History YMMV / Spectre

* GeniusBonus: "C" is an actual alias used by UsefulNotes/SecretIntelligenceService (the real life official name of [=MI6=]). In real life it refers to its chief (M's counterpart).

* TheyChangedItSoItSucks: The enmity between Bond and Blofeld is given a FreudianExcuse.

** Lucia Sciarra is the widow of a Spectre member and is now being targeted by the organization, which Bond bears some responsibility for. They made a big deal about Creator/MonicaBellucci being the oldest Bond girl and how this was so important in subverting conventions and Hollywood age-shaming. She spends about 5 minutes in the movie and only exists so Bond can sleep with the widow of his most recent kill. Gee, they sure opened the door for mature actresses with that role. Many fans even go as far as to believe that she should have taken Madeleine's role in the film.

** While many viewers enjoyed [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} Dave Bautista]]'s turn as the villainous Mr. Hinx, many others felt he was poorly utilized and more could have been done with him. [[spoiler: He had zero lines, a single kill (the only time his presumed "signature" technique- eye-gouging metal thumb spikes- is used is in his debut and a brief moment during the train fight), and dies at the end of the 2nd act. While fans compare him favourably to the likes of Jaws or Oddjob, very few argue that he was on their level, and were he ''not'' played by a famous wrestler the character may have been entirely generic.]]

** [[spoiler:Blofeld]] is "the author" of Bond's "pain", but it's never explained how he orchestrated the events of the three previous films, most notably ''{{Film/Skyfall}}'' which seemed like an independent revenge plot which didn't factor in Bond to begin with. The first two films stated that there was a larger organization at work, and Le Chiffe and Green had more concrete objectives. (Disaster capitalism.) But it's later chalked up to Oberhauser wanting to troll Bond.

* FandomRivalry: Has developed a small inter-series one with fans who prefer ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' over it. The two films are both victims of ToughActToFollow, but also have very different approaches tying into the BrokenBase they both fuel in the Bond franchise.

* TheScrappy: Franz Oberhauser, [[spoiler:who reveals himself to be the Craig-era version of Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], has gotten flack from fans for his personal vendetta against Bond. While the version of [[spoiler:Blofeld]] from the original film continuity was famously Bond's archnemesis and one of his most persistent enemies, this version is seen by many viewers as an [[PsychopathicManchild immature parody]] of the character due to how insanely obsessive and petty he is with tormenting Bond. And why did the man try to ruin Bond's life as much as he can? Because Bond [[spoiler:was his foster brother, who Blofeld accused of stealing affection from his own father, associating Bond with a cuckoo bird, leading to Blofeld killing his own father to spite Bond, along with orchestrating numerous other tragedies in Bond's life]]. Most Bond villains are [[EvilIsPetty notoriously petty]], but many thought this guy was pushing it to the point of ridiculousness.

* HarsherInHindsight: The fact that some reinforced surveillance laws in the wake of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2015_Île-de-France_attacks January 2015 Île-de-France attacks]] were voted on the very day of the November attacks didn't help and had a particularly eerie resonance, considering the "Nine Eyes" global surveillance merging program in the film.

** Fans and critics are split over whether giving [[spoiler:Blofeld]] a personal connection to Bond was a good idea or not. One side argues that it adds more depth to his character and sets him apart from being another generic Bond villain. The other side argues that it actually makes him shallower, portraying him as ultimately a spoiled brat with no clear motives other than to spite Bond and losing all the mystique and charm of [[spoiler:the original Blofeld]].

%% * {{Narm}}:
%% ** Daniel Craig's inexplicable bellowed delivery of the line "Of course, Mr. White!"
%% ** This line was widely mocked:
%% -->'''Moneypenny''': You've got a secret. Something you can't tell anyone, because you don't trust anyone.

* HarsherInHindsight: The fact that some reinforced surveillance laws in the wake of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/January_2015_Île-de-France_attacks January attacks]] were voted on the very day of the November attacks didn't help and had a particularly eerie resonance, considering the "Nine Eyes" global surveillance merging program in the film.

*** Bond then sends her off to Felix Leiter, setting up a potential sub-plot involving the Craig era's version of Leiter who played a significant role in both ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. However, neither character is ever seen again.

* FoeYay: Boy, Oberhauser's/[[spoiler:Blofeld's]] vendetta is terribly personal. [[spoiler: Blofeld and James were adopted brothers, but Blofeld's jealousy of Bond supposedly stealing his father from him led to his spending years ruining the agent's life from behind the scenes.]]

* WhatAnIdiot:
** SPECTRE agents, lead by [[BigBad Obenhauser]] have kidnapped James Bond, and strapped him in a torture machine.\\
'''You'd expect''': Since SPECTRE has knowledge of the 00 program, they search Bond for any possible gadgets, including his watch.\\
'''Instead:''' They don't do that. Bond uses his watch as a bomb, allowing him to escape.
** Bond and Madeleine have just attacked SPECTRE's base, and gone back to London.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Bond and Madeleine to stay together or for Madeleine to leave to a safe house. Just because the base is destroyed, doesn't mean that there aren't any agents left.\\
'''Instead:''' Madeleine goes on her own, and Bond lets her without an objection. As a result, she gets kidnapped by Obenhauser, who survived the destruction of the base.
** When SPECTRE's mooks kidnap Bond again.\\
'''You'd Expect''': Them to tie his hands behind him.\\
'''Instead''': They tie his hands in front of him. Sure enough, he's able to grab a gun off one of them and kill them both.
** In the film's climax, Blofeld hides Madeleine in [=MI6's=] former headquarters, which was condemned after Silva badly damaged it with an explosion in the previous film, and activates the timer for the demolition charges scattered throughout the building. This gives Bond the SadisticChoice of either escaping to ensure his own survival, or trying to find Madeleine and most likely dying when the building is destroyed.\\
'''You'd expect:''' Blofeld to hide Madeleine somewhere where Bond wouldn't think of looking. Or hell, keep her somewhere else and just lie to Bond about her being in the building, so that he'll have a few million tons of rubble brought down on him during a fruitless search.\\
'''Instead:''' He hides her in probably the most obvious place possible, namely M's former office. Bond naturally finds her, escapes the building before it's destroyed, and then takes down Blofeld for good measure.

* TheScrappy: Franz Oberhauser, [[spoiler:who reveals himself to be the Craig-era version of Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], has gotten flack from fans for his personal vendetta against Bond. While the version of [[spoiler:Blofeld]] from the original film continuity was famously Bond's archnemesis and one of his most persistent enemies, this version is seen by many viewers as an [[PyschopaticManchild immature parody]] of the character due to how insanely obsessive and petty he is with tormenting Bond. And why did the man try to ruin Bond's life as much as he can? Because Bond [[spoiler:was his foster brother, who Blofeld accused of stealing affection from his own father, associating Bond with a cuckoo bird, leading to Blofeld killing his own father to spite Bond, along with orchestrating numerous other tragedies in Bond's life]]. Most Bond villains are [[EvilPetty notoriously petty]], but many thought this guy was pushing it to the point of ridiculousness.

** In a narratively posthumous example, the film neglects to ever mention or show Rene Mathis who was one of Bond's closest allies in the first two films and died during ''Quantum of Solace''.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[Characters/JamesBondBlofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], born Franz Oberhauser, was once a sociopathic boy who murdered his own father for loving a young, orphaned James Bond the Oberhauser family took in. Faking his own death and adopting his new name, Oberhauser built up the criminal organization [[NebulousEvilOrganization Spectre]], which finances and facilitates terrorism around the globe, allies with interested parties to topple governments, prolong civil wars, horde natural resources, and eventually involves itself in the sex trade where [[HumanTraffickers hundreds of thousands of women and children are trafficked]] to feed Spectre's accounts. Oberhauser gleefully reveals himself as [[TheChessmaster the architect]] of James's pain, having [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 arranged]] various [[Film/QuantumOfSolace events]] to result in the deaths of Bond's friends, and loved ones. He was also the one behind [[Film/{{Skyfall}} Raoul Silva]], having wanted M herself to die to [[CainAndAbel hurt Bond]]. With Bond himself, Oberhauser has small needles drilled into his head to torture him and even threatens to steal his ability to recognize faces by drilling in the right place. When this fails, Oberhauser holds Bond's LoveInterest in a rigged chamber--also forcing her to watch the footage of her father committing suicide--so Bond [[SadisticChoice must either try to save her and die in an explosion, or abandon her to save himself and live with the shame of it]]. Obsessed with destroying his stepbrother and devoted only to his own massive megalomania and eagerness to condemn the world to chaos or tyranny if it suits his purposes, Oberhauser is the ultimate villain of the rebooted chronology to date]].

* ContestedSequel: Some fans state ''Spectre'' dilutes the impact of the previous entries, especially ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' (Vesper Lynd has lost most of her significance -- see StrangledByTheRedString) and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' ([[spoiler:Raoul Silva's villainy is reduced because he turned out to be a lackey of Spectre, and it cheapens M's death as Blofeld had arranged it just to torment Bond]]). Others like this movie's old-school approach because it's the first entry in the Craig era that feels like a "traditional" James Bond film (at least the one ticking the highest number of gimmicky boxes that have become associated with the notion).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: It slowly unravels all progress made by the last three Craig films (along with ''[=GoldenEye=]'') before hitting the reset button. They even have old M's office rebuilt perfectly, with [[spoiler:Moneypenny]] in her place. Bond is back in the campy 60's world and the world of ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' is essentially dead.

** In the film's climax, [[spoiler:Madeleine parts ways with Bond, telling him that they cannot be together as long as Bond is still living the dangerous secret agent life, and Bond just ''let her go'' on her way despite just telling her earlier to remain at the safe house for her own safety until they finished the job. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero This leads to her capture by Blofeld, who straps her to a bomb inside the Vauxhall Cross building to taunt Bond and distract him long enough to make his escape.]] Yes, Bond has a good reason to believe that [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat Blofeld has perished in his Morocco Base,]] but that doesn't mean Spectre is finished, and even if their leader had died, there are still hundreds of loyal agents at large who are ready to strike from anywhere and anytime, so Bond should at least be more concerned about her safety, especially after witnessing firsthand what they are capable of (don't forget, they were responsible for the deaths of M in ''Skyfall'' and Vesper Lynd in ''Casino Royale'', the two most important women in his life). It's like her relevance to the plot stopped after the 2nd act ended and the writers just hastily find a way to keep her in the story until it ends.]]
** [[spoiler: Don't forget Madeleine's decision to leave. She grew up under Spectre'S shadow and has just escaped several attempts on her life... and she still decides to walk away on a dark street while they were out there. Granted, she thought she was able to care for herself but still...]]
** When Bond is searching [[spoiler:Mr. White's]] house, he sees a security camera, and he ''doesn't'' deactivate it or delete the file. That is a ''really'' stupid mistake for a supposedly great spy.
** During the Austrian chase scene, Bond potentially could've killed Madeleine (we even see her terrified ReactionShot) when he rams the front of his plane into the back of the SUV, which would completely negate his goal of rescuing her.
** Speaking of Austria, although Bond obviously meant well in venturing there to protect Madeline, she is 100% right in pointing out that he ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero led the bad guys to her in the first place]]''. (Sure, Bond isn't aware that Spectre is tracking him through the "smart blood", but even so...)
** After getting the information he needs from Lucia Sciarra (who he has saved from getting assassinated), Bond writes down Felix Leiter's number, tells her he'd keep her safe... and leaves without making sure she's safe from any other assassins from Spectre. To be fair, he was in a hurry to catch the meeting, but if Sciarra thinks that people were after her (and with good reason), wouldn't it help to make sure she's safe for the period of time it'll take Felix to get there?
** Don't forget that after he saves her from the two assassins, she immediately tells him that a lot more would come after her in just a few minutes, and the first thing he does after getting the information is... ''making love with her?''. We're talking about a woman whose husband had just died (granted, she didn't love him that much, but still) and knows full well that she's going to be killed next. Sexytimes is the last thing she needs during all of this, so the whole thing gives the vibes that Bond's just taking advantage of her. And after he finishes the deed, he just leaves her Felix's number then leaves her all alone in her undies. She even begs him to stay with her a little longer, but he leaves anyway. Real smooth, 007.
** As mentioned on the main page, when Bond demonstrates to Madeleine how to use a gun, he ''points a loaded gun with his finger on the trigger'' at the wall of their train compartment. He could have shot and killed someone--the bullet could have ricocheted and killed either of them. Madeleine's expression as she unloads the gun and demonstrates that she already knows how to use one--as evidenced by the very fact that she makes absolutely certain that it's completely unloaded before even touching the trigger--indicates that she's wondering how he could do something so careless. Doubly frustrating that as a former Commander in the Royal Navy and one of [=MI6=]'s top agents, Bond would ''know'' how to properly and safely handle a gun.
** [[spoiler: Bond letting Blofeld live at the end. Okay, they do have a history together, there were several people present and it would've undermined M's message of "knowing when to take a life but when to spare one". The problem is, Blofeld has proven himself several times throughout the course of the Daniel Craig era to be not only a dangerous threat, but smart enough to figure out how to create chaos (IN FACT, he did manage to create an NSA-style network without any of the major powers of the world noticing). He's not somebody to be trifled with. And the menacing look he gives to Bond at the end shows that he will get his revenge.]]

** The ArcWelding creates a great deal of this for past films, ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' especially. While it's pretty simple to see the villains of ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' working for SPECTRE, it's questionable not only how closely Silva was connected to SPECTRE, but how much control even they'd be able to exert over a completely suicidal madman with nothing left to lose, so one has to assume SPECTRE just gave him his resources, and he went completely bonkers from there. Or that in the years between his captivity and striking against M he worked as a contractor of sorts for SPECTRE (since ''Skyfall'' suggested he's a terrorist/hacker for hire). Then again, it's not like SPECTRE did not benefit immensely from the actions of Silva in that movie (blowing up [=MI6=] [[spoiler:and killing its head]] made it possible for C to maneuver himself to take over, after all) so arguably it actually makes sense that he worked for them and the fact that he already had a murderous grudge against M was just a lucky coincidence on both of their parts. For the record, the movie explicitly calls him a member of SPECTRE.

** Indeed, is Franz Oberhauser a DiabolicalMastermind ManipulativeBastard or a SmugSnake who took over the world's most powerful criminal organization and turned it from a group which altered the fate of nations into just another sex-trafficking ring? Are any of his claims of revenge against James Bond true or is he just screwing with our hero? Also, could [[spoiler: Blofeld]] simply be a narcissist [[CardCarryingVillain who gleefully brags about all of the horrible crimes he has committed]]? In his backstory, he mentions that [[spoiler: he murdered his father because he was jealous of the attention that Bond received after they had taken him in as a foster child. Narcissists generally feel a strong need for attention, and the fact that Blofeld explicitly states that his father's lack of attention was what motivated him to kill him could just be his warped and twisted justification for committing murder. Blofeld also gladly takes credit for all of the pain SPECTRE has caused Bond over the years, which could just be him exaggerating his actual involvement in those plots. While he may be a criminal mastermind, he couldn't possibly have foreseen everything that happened in the previous movies]].

** So... there's a newly introduced [=MI6=] agent who's hellbent on shutting down the 00 program, and also plans to set up a worldwide surveillance network that would make it possible to spy on the entire world as once. And said agent also happens to be played by [[Creator/AndrewScott the actor]] best known for playing Moriarty on ''Series/{{Sherlock}}''. '''And''' we're outright told that the villain organization, SPECTRE, has agents planted ''everywhere''. Yeah... the plot twist that [[spoiler:C is in cahoots with Blofeld and SPECTRE]] is so obvious that it couldn't possibly be an actual twist. But, alas, it is.

* CompleteMonster: [[spoiler:[[Characters/JamesBondBlofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], born Franz Oberhauser, was once a sociopathic boy who murdered his own father for loving a young, orphaned James Bond the Oberhauser family took in. Faking his own death and adopting his new name, Oberhauser built up the criminal organization [[NebulousEvilOrganization SPECTRE]], which finances and facilitates terrorism around the globe, allies with interested parties to topple governments, prolong civil wars, horde natural resources, and eventually involves itself in the sex trade where [[HumanTraffickers hundreds of thousands of women and children are trafficked]] to feed SPECTRE's accounts. Oberhauser gleefully reveals himself as [[TheChessmaster the architect]] of James's pain, having [[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 arranged]] various [[Film/QuantumOfSolace events]] to result in the deaths of Bond's friends, and loved ones. He was also the one behind [[Film/{{Skyfall}} Raoul Silva]], having wanted M herself to die to [[CainAndAbel hurt Bond]]. With Bond himself, Oberhauser has small needles drilled into his head to torture him and even threatens to steal his ability to recognize faces by drilling in the right place. When this fails, Oberhauser holds Bond's LoveInterest in a rigged chamber--also forcing her to watch the footage of her father committing suicide--so Bond [[SadisticChoice must either try to save her and die in an explosion, or abandon her to save himself and live with the shame of it]]. Obsessed with destroying his stepbrother and devoted only to his own massive megalomania and eagerness to condemn the world to chaos or tyranny if it suits his purposes, Oberhauser is the ultimate villain of the rebooted chronology to date]].
* ContestedSequel: Some fans state ''Spectre'' dilutes the impact of the previous entries, especially ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' (Vesper Lynd has lost most of her significance--see StrangledByTheRedString) and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' ([[spoiler:Raoul Silva's villainy is reduced because he turned out to be a lackey of SPECTRE, and it cheapens M's death as Blofeld had arranged it just to torment Bond]]). Others like this movie's old-school approach because it's the first entry in the Craig era that feels like a "traditional" James Bond film (at least the one ticking the highest number of gimmicky boxes that have become associated with the notion).

** [[spoiler:If betraying the British government and joining SPECTRE wasn't enough, then C staging false flag terrorist attacks at countries who won't join the "Nine Eyes" intelligence program on behalf of Blofeld, who is bankrolling the project so it'll enable SPECTRE to permanently stay ahead of their enemies, certainly counts.]]

** Lucia Sciarra is the widow of a SPECTRE member and is now being targeted by the organization, which Bond bears some responsibility for. They made a big deal about Creator/MonicaBellucci being the oldest Bond girl and how this was so important in subverting conventions and Hollywood age-shaming. She spends about 5 minutes in the movie and only exists so Bond can sleep with the widow of his most recent kill. Gee, they sure opened the door for mature actresses with that role. Many fans even go as far as to believe that she should have taken Madeleine's role in the film.

** In the film's climax, [[spoiler:Madeleine parts ways with Bond, telling him that they cannot be together as long as Bond is still living the dangerous secret agent life, and Bond just ''let her go'' on her way despite just telling her earlier to remain at the safe house for her own safety until they finished the job. [[NiceJobBreakingItHero This leads to her capture by Blofeld, who straps her to a bomb inside the Vauxhall Cross building to taunt Bond and distract him long enough to make his escape.]] Yes, Bond has a good reason to believe that [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat Blofeld has perished in his Morocco Base,]] but that doesn't mean SPECTRE is finished, and even if their leader had died, there are still hundreds of loyal agents at large who are ready to strike from anywhere and anytime, so Bond should at least be more concerned about her safety, especially after witnessing firsthand what they are capable of (don't forget, they were responsible for the deaths of M in ''Skyfall'' and Vesper Lynd in ''Casino Royale'', the two most important women in his life). It's like her relevance to the plot stopped after the 2nd act ended and the writers just hastily find a way to keep her in the story until it ends.]]
** [[spoiler: Don't forget Madeleine's decision to leave. She grew up under SPECTRE'S shadow and has just escaped several attempts on her life... and she still decides to walk away on a dark street while they were out there. Granted, she thought she was able to care for herself but still...]]

** Speaking of Austria, although Bond obviously meant well in venturing there to protect Madeline, she is 100% right in pointing out that he ''[[NiceJobBreakingItHero led the bad guys to her in the first place]]''. (Sure, Bond isn't aware that SPECTRE is tracking him through the "smart blood", but even so...)
** After getting the information he needs from Lucia Sciarra (who he has saved from getting assassinated), Bond writes down Felix Leiter's number, tells her he'd keep her safe... and leaves without making sure she's safe from any other assassins from SPECTRE. To be fair, he was in a hurry to catch the meeting, but if Sciarra thinks that people were after her (and with good reason), wouldn't it help to make sure she's safe for the period of time it'll take Felix to get there?

** Lucia Sciarra is the widow of a SPECTRE member and is now being targeted by the organization, which Bond bears some responsibility for. They made a big deal about Creator/MonicaBellucci being the oldest Bond girl and how this was so important in subverting conventions and Hollywood age-shaming. She spends about 5 minutes in the movie and only exists so Bond can sleep with the widow of his most recent kill. Gee, they sure opened the door for mature actresses with that role. He apparently had sex with her in the 3-minute window that it took for hired assassins to get to her house?
** Bond sends her off to Felix Leiter, setting up a potential sub-plot involving the Craig era's version of Leiter who played a significant role in both ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. However, neither character is ever seen again.

* TheyChangedItSoItSucks: The enmity between Bond and Blofeld is given a FreudianExcuse. As Creator/BobChipman has opined, that character element is completely unnecessary for these characters as their opposition, until they redo the [[Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService murder of Tracy Bond]], is purely professional. As Chipman puts it, Blofeld is a terrorist and would-be world conqueror because it's ''his job'', and Bond is determined to stop him in part because it's ''his job''.

** A lot of people have accused the plot, from the hero's struggling to find his relevance in the modern era to the bad guy's use of mass surveillance to TakeOverTheWorld, of being ripped off from ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. As ''WebVideo/HonestTrailers'' puts it:
---> '''Narrator:''' If you only see one movie this year about a hero who belongs in a different era, battling a sleeper cell inside his own organization, with their own tentacle logo, against a former friend that was presumed dead in the snow... you should probably just rewatch ''[[Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier The Winter Soldier]]''. It's way better anyway.