reason for him to choose her over the exciting spy life.
  
• Bond is never disadvantaged. In Skyfall, Silva almost always has the upper hand—even when he’s imprisoned, he never loses his aura of being exactly where he wants to be (for obvious reasons: how can you lose when you have “Summon Train” in your spell slots?)—and Bond is almost always disadvantaged (physically and psychologically unfit for duty, in conflict with M, barely scraping by in combat).
  In Spectre, Bond is only occasionally surprised, and Blofeld constantly gets one-upped. His only successes are (1) capturing Bond in the desert (which doesn’t stick) and (2) being “the author of all your pain” (which is so shoehorned as to be meaningless and is telling rather than showing). This all ties back to Blofeld’s unconvincing villainy. (And I know that one of the “draws” is that Bond films feature a badass, unflinching, totally-in-control protagonist…but surely we can do better than just another indulgent Bond flick. Skyfall wasn’t. Casino Royale wasn’t.)
  
• Bad Guys Inc. is neither threatening nor noticeably evil. What’s Spectre’s plan? What are they doing, and to what purpose do they do it? It seems they orchestrate a couple bombings and sex-tradings, and they’re clearly invested in Nine Eyes, so that they can…what? Contrast this with Skyfall, which had clear stakes: Silva is blackmailing M, threatening to release names, and agents will die if she doesn’t react.
  
• Lack of thematic heft. Maybe Spectre’s theme was just too subtle for me to grasp, or maybe I’m right in saying that it had no higher purpose. There was no thing-behind-the-thing. That’s not necessarily bad—but action movies are always the better for strong themes. The Dark Knight’s concern with the nature of man made it a great film. Skyfall brought up extremely relevant concerns about the nature of leadership, and tied them into Bond’s character arc.
  

The Story

Everything leading up to the infamous “cuckoo” line remains much the same: Bond kills Sciarra in Mexico, weathers New!M’s annoyance, teases Q, debriefs Moneypenny (we don’t see the faded picture brought back from Skyfall), and drives off to Rome with his cheeky grin (he’s cocky this time around; he’s beaten his fair share of supervillains, he’s at the top of his game). He nails Sciarra’s widow, tells the bouncer he’s Mickey Mouse, etc.
At the Spectre meeting we have our first change. The leaders of Spectre are no longer faceless suits; now there are people among them wearing bishop’s robes, decorated military uniforms, etc. There are a few police, as well, but no one seems concerned.
Instead of a business meeting, it almost feels like a party. People are drinking, laughing, talking shop. Bond draws a couple weird looks, but they’re not worried. Waltz is moving around the crowd, shaking hands, totally calm. He runs into Bond.
“James, isn’t it?” he says. “I was hoping we’d meet you tonight.” Bond doesn’t recognize him. He plays coy, and Waltz shuts him up. “We’ve got very special entertainment coming up. You won’t want to miss it.”
Bond is nonplussed. He hears a few people mention their business interests—trafficking of the sex and drug varieties, who’s going to kill the Pale King now, etc.—and his hackles are up.
Waltz draws everyone’s attention. “We have special guests tonight. If everyone would please welcome MI6 agent James Bond.” Applause and laughter from the crowd. Bond weathers it pretty well. “And, to cheer her up on this dreary evening, we have invited dear Lucia Sciarra.”
Doors open and Lucia is led in. She’s beat up. The group claps politely. Bond looks briefly shocked but keeps his cool.
Waltz makes a few jokes about Lucia being the sort of woman who doesn’t stay single for long, the sheets never get cold, etc. He gives Bond the cheesiest grin and then one of the henchmen shoots Lucia in the back. Waltz is still grinning.
Bond loses it and tries to fight his way forward; henchmen are on him in a hot second. He tears through several of them, and then Mr. Hinx has him in a headlock and three dudes have guns trained on him. Waltz talks to Lucia as she dies. “Your husband helped our organization become what it is today,” he says. “But we both know how easily he can be replaced.” He tilts his head at Hinx, indicating that they have found someone to assassinate the Pale King.
Bond slips away by the skin of his teeth and calls Moneypenny on the road, while Hinx follows him. This time, rather than asking her to search up Franz Oberhauser, he demands to know who the hell these people are. They meet with no attempt at secrecy; they murder a woman while surrounded by cops. What’s going on?
...I can’t fix the chase scene.
Back in London, M, Q, and C attend the vote for Nine Eyes. This plays out as before with the single opposing vote and M grilling C afterward, but this time C is slightly less obnoxious, more idealistic. He seems to believe that the 00 program is not only obsolete, but actively harmful. M gives his inspiring bit about the value of men in the field who make the horrible call of whether someone gets to live or die. C replies that Nine Eyes will be able to see the entire world in a glance; MI6 will see terrorist attacks before the perpetrator can buy his first barrel of explosives. But a man in the field can be bought, misled, or simply insubordinate. He plays Bond’s phone conversation, then quips that he’s not overawed by the “one man with a gun” model of intelligence.
Bond meets with Mr. White and gets his lead for Madeleine and L’Americain. When he tells Swann about her father, she angrily orders him out—and immediately starts preparing to leave once he does.
Bond gives Q the octopus ring. He sees Madeleine leave, but she doesn’t get far; Hinx arrives and captures her, leading to another chase scene I can’t fix.
After neutralizing Hinx, Bond and Swann meet with Q, who has not turned up much with the octopus ring except that there have been others like it, usually found on the bodies of terrorists. Madeleine jumps in to serve as Ms. Exposition: they’re all working for Spectre, a shadowy group made up of incredibly powerful, ambitious people. Q recognizes the name, but argues it’s an urban legend. If a counterintelligence agency existed and opposed MI6, surely they would know about it. Madeleine agrees. “Your superiors do know about it,” she says. “And there’s nothing they can do.” Spectre’s leaders have bought all the right people; even when some of them are imprisoned or killed, more rise up to take their place.
Spectre brings out the worst in the human species, she tells them. And it can’t be stopped; not with bullets, not with brave men. Their leader, Franz Oberhauser, is not some lynchpin to be removed. The worst they could do is inconvenience the organization.
Bond brushes this off; he and Madeleine make for L’Americain. Madeleine is clearly shell-shocked from her ordeal so far, and takes a shower. She makes it very clear to Bond that he won’t be joining her.
They find Mr. White’s stash of clues and head to the desert by train. Meanwhile, in London, the holdout African vote swings in favor of Nine Eyes. M confronts C, heavily implying that C somehow orchestrated a terrorist attack to further his goals. C is outraged that M would accuse him of something so despicable. “If this is the kind of logic the 00 program uses to ‘get its man,’” he says, “I feel proud to have ended it.”
Bond and Swann talk on the train, but this time there is more to their conversation than Bond extolling the virtues of the Sig Sauer. Madeleine pegs Bond as a maladjusted young man who struggles to connect because of numerous failed relationships in his past. She sees right through him; she’s a trained psychologist, she reminds him, and her father was an assassin. She can read Bond like a trashy magazine.
Bond—and the astute portion of the audience—recognizes the parallels to his first conversation with Vesper. He changes the subject back to guns.
Hinx attacks Bond and Swann on the train. They beat him; this time Madeleine manages to get a meaningful hit in against Hinx, rather than being a two-second distraction. Relieved and exhilarated from the fight, the two leads get busy in their train compartment.
They arrive at Oberhauser’s compound. The mind games play out much the same way; they’re welcomed in with no problems, Bond gives up his gun, Swann finds a dress on her bed. Bond finds pictures of M and Vesper in his room.
Oberhauser welcomes Swann and Bond to his meteor room. Instead of waxing eloquent about how James entered his life and stole Daddy’s love, this time he’s simply pissed about the times Bond mucked his plans. Quantum existed as a subsidiary of Spectre, and Bond’s successes against them have made Waltz’s life troublesome.
He shows off his panopticon room and brags about being connected to all the information in the world—we see Bond blink, making an intuitive leap, but he says nothing. He plays the clip of Bond and White; Bond urges Madeleine to look away. She does, but Oberhauser grabs her face and forces her roughly to stare at the screen. Bond tries to interfere, but doesn’t get far before a billy club brings him down.
Bond wakes up in the torture room. Oberhauser notes that Spectre has a very specific policy about troublesome people: buy them or remove them. Mr. Hinx was supposed to fix the problem, but now….
“It has been a long time since I involved myself,” Oberhauser says. “I don’t want to get lax, you know? Old and fat and lazy? How boring.”
He delivers a monologue about torture that is markedly similar to the one in the film, this time revolving around Lucia Sciarra instead of the nameless Spectre agent. “There was no one inside her skull.” He begins to torture Bond with the needles. Screaming. Blood. For at least one shot, we’re inside Bond’s head as the room seems to tip sideways and Oberhauser gloats about how easy it is to disrupt Bond’s sense of balance. Bond looks ready to puke.
Oberhauser leers at Swann as he tortures Bond. “Do you love him? What would you give me for his freedom? Would you take off all your clothes and dance? Give me all your earthly possessions? Sell me national secrets?”
Madeleine maintains a stiff upper lip and tells Oberhauser to go to hell. Oberhauser takes it in stride and tells her matter-of-factly that he will be removing Bond’s ability to recognize faces, so she had better say goodbye. Bond gets the watch to her; it explodes in time to save him from further torture.
Swann and Bond begin fighting their way out of the compound, though Bond’s balance is thrown all to hell and it’s making his aim poor. Madeleine takes the gun—not enthusiastically—and Bond guides her strategy: “shoot there, shoot there, wait. He’s cornered, another one will be hiding there.” They put bullets in a number of strategic places, rather than a single oil barrel. The compound goes up in flames.
They escape via helicopter, and Bond fills in Swann (and the few members of the audience who haven’t caught on yet) that C is one of Spectre’s agents, and they need to shut him—and Nine Eyes—down as soon as possible.
They meet up with Q, M, and Moneypenny in London and debrief as before. As they mobilize, Madeleine admits to Bond that she’s been ignoring something for too long: she wants no part in this life. She understands if James can’t give it up. “I wish you could.” She leaves.
Bond & Co. hash out a plan of attack as they drive, but midway through Bond receives a cryptic text from Madeleine’s number, from which he deduces that she’s been captured and taken to Old!MI6. He sends M, Q, and Moneypenny to handle C at New!MI6 while he tears off to save Swann.
Meanwhile, at New!MI6, C is working late. There’s a prominently placed countdown clock for the Nine Eyes launch. He gets a notification from the computer—it’s found aberrant data. It shows him assorted video clips of Madeleine’s capture on the road and her being taken to Old!MI6 and tied up in a room. He tells the computer to notify police. The system confirms the police will arrive in five minutes, then informs C that the demolitions in the building have been set to a timer inconsistent with regulation; the system flags it as highly suspicious. C looks out his window at the condemned building, and sets his jaw. He leaves MI6 at speed.
M, Q, and Moneypenny arrive moments later and shut down Nine Eyes.
Bond arrives at Old!MI6 and finds the graffitied arrows to guide him. Oberhauser appears (uninjured) behind the bulletproof glass (gotta get that iconic shot…that didn’t end up in the movie). Oberhauser sneers that Bond has proven more frustrating than he could have predicted; Oberhauser can’t simply kill him anymore. No, Bond has to be punished. Oberhauser taunts him with the opportunity to save Madeleine or himself before calmly leaving. Bond is furious but only for a moment. He runs back into the building, opening door after door, screaming Madeleine’s name.
We jump to a door opening to see Madeleine tied up, gagged, surrounded by wires. She’s horrified to see that her rescuer is not Bond, but C. He unties her, faltering from nerves, and explains anxiously that a terrorist has got control of the demolition in the building, it’s going to be blowing up shortly, and they both need to get out of there.
Swann does not seem convinced that C is friendly. The moment she’s free she sprints out of the room. C follows her, looking confused and more than a little terrified.
Bond and Madeleine run into each other and have no time for romance. “There’s a bomb—” “I know, this way.” As Madeleine runs to their timely exit via rope net, Bond spots C running down the corridor. C is relieved, and calls out to 007. Still believing C to be one of Oberhauser’s allies, Bond shoots him. C falls to the ground. He begins to bleed out, and mutters, darkly, “One man with a gun.”
Bond and Madeleine escape via boat as the building explodes. They shoot down Oberhauser’s helicopter, and Bond gets his moment of being The Good Guy by refusing to shoot Oberhauser dead in the face. Oberhauser threatens that as long as he lives, he will seek ways to claw the soul out of Bond’s life. Bond is mighty confident that this won’t turn out well for Oberhauser. M and Q arrive and arrest Oberhauser while Bond throws his gun away and walks into the sunset with Madeleine Swann.
We skip the scene of Bond collecting his Signature Cool Car from MI6 for two reasons: one, we’ve already shown him heading off for romantic bliss with a smart, capable woman who gets him and we don’t need to do it again.
Two, there’s one more scene before this movie’s done:
We’re at another Spectre office party. The mood is more somber than the last one. Someone offers a toast to Franz Oberhauser, who helped make their organization what it is today, and who will be replaced, but only with great difficulty; the Spectre members raise their glasses respectfully. The toast-maker goes on to say that in loss, there is always gain, and today, they welcome “a man who has come back from death and seen the entire world in a glance. In his new life, he has taken a new name, and new purpose: to destroy the people who murdered him in cold blood.”
He stands aside to reveal C, bound to a wheelchair, with a horrid scar over one eye. “Please welcome Mr. Ernst Blofeld.”
END

There have been a fair number of really intelligent and thoughtful critiques of Spectre on this sub, and I think it’d be fun to see if we can pick the movie apart and reassemble it to make it great. Do not fail me, /TrueFilm!
My suggestion follows (with the obvious caveat that it’s totally arrogant to assume that I would have written a better movie originally, etc. This is just an exercise for fun). It’s rather long. ^{Also if you like pictures and pretty formatting, you can find this post on Medium.}

The Problems

• The Blofeld “reveal” and everything associated with it: “cuckoo,” Franz Oberhauser, “I am a supervillain because Daddy didn’t love me,” “author of all your pain.” This is the most glaring issue, and the one I’ve seen most often addressed in critiques. Christoph Waltz is an extraordinary actor. It is freakin’ known, Khaleesi. But he comes off way less threatening in this film than Javier Bardem did in Skyfall, and I’d argue it’s because of the script. Blofeld does not, at any point, show us why we should be scared of him, and his overly intricate backstory mystery only makes him less threatening. His continuous failures (mentioned in point 3) do even more damage to his menace.
  
• Madeleine Swann < Vesper Lynd. If Bond is going to quit MI6 and walk off into the sunset with a lady, she needs to be just as impressive and badass as Vesper. Moreover, we need much better evidence that she’s The One than Blofeld’s throwaway line about the daughter of an assassin being the only one who could understand Bond. She almost manages this in refusing to jump in bed with Bond seeking solace for her dead daddy—but then goes back on this statement, what, ten minutes later? She’s never shown to be Bond’s equal intellectually or emotionally; there’s no reason for him to choose her over the exciting spy life.
  
• Bond is never disadvantaged. In Skyfall, Silva almost always has the upper hand—even when he’s imprisoned, he never loses his aura of being exactly where he wants to be (for obvious reasons: how can you lose when you have “Summon Train” in your spell slots?)—and Bond is almost always disadvantaged (physically and psychologically unfit for duty, in conflict with M, barely scraping by in combat).
  In Spectre, Bond is only occasionally surprised, and Blofeld constantly gets one-upped. His only successes are (1) capturing Bond in the desert (which doesn’t stick) and (2) being “the author of all your pain” (which is so shoehorned as to be meaningless and is telling rather than showing). This all ties back to Blofeld’s unconvincing villainy. (And I know that one of the “draws” is that Bond films feature a badass, unflinching, totally-in-control protagonist…but surely we can do better than just another indulgent Bond flick. Skyfall wasn’t. Casino Royale wasn’t.)
  
• Bad Guys Inc. is neither threatening nor noticeably evil. What’s Spectre’s plan? What are they doing, and to what purpose do they do it? It seems they orchestrate a couple bombings and sex-tradings, and they’re clearly invested in Nine Eyes, so that they can…what? Contrast this with Skyfall, which had clear stakes: Silva is blackmailing M, threatening to release names, and agents will die if she doesn’t react.
  
• Lack of thematic heft. Maybe Spectre’s theme was just too subtle for me to grasp, or maybe I’m right in saying that it had no higher purpose. There was no thing-behind-the-thing. That’s not necessarily bad—but action movies are always the better for strong themes. The Dark Knight’s concern with the nature of man made it a great film. Skyfall brought up extremely relevant concerns about the nature of leadership, and tied them into Bond’s character arc.
  

The Story

Everything leading up to the infamous “cuckoo” line remains much the same: Bond kills Sciarra in Mexico, weathers New!M’s annoyance, teases Q, debriefs Moneypenny (we don’t see the faded picture brought back from Skyfall), and drives off to Rome with his cheeky grin (he’s cocky this time around; he’s beaten his fair share of supervillains, he’s at the top of his game). He nails Sciarra’s widow, tells the bouncer he’s Mickey Mouse, etc.
At the Spectre meeting we have our first change. The leaders of Spectre are no longer faceless suits; now there are people among them wearing bishop’s robes, decorated military uniforms, etc. There are a few police, as well, but no one seems concerned.
Instead of a business meeting, it almost feels like a party. People are drinking, laughing, talking shop. Bond draws a couple weird looks, but they’re not worried. Waltz is moving around the crowd, shaking hands, totally calm. He runs into Bond.
“James, isn’t it?” he says. “I was hoping we’d meet you tonight.” Bond doesn’t recognize him. He plays coy, and Waltz shuts him up. “We’ve got very special entertainment coming up. You won’t want to miss it.”
Bond is nonplussed. He hears a few people mention their business interests—trafficking of the sex and drug varieties, who’s going to kill the Pale King now, etc.—and his hackles are up.
Waltz draws everyone’s attention. “We have special guests tonight. If everyone would please welcome MI6 agent James Bond.” Applause and laughter from the crowd. Bond weathers it pretty well. “And, to cheer her up on this dreary evening, we have invited dear Lucia Sciarra.”
Doors open and Lucia is led in. She’s beat up. The group claps politely. Bond looks briefly shocked but keeps his cool.
Waltz makes a few jokes about Lucia being the sort of woman who doesn’t stay single for long, the sheets never get cold, etc. He gives Bond the cheesiest grin and then one of the henchmen shoots Lucia in the back. Waltz is still grinning.
Bond loses it and tries to fight his way forward; henchmen are on him in a hot second. He tears through several of them, and then Mr. Hinx has him in a headlock and three dudes have guns trained on him. Waltz talks to Lucia as she dies. “Your husband helped our organization become what it is today,” he says. “But we both know how easily he can be replaced.” He tilts his head at Hinx, indicating that they have found someone to assassinate the Pale King.
Bond slips away by the skin of his teeth and calls Moneypenny on the road, while Hinx follows him. This time, rather than asking her to search up Franz Oberhauser, he demands to know who the hell these people are. They meet with no attempt at secrecy; they murder a woman while surrounded by cops. What’s going on?
...I can’t fix the chase scene.
Back in London, M, Q, and C attend the vote for Nine Eyes. This plays out as before with the single opposing vote and M grilling C afterward, but this time C is slightly less obnoxious, more idealistic. He seems to believe that the 00 program is not only obsolete, but actively harmful. M gives his inspiring bit about the value of men in the field who make the horrible call of whether someone gets to live or die. C replies that Nine Eyes will be able to see the entire world in a glance; MI6 will see terrorist attacks before the perpetrator can buy his first barrel of explosives. But a man in the field can be bought, misled, or simply insubordinate. He plays Bond’s phone conversation, then quips that he’s not overawed by the “one man with a gun” model of intelligence.
Bond meets with Mr. White and gets his lead for Madeleine and L’Americain. When he tells Swann about her father, she angrily orders him out—and immediately starts preparing to leave once he does.
Bond gives Q the octopus ring. He sees Madeleine leave, but she doesn’t get far; Hinx arrives and captures her, leading to another chase scene I can’t fix.
After neutralizing Hinx, Bond and Swann meet with Q, who has not turned up much with the octopus ring except that there have been others like it, usually found on the bodies of terrorists. Madeleine jumps in to serve as Ms. Exposition: they’re all working for Spectre, a shadowy group made up of incredibly powerful, ambitious people. Q recognizes the name, but argues it’s an urban legend. If a counterintelligence agency existed and opposed MI6, surely they would know about it. Madeleine agrees. “Your superiors do know about it,” she says. “And there’s nothing they can do.” Spectre’s leaders have bought all the right people; even when some of them are imprisoned or killed, more rise up to take their place.
Spectre brings out the worst in the human species, she tells them. And it can’t be stopped; not with bullets, not with brave men. Their leader, Franz Oberhauser, is not some lynchpin to be removed. The worst they could do is inconvenience the organization.
Bond brushes this off; he and Madeleine make for L’Americain. Madeleine is clearly shell-shocked from her ordeal so far, and takes a shower. She makes it very clear to Bond that he won’t be joining her.
They find Mr. White’s stash of clues and head to the desert by train. Meanwhile, in London, the holdout African vote swings in favor of Nine Eyes. M confronts C, heavily implying that C somehow orchestrated a terrorist attack to further his goals. C is outraged that M would accuse him of something so despicable. “If this is the kind of logic the 00 program uses to ‘get its man,’” he says, “I feel proud to have ended it.”
Bond and Swann talk on the train, but this time there is more to their conversation than Bond extolling the virtues of the Sig Sauer. Madeleine pegs Bond as a maladjusted young man who struggles to connect because of numerous failed relationships in his past. She sees right through him; she’s a trained psychologist, she reminds him, and her father was an assassin. She can read Bond like a trashy magazine.
Bond—and the astute portion of the audience—recognizes the parallels to his first conversation with Vesper. He changes the subject back to guns.
Hinx attacks Bond and Swann on the train. They beat him; this time Madeleine manages to get a meaningful hit in against Hinx, rather than being a two-second distraction. Relieved and exhilarated from the fight, the two leads get busy in their train compartment.
They arrive at Oberhauser’s compound. The mind games play out much the same way; they’re welcomed in with no problems, Bond gives up his gun, Swann finds a dress on her bed. Bond finds pictures of M and Vesper in his room.
Oberhauser welcomes Swann and Bond to his meteor room. Instead of waxing eloquent about how James entered his life and stole Daddy’s love, this time he’s simply pissed about the times Bond mucked his plans. Quantum existed as a subsidiary of Spectre, and Bond’s successes against them have made Waltz’s life troublesome.
He shows off his panopticon room and brags about being connected to all the information in the world—we see Bond blink, making an intuitive leap, but he says nothing. He plays the clip of Bond and White; Bond urges Madeleine to look away. She does, but Oberhauser grabs her face and forces her roughly to stare at the screen. Bond tries to interfere, but doesn’t get far before a billy club brings him down.
Bond wakes up in the torture room. Oberhauser notes that Spectre has a very specific policy about troublesome people: buy them or remove them. Mr. Hinx was supposed to fix the problem, but now….
“It has been a long time since I involved myself,” Oberhauser says. “I don’t want to get lax, you know? Old and fat and lazy? How boring.”
He delivers a monologue about torture that is markedly similar to the one in the film, this time revolving around Lucia Sciarra instead of the nameless Spectre agent. “There was no one inside her skull.” He begins to torture Bond with the needles. Screaming. Blood. For at least one shot, we’re inside Bond’s head as the room seems to tip sideways and Oberhauser gloats about how easy it is to disrupt Bond’s sense of balance. Bond looks ready to puke.
Oberhauser leers at Swann as he tortures Bond. “Do you love him? What would you give me for his freedom? Would you take off all your clothes and dance? Give me all your earthly possessions? Sell me national secrets?”
Madeleine maintains a stiff upper lip and tells Oberhauser to go to hell. Oberhauser takes it in stride and tells her matter-of-factly that he will be removing Bond’s ability to recognize faces, so she had better say goodbye. Bond gets the watch to her; it explodes in time to save him from further torture.
Swann and Bond begin fighting their way out of the compound, though Bond’s balance is thrown all to hell and it’s making his aim poor. Madeleine takes the gun—not enthusiastically—and Bond guides her strategy: “shoot there, shoot there, wait. He’s cornered, another one will be hiding there.” They put bullets in a number of strategic places, rather than a single oil barrel. The compound goes up in flames.
They escape via helicopter, and Bond fills in Swann (and the few members of the audience who haven’t caught on yet) that C is one of Spectre’s agents, and they need to shut him—and Nine Eyes—down as soon as possible.
They meet up with Q, M, and Moneypenny in London and debrief as before. As they mobilize, Madeleine admits to Bond that she’s been ignoring something for too long: she wants no part in this life. She understands if James can’t give it up. “I wish you could.” She leaves.
Bond & Co. hash out a plan of attack as they drive, but midway through Bond receives a cryptic text from Madeleine’s number, from which he deduces that she’s been captured and taken to Old!MI6. He sends M, Q, and Moneypenny to handle C at New!MI6 while he tears off to save Swann.
Meanwhile, at New!MI6, C is working late. There’s a prominently placed countdown clock for the Nine Eyes launch. He gets a notification from the computer—it’s found aberrant data. It shows him assorted video clips of Madeleine’s capture on the road and her being taken to Old!MI6 and tied up in a room. He tells the computer to notify police. The system confirms the police will arrive in five minutes, then informs C that the demolitions in the building have been set to a timer inconsistent with regulation; the system flags it as highly suspicious. C looks out his window at the condemned building, and sets his jaw. He leaves MI6 at speed.
M, Q, and Moneypenny arrive moments later and shut down Nine Eyes.
Bond arrives at Old!MI6 and finds the graffitied arrows to guide him. Oberhauser appears (uninjured) behind the bulletproof glass (gotta get that iconic shot…that didn’t end up in the movie). Oberhauser sneers that Bond has proven more frustrating than he could have predicted; Oberhauser can’t simply kill him anymore. No, Bond has to be punished. Oberhauser taunts him with the opportunity to save Madeleine or himself before calmly leaving. Bond is furious but only for a moment. He runs back into the building, opening door after door, screaming Madeleine’s name.
We jump to a door opening to see Madeleine tied up, gagged, surrounded by wires. She’s horrified to see that her rescuer is not Bond, but C. He unties her, faltering from nerves, and explains anxiously that a terrorist has got control of the demolition in the building, it’s going to be blowing up shortly, and they both need to get out of there.
Swann does not seem convinced that C is friendly. The moment she’s free she sprints out of the room. C follows her, looking confused and more than a little terrified.
Bond and Madeleine run into each other and have no time for romance. “There’s a bomb—” “I know, this way.” As Madeleine runs to their timely exit via rope net, Bond spots C running down the corridor. C is relieved, and calls out to 007. Still believing C to be one of Oberhauser’s allies, Bond shoots him. C falls to the ground. He begins to bleed out, and mutters, darkly, “One man with a gun.”
Bond and Madeleine escape via boat as the building explodes. They shoot down Oberhauser’s helicopter, and Bond gets his moment of being The Good Guy by refusing to shoot Oberhauser dead in the face. Oberhauser threatens that as long as he lives, he will seek ways to claw the soul out of Bond’s life. Bond is mighty confident that this won’t turn out well for Oberhauser. M and Q arrive and arrest Oberhauser while Bond throws his gun away and walks into the sunset with Madeleine Swann.
We skip the scene of Bond collecting his Signature Cool Car from MI6 for two reasons: one, we’ve already shown him heading off for romantic bliss with a smart, capable woman who gets him and we don’t need to do it again.
Two, there’s one more scene before this movie’s done:
We’re at another Spectre office party. The mood is more somber than the last one. Someone offers a toast to Franz Oberhauser, who helped make their organization what it is today, and who will be replaced, but only with great difficulty; the Spectre members raise their glasses respectfully. The toast-maker goes on to say that in loss, there is always gain, and today, they welcome “a man who has come back from death and seen the entire world in a glance. In his new life, he has taken a new name, and new purpose: to destroy the people who murdered him in cold blood.”
He stands aside to reveal C, bound to a wheelchair, with a horrid scar over one eye. “Please welcome Mr. Ernst Blofeld.”
END

I realize this is long AF, but bear with me!
So, one of the major complaints I've heard from critic reviews, the discussion threads on Reddit, and from some friends I went to see Spectre with are that Spectre went too far in the direction of the old Bond movies and that the tone/plot of the movie were too far removed from the previous Daniel Craig outings.
I would like to offer my two cents and contend that Spectre is the end result of a very gradual, skillful evolution of the rebooted Bond and to maybe patch up some of the perceived plot holes that came from retconning Blofeld as the "author of all [Bond's] pain."
INITIAL DISCLAIMER: I liked Spectre, but do not think it was as good as either Casino Royale of Skyfall. It's definitely better than Quantum of Solace. I'd give CR a 9/10, Quantum a 5/10, Skyfall a 9.5/10, and Spectre a solid 7/10... maybe a 7.5 if you forgive some of the lackluster London scenes and the sorta slow editing.
So, to begin: Craig's Bond has been evolving each film.
I've heard a lot of people say they were very disappointed in how Bond went from the heartless bastard who will never love again to a guy willing to throw it all away for one girl... again. Let me show how I feel Craig's Bond has been evolving to this point, a point similar to how Connery's Bond was the second we first saw him in Dr. No.
In CR, Bond is young, reckless, and doesn't care who gets hurt. After Vesper breaks his heart, he becomes hardened, callous, and vengeful. If you think about it, because Quantum is a back-to-back sequel with CR, both of those films take place in 2006. If Skyfall takes place in 2012, that means Bond had SIX YEARS to evolve and change. We know at the end of Quantum that he has forgiven Vesper and healed from the trauma she caused him. And then, if we see that Spectre takes place in 2015, THREE YEARS after Skyfall, that means NINE YEARS TOTAL have passed since Bond lost Vesper. I think that, when we think of Craig's Bond in these terms, we see that he has had plenty of time for his heart to soften again and be open to falling for the next right woman, who so happens to be Dr. Madeleine Swann in Spectre.
For proof of Bond's softening heart, let's think of M's death scene in Skyfall. We see a Bond here that openly weeps for a friend. This woman could have just been his boss. He could have had a multitude of reactions to hear death: "Oh, shit, I basically killed my boss by not protecting her and leading her out to the country, I'm in big trouble." But instead, he weeps, and we see that Bond has let this woman in his heart. She was his friend, his mother-figure, and the Bond girl that might have touched him just as much as Vesper Lynd.
Further softening is evidenced in Spectre. Bond seduces Monica Belucci's character, sure. But notice that he gets the information he wants from her before any lovemaking happens. And Bond could get sex anywhere he wants, it's not like he's starving for a good hump. I contend, as awful as this might sound, that Bond, in his own way, was comforting her with the sex scene. He doesn't have to do this AT ALL, but he provides her with some much needed physical attention in the wake of her grief and emotional distress. In addition, he leaves her Felix Leiter's number and provides her a way out of the dangerous situation she's in, something else he is not obligated to do by any means. He's making two very conscious decisions here to be a good, caring guy (by Bond-universe terms).
Let's think back to CR... In that movie, Bond nearly sleeps with Demitrious's wife in order to learn more about him and his connection to the terrorist organization Le Chiffre is in charge of. The second Bond gets the information he needs (that Demitrious is going to Miami), Bond leaves her flat, knowing she's vulnerable and in danger. When M shows him her dead body, Bond is completely cold and fine with it. He has no remorse. Just from the difference in these two widow seductions, and from his deep relationship with M, we see that Bond has evolved a whole heck of a lot between CR and Spectre. After 9 years and a whole lot of growth, it seems completely logical to me that he could be ready to fall in love again.
Next up is reconciling the retconned SPECTRE with the various villains in the previous Craig Bond flicks. I believe this can be done by categorizing the previous villains as either loose cannons that Blofeld left free to wreak havoc on Bond or villains that were actual SPECTRE members.
Silva is the most obvious loose cannon. None of this is explained in the films, obviously, but this speculation of mine makes sense to me, and maybe it will help the whole "I was there the whole time" reveal go down easier for you guys. Let's picture Silva after M gives him to the Chinese in exchange for 6 other British agents the Chinese were holding. Silva is delirious, tortured daily, and completely vengeful against M, the woman responsible for this ill treatment. Imagine if, at this opportune moment, Blofeld or a SPECTRE agent steps in and frees him. Either that, or Silva escapes on his own and is later offered money and equipment from Blofeld/SPECTRE to set up his own operations. Blofeld wouldn't be interested in employing Silva as an actual SPECTRE member, he just wants to help out anyone who will wreak havoc on MI6. Perhaps SPECTRE even offers some of the jobs Silva mentions to Bond that he is working on: dismantling governments and assassinating dictators. Now, of course Blofeld later takes direct credit for Silva's killing M (which is funny because M is injured by a chance gunshot from one of Silva's henchman... not exactly a deliberate blow from Silva). I don't think we have to accept that as story truth. It's most likely just a lie that Blofeld tells Bond to push on his buttons. (We do know that Silva IS directly linked to Blofeld/SPECTRE through the ring Bond finds early on in the film.)
Le Chiffre, then, would be another rogue agent loosely employed by SPECTRE. The little "I want to make a bank for terrorists" scheme almost sounds like an outside proposition that Le Chiffre would bring to SPECTRE through Mr. White, who we see all throughout CR and Quantum. I would contend that Le Chiffre was never a direct SPECTRE member or even really working for them. He was just a guy they saw useful to employ... Until his little scheme didn't work, upon which Mr. White dealt with him for SPECTRE ("Money isn't as important to my people as knowing who to trust.")
The other subset of previous Craig villains would be those who ARE directly employed by SPECTRE, or are even full members/partners in the organization.
I contend that Quantum, which everyone thought was the thrift shop excuse for SPECTRE the writers wanted to employ for Craig's Bond, is actually the name of an OPERATION/EVIL PLAN, not an organization. Think about it: Mr. White mentions "His people" and "We," but never actually calls them Quantum. The only person who name drops "Quantum" is Greene, and the line he says is "I've told you everything you wanted to know about Quantum." He doesn't confirm that Quantum is the organization he's a part of at all. I think it makes sense, what with the retconned SPECTRE and all, to think of Quantum as the name of the plan SPECTRE put Dominic Greene in charge of operating, which allows Quantum of Solace and Spectre to co-exist quite nicely.
I would also claim that Greene is a direct SPECTRE member due to that scene where all the baddies talk to each other with ear pieces during the performance of Tosca. Mr. White is shown clearly in this scene as well, which makes sense given that White is explained to have been a direct member of SPECTRE in Spectre. We don't see Blofeld in this scene simply because a) Blofeld might not want to show up for a simple meeting like this when he can leave it to Greene or b) Blofeld follows his trend of not speaking in meetings unless he must ("Please, don't let me interrupt" upon his entrance in Spectre). Later on when Bond crashes the party, all the members including Greene leave the opera post-haste, while Mr. White stays right where he is, not drawing attention to himself. I would contend that, if we accept the story truth that Blofeld was at this SPECTRE meeting, he would have been smart as well and would have stayed put.
For further thought, consider "Ellipsis" in Casino Royale. In this film, the evil plot/password/catchphrase of the terrorist organization Le Chiffre operates is Ellipsis. It's the name of one of the contacts on Madagascar Bomb Maker's phone, it's the password T-1000 guy uses at the Miami airport, and it's the go-word used by Le Chiffre to start the operation. However, we never make the assumption that, say, Le Chiffre's organization is called Ellipsis. I would argue that the word "Quantum" is used much the same way in Quantum of Solace.
Finally, I get to the idea that the filmmakers and Craig's Bond have gone through a whole lot of crap and emotional trauma to EARN what Spectre is, which is basically a good-old traditional Bond flick. This is the Bond of your grandpa, the Bond who is already set in his ways and knows the ropes of the spy game. What people loved so much about CR, Quantum, and Skyfall was that we saw what you could call "Bond Begins," or the events and backstory that shape Bond, backstory we never got to see before. The only problem is that you can't keep Bond an immature Bond forever. At some point he has to be the full blown, full grown Bond we all know from folks like Sean Connery, Roger Moore, and Pierce Brosnan. I think three movies, 7 hours or so of screen time, and 9 years of story time are more than enough to get Bond to the point he is at in Spectre.
And, if you think back to the ending of Skyall, Mendes and team were directly setting us up for Spectre. We see the female M pass and make way for the traditional male M (a move that, surprisingly, doesn't get hate for being backwards or old-fashioned, but is seen as a move towards Bond tradition.) We see Eve retire from the field and become a secretary, Ms. Moneypenny, another move that didn't have the feminist crowd up in arms because a) I would venture to guess that not a lot of feminists watch Bond flicks and b) this decision is once again a way to bring us back to the Bond we saw in the days of Connery and Moore. We get our traditional Q, though certainly revamped for the modern day. And finally, we even get the traditional, leather-door office for M(allory) to conduct MI6 operations and give Bond his assignments.
In short, we have had three movies to set up Bond full stride, Bond in his prime, Bond as he was performed by Connery before. If we think of the three previous movies as an evolution leading up to Spectre, the fantastical, '60s Bond throwback, almost-but-never-exactly campy tone of Spectre makes a whole lot more sense.
TL;DR: Spectre makes sense and fits in with the previous Craig Bond films because Bond as a character has had 9 story years to evolve and change, because Silva and Le Chiffre could have been loose cannons while Greene was an actual employee of SPECTRE, and because we had three "Bond Begins" movies to get us to this point in the series.

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From 1963, this is the middle act of the Blofeld Trilogy, which began with THUNDERBALL and would conclude in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. It's difficult now to imagine how powerfully this book must have hit readers back when it was first published. Today, the 1969 film version and all the many discussion in reviews and newsgroups has pretty much guaranteed that most people will approach reading ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE with foreknowledge of its downbeat ending. What Bond fan doesn't know about Tracy?
There are essentially two storylines going on here which meet toward the very end with tragic effect. First, James Bond falls in love; yes, he's done so to different extents before and been sincere enough at the time, but this woman is the genuine soul mate for him. He proposes to Tracy and she accepts, they get married and start off happily on their new life together. Then the other half of the plot intervenes.....
Ernst Stavro Blofeld, who two years earlier had thrown the governments of Europe and America into panic with his nuclear blackmail threat to use two stolen warheads on a big city, is still at large. In fact, he has a new scheme well underway in his luxury ski resort/research clinic in the Swiss Alps and has even managed to organize a new SPECTRE. Bond infiltrates the villain's headquarters undercover as a heraldry expert named Sir Hilary Bray, and although there are the expected gunfire fireworks and litter of bodies before it's all over (not to mention ten gorgeous young "golden girls" being used as unwitting agents of destruction), both Blofeld and his liebchen Irma Bunt escape with hard feelings toward this British agent.
Returning to this book after having last read it many years ago, I was pleased (and a bit surprised) to see how convincing the romance between Bond and Tracy is. As the story starts, our hero is deep in a midlife crisis. He is mentally drafting his letter of resignation to the Secret Service (feeling he is being wasted on a fruitless chase after the elusive Blofeld) and musing over the sunny carefree days of his childhood. It's September, and Bond has returned once again to the very Casino Royale-les-Eaux where, a decade earlier, he had loved and lost Vesper Lynd. He was ready to propose to that tragic double agent when she took her own life as the only one out. Bond has never really gotten over her:
"He had come a long way since then, dodged many bullets and much death and loved many girls, but there had been a drama and a poignancy about that particular adventure that every year drew him back to Royale and its casino and to the small granite cross in the little churchyard that simply said, 'Vesper Lynd, R.I.P.' "
The air of melancholy and regret is heavy on every page. Ten years earlier had also been when Ian Fleming had written CASINO ROYALE and started the James Bond series; now, even with the popularity of the books and the promising new movie coming out, Fleming himself was ill and weary, depressed at how empty this long-awaited success turned out to be. It shows in his writing and rubs off on his hero.
So Bond is more than ripe for big changes. When he meets the beautiful* but suicidal Tracy (La Comtessa Teresa di Vicenzo), he's as emotionally vulnerable as he has ever been in his life. She seems to have all the advantages one could want in life - looks, wealth, education - but her hollow life as the daughter of the head of the Union Corse, her failed marriage to a swine and the death in infancy of her child have all left her ready to face the big sleep. Even after Bond saves her from disgrace at the gaming table, she's still miserable and he cant really rescue her. ("He went off down the corridor feeling, for the first time in his lie, totally inadequate.) It wont be until after she returns from a lengthy stay at a psychiatric clinic that we see her fully alive, enthusiastic and charming. (This is also when Bond realizes this is the woman for him and he can't let her get away.)
Unfortunately, the other aspect of the book, dealing with the mandatory criminal genius, is not handled quite as successfully. For one thing, Blofeld changes physically so much between appearances that he might as well be a new character each time. In fact, I suspected more than once that this might not be the same guy who masterminded the Thunderball caper at all.... maybe a brother or cousin, or something. Compared to the grotesque and memorable Dr No or Auric Goldfinger or Hugo Drax, Blofeld makes little impression on me and is hard to visualize. It's a pity that the villain most important to the series is also the least clearly defined.(I also found the whole plot device of Blofeld being obsessed with acquring a title quite unconvincing, but then I don't move in the elevated social circles Fleming did; maybe people of the snoot class were desperate to be a Count or Earl back then.)
There are some fine moments of tension and suspense as Bond's cover starts to fray, and two classic action sequences involving desperate chases on skis and bobsleds that show some of Fleming's most vivid and hypnotic writing. He has always been at his best describing underwater scenes and gambling battles, but here he shows just as much skill when snowy mountainsides are the setting. Only twice does the author's zeal for presenting great chunks of information interfere with his storytelling. The scene where Bond bemusedly navigates through the College of Arms almost stumbles but the eccentric characters keep things moving. (Here is where we learn the famous motto of the Bond family, "The World Is Not Enough.")
However, when Blofeld's vile scheme is fully explained, we (along with Bond and M) have to wade through pages of dense jawbreaking data about biological warfare. My eyes glazed over, my heartbeat slowed, I dropped the book on the floor and had to start again. For some reason, Blofeld's master plan to wipe out Englands agriculture and livestock doesnt ring true, even though (as we sadly know today), it`s entirely plausible. Maybe it's too prosaic and too unmotivated to really have the lunatic grandeur we expect from a Bond villain.
It's also a bit surprising that M placidly accepts that his best 00 agent is running around with the daughter of the Union Corse`s chief. Imagine if a top FBI agent started dating the Godfather's daughter. You might expect him to be called into the boss's office to be asked if he's sure this is prudent. Although Marc-Ange Draco is portrayed by Fleming as one of his many charming bandit rogues, with a hearty laugh and a firm dry handshake, this guy is after all a major gangster. Just before he goes to the wedding, Draco was probably supervising the torture and killing of a police undercover agent or checking the new shipment of heroin before it is delivered. Bond has always had a piratical side to him, but here he steps over the line.
*The shocking pink lipstick is a bit much, though.

SEVERE SPOILERS AHEAD Ready?
From 1953, this was Ian Fleming's first book, and it's been slightly overshadowed by later, more over-the-top entries in the series. Certainly Fort Knox isn't robbed and no nuclear warheads are stolen, but the lack of spectacle is more than compensated by the tight, cohesive storyline and deep after-effects of this story.
This is basically the 'origin' of Jame Bond as we will know him, the events which break him down and allow him to start over in the direction of his life's work. At the start of CASINO ROYALE, Bond is a 00 agent but apparently hasn't been for too long (we're told he has killed two men in the line of duty) and he's very much filled with his own coolness. Smug and pretentious, doing his job with an exaggerated toughness, Bond is reminiscent of a boy playing cowboy, mentally swaggering into the saloon with his thumbs in his gunbelt.
By the end of the novel, he's been thoroughly humbled. His opponents overwhelm him effortlessly, he's rescued not by his own efforts but by the intervention of a SMERSH assassin and the woman he has finally tumbled for is revealed to have been a double agent all along. The morning he finds she has committed suicide to escape the situation (while he was still hoping she would accept his marriage proposal), Bond has had his illusions destroyed and he resolves to start over.
Compared to later books, the premise of CASINO ROYALE is relatively low-key. The villain is Le Chiffre, an undercover agent for the Russians who has gotten deeply in debt with their money and hopes to regain it by gambling at the French casino of the title. To prevent this, thereby ruining Le Chiffre and crippling the Communist labor union he heads, the British secret service sends its best gambler to do battle at the table, a man named Bond.
Right from the first paragraph, all of Ian Fleming's special characteristics are in evidence, from the journalist's attention to detail to the melodramatic action of the pulp novels. The actual writing style is more straightforward and plainer than it will become, and the frequent use of French seems perhaps a bit much (but then both Fleming and Bond seem to enjoy showing off and being up one up on everyone). The gambling for high stakes (both in terms of money and in the life-or-death consequences for the two men) is described with a passionate intensity that makes it easy to follow, even if you've never heard of baccarat. There's sex and violence, both pretty lurid for 1953. Bond is tortured in a graphic sequence that is still pretty hard to take today, but there are no prolonged shoot-outs or duels. Although he does carry out his mission to take Le Chiffre's money, Bond makes a poor showing in the actual combat. He's saved only when a SMERSH hitman interrupts to execute Le Chiffre.
Surprisingly, although the story seems to have reached its logical end, events then proceed to complete Bond's harsh lesson. The woman from his Service who has been sent to assist him, Vesper Lynd, reaches his repressed feelings. Bond has never thought a relationship could last, part of him has always held back, and even as he starts flirting, part of his mind is reflecting on how he will break it off. But he falls hard for Vesper, partly because after his experience, and he's thinking of leaving the service and travelling. He decides to propose to her and then the axe falls. She was in fact working for Russia all along, and torn between her genuine feelings for him and the certainty that SMERSH will come looking for her soon, she takes a bottle of sleeping pills and leaves him a heartbreaking note.
Here is where the James Bond of the following books is born. Instead of resigning, he is grimly determined now to work against SMERSH, to do everything he can to smash it. It's the cause he never had in his years of playing secret agent, and the guilt and remorse he feels are channelled into new dedication. It's too bad this book was never made into a serious Bond film. If a new actor replaces Pierce Brosnan, this would be a perfect launching board to reintroduce Bond and explain him. [Heh, you can tell I wrote this a few years ago, can't you?]
A few details are worth noting. When our hero meets Felix Leiter (who, like M and Moneypenny, is right there at the beginning of the stories) and gives his name, 007 replies, "Mine's Bond-- James Bond." So that classic phrase is imbedded from the start. And if Bond bought his Bentley in 1933, he has to be in his early forties in this story (unless he purchased a car like that as a teen-ager) It's described as his only personal hobby and in fact Bond has a very limited range of interests, mostly physical.
And SMERSH is concerned with disciplining wayward Soviet agents, sort of like the Internal Affairs investigators of police departments. It's not a general espionage unit as it's sometimes depicted and when Bond sets himself to fighting it, he sees it as "the threat behind the spies, the threat that made them spy." Fleming never followed up on this too much, and after FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE, he downplayed the Russians and introduced the more international SPECTRE. But I would have liked to see more of SMERSH, even a story where Bond defends reluctant Russian moles against a SMERSH assassin.
And come to think of it, did Bond ever run into the SMERSH hitman who killed Le Chiffre and (even though he spared 007's life) carved the symbol for 'spy' on the back of the English agent's hand? There's an untold story there.

I've subscribed to /movies ever since I signed this account up over 2 years ago, and it really seems like the majority of subscribers -- around 60%, maybe 70% -- think that either Skyfall is overrated, not better than Casino Royale, and/or just plain mediocre or worse.
I feel like Jerry in that Seinfeld episode where he's dating a stunning girl -- played by Christine Taylor, and here's a better picture of her...at age 39! -- but all his friends and acquaintances think she's repulsive but they don't really elaborate on it, and some even give him compliments for dating her and not being shallow. She's so obviously beautiful and there's absolutely NOTHING wrong with her physically (they obviously chose her as an actress BECAUSE she's so perfect looking), but because everyone is implying that she's undesirable -- I don't think they ever call her ugly or say anything specific, they only imply that she's repulsive -- Jerry ends up breaking up with her because he feels like he must be missing something that everyone else is seeing.
That's how I feel about Skyfall, at least in /movies. I feel like it's a fantastic film and definitely a great Bond film, but I see so many comments about how mediocre it is, so many that it makes me question whether I actually like the film (in the end, I always phase the dissenters out and cling on to my own opinion). Still, I find it odd to see so many detractors of Skyfall. What am I missing?
The only thing that people agree about it is that it is beautifully shot by Roger Deakins, and that's indisputable as far as art goes.
But a lot of people have problems with the story, the action, plot holes, themes, etc. I thought Skyfall NAILED everything.
It was a perfect mix of "classic" Bond and new Bond. We've got a new Q, a new Moneypenny (although their chemistry felt forced to me), and we have a new M. There were plenty of funny moments in a film that I felt was a bit melancholic, but in a cathartic melancholic way. It was a great spy drama to me, with a little bit of tragedy.
Maybe people were expecting Bourne-like action or Casino Royale-like fun and action and witty banter, but Skyfall was wonderfully mature, in my opinion.
We have the juxtaposition of two agents who have a common thread -- they both felt betrayed by Dench's M at one point, as Silva was left to be tortured and eventually tried to kill himself with cyanide but ended up disfiguring himself, while 007 resents M for ordering Moneypenny to take a high-risk shot, and in an aggressive tone ("Take the bloody shot, was it?" Bond asks M).
But we eventually see that James is the better man, someone who has forgiven M, while Silva has some serious grudge issues. They're both presumably orphans and look to M as a mother, but Bond deals with her temporary "betrayal" in a much more mature way -- even if he did go on a weeks-long bender. Of course, 007 endured far less than Silva did, but both were "betrayed."
The "rat" motif was played out well, with Silva telling the story about the last 2 rats standing, and Bond giving Silva the film trademark as-the-villain-dies-quip, "last rat standing." And of course, there's the one long take of Silva walking down to a tied-up Bond talking about his grandmother's island and the story about rats.
So, I can't say that I see the convincing criticism of Bardem as the villain, because he really was a complex villain, and a brilliant one. He was able to orchestrate everything until he went to Skyfall -- which was itself a brilliant move by Bond, as he figured it was "somewhere where they'll have the advantage," since it was all just moors and no technology beyond electricity....and Silva is a top 3-5 hacker and probably the #1 cyber-terrorist in the world (he hacked China so "hard" that China felt that he was worth 6 MI6 agents, as M mentioned why she didn't call for his release but got 6 others. M mentions that he went beyond the scope of his mission by hacking the Chinese, which is when and why M/MI6 disavowed him).
The complex part of him is his Oedipal obsession with M. He talks about being "her favorite" back when he was an agent, and perhaps he holds some disdain for Bond being her new favorite, as he knows that Bond was approved for duty by her despite failing his tests. Silva shows genuine concern when M is showing signs of being hit by a bullet, and warns everyone to not kill her. Then, at the end, he embraces her and instructs her to kill the both of them together in a bizarre murder-suicide.
But anyway, it's clear that Silva is both a genius and a bit of a nut, and he's brilliant and complex -- and IMO he's easily the best Bond villain of the 3 in the Craig era, and Bardem is one of the world's best actors (Mads is a great actor, too, but he wasn't given much to work with in Casino Royale as it was pretty one-note; it was almost robotic the way he played poker and said "you have a 24.34% chance of making a straight").
So, if it's not the cinematography nor the villain, what is it? What's the criticism?
Is it the brooding Bond?
Craig gives a deliciously nuanced performance, and certainly the most brooding and melancholic of the 3 films. Perhaps people didn't like that Bond wasn't as light-hearted as he was in the first 2 films? (this is the same Bond who was still smiling/laughing as he was poisoned in Casino Royale, before dying temporarily). This was the same Bond who was laughing while having his balls smashed, asking for LeChiffre to scratch the "itch" while being tortured; something tells me that Skyfall Bond would not be so happy-go-lucky.
In this film, he only quips with Moneypenny, and it's a bit stilted; otherwise, he's pretty bitter and brooding. I think that Casino Royale 007 wouldn't have been so dismissive and standoffish towards his Q in their first meeting. When 007 was going through his tests, it was closer to dark comedy than the light-hearted comedy from the first 2 films, like all the jokes between him and Vesper, e.g. how he gives her the name "Broadchest" or something similar as her initial alias, or mentions how his lamb was "skewered," much like how he felt after Vesper "tore him apart" psychologically, or just his simple Jim Halpert-like look when the Swedish banker makes a random joke and Bond looks away as if to give a "seriously? wha?" look, or even Bond's smirk when the terrorist blows himself up at the airport. We don't see Bond do that in Skyfall -- in fact, when he killed the guy who was largely responsible for his "death," he's really upset (of course, he's upset that he couldn't get info out of him, but he just avenged Ronson, an agent that Bond wanted to save but M told him to leave him there and pursue the terrorist).
No smirk, no quip, just anger after killing the initial enemy. And it really wasn't expected of him to get information out of this "ghost" mercenary/terrorist. M only told him to kill him, and I believe he says something like "will do" or "with pleasure," but he doesn't even show that he's pleased when he kills him.
The bottom line is that Skyfall Bond is NOT light-hearted and happy like he was in CQoS -- and perhaps people didn't enjoy that.
But it makes sense, especially with CR and QoS being pretty much companion films occurring at the same time, with Skyfall occurring at least 6 years later. But remember, Bond was hardened by his betrayal by Vesper, and after that we don't really see the same 007. He STILL quips and banters, but nothing like CR 007. In Casino Royale, when we saw him get angry and serious with Vesper in asking for the additional $5 million, we are put off by his seriousness...but Skyfall is full of "serious Bond." We do get a dark quip when the Bond girl is shot dead by Silva, as he quips that "it was a waste of good scotch." Casino Royale Bond probably would have reacted differently to seeing a girl get shot like that, both because he's a rookie and because he's not as cynical and emotionally detached as he is in Skyfall.
It makes COMPLETE SENSE for him to be a little more hardened (and perhaps darkly cynical, due to the betrayal of Vesper and M, and his "death" early in the film, as Silva even asks "did you really die that day?" when Bond can't pull the trigger to shoot the shot glass off the girl's head) and to treat his job a little more seriously since he's older and more experienced, and because it's a "young man's game," he needs to be a tad more serious in order to stay alive.
Perhaps people expected/wanted Bond to be the Casino Royale Bond -- smooth, suave, less introspective....but we got the opposite. We got an insecure, introspective, aging Bond who reflects on the past...and that's what I LOVE about Skyfall. He was a young(er) agent in Casino Royale, and it showed: he was reckless but lucky, he was arrogant even in the face of impending death, he fought and lived like he was invincible. They bring him back to his roots, back to where his parents died, and where he went into that little trap door a boy but wasn't a boy when he came out 2 days later (when his parents died).
The movie really humanizes Bond -- and if people are expecting 007 to be the type of agent who asks for his torturer to scratch his balls with a rope in Spectre, they're going to be disappointed because the producers are clearly making all the movies as ONE series with Craig, meaning that he is constantly developing as an agent and person...as opposed to the previous Bond films where it would be the SAME EXACT BOND in each movie if played by the same actor, with ZERO DEVELOPMENT BETWEEN MOVIES.
That's what I love -- they're showing Bond develop as an agent and as a man in between films, rather than having the "same ol' Bond" in every film.
He's not just the indiscriminate killing machine, but an actual person with scars, the type of scars where you press on them and you can still feel a light dull pain that never goes away. He's not a mysterious spy churned out of MI6, but a boy orphaned when his parents died in an accident, and to protect M he goes to the place he hates (and probably hates the most) because of its familiarity to Bond and the lack of technology there.
So, I can't see the problem being the villain, the protagonist, or the cinematography -- what else is there?
The story?
The simply synopsis is that MI6 lost a very sensitive file that not even England's NATO allies know exists -- a list of agents embedded in terrorist groups across the globe. Admittedly, this is both a big spy cliche (it was a cliche with the first Mission Impossible film dealt with the NOC list 20 years ago), and it doesn't make sense to put ALL of your eggs in one basket, i.e. putting ALL your agents' identities in one file -- at least break them up and keep them separated so that a breach of security onto one file at one location triggers enhanced security at the other locations, requiring a perfectly synchronized cyber-attack across multiple countries and firewalls and servers in order to piece together a very, very valuable list.
That's the plot. But what's the story?
The story is Silva's revenge against M and Bond's struggle to regain steps he has seemingly lost due to age. Turns out, Bond is at his best when he's actually going through a mission and NOT when he's being poked and prodded and tested. I think that's a great story for Bond, that he's a "true spy" when it counts the most, whereas I can see other spies acing the tests but failing when the "chips are on the table."
Another sub-story is M's reluctance to leave her post, as she's certainly "not going to leave it in worse shape than she found it," and she says "to hell with dignity" when Mallory suggests that she retires with dignity. M would rather double-down and right her wrong -- at the expense of making things even worse and possibly making her an infamously incompetent MI6 director. Luckily, she gets things right....and it happens to be her last act in her life. I feel like it's a happy ending, especially since her husband passed away sometime between CR and Skyfall (we see her answer the phone while her husband is sleeping in Casino Royale). M finishes her job, and if she believes in heaven, her last thoughts are that she did everything she wanted to do in life and now she gets to see her husband there, all while being held by Bond, a sort of act of forgiveness by Bond to M (Bond can sense that M regrets that she can be cold-hearted, which is evidenced by 1) her need to explain to Bond why she traded Silva for 6 agents despite Silva's affection for M, and 2) Bond asking M if she has anything else she wants to tell him, perhaps "fishing" for an apology....not so much for Bond's sake, but for M's sake, as Bond arguably feels that M is carrying a heavy heart for having Bond nearly killed).
The other mini-stories are Eve's development into Miss Moneypenny, which was done very well IMO, with my only complaint being that she and Craig just don't have the chemistry, but it's not for lack of trying (perhaps it's for too much trying that made their chemistry seem forced). There's also Q, who is eager to prove himself as the young quartermaster prodigy, but in his eagerness he ends up freeing Silva; I very much like the new Q, who is cocky himself and isn't a bumbling fool -- he actually squares up vs. Bond and trades verbal blows with him, which earns the respect of 007. Then there's M, which we don't know much about yet but I feel will play a huge role in Spectre.
So, cinematography, villain, 007, the plot/story -- what else is there to criticize?
Plot holes. Or, "plot holes." There were a few things that draw the ire of some sharp-eyed viewers. I can't remember them off the top of my head, but I remember there being an article that was both convincing in its argument that Skyfall was full of inconsistencies and questionable acts, but at the same time it was an article that made it seem like the viewer was "watching the trees and not the forest."
Although, one plot hole I could accept is....Why do they need to lead Silva to Skyfall at all? They were very well hidden there, and M was safe, and by leaving the "breadcrumbs" it literally led to M's death. They could have had the rest of the MI6 hunting for Silva while Bond protects M in a place where no one can find them.
My only counter-arguments are 1) M is not the type to just hide while things get worse and 2) Silva would eventually find them, as he knows everything about Bond's file, including where he was brought up.
Whatever plot holes or inconsistencies there are, as a whole, the film is a well-told spy drama.
Which brings us to the next possible criticism....
There's not enough action....the final scene was basically just *Home Alone
Ok, yes, it was like Home Alone in that they boobie trapped the house -- but there were no other options. It's not like he had a Bat cave or had the opportunity to grab rifles and machine guns before escorting/kidnapping M and bringing her to a safe place. They did what they had to do, and they did it well -- it just happened to be like Home Alone, and there's no escaping that...and it's not like it's valid film criticism, anyway. Everything they did was within reason of a spy film.
But overall, there wasn't much action; there was the opening scene, a short 1v1 fight against the ghost sniper, a short fight vs the body guards, and then the "Home Alone" ending.
But that's what makes it a great film, IMO. It was less action and more drama. We see a different Bond at the end from the beginning. We see a different M. There's character development. There's a convincing yet strange motive by the villain, who isn't looking to take over the world, make money, or even bring down MI6 -- he simply wants to see his "mom" one more time before killing her. That's a fantastically unique villainous motive, and a believable one. And there's symmetry to it. Bond is also a surrogate son of M, and he ends up saving his "mom" from the "other bad son," who is no longer "her favorite," and M goes from being in Silva's arms to being in Bond's arms. She was dead either way, but we get the "good son" putting her to rest.
No, it's not CR or QoS in terms of explosions and gun fights or even combat. We never see Silva and Bond "fight" at all. The only attack made by either party was the knife throw killing Silva. Now THAT is another unique aspect to the film -- Bond doesn't violently encounter the villain until the end, nor does the villain ever attack Bond (even in the first film, LeChiffre tortures Bond). Not even a fistfight between Silva and Bond.
Another thing I love about that is that the Chekov's Combat Knife was prefaced with "the old way always works" (or something similar). So, we have Bond, who is far from a hacker or cyber-knowledgeable agent killing one of the top cyber-minds and skilled agents in the world with a knife, a weapon representing "the old way."
That's a BRILLIANT ending, and a tragic one from Silva's POV, as he's a cyber genius who got taken down by a knife.
Well, that's "all" I got. After watching Skyfall for the 4th time tonight, I can't, for the life of me, see why it is so underrated on /movies. This is not "just another chapter" in the series where "Bond is the same Bond from Casino Royale and is full of quips and light-hearted banter even in the face of torture," this is a Bond who is constantly getting layers from movie to movie, and I'm guessing we'll see an even darker Bond in Spectre -- especially if my intuition is right, that Christoph Waltz's character had something to do with Bond's parents' death.
TL;DR -- I'd love to read the criticism on Skyfall. There's no right or wrong critique, other than a poorly-supported one. I'm open to criticism of the film. And just because it is critically acclaimed doesn't make it universally liked by everyone -- but it does confuse me as to why it seems like a majority -- and not merely a vocal minority -- of redditors dismiss Skyfall, which I find to be a higher quality movie than Casino Royale though not as fun...the same way I find Batman Begins to be more fun than The Dark Knight, but the latter is the far better film.

I know these kind of tie-in theories might sound silly to some folks. I was just was just procrastinating on some work and thought about it. Watch out for spoilers.
There seem to be quite a few facts to allow this and there’s enough ambiguity around other details to facilitate reasonable supposition.
-We never learn the name of Craig’s character in the film. He’s just referred to as XXXXX.
-After XXXXX was shot, we don’t actually see him die.
-XXXXX kills Jimmy Price but there’s never any action taken on the part of the Regional Crime Squad. Wouldn’t the death of an informant raise a lot red flags and wouldn’t all the known associates light up on the radar following an investigation into Jimmy’s death?
-In Casino Royale, Bond seems a bit too blunt and borderline clumsy to have been recruited from a military background. He’s not just green. He doesn’t follow orders, he has no sense of protocol, he does’t appear to have a long career of kills. He doesn’t struggle with killing quite like XXXXX did when he killed Jimmy but with every life that Bond takes, he departs further and further from that struggle.
-Bond expressed his interest in being only with unavailable women: James Bond: No, don't worry, you're not my type. Vesper Lynd: Smart? James Bond: Single. XXXXX and Tammy begin their affair behind Sidney’s back. Both Bond and XXXXX are seen emasculating the partners of the women they desire. XXXXX condescending to Sidney at the club and Bond schooling Alex Dimitrios at the poker table.
-This one’s a subjective but the personality progression from XXXXX in Layer Cake to Bond in Casino seems pretty linear to me. XXXXX hates guns and violence at first but the more necessary it becomes, the more he needs to embrace it and be comfortable with it. He goes from a business man who’s commodity happens to be cocaine to a man walking around with a severed head in a cooler, making a shady trade with an international war criminal. The more he slips into that world, the more he turns to scotch to cope and feel numb. Bond still needs a stiff drink after a tussle or two. He’s does it so often he’s actually become a connoisseur.
-XXXXX might be a great value to MI6 as a newly recruited asset or agent. He’s not a thug. He’s a new breed in the criminal world. So much so that Jimmy felt it be wise to sell him out before being usurped. XXXXX moves up the ladder very quickly. He took control straight passed old dogs like Morty and Gene. It wasn’t about experience or seniority, just superior ability as an operations runner. If properly controlled, someone like that would do well in an international clandestine organization.
-Layer Cake isn’t the first film to have a nameless protagonist but there is a lot attention drawn to the fact that his name isn’t mentioned. Obviously the other characters in the film know his name but the for the audience it represents XXXXX’s desire to keep business and personal separate. Though the deeper he gets into protecting his personal life the more he has to break his own rules, which eventually creates blowback. Case in point, getting shot by Sidney. A silly indulgence made him vulnerable even when the best adversaries couldn’t take him down. As Bond he has learned that having a personal life only serves to hurt him. Make your identity your life and your life your job. Icing on the cake (pardon the pun) his theme in Casino Royale is “You Know My Name;” an exclamation to this new approach to life after lessons learned in Layer Cake. And like most complex characters it’s not as easy as all that. He’s gotten a lot better at it by Casino Royale but there is still Vesper. And consequences from that relationship brought him to an even darker place.
-Lastly the amount of X’s match Bond’s first name XXXXX=JAMES
It would be interesting to think that XXXXX passed out from blood loss after being shot only to wake up in a medical center with Albie Carter or his new boss, M at his bedside. She explains that they’ve saved his life and he has two choices, put his unique skills to work for MI6 or head to jail.
He spends the next two years in training and takes on his first assignment as a 00.
I tried to see if anyone had attempted to connect the films. I couldn’t find anything. I’m sure there are others who can pick up even better ideas than this. Also, I’d be interested in hearing logistical issues that might not make these two films connect.
I’d also, like to make clear this is just for the heck of it. It’s just a fun exercise in analysis.
Thanks for reading!