| 1 | ! Spoilers for the Creator/DanielCraig ''Franchise/JamesBond'' films preceding this one, including ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' will be unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned! |
| 2 | [[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/spectre_7.jpg]] |
| 3 | [[caption-width-right:350:''[[Music/SamSmith ♫ For you, I have to risk it all... ♫]]'']] |
| 4 | ->''"Welcome, James. It's been a long time. And finally, here we are. What took you so long? Cuckoooo!"'' |
| 5 | -->-- '''Franz Oberhauser''' |
| 6 | |
| 7 | %% The site owner himself has discussed The One With and said they should stay. Please leave them alone. |
| 8 | [[JustForFun/TheOneWith The one where]] James Bond ''[[AvertedTrope finally]]'' [[LongBusTrip gets]] [[TheBusCameBack to]] [[ScrewedByTheLawyers fight Spectre again.]] |
| 9 | %% The site owner himself has discussed The One With and said they should stay. Please leave them alone. |
| 10 | |
| 11 | ''Spectre'' is the twenty-fourth film in the Creator/EonProductions ''Film/JamesBond'' series, the fourth outing for Creator/DanielCraig, the second film in the series to be directed by Creator/SamMendes and the direct sequel to ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. The film was released on October 26, 2015, in the UK, November 6 in the US. Music/SamSmith performed the TitleThemeTune, "Writing's on the Wall", which became the first-ever Bond theme to hit #1 on the UK charts. It is the final ''Bond'' film released by [[Creator/SonyPictures Sony Pictures Releasing]] under Creator/ColumbiaPictures. |
| 12 | |
| 13 | After being suspended for an unsanctioned hit in Mexico City, Bond discovers a cryptic message from his past that puts him on the trail of a [[NebulousEvilOrganization sinister organization]]. While the new M battles political forces to keep the Double-0 section alive, Bond peels back the [[TheConspiracy layers of deceit]] to reveal the terrible truth behind Spectre. |
| 14 | |
| 15 | The eponymous NebulousEvilOrganization returns to the series after [[LongBusTrip a 44-year absence]] due to Creator/EonProductions being ScrewedByTheLawyers since 1971's ''Film/DiamondsAreForever''. [[ProductionPosse Returning staff]] outside Sam Mendes includes screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan and composer Music/ThomasNewman, with Hoyte van Hoytema joining them as cinematographer. Returning cast include Creator/RalphFiennes as M, Creator/NaomieHarris as Eve Moneypenny, Creator/BenWhishaw as Q, and Creator/RoryKinnear as Bill Tanner. New cast members include Creator/ChristophWaltz as villain Franz Oberhauser [[spoiler:(later Ernst Stavro Blofeld)]], Creator/LeaSeydoux as Madeleine Swann, Creator/MonicaBellucci as Lucia Sciarra, Creator/DaveBautista as Mr. Hinx, and Creator/AndrewScott as Max Denbigh. |
| 16 | |
| 17 | Followed by ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', a {{sequel}} that picks up where this film left off. |
| 18 | ---- |
| 19 | !!''Spectre'' provides examples of: |
| 20 | |
| 21 | * ActionPolitician: Although M spends most of the film battling political forces, he arms himself along with Bond in the finale as they prepare to [[spoiler:take down Max Denbigh and the Nine Eyes programme]]. |
| 22 | * ActionPrologue: Bond is sent to Mexico City during DÃa de Muertos to kill terrorist Marco Sciarra. His sniping attempt fails, a chase ensues and climaxes with a fight within a helicopter (which does several dangerous barrel rolls and a vertical ascent as they wrestle), with Bond throwing Sciarra and the pilot to their death and narrowly regaining control of the aircraft before it crashes and causes casualties in the below crowd. |
| 23 | * ActorAllusion: |
| 24 | ** Creator/RalphFiennes, as a British spy, [[Film/TheAvengers1998 once again noticeably brandishes an umbrella while in a pinstripe suit.]] He also asks Bond why he was [[Franchise/HarryPotter "pottering"]] around Mexico. |
| 25 | ** When [[Creator/ChristophWaltz Oberhauser]] referred to visiting [[Creator/LeaSeydoux Madeleine]]'s house to see her father, was he talking about when she was a child, or [[Film/InglouriousBasterds once upon a time in Nazi-occupied France]]? |
| 26 | ** Creator/DanielCraig appears in another Creator/SamMendes film where [[Film/RoadToPerdition an orphan is taken in and the biological son ruins the family because of his jealousy.]] |
| 27 | * AdaptationNameChange: [[spoiler: In contrast to the original novels and the previous films, Blofeld's real name is revealed to be Franz Oberhauser. "Blofeld" is his mother's maiden name, which he uses after rejecting the name his father gave him]]. |
| 28 | * AdvertisedExtra: |
| 29 | ** Creator/MonicaBellucci makes her debut in the 007 franchise as the oldest Bond girl to date. [[spoiler:She is in it for literally just five minutes, during which she only goes to bed with Bond and gives him information before he sends her to the U.S. Embassy for her safety.]] |
| 30 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. White's return featured heavily in promotional material, but he only appears in a single scene and shoots himself in the chin in that scene.]] |
| 31 | * AlasPoorVillain: Quantum leader [[spoiler:Mr. White]] is given a bit of backstory and his demise is treated sympathetically. |
| 32 | * AllThereInTheScript: Mr. Hinx's name is never mentioned on-screen. Neither is Estrella's (the girl seen with Bond in the opening sequence). |
| 33 | * AnalogyBackfire: Oberhauser's facility is housed within a crater formed by a meteor, and he had the meteor itself put on display. When Bond and Swann arrive, he launches into a speech about how the meteor had waited up in space, silently biding its time, before becoming an unstoppable force that changed the face of the Earth. Bond shoots back that the meteor actually ''did'' stop, and right where they're standing, in fact. You can see some of the wind come out of Oberhauser's sails. |
| 34 | * AnimalMetaphor: Franz Oberhauser uses the cuckoo bird as a metaphor for the resentment he felt for Bond [[spoiler:as a foster brother]]. |
| 35 | * AnimalMotifs: Spectre itself is likened to an octopus, as usual. More prominent, however, are birds: Mr. White describes Bond as "a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kite_%28bird%29 kite]] dancing in a hurricane", one of the love interests' names is Madeleine ''Swan''n, Mr. White's cabin becomes home to a "murder" of crows, and Oberhauser[=/=][[spoiler:Blofeld]] describes Bond as akin to a cuckoo. |
| 36 | * AnswerCut: [[spoiler:Swann and Bond defeat Hinx, then Swan asks forcefully "What do we do now?" Cue GladToBeAliveSex]] |
| 37 | * AntagonistTitle: Spectre is the nefarious organization Bond is battling. |
| 38 | * AntiClimax: The third act is widely regarded as the weakest portion of the movie even by its fans. A leak of the script during the Creator/{{Sony}} hacking scandal revealed that the studio executives regarded the original ending as even worse (the suppression of an important document, deemed rather boring for the plot of a Bond movie) and the film ended up having five or six writers, one of whom was Creator/DanielCraig himself. It doesn't help that the one we ended up with, a nighttime chase in London between the hero and the leader of the resident Nebulous Evil Organization, which culminates in the latter being captured, while the hero and his allies prevent said organization from gaining control of encrypted data files- was ''very'' similar to the finale of ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'', released earlier the same year. |
| 39 | * TheAnticipator: Played for creepy effect with Blofeld, who always seems to know when Bond will show up, even outfitting rooms in his SupervillainLair with personal photographs for his 'guests'. |
| 40 | * ArcWelding: [[spoiler: Blofeld]] claims that Spectre was behind the events of ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'', ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' (supposedly, as it's entirely possible he was attempting to rattle James). This is a fairly unusual case, because the arc seems to have been unwelded just to weld it back together. Le Chiffre was clearly established as having worked for Quantum (and being killed for being unreliable) in the first two films, but references to those events in this film seem to imply that MI-6 thought they were independent villains. One of Mr. White's lines implies that Spectre ''is'' Quantum, just after mission drift and a strong change in plans (likely Bond disrupting its leadership). Spectre could also plausibly be the organization that was behind the events of ''VideoGame/BloodStone'' as well. |
| 41 | * ArcWords: Technically they only appear once, in the opening epigraph, but the entire film seems to be themed around the phrase "The Dead Are Alive." |
| 42 | * ArtisticLicenceAnatomy: During the torture scenes, the descriptions of what drilling into specific parts of the brain will do are suspect at best. Higher brain functions like facial recognition are spread out over an area, so whether damaging such a tiny area would give the described result is already questionable. Furthermore, even the general area of the brain is all wrong. In the film this is said to be the result when the drill goes into something at the base of the neck. That area in the human brain controls basic functions like motor functions and autonomous muscles. Facial recognition has been mapped around the temple, which was ironically the ''previous'' location the drill went. Of course, all that talk might just have been to heighten the victim's horror, as the film itself seems to lampshade this as Bond has no problem recognizing people after his torture. However, this also brings the question of Bond somehow not being incapacitated by the procedure itself. Most people wouldn't be able to function for a while after having something drilled into their head, much less go into action. |
| 43 | * ArtisticLicenceGeography: Bond drives from London to Rome, a trip that would take at least a full day, in what appears to be a quarter of that time. |
| 44 | ** The Rome car chase scene is a little strange if you're familiar with the local layout. Note that the cars turn right when they reach the Vatican, right again onto Via dei Corridori, then left onto Via del Mascherino...''away'' from the Tiber. In order to get anywhere near the water, they'd have to immediately circle back towards Castel Sant'Angelo. Even then, the riverside sequence was shot by Ponte Sisto, which is further south. |
| 45 | * ArtisticLicenceGunSafety: While trying to instruct a reluctant Madeleine in handgun self-defense, James points his pistol at the wall of the next train compartment over with his finger on the trigger (keeping in mind that compartment walls on a train are about as effective as paper in stopping a bullet). Madeleine exhibits a good deal more sense when she [[spoiler: expertly drops the magazine out of the gun, ejects the round in the chamber (!) and points the pistol at the ceiling before pulling the trigger to decock it.]] |
| 46 | ** True, but while [[spoiler: she is does the whole ejecting the round in the chamber, she is aiming directly at Bond.]] |
| 47 | * ArtisticLicencePhysics: During the opening sequence, the helicopter at one point rises up 90 degrees and does yet another barrel roll in this fashion. While not physically impossible with a properly (and heavily) modified helicopter, there is no indication that the one depicted in the film has been so modified. The helicopter in question is being flown by Chuck Aaron, the only pilot in America licensed to perform such stunts. There is CGI, and artistic licence, but that is to do with the elevation of Mexico City - the air is too thin for that sequence. So it was filmed at lower level, and CGI'ed in. Also the close ups of the fight scene were filmed on a static rig (albeit one that could rotate 360'), because obviously those shots were impossible. Aaron said his job was made more difficult by the fact he was having to do the stunts while the stuntmen were fighting in the back. |
| 48 | * ArtisticLicencePolitics: C has spoken to the Home Secretary about disbanding the 00 programme. The head of [=MI6=] reports to the Foreign Secretary. |
| 49 | * AsideGlance: [[spoiler:Madeleine]] seems to smile both at Bond and at the camera in the [=DB5=] when they drive off at the end. Keep in mind that Bond had his hand on the shifter - which had the ejection seat button on it. |
| 50 | * AsYouKnow: M uses it with Bond to relate that British intelligence is in the middle of a big shakeup and a merger with [=MI5=] has already taken place. |
| 51 | * ApatheticCitizens: When the building is destroyed early in the film, Bond chases a man through the Day of the Dead parade. The parade is still going on as if nothing happened, and the people on the street are still watching the parade as if it's more interesting than the nearby explosion and sound. |
| 52 | * AwardBaitSong: "Writing's on the Wall". A dark, moody, melodramatic ballad akin to "Skyfall." And like "Skyfall", it netted the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song. |
| 53 | * BackForTheDead: [[spoiler:Mr. White returns for a single scene a little into the film, at the end of which he commits suicide.]] |
| 54 | * BadassDriver: Both Bond and Hinx demonstrate they are this in their car chase through Rome. |
| 55 | * BaitAndSwitch: PlayedForLaughs when Q showed Bond a CoolCar prototype he has made, and after explaining some of the neat features it has, promptly tells Bond that the car is assigned to 009, and not him. Then subverted when Bond steals the car anyway. |
| 56 | * BaitAndSwitchGunshot: Lucia Sciarra walks into her garden. Two menacing figures loom behind her and take aim. She braces herself as we hear two muffled gunshots... and as she turns around and the view clears, we see that Bond has killed them both. |
| 57 | * BavarianFireDrill: Using a ring bearing the SPECTRE insignia he pried off from a SPECTRE mook before killing him, Bond masquerades as a high-ranking member of the organisation in order to gather intel on its leadership. It works well, until Franz Oberhauser calls him out, and in fact, allowed it to occur in order to lure 007 to his death. Bond quickly bails out once his cover was blown. |
| 58 | * BeardOfEvil: Mr. Hinx, an assassin for the villainous Spectre, has a beard. Most of the heroes, meanwhile, are clean shaven. |
| 59 | * BeautifulCondemnedBuilding: The finale takes place in the old [[UsefulNotes/SecretIntelligenceService MI6]] building at Vauxhall Cross, which is now abandoned and scheduled for demolition after the attack in ''Skyfall''. |
| 60 | * BigBad: Franz Oberhauser [[spoiler:AKA Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], played by Creator/ChristophWaltz, is the main antagonist leading the criminal organization Spectre against Bond in this film. |
| 61 | * BigBadDuumvirate: While Oberhauser spends most of the film chasing a personal vendetta against Bond, [[spoiler:Max Denbigh]] has been using Oberhauser's funding to lead Spectre to create chaos and convince the world powers to [[spoiler:link their surveillance efforts into one database that's secretly under Spectre's control]]. |
| 62 | * BigBrotherBully: [[spoiler:Franz Oberhauser/Ernst Stavro Blofeld hated the attention an orphaned 007 got from Franz's own father, spiraling into a Cain and Abel situation where Franz committed Patricide and now wants to screw his foster brother's life in any way possible]]. |
| 63 | * BigBrotherIsWatching: Unusually for a spy movie, the film is [[LuddWasRight against this concept]] and even deconstructs it. While C/Max Denbigh constantly spouts the idea of total surveillance and believes the 00-agent programme is obsolete because of it, [[DaChief M]] is more concerned about its undemocratic dangers, and even directly questions C if all that data might actually end up in the wrong hands. M even wonders whether C's surveillance plan will be able to deal with morally difficult situations, especially if someone who just sits with such technology would be capable of pulling a trigger and killing someone. [[spoiler:Unfortunately, Bond and M's suspicions regarding C and the Joint Intelligence Service/"Nine Eyes" programme were ultimately proven right, since C was TheMole for Spectre and the programme itself is a Trojan horse for world domination. If the data gathered isn't kept secure, then it's a double-edged sword, as [[NebulousEvilOrganization Spectre]] had bankrolled the formation of the Centre for National Security, and with this, they can have unlimited backdoor access to all the data gathered from "Nine Eyes" and use it to destroy their enemies, namely 007]]. |
| 64 | * BigDamnHeroes: A very subdued version when the Spectre mooks are milliseconds away from gunning down Lucia Sciarra. Bond kills them both JustInTime, but unlike most examples of this trope, Lucia was sadly resigned to her fate rather than pleading for her life and isn't grateful to Bond at all. |
| 65 | * BigFancyHouse: The newly formed Joint Intelligence Service is headquartered in the Centre for National Security, a brand new (and privately funded) skyscraper intended to replace the damaged [=MI6=] building. |
| 66 | * BilingualBonus: After sleeping with Lucia Sciarra and preparing to leave for the Spectre meeting, Bond wishes her, "Buona Fortuna, Donna Lucia". Even those who don't know any Italian can decipher that he's wishing her "Good Luck". |
| 67 | * BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:Bond had to endure brutal torture and the reveal that the foster brother he'd mourned for years had been a jealous psychopath who as his greatest enemy constantly sought to cause him as much loss and misery as possible and with Oberhauser/Blofeld looking on at Bond and Madeleine in the end, it's abundantly clear he still intends to somehow hurt Bond through her. Otherwise things worked out perfectly with Blofeld/Oberhauser imprisoned, C dead, their whole scheme utterly foiled and Bond receiving the closure necessary to leave that life behind and move on with Madeleine to be happy.]] |
| 68 | * BlackSite: Franz Oberhauser's secret base in the Saharan desert is dedicated to sorting intel provided by the "Nine Eyes" program, and was built around a meteorite impact crater. And who knows if SPECTRE in the new continuity has other hidden Supervillain Lairs in other parts of the world doing similar things? By using the "Nine Eyes" surveillance program, it would enable SPECTRE to run smoothly from behind the scenes and easily counteract any investigations into their operations. |
| 69 | * BoardToDeath: The Spectre board meeting in Rome has a {{Mook}} getting his [[EyePoke eyes poked]] and {{Neck Snap}}ped by Mr. Hinx, very similar to the one in ''Film/{{Thunderball}}''. As with ''Thunderball'', the other henchmen can only look in horror as the mook is killed. |
| 70 | * BloodierAndGorier: [[spoiler:The scarring on Blofield's face is a LOT nastier in this movie than the original incarnation, as it incorporates motion captured effects and includes EyeScream]]. |
| 71 | * BondGunBarrel: After thirteen years, the gun barrel, as it was usually depicted, finally makes its return at the start of the movie. In this one, Bond's right hand is fully visible holding the gun before he turns and pulls the trigger; he usually has his hand and gun in his pocket. And rather than the typical "gun barrel shifts from side-to-side and then opens up into the opening sequence", the scene freezes, then fades to black before fading into the prologue. |
| 72 | * BondVillainStupidity: Crops up several times. [[BigBad Oberhauser]]'s [[EvilIsPetty petty desire]] to sadistically torment Bond and relish in his suffering instead of killing him on the spot [[spoiler:due to their CainAndAbel relationship]] ends up becoming his FatalFlaw in the movie. |
| 73 | ** First, when he has Bond at his mercy in his secret base, he just decided to go all EvilGloating and BreakTheBadass on both Bond and the BondGirl, and then he'd get to killing Bond after the ColdBloodedTorture instead of instantaneously killing 007. This gives 007 ample time to bail out and conjure a plan to take down Oberhauser and [[spoiler:C]]. |
| 74 | ** The second time, he constructs an elaborate DeathTrap, giving Bond a SadisticChoice: escape now on your own but live with the guilt of not saving [[spoiler:Madeleine Swann]] in time for the rest of your life, or try to rescue [[spoiler:Madeleine]] and die together. [[spoiler:Bond takes the 2nd choice, and he not only manages to save Madeleine in the nick of time, he also gives chase to Blofeld and has him arrested for his crimes.]] In this case, Oberhauser was playing on Bond's feelings to get him to fall, but since he was more interested in tormenting Bond rather than killing him, this gave Bond plenty of time to find [[spoiler:Swann]] and then escape. |
| 75 | ** Oberhauser's henchmen aren't too bright either. When they kidnap Bond, they tie his hands in front of him, with plastic zip ties. Sure enough, Bond is able to grab one of their guns and shoot them both, then break free. |
| 76 | ** [[spoiler:[[EvilAllAlong C/Max Denbigh]]]] himself is guilty of this, as he had many chances to kill M so he [[spoiler:won't hinder his EvilPlan to seize control of the world's intelligence agencies and forward the collected intel to Spectre, but opts to go for BreakThemByTalking near the climax. He also failed to realized that M managed to do a sweep of his office and empty his gun before C gets there, being that M is a former field agent unlike C, who's more of a corrupt paper-shuffler and ObstructiveBureaucrat. He finally tries to kill M, but M manages to grab C's gun and send him down a DisneyVillainDeath.]] |
| 77 | * {{Bookends}}: The opening and ending of the film both feature an action sequence involving a HellishCopter and one of the villains who is trying to flee Bond. |
| 78 | * BoringButPractical: One of the ethical dilemmas posed here in the movie is whether the {{Attack Drone}}s advocated by C can do the job of field agents like 007. M holds up the importance of the human element because they're capable of autonomous decisions, especially ethical ones on the spot, going so far to ask C if he ever held a gun. [[spoiler: ''Spectre'' later does prove this correct: even in a digitized era, old-fashioned field agents are still necessary to prevent critical errors.]] |
| 79 | * BreakTheHaughty: Mr. White was a SmugSnake in the previous films. Now he's a broken and dishevelled man [[YourDaysAreNumbered who knows his remaining days are numbered]], [[DrivenToSuicide and has given up on life]]. |
| 80 | * BreakingTheBonds: Bond at one point gets captured by some mooks who zip tie his hands together and put a black bag over his head. As soon as the van stops and they attempt to march him out, he kicks their asses, then breaks the zip tie with no effort before removing the bag. |
| 81 | * BrickJoke: When Bond encounters Lucia at the funeral, he introduces himself as a life insurance agent for her husband, followed by a question about the typical life expectancy of widows. Later he takes down two Spectre agents before they can kill her for [[HeKnowsTooMuch knowing too much.]] |
| 82 | * BridalCarry: Bond lifts Madeleine in his arms as they make their escape from the Vauxhall building. The symbolism is ramped up by the fact that she's wearing white. |
| 83 | * TheBusCameBack: |
| 84 | ** Mr. White from ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' returns after being absent in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. |
| 85 | ** The NebulousEvilOrganization Spectre returns after a forty-four year absence from the main franchise, last appearing in 1971's ''Film/DiamondsAreForever'', [[spoiler:though their involvement in the Craig series is retroactively applied to all of his movies, making the last film to have a villain not tied to Spectre Pierce Brosnan's last movie, ''Film/DieAnotherDay'']]. |
| 86 | ** For the first time in the Craig Bond era, the BondGunBarrel sequence ''opens'' a Bond film; it followed the pre-credits sequence in ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and was placed at the end of ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' and ''Skyfall''. Overall, ''Spectre'''s opening gunbarrel is the first since ''Film/DieAnotherDay''. |
| 87 | * CainAndAbel: Franz Oberhauser[[spoiler:/Ernst Stavro Blofeld was James Bond's older foster brother, but despised Bond for being a "cuckoo chick in another bird's nest" by becoming his father's favorite. Franz murdered his father and orchestrated all the tragedies in Bond's life as revenge.]] Played up [[MirroredConfrontationShot when Bond and Oberhauser meet with a bulletproof glass pane between them]]. Oberhauser's reflection is projected almost perfectly over Bond's face, highlighting their visual similarities. |
| 88 | * CallBack: Events and characters from previous films play a role in ''Spectre'''s plot. |
| 89 | ** The RealLife Vauxhall Cross offices of [=MI6=] which Raoul Silva bombed in ''Skyfall'' still haven't been rebuilt. |
| 90 | ** Bond is put on the trail of Spectre by [[spoiler:a video message from the late M as played by Judi Dench, who died at the end of ''Skyfall'']]. |
| 91 | ** Bond tracks down "Mr. White" from ''Casino Royale'' and ''Quantum'' to learn more about Spectre. |
| 92 | ** Bond encounters portraits of Le Chiffre, Vesper, Silva, M, and Mr. White on the way to his final confrontation with Oberhauser. Similarly, scenes of those characters sans Mr. White appear in the opening credits. |
| 93 | * TheCameo: [[spoiler:Creator/JudiDench as M, in a video message to Bond recorded before her death.]] |
| 94 | * CanonCharacterAllAlong: The villain Oberhauser is revealed to be [[spoiler:Bond's old nemesis from the earlier films, Ernst Stavro Blofeld.]] |
| 95 | * CardCarryingVillain: Spectre uses a sinister-looking octopus as its symbol. |
| 96 | * CarFu: More like ''Plane Fu''. He steals an aeroplane and uses it to force two cars with Oberhauser's mooks inside to crash and rams the plane into the other car so he can rescue Swann. |
| 97 | * CartwrightCurse: Traditional for Bond movies (especially in the Craig era), but averted here. This is the first Daniel Craig Bond movie--the first Bond movie since Timothy Dalton last played Bond in ''Film/LicenceToKill'', in fact--in which none of the Bond Girls die. |
| 98 | * CatScare: When Bond investigates the Pale King's hideout in Austria, he's spooked by some birds who took shelter in the seemingly abandoned cabin. |
| 99 | * CentralTheme: Several here. |
| 100 | ** Confronting your inner demons and ghosts of the past. |
| 101 | ** A continuation of ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'''s theme: Old vs. new methods of intelligence gathering and the relevance of agents like 007 in a digitized world. |
| 102 | ** The dystopian and undemocratic dangers of [[BigBrotherIsWatching total surveillance]] and how it will be used. |
| 103 | * CharacterNameAlias: Bond enters a meeting of the title organization claiming to be "Topolino" - Westernanimation/MickeyMouse's Italian name. |
| 104 | * ChekhovsGun: |
| 105 | ** Bond's brand new [[spoiler: Omega Seamaster 300 which Q has rigged to explode upon activating the alarm.]] He uses it in an attempt to [[spoiler: kill Oberhauser/Blofeld and distract his security detail in order to make an escape attempt.]] |
| 106 | ** Chekhov's Former HQ. After being bombed by Silva in ''Skyfall'', Bond and Tanner pass the old [=MI6=] building early on [[spoiler:and Tanner remarks it's set to be demolished in a week's time. Part of the climax takes place inside the building, with Blofeld using the demolition to his advantage in trying to kill Bond and Madeleine.]] |
| 107 | ** Chekhov's Boat and Safety Net too. |
| 108 | * ChekhovsGunman: [[spoiler: Madeleine, who demonstrates significantly more competence with a handgun than she first lets on when Bond attempts to teach her in basic use, while providing some backstory as to how she was trained by her father. Later she uses the same gun against Hinx, giving Bond the edge he needed to finish him off.]] |
| 109 | * ChronicallyCrashedCar: Once again, Bond's Aston Martin ends up totalled. Q is less than amused to see that in Bond's words, "I delivered it into the Tiber". |
| 110 | * CloakAndDagger: SPECTRE has reasserted itself as the archnemesis of [=MI6=] as a whole and 007 in particular, with preceding enemies in the Daniel Craig films even being retconned as having been - knowingly or otherwise - operating under SPECTRE control. |
| 111 | * CoDragons: Franz Oberhauser has two Dragons: Mr. Hinx as the chief of operations/top enforcer for SPECTRE, and [[spoiler:C/Max Denbigh]], as the head of the recently merged [=MI5=] and [=MI6=]. |
| 112 | * ColdBloodedTorture: Blofeld has Bond tied to a chair and has several needles drilled into his head, to make sure he doesn't recognize anyone. |
| 113 | * CollapsingLair: Blofeld does this to the abandoned [=MI6=] building in London to kill Bond after some gloating. Also combined with an attempt to ruin Bond's life if he survives by trying to kill Bond's Girl of the Week, which if it succeeded, would have been reminiscent of ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006''. As the building comes down, you can see the reactions on the faces of other [=MI6=] characters such as M. Somehow, Bond still escapes to bring down Blofeld's escape helicopter. |
| 114 | * ColorCodedForYourConvenience: |
| 115 | ** In the climax of the film when Bond is [[spoiler:holding Blofeld at gunpoint]]. M is there dressed in black representing Bond's life as a deceiving and murderous agent for the crown, with Madeleine in the other side dressed in white, representing the chance of a peaceful life away from the death and lies. |
| 116 | ** Madeleine in general, who wears white in all but three of her scenes. Especially her first one, where she herself is clad all in black, indicating that we don't yet know who she's loyal to and symbolizing her initially antagonistic relationship with Bond. |
| 117 | * ComeWithMeIfYouWantToLive: A variation when Madeleine asks Bond why she should trust him. |
| 118 | --> '''Bond''': "Because right now, Dr. Swann, I'm your best hope of staying alive." |
| 119 | * ComfortingTheWidow: A JustifiedTrope, wherein James Bond seduces a man's widow on the same day as the guy's funeral. While this would usually be pretty inappropriate (not least because he's the one who made her a widow) the situation is ameliorated for several reasons, since 1] the deceased party was clearly a bad guy, 2] the marriage was an unhappy one, and 3] Bond [[RescueRomance previously saved her from being assassinated]] by her late husband's "associates". |
| 120 | * ConcealmentEqualsCover: {{Subverted}} when Bond fires through a suitcase to hit a mook who's hiding behind it. Unfortunately the suitcase is being used to conceal a terrorist bomb and the entire building blows up. Oops! |
| 121 | * ContinuityNod: A number of references to the previous Craig-era Bond films appear. |
| 122 | ** In general: |
| 123 | *** All of the villains from the Craig years are name-dropped and appear in photographs and in the opening credits (save for Dominic Greene).[[note]]The opening credits sequence itself could therefore be interpreted as a callback to the opening credits of Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService, which featured clips of all five Bond films released up to that point.[[/note]] |
| 124 | *** Bond sends Lucia to meet Felix Leiter for protection. |
| 125 | ** ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'': |
| 126 | *** Bond gets a tracking device injected into his arm. They probably went with nanites this time around so the bad guys wouldn't carve it out again. |
| 127 | *** [[spoiler: Denbigh and M's confrontation is virtually identical to Bond and Dryden's--takes place in a glass office tower, M surprises Denbigh by lurking in his office, Denbigh attempts to shoot M, only to find that the gun isn't loaded and for M to reveal that he removed the bullets. The only difference is that Denbigh falls to his death after scuffling with M, rather than M shooting him.]] |
| 128 | *** At the beginning of the movie, in Mexico City, gunshots cause a building to collapse, just like the house collapsing in Venice at the end of this film. |
| 129 | *** Bond uses the same brand of holster he had for his Walther P99 in this film for his PPK in ''Spectre''. |
| 130 | *** Bond quits his [[spoiler:career to be with the woman he loves.]] |
| 131 | *** Bond ditches the minor, tertiary Bond Girl (or perhaps, just simply opts out of Round Two) to carry out a mission. |
| 132 | *** Bond is tied to a chair and tortured by the villain. |
| 133 | *** Bond has a conversation on a train with his LoveInterest. |
| 134 | *** Bond performs a RailingKill after his cover is blown at the Spectre meeting. In this film, he did the same thing to Obanno's lieutenant in the stairwell fight. |
| 135 | *** Vesper Lynd's name comes up multiple times. [[spoiler:Bond finds Mr. White's "interrogation" video of her in Tangiers.]] |
| 136 | ** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'': |
| 137 | *** An extended sequence late in the film takes place in a facility in the middle of a desert (in Bolivia in [=QoS=], Morocco here). |
| 138 | *** M [[spoiler:ignores orders and deliberately helps out Bond, echoing his predecessor's "He's my agent, and I trust him" attitude.]] |
| 139 | *** Bond once again spends the climax [[spoiler:hunting for the BigBad with a non-standard gun, before being forced to rescue the GirlOfTheWeek from an explosion.]] |
| 140 | *** [[spoiler:The SupervillainLair (okay, it was a hotel in Quantum, but still) is destroyed thanks to a chain reaction from a seemingly minor explosion.]] |
| 141 | *** Assuming Bond has come to kill him, [[spoiler: Mr. White]] simply asks him, "make it quick", precisely what Vesper's duplicitous lover said to him. |
| 142 | *** [[spoiler:Blofeld crawling away from the wrecked helicopter in the climax is near-enough what Greene did in the climax of [=QoS=] after accidentally swinging an axe into his foot.]] |
| 143 | *** The intro sequence of Bond and Madeleine falling through the air is very similar to that of Bond and Camille. |
| 144 | ** Bond chases an assassin through a festival, ultimately killing him. |
| 145 | ** ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'': |
| 146 | *** Bond is again evaluated by a psychologist, and he isn't taking this one too seriously, either. |
| 147 | *** Another DidTheyOrDidntThey scene between Bond and Moneypenny. |
| 148 | *** Mallory/M [[spoiler:gets to get into the action once again.]] |
| 149 | *** [[spoiler:Bond's allies are forced to watch helplessly as a building he's presumably in is blown to bits.]] |
| 150 | *** The BigBad uses an AnimalMetaphor for himself and Bond. Silva used rats, Oberhauser uses the cuckoo bird. Also, in Tangiers, Bond also gets tipped off, or "[[StealthPun ratted out]]", to Mr. White's lair by the presence of a rat. |
| 151 | *** As mentioned in the MusicalNod post, the soundtrack is very similar if not virtually identical at some points, with several pieces of music reappearing. |
| 152 | *** When Madeleine quips about the possibility of accidentally shooting Bond, he quips right back, "Well, it wouldn't be the first time.", clearly referencing when Moneypenny did so. |
| 153 | *** One of the lyrics in the theme song claims, "a storm is coming", precisely what Bond said to M as they traveled towards Skyfall. |
| 154 | *** The painting in Madeleine's room at Oberhauser's headquarters is the one Severine was showing to the man Patrice murdered in Shanghai, definitively linking the two film's. |
| 155 | *** In M's message to Bond, she is clearly in her house, wearing the outfit she was wearing when she got the first taunting message Silva regarding the reveal of the undercover agents. This also links the two films and indicates that she didn't just fear Silva, she feared whoever was backing him. |
| 156 | * CoolCar: |
| 157 | ** The Aston Martin [=DB10=], which was custom made for the film. |
| 158 | ** The car park outside the Spectre meeting is full of them, especially Mr. Hinx's Jaguar [=CX75=], a discontinued hybrid electric SuperPrototype with a F1-inspired engine that can generate 750 BHP. |
| 159 | ** In the alps, Spectre uses a pair of "Big Foot" Defender Land Rovers modified with 37-inch off-road tires and winch, and a SVR Range Rover equipped with [=V8s=] that can accelerate from 0 to 62 mph in 4.5 seconds. They're also armored, which proves useful when Bond [[spoiler: lets loose several 9mm rounds from the handgun he appropriated from one of the fallen Spectre team members]]. |
| 160 | ** [[spoiler: Bond's old DB-5]] is being rebuilt in Q's workshop [[spoiler: and is ready for Bond to drive off in at the end.]] |
| 161 | * ConvenientlyEmptyRoads: Initially played straight and somewhat {{Justified|Trope}}, then amusingly {{Subverted}}. When Bond is fleeing [[Creator/DaveBautista Mr. Hinx]], the roads are justifiably empty because it's nighttime. After a bit, Bond finds himself stuck on a narrow 1-lane road behind a slow driver, nearly allowing Mr. Hinx to catch up. |
| 162 | * CorporateConspiracy: SPECTRE are the ones who have bankrolled a joint intelligence-sharing program between the world's leading spy agencies. With the backdoor access they'll have, it would enable them to permanently stay ahead of anyone who is trying to investigate them. Quantum is also revealed to be a sub-unit of SPECTRE, as they were the ones who financed Raoul Silva's cyber-criminal activities in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. By this time, SPECTRE has morphed into an Illuminati-esque organization whose tentacles has penetrated the upper echelons of companies, governments, and even not-for-profits. |
| 163 | * CosmopolitanCouncil: Spectre. Their meeting in Italy is similar to the UN, with organization representatives from each nation announcing their progress whilst others listen with the aid of translators. |
| 164 | * CountryMatters: As M confronts [[spoiler:C (who has been revealed to be working for the nefarious titular organization), C sneeringly suggests that M stands for "moron" as he tries to shoot him, only to realize that the gun is empty. M responds in kind as he reveals that he has the clip, saying, "And now I know what "C" stands for. (Beat) Careless."]] While he uses a very benign word, the pause leaves no doubt as to what M was really getting at. |
| 165 | * CoverDrop: [[http://cdn.traileraddict.com/content/columbia-pictures/spectre.jpg The early poster with a bullet hole in the shape of Spectre's octopus]] comes up in the movie itself once Bond [[spoiler:tries to shoot Blofeld, and finds out bulletproof glass is between them.]] |
| 166 | * CovertGroupWithMundaneFront: 007, M and Moneypenny enter a safe house with the frontage of "Hildebrand Rarities", a shout-out to a short story by Creator/IanFleming. |
| 167 | * CrazyJealousGuy: Funnily enough, ''Bond'' plays this trope (though in a low-key way) when he overhears the voice of a young man on the line while in a phone conversation with Moneypenny, who is in her apartment at a time when most people would be sleeping. Given the overall history of the Bond-Moneypenny flirtation, it's probably as much him poking fun at her as it is actual jealousy. |
| 168 | * CreatorCameo: Director Sam Mendes as the priest conducting the funeral service. |
| 169 | * CyanidePill: A technical version in the original script where it's '''''Q''''' who is captured by the bad guys, rather than the Bond Girl. Bond finds his hotel room in disarray and that he's trashed his laptop so they cannot get their hands on the sensitive government files it holds. |
| 170 | * DamselInDistress: Dr. Swann, [[spoiler:both in the chase scene after her introduction and in the climax of the film, both on behalf of Oberhauser.]] |
| 171 | * DarkerAndEdgier: Spectre to Quantum. Depending on the interpretation (the film supports both), it's either the warped version of Quantum or its bosses. Either way, Quantum was into PragmaticVillainy, manipulating leaders and natural resources to secure profit and influence for its network. Spectre is explicitly involved with bombing cities, human trafficking and other more overt methods. Profit's still in mind, but in a messier, darker way. |
| 172 | * DeadManWriting: Bond's latest mission is kicked off by a video message from the late M, with orders for him to kill the man that he's seen killing in the opening sequence and attend the funeral. |
| 173 | * DeathFromAbove: |
| 174 | ** At one point Bond appears to do this with a plane he pilots in Austria. Specifically he uses it to pull off a vehicle interdiction by crashing it into the Land Rovers Spectre is using. |
| 175 | ** [[spoiler:Related to DisneyVillainDeath, C falls to his death after being hit off balance by shattered glass falling on him from above.]] |
| 176 | * DeathGlare: M gets to deploys several of these. First at Bond, then at C. Repeatedly. [[spoiler: C returns one to M in the form of a KubrickStare while revealing he spied on a conversation between Bond and Moneypenny regarding Mr. White.]] |
| 177 | ** Moneypenny gives a pretty effective one to C after the meeting to disband the "00" programme. |
| 178 | ** [[spoiler:While frantically searching the old [=MI6=] building for Madeleine, Bond sees Blofeld's helicopter and glares furiously at it.]] |
| 179 | * DeadpanSnarker: |
| 180 | ** M proves to be this, in the style of the Bernard Lee version of the character. Even Tanner is on the receiving end, for once. |
| 181 | ** Bond too: |
| 182 | ---> '''Lucia:''' How can you talk like this? Can't you see I'm grieving?\ |
| 183 | '''Bond:''' No. |
| 184 | * DefrostingIceQueen: Madeleine. When we first see her in Austria, she's cold and frosty towards Bond, and outright (though justifiably) angry with him after his rescue of her nearly gets her killed. As they head to Tangiers a few scenes later, she begins to warm up to him. See Empathic Environment below. |
| 185 | * DemocracyIsBad: C has a low opinion of democracy, thinking that totalitarianism and BigBrotherIsWatching will bring in order, alongside advocating the replacement of field agents like 007 with {{AttackDrone}}s. |
| 186 | * DespairEventHorizon: Downplayed. [[spoiler:Near the climax, 007 has a HeroicBSOD after being forced into a SadisticChoice by Blofeld into either saving Madeleine and risk dying in the exploding [=MI6=] building, or giving chase to Blofeld, but sinking into despair for not saving Madeleine in time. Bond being Bond, he TookAThirdOption by not only saving Madeleine in time, but also chasing down Blofeld on a speedboat he saw earlier.]] |
| 187 | * {{Determinator}}: |
| 188 | ** Once Mr. Hinx is after you, he just doesn't stop coming. |
| 189 | ** Mr. White is [[spoiler:dying from thallium poisoning. According to Bond, he should have died weeks earlier, but stayed alive out of concern for Madeleine.]] |
| 190 | ** Even [[spoiler:Blofeld]] counts, as he's caused enough damage to break Bond physically and psychologically, more so [[spoiler:than his previous incarnations.]] And he's willing to send in death squads to hunt down Mr. White for calling it quits. |
| 191 | * DeusExMachina: At least two. |
| 192 | ** Bond and Swann escape [[spoiler: Blofeld's SupervillainLair with surprisingly little effort, thanks to an exposed fuel pipe and the guard's sparse number and unwillingness to shoot straight.]] |
| 193 | ** In the collapsing [[spoiler: [=MI6=] headquarters, Bond and Swann also escape rather easily thanks to a safety net and a speedboat that has no business being there. Though both of them were shown previously in the scene.]] |
| 194 | * DiabolicalMastermind: [[spoiler:C/Max Denbigh]]. He is in charge of a proposed merger of [=MI5=] and [=MI6=], using it as a cover to give control of his surveillance plan to Blofeld. |
| 195 | * DidTheyOrDidntThey: Bond and Moneypenny, once again. When she arrives at his apartment, he's fully dressed. After she leaves, he's in his robe. |
| 196 | ** [[spoiler: They didn't. There's a brief shot of Moneypenny walking away on the street and in that shot on the right side of the screen, Bond is clearly still dressed in the same clothes he wore during their conversation]]. |
| 197 | * DisneyVillainDeath: [[spoiler:Several characters are subjected to this, notably Sciarra and Denbigh. The former falls from a helicopter, the latter from his own HQ.]] |
| 198 | * DisposablePilot: Bond kicks the pilot out of the helicopter during the opening sequence and Blofeld's pilots are either killed or knocked unconscious--and he clearly doesn't give a damn--during the final climax. |
| 199 | * DissonantSerenity: Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Blofeld]] is disturbingly calm throughout the entire film, as are the various Spectre meetings he conducts. |
| 200 | ** Bond is eerily calm through Blofeld's torture, even laughing and making wisecracks at one point. It only slips when the needles are drilled into his head. |
| 201 | * DoABarrelRoll: Possibly referenced when Bond is in a helicopter that does several of these, though he isn't the pilot. |
| 202 | * DoesntLikeGuns: Subverted in Madeleine's case. She openly disapproves of guns and the men using them (which is likely one of the reasons why she doesn't like Bond at first) but knows how to use one [[spoiler: which she does at one point to save Bond. As a child she shot an assassin who was after her father with a Beretta 9mm hidden in a kitchen cupboard, which seems to have been what triggered her dislike of them.]] |
| 203 | * DoubleMeaningTitle: Spectre to both the eponymous organization as well as the fact that its leader, Franz Oberhauser [[spoiler:aka Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] is a ghost or spectre out of Bond's past. |
| 204 | * TheDragon: |
| 205 | ** Mr. Hinx, a ProfessionalKiller and high ranking operative who answers directly to the Spectre leadership. TheBrute who can give Bond a run for his money, not unlike Oddjob or Jaws. |
| 206 | ** [[spoiler: Max Denbigh serves as this at a political level. Bond even describes him as Blofeld's EvilChancellor at one point.]] |
| 207 | * DragonTheirFeet: {{Subverted}}. Blofeld seemingly dies when Bond blows up his Moroccan headquarters and [[spoiler:C]] is left to be dealt with by Bond and his team. Bond even refers to Blofeld as the "recently deceased head of SPECTRE". But being Blofeld, he's very much alive and has one more showdown with Bond in London. |
| 208 | * DramaticAmmoDepletion: Bond is chased by Mr. Hinx in Rome and tries using the rear machine guns of his Aston Martin DB10...only to find out they haven't been loaded by Q before he "borrowed" the car. So he settles for the rear flamethrower instead. |
| 209 | * DramaticPause: Bond uses this between the 'James' and the 'Bond' of the classic TheNameIsBondJamesBond line, giving it a twist. |
| 210 | * DressingAsTheEnemy: {{Downplayed}}. Bond wears a SPECTRE ring he pried earlier from a dead mook in order to gather intel on the titular Illuminati-esque organization's leadership. |
| 211 | * DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler: Majority of Spectre (or at least the high ranking members who gather in Morroco) base died due to the ensuing explosion]] |
| 212 | * EarnYourHappyEnding: [[spoiler: For the first time in the Daniel Craig movies, the Bond girl actually gets to stay with Bond and also survives to the end of the movie.]] |
| 213 | * EjectionSeat: PlayedWith. Counter to the usual Bond film expectation, James [[spoiler: uses it exactly as intended, as an emergency evacuation device for himself. Also averted in the classic [=DB5=] when Bond is holding the shifter. He pauses for a moment, and Swann glances at him. Remember that there is a red button in the shifter knob]]. |
| 214 | * EmpathicEnvironment: Bond and Madeleine meet in cold and snowy Austria and she's equally cold and frosty to him. Their relationship thaws as they head to much-warmer Tangiers, peaking with them consummating it the night before they get off the train in the middle of the desert. |
| 215 | * EndOfAnAge: [[spoiler:After the death of Judi Dench's M in ''Skyfall'', Vauxhall Cross' destruction seems to solidify the end of an age beginning with ''Film/GoldenEye''.]] |
| 216 | * EnemyMine: Bond joining forces with [[spoiler:Mr. White. They both want revenge against Oberhauser, even if Bond himself doesn't know it at the time, which puts them on the same side.]] |
| 217 | * EpicTrackingShot: The opening minutes of the film were effectively a single take, though the DVD featurette on the subject acknowledges some "sleight of hand" in this. Becomes epic when the camera view appears to segue from being ground-level crane-based to hand-held to rooftop crane-based without a cut. |
| 218 | * {{Epigraph}}: "The dead are alive", before opening on the DÃa de Muertos parade in Mexico, where Bond follows the trail of a Marco Sciarra. |
| 219 | * EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: Mr. White fought his impending death as long as possible to ensure the safety of Madeleine, his daughter. |
| 220 | * EvenEvilHasStandards: |
| 221 | ** When Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Blofeld]] orders the death of the Spectre henchman who was supposed to replace Sciarra, most of the Spectre attendees were a bit unnerved by how Oberhauser ordered it: [[spoiler:He summons Mr. Hinx, who then proceeds to bash the Spectre henchman's skull on the table, gouge his eyes out with his thumbnails, before finally killing him off with a NeckSnap and taking his place.]] |
| 222 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. White had no problem destabilizing governments, funding terrorism and murdering countless people in the previous films, but tells Bond he abandoned Spectre after they started dabbling in the sex trade, preying on women and children. Bond calls White out on his claiming the moral high ground after his own past actions.]] |
| 223 | * EvilAllAlong: Bond and M learn that SPECTRE has secretly managed to penetrate the British spy agencies, and that [[spoiler:Max Denbigh/C]] was the MoleInCharge and working for Franz Oberhauser. |
| 224 | * EvilCannotComprehendGood: Franz Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] claims that he and [[spoiler:[[TheMole Max Denbigh/C]]]] are visionaries, only for Bond to mockingly say that they're not "visionaries", but insane megalomaniacs. "Psychiatric wards are full of them." |
| 225 | ** [[spoiler:After C/Max Denbigh is revealed to be TheMole within the British government and a member of Spectre who's in cahoots with Blofeld, he attempts to explain why DemocracyIsBad, TheEvilsOfFreeWill, that it's a CrapsackWorld out there and how the "[[BigBrotherIsWatching Nine Eyes]]" programme and [[KnightTemplar total surveillance]] will work by calling M a "moron," only for M to [[ShutUpHannibal shut him down]] by calling him "careless." At first glance, it may seem that C is giving a ReasonYouSuckSpeech to M, but it's clear to M and the viewer that C is insane and is only using PsychologicalProjection to give his MotiveRant.]] |
| 226 | ** [[spoiler:Following the FinalBattle, as Bond has him at his mercy, Blofeld offers Bond a chance to FinishHim and invoke the StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred trope to see if 007 will fall for the bait and become just as monstrous as he is. But after some initial hesitation, [[NotWorthKilling 007 simply refuses]], stating that he is "out of bullets" and isn't willing to cross the HeWhoFightsMonsters line to sink to Blofeld's level, leaving him confused at Bond's rationale to spare him despite their CainAndAbel relationship. Blofeld also doesn't know that despite being a ProfessionalKiller, there are [[EveryoneHasStandards moral lines even Bond won't cross]], and killing Blofeld out of revenge won't do much.]] |
| 227 | * EvilCounterpart: |
| 228 | ** [[spoiler:Oberhauser/Blofeld to M. Even his outfit in Morocco, a loose (in fit and nature) call back to Pleasance's Nehru jacket, matches up with the wardrobe Judi Dench's M favored.]] |
| 229 | ** [[spoiler: Oberhauser]] also plays the "we're not so different, you and I" card with Bond. |
| 230 | * EvilGenius: [[spoiler:Max Denbeigh]] to Franz Oberhauser as the man sent to infiltrate [=MI6=] and implement SPECTRE's Nine Eyes security system to take over the world. |
| 231 | * EvilIsPetty: [[spoiler:Blofeld's]] entire motivation for what he does to James is because [[spoiler:his father began to treat James as a son, which he saw as taking attention away from him. But his need to see 007 suffer via [[ColdBloodedTorture an elaborate]] [[TheAnticipator revenge scheme]] just because his father favored him proves to be one of his {{Fatal Flaw}}s, alongside his [[DrivenByEnvy jealousy]] and [[ItsAllAboutMe inflated ego]].]] |
| 232 | * EvilPlan: Franz Oberhauser masterminding a series of terrorist attacks in order to trick the governments of the world into setting up an intelligence and surveillance sharing network... which, thanks to his moles, he'll have total access to, allowing him to stay permanently one step ahead of the opposition. On a personal level, Oberhauser developed an IrrationalHatred of 007 just because his father paid more attention to Bond than him when they were in their teens. DrivenByEnvy and resentment, he kills his father out of jealousy, fakes his own death before creating a NebulousEvilOrganization, and made his life's mission to not only orchestrate wanton chaos just for his own benefit, but to mess around and inflict physical and psychological pain on Bond to further punish him just because he was favored by Oberhauser's father. |
| 233 | * EvilPowerVacuum: Bond's conversation with Mr. White implies that Quantum was either reorganized into or superseded by SPECTRE after Bond destroyed much of its leadership in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace''. |
| 234 | * EvilRunningGood: [[spoiler:The Centre for National Security is actually a front for Spectre.]] |
| 235 | * EyePoke: Mr. Hinx does this to one of Oberhauser's mooks who was supposed to replace Sciarra, and [[spoiler:attempts to ram his index fingers into Bond's eyes when they're trying to kill each other on the Morocco train.]] |
| 236 | * EyeScream: |
| 237 | ** One of Oberhauser's mooks is subjected to this when [[spoiler: challenged for the right to replace Sciarra in Spectre by Mr. Hinx.]] |
| 238 | ** [[spoiler: As Oberhauser is torturing Bond, the third sequence of needles are pointed right at Bond's eyes. The watch bomb goes off just before they connect, but still...]] |
| 239 | ** [[spoiler: Oberhauser/Blofeld himself loses an eye and gets the scar from ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'' when the watch bomb goes off at his base.]] |
| 240 | * FaceDeathWithDignity: |
| 241 | ** After Lucia Sciarra attends her husband's funeral, she knows that his old associates will kill her because [[HeKnowsTooMuch She Knows Too Much]]. After getting home she walks into the mansion's courtyard and calmly prepares to be shot in the back by two assassins [[spoiler:before Bond saves her.]] |
| 242 | ** [[spoiler:Blofeld calmly tells Bond to "finish it" when the latter holds him at gunpoint, clearly having no intention of pleading for his life.]] |
| 243 | * FaceFramedInShadow: When Bond infiltrates a board meeting of the NebulousEvilOrganisation, their leader's face is hidden in shadow. At first this looks like they're going to do the NoOneSeesTheBoss trope as with the original SPECTRE, until [[FaceRevealingTurn he turns his head]] to [[IKnowYoureWatchingMe look directly at Bond]]. |
| 244 | * FakeOutFadeOut: The movie ends with Bond and Madeleine walking away from the chaos. . .no, there's still one last scene of Bond visiting Q to retrieve his car, and ''then'' he and Madeleine depart. |
| 245 | * FakingTheDead: It's revealed that Franz Oberhauser killed his father out of jealousy twenty years ago and faked his death in an avalanche before forming SPECTRE. He later renames himself as [[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]]. |
| 246 | * FalseFlagOperation: Every nation mentioned to have suffered a terrorist incident in the time frame of the film is either a member of or fairly close to a member nation of the council that is voting on the Nine Eyes programme. When South Africa vetoes the programme, they suffer a terrorist incident that makes them reconsider their position within a matter of days. This is because Spectre ''wants'' the Nine Eyes system to go live, as [[spoiler:C is providing them with backdoor access]]. |
| 247 | * FinalBattle: One occurs with [[spoiler: Blofeld, his men, and C in London, ranging from the CNS building to the ruins of [=MI6=].]] |
| 248 | * FingerGun: Madeline does this just before she falls asleep to warn Bond not to try putting the moves on her. |
| 249 | * FingerTwitchingRevival: How the film reveals that [[spoiler:Mr. Hinx survived being thrown through his Range Rover's windscreen.]] |
| 250 | * ForcedToWatch: Oberhauser forces Madeleine to watch Bond tortured by a MindProbe, and before that, [[spoiler:shows her the recording of her father's conversation with Bond before shooting himself. Subverted in the latter case, as Bond manages to get her to look at him instead of the screen]]. |
| 251 | * {{Foreshadowing}}: |
| 252 | ** When she's about to pass out [[DrowningMySorrows from drinking too much]], Madeleine jokingly observes that [[SingleMaltVision there are two James Bonds.]] [[spoiler: Which hints at his relationship with the villain]]. |
| 253 | ** At the Rome Spectre conference, multiple members of the board are attempting to justify funding for their ventures due to the "surveillance initiative", which [[spoiler: foreshadows the true nature of the op Blofeld is running with C]]. |
| 254 | ** South Africa being bombed right after [[spoiler: they reject C's plan]] is another tipoff. [[spoiler: If you've seen ''Series/{{Sherlock}}'', you already suspect C, as he plays Moriarty there.]] |
| 255 | ** Early on in the film, as Bond is taken to the new Q Branch, he passes by the Vauxhall Cross office, which Tanner mentions is set to be demolished. It is [[spoiler: at the climax of the film when Blofeld takes control of the demolition charges with his own detonator and tries to bring the place down on 007 and Madeleine Swann.]] |
| 256 | ** M gives a speech wherein he states that glass will inevitably break and leave pieces behind [[spoiler: as he is announcing the end of the 00 programme per C's influence. At the climax, M's fight with C leads to glass shattering above their heads. C slips on the glass shards and falls to his death.]] |
| 257 | ** M explains to C that a man having a licence to kill also means having a licence ''not'' to kill. [[spoiler: At the end of the movie Bond decides to spare Blofeld's life.]] |
| 258 | ** In the same scene as above, he asks C if he's ever actually killed anyone in person (as Bond and M both have). C doesn't answer, and can't meet his eye. [[spoiler:He gives it the ol' college try in the climax.]] |
| 259 | ** [[spoiler: Oberhauser]] uses a variant of the [[spoiler: "No, Mr. Bond, I expected you to die,"]] line, and possesses a [[spoiler: RightHandCat]], which hints at his actual identity. The viewer might be tricked into thinking it's merely a CallBack to earlier films, though... |
| 260 | ** M explains to Q that the tracker that allows them to follow Bond's movements also allows C to follow Bond's movements. [[spoiler: This would explain how Mr. Hinx is always able to find where Bond is going, as C is working with Blofeld]]. |
| 261 | ** After Bond rescues Madeleine from the assassins that kidnap her from her clinic, she angrily snaps at him, "Did it cross your mind that you led them to me?!" [[spoiler:She's not wrong, given again Spectre's access to the tracking blood]]. |
| 262 | ** The photo Bond looks at in his apartment features him as a boy with the older Oberhauser and the face of the other boy has been burned away. [[spoiler:Not only hints at Blofeld's past with Bond (and the whole photo is seen later in Blofeld's base), but also the damage that will occur to Blofeld's face when the watch blows up.]] |
| 263 | ** When Mr Hinx reaches the corpse of [[spoiler: Mr White]], he looks up at the security camera mounted on the wall behind the man and smiles. This foreshadows Oberhauser revealing that he managed to hack the camera and acquire the footage of [[spoiler: White's suicide]] from said camera. |
| 264 | ** The opening shot of the film. The epigraph "The Dead Are Alive." It foreshadows everything, from [[spoiler:Judi Dench's cameo as M, Mr. White's condition, Mr. Hinx surviving the car crash, Oberhauser being alive ''twice'', and Bond escaping Vauxhall Cross.]] |
| 265 | ** Q mentions that he has two cats. [[spoiler:Oberhauser has one.]] |
| 266 | ** The opening credits feature Bond and Madeleine falling through the air, [[spoiler: which is how they escape the rigged Vauxhall building]]. |
| 267 | * FreeFallRomance: Between Bond and Madeleine in the opening credits, foreshadowing their escape from a rigged building in the film's climax. |
| 268 | * FreezeFrameBonus: When Bond gazes at the memorial wall of [=MI6=], one of the names visible is "Emma Pill". Ironically, this was completely unintentional, as the names are that of the crew members (Emma Pill was location manager), but needless to say, the similarity has most viewers convinced it's a ShoutOut to ''Series/TheAvengers1960s''. |
| 269 | * FreudianExcuse: [[spoiler: Bond had been taken in by Oberhauser's father in the wake of his parents' death and Bond and the elder Oberhauser quickly formed a close relationship. Franz quickly grew jealous of the younger boy, comparing him to a cuckoo,[[note]]birds that lay their eggs in other species' nests, where the chicks then push out the original eggs to be raised by the unaware parents[[/note]] and killed his own father before starting a new life as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, using his mother's lineage to hide his identity.]] |
| 270 | * GadgetWatches: Bond even asks Q what the watch does. Q flatly replies that it tells time, but it does have a "loud" alarm. Sure enough, the watch can be turned into a bomb. |
| 271 | * GetItOverWith: |
| 272 | ** [[spoiler: Bond to Blofeld regarding his impending torture--"Nothing could be as painful as listening to you talk."]] |
| 273 | ** [[spoiler:Blofeld tells Bond to kill him when both his plot is foiled and his attempted escape thwarted. Bond hesitates, but ultimately puts down his gun and lets Blofeld be taken in alive.]] |
| 274 | ** Also said by [[spoiler: Mr. White]], who assumed Bond was a Spectre hitman coming to finish him off. |
| 275 | %% * Getting Crap Past The Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition. |
| 276 | * GladToBeAliveSex: Madeleine Swann shoots down the idea that she's going to sleep with Bond just because she's drunk and distraught over her father's recent death. The following night after they've barely escaped being killed, she asks, "What do we do now?" The scene cuts to them tearing off each other's clothes in their cabin. |
| 277 | * AGodAmI: Though not referring to godhood, Blofeld refers to himself as a "visionary" who plans to dominate the world. Bond calls him out on his insanity, claiming that "psychiatric wards are full of them." |
| 278 | * GoodIsOldFashioned: [[spoiler:C/Max Denbigh]] claims that the world is better off with the "Nine Eyes" surveillance project, thinking that an AttackDrone can do a better job than a field agent. However, M holds up the importance of spies as they're capable of autonomous decisions, especially ethical ones, going so far to ask C if he ever held a gun. Spectre later does prove that even in a digitized era, an old-fashioned spy is still necessary to prevent critical errors. |
| 279 | * GoryDiscretionShot: Bond deliberately invokes this when in front of Madeleine, Oberhauser plays the surveillance footage of Mr White [[spoiler: shooting himself]]. |
| 280 | * GovernmentAgencyOfFiction: After the events of ''Skyfall'', both [=MI5=] and [=MI6=] have been merged to form the Joint Intelligence Service, headed by Max Denbigh. |
| 281 | * GreaterScopeVillain: Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] claims to have been involved in every attack on Bond in the Daniel Craig era thus far. |
| 282 | -->'''Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Blofeld]]:''' It was me, James. The author of all your pain. |
| 283 | * GunStruggle: [[spoiler:Between M and C. Noticeably neither party gets shot, instead the stray bullets bring shattered glass falling down on them, which causes the DisneyVillainDeath.]] |
| 284 | * HandCannon: Mr. Hinx's double barreled .45 caliber pistol. It leaves some rather sizable holes in the fuselage of the plane Bond is flying while chasing after him. |
| 285 | * HandyCuffs: [[spoiler: During the final act, when Bond is abducted by Blofeld's mooks, they not only cuff his hands in front of him, they do it with plastic ties, leaving him not only able to shoot them both, but easily break free. This is because Blofeld wants it to be easy for Bond to free himself as part of his twisted game.]] |
| 286 | * HappyEnding: A rare occurrence for a Daniel Craig Bond film. [[spoiler:Blofeld is arrested, nobody died at [=MI6=] and Bond drives off in his Aston Martin [=DB5=] with Madeleine, seemingly free to be happy with her.]] |
| 287 | * HateSink: [[spoiler:Max Denbigh/C, is a sleazy and CorruptPolitician placed in charge of a merger between [=MI5=] and [=MI6=], [[TyrantTakesTheHelm poses a threat to [=MI6=]'s operations]], compounds it by acting like a [[SmugSnake smarmy douche]] to Bond and M, and advocates the replacement of human spies with {{Attack Drone}}s and [[BigBrotherIsWatching mass surveillance]]. Later on, C is revealed to be a Spectre flunky, who plans to turn control of the new surveillance system he's designing over to [[Characters/JamesBondBlofeld Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], née [[DiabolicalMastermind Franz Oberhauser]]. At the end of the film, he suffers a [[KarmicDeath well deserved fate]] when he plummets to the bottom of the headquarters of the merged intelligence service, which he had paid for with Spectre's blood money]]. |
| 288 | * HellishCopter: |
| 289 | ** The pre-credits sequence involves Bond trying to kill a man in an out of control helicopter hurtling over the skies of Mexico City. The copter even does several barrel rolls. |
| 290 | ** In the film's climax, Bond manages to plink a twin-engine helicopter a few times with a small handgun, which causes both engines to burst into flames, sending it crashing down. |
| 291 | * HiddenAgendaVillain: {{Subverted}}. Franz Oberhauser is established as an estranged foster brother who despises 007 for being favored by his foster father Hannes Oberhauser when both were younger. This led him to commit Patricide out of pure malice and orchestrate the numerous tragedies Bond faced in later years. |
| 292 | * HiddenVillain: Franz Oberhauser briefly appears early in the film, but his true name isn't revealed until his later appearance near the climax. |
| 293 | * HijackedByGanon: SPECTRE and their boss [[spoiler: Blofeld were the ManBehindTheMan for Quantum and Raoul Silva, the villains of the previous Craig-era movies]]. Interestingly, this is James Bond's first time facing Spectre in this timeline, making it only a meta-example. |
| 294 | * HoistByHisOwnPetard: The CNS building (C's headquarters) has a nearly all-glass atrium with a rotary glass stairwell. [[spoiler:This easily shatters when bullets from M's gun hit it during a struggle between him and C and shards of glass raining down on them sends C to his DisneyVillainDeath]] |
| 295 | * HoldingHands: Bond and Madeleine, on the way to Oberhauser's lair, after she confides in him that she's scared. [[spoiler: Then again at the end, as they walk away from the chaos]]. |
| 296 | * HowTheMightyHaveFallen: |
| 297 | ** When we meet Mr. White, he's a broken and disheveled man living in a cabin deep in the Austrian countryside desperately fearing for his life, a far cry from the SmugSnake [[TheChessmaster manipulator]] he was in the first two Craig films. Though Bond does later acknowledge that it takes some talent to successfully hide out for as long as he has. |
| 298 | ** [[spoiler: Oberhauser's entire plan was ultimately to force this trope on Bond via TraumaCongaLine. Instead, Bond turns things around by wrecking Oberhauser's primary base of operations, depriving him of his resources and network, leaving him battered and at the mercy of the British government, then refuses to kill him, instead letting him get a view of Bond and Madeleine [[EarnYourHappyEnding having earned their happy ending.]]]] |
| 299 | * HumanTraffickers: During the SPECTRE meeting, it's mentioned that one of the NebulousEvilOrganization's many sources of revenue is human trafficking, including female and [[WouldHurtAChild child prostitution]]. [[spoiler:This is also why Mr. White, a former member, defected and went into hiding, since [[EvenEvilHasStandards he was appalled by the levels of evil that Oberhauser sank to]].]] Even 007 looked disgusted by how the Spectre bigwigs were raking in money from their illicit operations, including terrorism and ''[[SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil outright slavery]].'' |
| 300 | * IHaveAFamily: Q informs Bond that he has two cats. Though it's not pleading with Bond to spare his life, it's for Bond not to drag him into something that will get him fired. |
| 301 | * IllTakeThatAsACompliment: Said word-for-word by C when M confronts him about [[spoiler:the deactivation of the Double-O programme]]; M isn't amused. |
| 302 | -->'''M:''' You're a cocky little bastard, aren't you.\ |
| 303 | '''C:''' ''[laughs]''...I'll take that as a compliment.\ |
| 304 | '''M:''' I wouldn't. |
| 305 | * ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: Pretty evident during Bond and Madeleine's escape from the Spectre base in Morocco, where Bond mows down {{Mooks}} left and right without getting so much as a scratch. Particularly noticeable since when Bond breaks cover he steps completely out into the open rather than lean out from behind cover. |
| 306 | * ImprobableAimingSkills: |
| 307 | ** Bond manages to OneHitKill a mook at a range of over a hundred yards. With a submachine gun. With iron sights. Clearly, Bond has recovered from his wounds received in ''Film/{{Skyfall}}''. |
| 308 | ** Bond manages to [[spoiler:shoot down Blofeld's helicopter with only a few shots of his Walther PPK from a few hundred metres away, at night time, from a moving boat. That said, he has to expend two different pistols to do it, and he is clearly taking his time aiming up the last shot.]] |
| 309 | * ImprovisedWeapon: When cornered on the train out of Tangier, Bond attempts to drive Mr Hinx off by chucking a candle in his direction which sets the man's dinner jacket alight and takes swipes at him with a wine corkscrew, none which deter the man for long. |
| 310 | * InLoveWithTheGangstersGirl: {{Averted}}. Lucia Sciarra is the widow of this type of man, thanks to Bond killing her husband, but in no less danger from his vengeful associates. She manages to be one of those who survive. There's also a variant in the movie with Madeleine Swann, Mr. White's daughter, who becomes Bond's ally and love interest as he goes after SPECTRE. |
| 311 | * InsecureProtagonistArrogantAntagonist: This motif is expanded upon. M suspends 007 from field duty for causing an international debacle while trying to stop terrorists linked to SPECTRE from blowing up a stadium in Mexico City. C/Max Denbigh mocks both Bond and M as outdated and thinks {{Attack Drone}}s and 24/7 surveillance would do a better job than human spies. C is actually trying to give backdoor access of the world's spy agencies to SPECTRE in exchange for more political power. The film later reconstructs by stating that spies are just as important as they were during the Cold War. |
| 312 | * IronicEcho: To Mr. White's "We have people everywhere" taunt. Oberhauser does as well to the extent that it has forced Mr. White into hiding. |
| 313 | * {{Irony}}: In the classic sense. [[spoiler:Bond assumes Blofeld is dead after the Spectre base explodes... but viewers saw cars fleeing the explosion as Bond flew away in the opposite direction.]] |
| 314 | * ItNeverGetsAnyEasier: M becomes the ''first'' hero in the film series to openly address the moral-responsibility associated with taking a human life. When C casually quips how the 00 status is awarded to those who are willing to pull the trigger, M chastises him with weary sadness that the licence to kill is a ''responsibility'' and '''burden''' not awarded to cold blooded killers, but to those who know when ''not'' to pull the trigger. |
| 315 | --> ''"Have you ever had to kill a man, Max? Have you? To pull that trigger, you have to be sure. Yes, you investigate, analyze, assess, target. And then you have to look him in the eye. And you make the call. And all the drones, bugs, cameras, transcripts, all the surveillance in the world can't tell you what to do next. A licence to kill is also a licence '''not''' to kill."'' |
| 316 | * ItWorksBetterWithBullets: |
| 317 | ** [[spoiler:M calls out Denbigh on his carelessness, after the latter tries to shoot him without checking if his gun is still loaded (the bullets are all in M's hand).]] |
| 318 | ** The [=DB10=] comes with all the expected gadgets, but [[spoiler:because Bond has stolen it from Q, it isn't fully armed yet]]. |
| 319 | * ItsAlwaysMardiGrasInNewOrleans: Bond is in Mexico City, so of course, it's DÃa de Muertos. On a meta-level, the film was released within a week of the holiday. |
| 320 | * ItsGoingDown: Along with the old [=MI6=] being a BeautifulCondemnedBuilding ("It will cost less to destroy than to rebuild it!"), a Mexican building and an intricate Spectre African facility all enter this trope. But averted with the new Joint Intelligence Service building, aside from a few glass panes. |
| 321 | * ItsPersonal: Bond's mission is as much about uncovering secrets from his own past as it is about finding and defeating Spectre. Turns out that's also Spectre's overall scheme. Every scheme and plot that Spectre has is revealed to be just another way to give Oberhauser a chance to mess with Bond. |
| 322 | * JokerImmunity: Once Franz Oberhauser reveals himself to be [[spoiler:[[CanonCharacterAllAlong Ernst]] [[HijackedByGanon Stavro Blofeld]], Bond lampshades that "he's a hard man to kill" in the climax.]] This was done because of the [[ScrewedByTheLawyers nasty legal battle]] that plagued the franchise for ''nearly 50 years''. |
| 323 | * JurisdictionFriction: Between the remnants of [=MI6=] and the newly formed Joint Intelligence Service it is now a part of. |
| 324 | * KindheartedCatLover: Q reminds Bond that he'd prefer not to be fired because he has a mortgage and two cats to feed. |
| 325 | * LackOfEmpathy: This Blofeld is arguably worse than his predecessors, as he committed patricide out of resentment for being favored less than an orphaned 007, causing him to orchestrate the events of the previous three films and continues to torment Bond out of pure sadism. |
| 326 | * LaserSight: Bond has a laser module on his weapon in the opening sequence, but it's actually a laser microphone that he uses to listen in on a conversation and he's using iron sights to aim. He's spotted when the mooks spot the beam in a cloud of cigarette smoke. |
| 327 | * LateArrivalSpoiler: If you haven't yet watched ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'' and don't want the ending spoiled, you might want to stay away from this film until you have. |
| 328 | ** For this particular film, if you decide to watch it for the first time in Blu-Ray, you had better not activate the English subtitles, because they will [[spoiler:refer to Oberhauser as Blofeld as early as his very first scene]]. |
| 329 | * LaughingAtYourOwnJokes: Q cracks up at his own joke when he tells Bond that he asked to bring the Aston Martins in one piece and not bringing back one piece. |
| 330 | * LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Oberhauser's "It's been a long time. And finally, here we are." is as much about Spectre returning to the Bond franchise as James and Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]] being reunited. |
| 331 | * LighterAndSofter: It's the most typically "Bond-like" film of the Craig era, with more humor, more fantastical elements, and certainly a happier ending than any of its three predecessors. |
| 332 | * LockAndLoad: Bond places a pistol on the table with the intention of showing Madeleine how to use it. She picks it up and performs a safety check, indicating that she already knows how. |
| 333 | * LockAndLoadMontage: [[spoiler: Bond and M get a low-key for the trope but epic one as they prepare to go rogue in order to bring down C. Madeleine, the audience surrogate, watches on in a mix of awe and shock as they lock and load.]] |
| 334 | * LuddWasRight: {{Discussed}} and {{justified}}. C believes that digital surveillance has made the "00" programme obsolete. Later on, [[spoiler:the suspicions of 007 and M towards C are proven right, when it turns out that C is a Spectre operative and that the Centre for National Surveillance system is really a trojan horse for world domination]]. |
| 335 | * LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:Franz Oberhauser reveals to Bond that he is his adoptive brother]]. |
| 336 | * MadeOfExplodium: [[spoiler: Bond blows up a gas canister in Spectre's Moroccan base in the middle of a firefight. As he and Swann escape, the ''entire base'' blows up behind up behind them because of a chain reaction that was apparently caused by this (so far as the audience can see, at least). It's probably the most fragile evil base a Bond villain has ever had.]] Meta-note: This scene set a new world record for the most explosives used in one scene in a Hollywood film. None of it was CGI. |
| 337 | * MadeOfIron: Bond, of course. After a fight that would have sent any other man to the hospital, he's healthy and invigorated enough for sex with Madeleine. Madeleine herself takes a couple of solid shots from the man-mountain they fought, but she, also, doesn't end up with so much as a bruise. Bond suffers no ill-effects from his later torture, either. |
| 338 | * MayDecemberRomance: Downplayed. Creator/DanielCraig is only 17 years Creator/LeaSeydoux's senior as opposed to being old enough to be her father. And he's four years Creator/MonicaBellucci's ''junior''. |
| 339 | * MeaningfulEcho: Bond's train conversation about his life with Madeleine Swann mirrors his conversation on a train with Vesper Lynd years earlier in ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}''. |
| 340 | * MeaningfulName: Spectre. Not just the name of the evil organization that Bond is contending with, but the film is about Bond battling the ghosts of his past. |
| 341 | * MenCantKeepHouse: One of the implications from Bond's apartment. He's lived there for months and hasn't unpacked. He's surprised that Moneypenny finds it odd. |
| 342 | * MercyLead: Bond convinces Q to give him a 48-hour headstart without tracking him via "Smart Blood". |
| 343 | * MilkmanConspiracy: The Center for National Security aka the "Nine Eyes" joint intelligence program [[spoiler:is actually another front for SPECTRE]]. Its head [[spoiler:is actually a high-ranking member and is allowing the criminal group to use the intelligence it's gathering from the major spy agencies to permanently stay ahead of its enemies]]. |
| 344 | * MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: 007's unauthorized mission to foil a terrorist plot in Mexico City not only leads to C actively campaigning to shut down the 00-agent programme in favor of the "Nine Eyes" surveillance project he spearheaded, but also TheReveal that [[spoiler:Spectre and its leader Blofeld was not only bankrolling "Nine Eyes", but also that [[ManBehindTheMan he]] [[GreaterScopeVillain masterminded]] all of the tragedies Bond faced since ''Casino Royale'' for his own benefit.]] |
| 345 | * MirroredConfrontationShot: [[http://vignette4.wikia.nocookie.net/jamesbond/images/3/3c/Spectre_-_007_and_scarred_Blofeld.png/revision/latest?cb=20160307142424 A literal example]] of this occurs in the final showdown between Bond and [[spoiler: Blofeld, albeit with Blofeld being a scarred version of 007 if one notices carefully]]. On a bigger note, it serves to highlight [[spoiler:Blofeld]] as the EvilCounterpart, ShadowArchetype, and {{Foil}} to Bond. |
| 346 | * MobstacleCourse: Bond chases Marco Sciarra through a whole parade of people celebrating the Day of the Dead in the pre-title sequence. |
| 347 | * MoodWhiplash: One moment, Bond and Madeleine are having a quiet pre-dinner drink; the next, Mr. Hinx has entered the scene and they're fighting for their lives. [[spoiler:A few short minutes later, Hinx is dead for good and our protagonists are about to have GladToBeAliveSex.]] |
| 348 | * MotiveRant: Oberhauser gives one of these during his ColdBloodedTorture of Bond. It culminates in him reintroducing himself to Bond as [[spoiler: [[CanonCharacterAllAlong Ernst Stavro Blofeld]]]]. |
| 349 | -->'''Oberhauser''': You know what happens when a cuckoo hatches inside another bird's nest? ''[pointing to Bond]'' Well, this "cuckoo" made me realize [[{{Patricide}} my father's life had to end]]. In a way he's responsible for the path I took, so thank you, "cuckoo"! |
| 350 | * MountaintopHealthcare: Madeliene's health clinic is located on a mountaintop in Austria, a clear nod to ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService.'' |
| 351 | * MsFanservice: Monica Belluci in a [[StealthPun merrywidow]], complete with garters. |
| 352 | * MusicalNod: |
| 353 | ** The second trailer features brief snippets of the themes to ''Film/{{Thunderball}}'' and ''Film/OnHerMajestysSecretService''. |
| 354 | ** The film's soundtrack is very similar--if not practically identical--to that of ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', explicitly reusing several pieces of music--"Grand Bazaar, Istanbul", "Voluntary Retirement", "Severine". Fitting, as Thomas Newman composed both. |
| 355 | * MyGreatestSecondChance: In the climax, [[spoiler:Blofeld]] locks Madeline in a building set to explode and gives Bond the choice between saving her and letting her die. Ultimately Bond manages to save Madeline in time. |
| 356 | * MythologyGag: [[MythologyGag/{{Spectre}} Has its own page.]] |
| 357 | * TheNameIsBondJamesBond: Bond says this iconic line to Lucia Sciarra when they're in Rome. |
| 358 | * {{Nanomachines}}: Bond gets injected with the "Smart Blood", nanomachines that allow Q to track him down by satellite. |
| 359 | * NaughtyTentacles: Purely metaphorical, but during the sexualised opening credits, SPECTRE's tentacles end up looking like something out of ''The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife''. |
| 360 | * NebulousEvilOrganization: Spectre, an evil spy organization that apparently had its hands in the criminal plots in ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'', ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', and ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', among others. |
| 361 | -->'''Swann:''' It's known as Spectre.\ |
| 362 | '''Q:''' And do you know who links them all?\ |
| 363 | '''Bond:''' ...Me. |
| 364 | * NeckSnap: |
| 365 | ** Mr. Hinx appears to do this at the Spectre meeting to an unlucky delegate. |
| 366 | ** Mr. Hinx also [[spoiler:appears to suffer this himself, his death being a combination of an anchored rope around his neck and a fall from a train.]] |
| 367 | * NeutralFemale: Subverted. When [[spoiler: Hinx attacks Bond and Madeleine on the train]], Madeleine immediately grabs a metal vase stand and clubs the assailant from behind. She receives a backhand in return, [[TapOnTheHead immediately knocking her unconscious]] meaning she is unable to help Bond anyway. [[spoiler: Though she is back on her feet two minutes later to shoot Hinx with Bond's dropped pistol]]. |
| 368 | * NeverBringAKnifeToAFistFight: Not exactly a knife, but a corkscrew. Bond uses one in his fight with Mr. Hinx on the train. It doesn't help him at all. |
| 369 | * NeverTrustATrailer: The trailers all make it seem that the personal effects box recovered from the ruins of Skyfall Manor is what kickstarts the plot of the movie and that the ring with the Spectre logo was found in it. [[spoiler:In fact, what puts Bond on the trail of Spectre is a video message from the late M, and he is far into his investigation (having already killed Sciarra and taken his ring) by the time Moneypenny gives him the box]]. |
| 370 | * NiceJobBreakingItHero: It's dubious as to whether Mr. White knows that Spectre is watching through the camera behind him when he discloses his daughter's location to Bond, but either way, Bond is the one who subsequently puts Madeleine in direct danger by immediately trailing her afterwards, as she brazenly points out to him later. |
| 371 | * NiceJobFixingItVillain: When Blofeld pins Bond's arms behind him on the torture chair, [[spoiler:it gives Bond the opportunity to take off his watch and arm the explosive alarm which he hands to Madeleine for her to toss at Blofeld.]] |
| 372 | * NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Bond vs. [[TheDragon Hinx]] on the train. |
| 373 | * NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine: Oberhauser sends a classic car to pick up Bond and Madeleine, gives them exquisite quarters in his lodgings, and serves them drinks. He's still planning to torture and kill them, but it's a FauxAffablyEvil approach to a mind game. Mainly because of his ItsPersonal relationship with Bond. |
| 374 | * NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Bond could have saved himself some trouble if he hadn't taken this view. First of [[spoiler:Hinx after after the car crash,]] and later of [[spoiler:Oberhauser. He refers to the latter as the "recently deceased leader of Spectre" when talking to M, after the attack on the Morocco base. Being Blofeld, however, he's very much alive.]] |
| 375 | * NoOSHACompliance: [[spoiler: Shooting a single gas valve causes Spectre's entire Morocco facility to explode.]] |
| 376 | * NomDeMom: [[spoiler:Franz Oberhauser]] resented his father for showing kindness to Bond when he was young, so he took his mother's maiden name, and lived under the pseudonym of [[spoiler:Ernest Stavro Blofeld]]. The reveal is foreshadowed a few scenes prior, where [[spoiler:he gives Bond a variation of the "No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die," line, and the appearance of his white fluffy cat]]. |
| 377 | * NonActionBigBad: Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Blofeld]] simply watches James Bond try to save Madeleine in the climax, and he is never seen engaging in combat. The only time he takes direct action is in the film's obligatory torture sequence, but even then he's on a computer when torturing Bond and and is not doing it physically, and he's easily subdued when Madeleine throws the watch at him before it explodes in his face. |
| 378 | * NonAppearingTitle: This is the third time in the Craig era (and roughly the 7th time overall--''Dr. No'', ''From Russia with Love'', and ''On Her Majesty's Secret Service'' being instrumental, ''Octopussy'''s theme song being "All Time High") that the theme song has not featured the title of the movie. |
| 379 | * NothingIsScarier: [[spoiler: The abandoned ruins of the Vauxhall Cross building in the final battle.]] |
| 380 | ** Also the way Mr. White describes Oberhauser's determination to kill him via thallium poisoning, and the possibility that anybody whom Bond interacts with could be SPECTRE agents in disguise. |
| 381 | * NotWorthKilling: [[spoiler:Blofeld]] is severely injured after his helicopter crashes onto the Westminster Bridge. As 007 approaches [[spoiler:Blofeld]] crawling away from the wreckage, he offers Bond into kill him. But after some initial hesitation, Bond tosses his Walther PPK away and states he's "out of bullets", and leaves him to be arrested by M. [[spoiler:This also left Blofeld a bit perplexed as to why 007 chose to spare him despite their Cain and Abel relationship. And it also escapes Blofeld's mind in the fact that despite being a ProfessionalKiller, there are certain moral lines even Bond won't cross, and while 007 may finally get his revenge, killing Blofeld won't do much]]. |
| 382 | * ObstructiveBureaucrat: Denbigh is attempting to shut down the Double-O section in favour of his own SinisterSurveillance programme. |
| 383 | * OhCrap: |
| 384 | ** Bond when he realizes the church is falling down towards him. |
| 385 | ** Q, accompanied with a PrecisionFStrike after seeing that [[spoiler:Bond has stolen the Aston Martin [=DB10=] and left a bottle of champagne in its place.]] |
| 386 | ** Bond during the first Spectre meeting, when Oberhauser turns towards him and greets him. |
| 387 | ** M after C reveals he's watching his own agents [[spoiler:when C plays a recording of a phone call between Bond and Moneypenny.]] |
| 388 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. Hinx when he realizes he's about to be thrown off a train with a rope wrapped tightly around his neck and a heavy weight at the end of it. He says, "Shit!" before he disappears.]] |
| 389 | ** Bond when Oberhauser/[[spoiler: Blofeld reveals that he's holding Madeleine prisoner somewhere in the rigged Vauxhall Cross building]]. |
| 390 | ** C has one [[spoiler:when he wobbles on the edge of a smashed ledge in shards of glass and he realises he's going to fall off it.]] |
| 391 | ** Blofeld himself when he realizes his helicopter is about to crash. Probably the only time in the film when his calm, collected, demeanor slips. |
| 392 | * OldSchoolChivalry: Bond stands when Madeleine approaches the table. It's a long-held rule of etiquette. |
| 393 | * TheOner: There are two notable long shots: the one opening the movie following Bond's movements from the Day of the Dead procession up to the rooftop (although this is in fact several shots cleverly edited together), and Lucia Sciarra entering her apartment and walking to her outdoors fountain. |
| 394 | * OutrunTheFireball: [[spoiler: Bond and Madeleine do this in the final battle when trying to escape the explosion of the old [=MI6=] building on boat.]] |
| 395 | * TheParanoiac: Franz Oberhauser was the son of Hannes Oberhauser, the man responsible for raising an orphaned 007 following the death of his parents in a climbing accident. But he grew jealous of his father's increasingly close relationship with Bond, even showing physical disgust when his father insist he call James his brother. DrivenByEnvy, Franz murdered his father and staged his own death in an avalanche, while developing an Irrational Hatred of 007 for being favored more, and still blames Bond for causing a wedge to develop between him and his father, when it was the other way around. As a result, this eventually becomes a CainAndAbel situation, where Franz (now calling himself Ernst Stavro Blofeld) created SPECTRE to not only condemn the whole world to chaos for his selfish gain but to orchestrate many of Bond's personal tragedies in later years over this petty grudge. And daring to question or failing to please him is an automatic death sentence, as Mr. White learned the hard way when he chose to defect. |
| 396 | * {{Patricide}}: [[spoiler:Oberhauser murdered his father because the latter treated Bond like a son, and took his mother's maiden name Blofeld.]] |
| 397 | * PersonalEffectsReveal: The reveal about the relationship between Bond and [[spoiler: Oberhauser aka Blofeld]] is foreshadowed by a mysterious photo recovered from the ruins of the Bond family home, Film/{{Skyfall}} along with a court order giving a man named "Oberhauser" temporary custody of 12-year-old James. |
| 398 | * PettyChildhoodGrudge: It's revealed that the reason Ernst Blofeld hates James Bond and has schemed to make his whole life a misery is because after Blofeld's father took in the orphaned Bond, Blofeld became extremely jealous and believed his father loved Bond more than him. Decades later, Blofeld seeks to take away everything Bond loves to spite him for 'replacing' him and also orchestrated [[{{Patricide}} his own father's death]]. It's not even clear if Blofeld's father even ''did'' prefer Bond over his son, or if he was just paying him more attention as Bond was a newly-arrived foster child who had recently lost his parents, making Blofeld look even more petty. |
| 399 | * ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Dr. Swann is said to be an incredibly skilled doctor/psychologist who graduated from one of the best medical colleges in the world. She doesn't do anything related to that after her intro scene. [[JustifiedTrope To be fair though,]] it's hard to find a use for psychological therapy when you're on the run from armed hitmen. |
| 400 | * PistolWhipping: At his signal, one of Oberhauser's mooks hits Bond on the back of the head with a gun, knocking him unconscious. |
| 401 | * PlayingBothSides: Blofeld masterminds a series of terrorist attacks in order to trick the governments of the world into setting up a joint intelligence and surveillance sharing network...which, thanks to his moles, he'll have total access to, allowing SPECTRE to permanently stay one step ahead of the law. |
| 402 | * PlotBasedPhotographObfuscation: Bond finds a photo that features him as a boy with his long-deceased mentor and another boy, but the second boy's face is not shown as part of the photo has been charred. [[spoiler:This actually foreshadows 007's relationship with the other boy, who has now grown up to become Blofeld and is now after him for being favored by his father, who regarded him as a second son. Jealous of Bond's relationship with his father, Franz Oberhauser commits patricide and fakes his own death, before re-emerging as the nebulous leader of SPECTRE and orchestrating all the tragedies Bond faced since ''Casino Royale'', before taking center stage as the Big Bad. A copy of the original photo is later seen at his lair]]. |
| 403 | * PlotTriggeringDeath: Franz Oberhauser committed Patricide just because his own father favored an orphaned Bond over him. This not only served as the catalyst for the relationship between him and Bond in later years, but indirectly shaped the events of the previous three movies. |
| 404 | * PoliceState: What C plans to use the "Nine Eyes" programme for — 24/7 surveillance, replacement of field agents like 007 with {{Attack Drone}}s and TheEvilsOfFreeWill. [[spoiler:In reality, he cut a deal with Blofeld to hand control of the world's intelligence network to Spectre via "Nine Eyes". With this, Spectre would be able to anticipate and crush any attempts to investigate into their operations.]] |
| 405 | * PosthumousCharacter: Almost everything we know about [[spoiler:Mr. White's background and motivations]] comes after he dies. |
| 406 | * PrecisionFStrike: |
| 407 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. Hinx utters his only word of the film, "Shit!" right before his final death.]] |
| 408 | ** Q does this as he realizes that [[spoiler:Bond has stolen the Aston Martin [=DB10=].]] |
| 409 | * PreMortemOneLiner: Before Bond takes the shot in Mexico City: |
| 410 | -->"Bottoms up." |
| 411 | * ProductPlacement: |
| 412 | ** As in the previous film, Bond is dressed to the nines in the finest Tom Ford apparel through much of the film. |
| 413 | ** He's also briefly uses a Sony Xperia Z5 smartphone to contact Moneypenny, although the editing and lighting of the scene obscures the phone. |
| 414 | ** Jaguar Land Rover supplies SPECTRE with Land Rover Defenders and top of the line Range Rover SVR [=SUV=]s. |
| 415 | * ProductionForeshadowing: The film opens with a long, unbroken take. Creator/SamMendes' [[Film/NineteenSeventeen next film]] would be shot entirely in this manner. |
| 416 | * PutOnAPrisonBus: For the first time in the franchise, Blofeld neither escapes nor dies. He gets arrested instead, with Bond sparing his life. |
| 417 | * TheQuietOne: Mr. Hinx only says one word in the movie. Lampshaded when Dr. Swann asks the henchmen if any of them can talk when they kidnap her. In fact, his only word in the film is right before he's removed from it entirely. |
| 418 | * RaceAgainstTheClock: Bond has three minutes to find Madeleine and escape the rigged Vauxhall Cross building before it's demolished. |
| 419 | * RailingKill: When Bond's cover is blown in the Spectre meeting, he throws a security guard who tries to apprehend him over the balcony to his death. |
| 420 | * RammingAlwaysWorks: In the snow chase, Bond rams the damaged plane into a car containing Oberhauser's mooks to stop Hinx dead in his tracks and rescue Swann. |
| 421 | * RedBaron: The Pale King, enemy of Spectre and target for assassination by them. [[spoiler:To the audience and Bond, he's better known as Mr. White, the Quantum agent who killed Le Chiffre, and whose real name is never heard to be mentioned by anyone working for Spectre.]] |
| 422 | * RedRightHand: |
| 423 | ** Downplayed. The hulking Mr. Hinx has metal fingernails on his thumbs, which assist him in administering [[EyeScream violent deaths]]. |
| 424 | ** [[spoiler:Following the destruction of his Moroccan lair, Oberhauser/Blofeld sports a raw version of Donald Pleasance's iconic facial scar.]] |
| 425 | * ResignationsNotAccepted: Blofeld didn't like it when Mr. White resigned from SPECTRE after it began to dabble in human trafficking, especially those of women and children, and so, he has him poisoned. |
| 426 | * RevealingReflection: A reflective teapot on a passenger train is the only reason Mr. Hinx isn't able to kill Bond outright, instead Bond and Swan are able to throw him off the train. |
| 427 | * RevisitingTheRoots: This film brings back many of the elements that made up a classic Bond film but were not used in the previous Craig films. These include: |
| 428 | ** The gun barrel sequence, which returns to the beginning of the film. |
| 429 | ** M uses an office reminiscent of Bernard Lee's. |
| 430 | ** Both M and Bond start making DeadpanSnarker quips again. |
| 431 | ** There are little beats of silly humor (e.g. Bond holding onto a sconce for dear life, only to fall softly onto a sofa) reminiscent of those used during the 80's and 90's. |
| 432 | ** Bond has an UnresolvedSexualTension with Moneypenny. |
| 433 | ** Q provides Bond with gadgets, including a WeaponizedCar and [[spoiler:an exploding wristwatch]]. |
| 434 | ** Bond seduces a secondary Bond girl, who's more exotic and connected to the main villain, before he comes across the primary Bond girl, who has a more Anglo-Saxon appearance (though in this case she's played by a French actress). |
| 435 | ** Spectre makes a villainous return, [[spoiler: with Blofeld himself in charge]]. |
| 436 | ** The BigBad has a secret SupervillainLair in a remote location, which [[spoiler:Bond then promptly destroys.]] |
| 437 | ** TheDragon is a non-verbal ImplacableMan who's MadeOfIron. |
| 438 | * RightHandCat: There's a white persian mulling about in one of Oberhauser's bases. Appropriate, since he turns out to be [[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]], the TropeCodifier of this trope. |
| 439 | * RippedFromTheHeadlines: |
| 440 | ** [[spoiler:Mr. White]]'s assassination via radiation poisoning is likely inspired by the assassination of Alexander Litvinenko, which happened just a couple of days before ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' premiered. |
| 441 | ** The main plot of the movie, about Spectre installing a powerful global surveillance tool that they wants to use for their own ends, was almost certainly inspired by the NSA revelations spilled by Edward Snowden. |
| 442 | * RogueAgent: Bond goes rogue from the very start of the film, albeit with a twist, he's actually following orders from a Video Will of the late M. |
| 443 | * RomancingTheWidow: Lucia Sciarra is the widow of the man Bond kills in the opening sequence. Bond seduces her right after the funeral. |
| 444 | * TheRuinsICaused: As Bond and Madeleine escape the Saharan SPECTRE base, they stop and witness the whole thing going up in a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AdtSdVop6V0 record-breaking]] explosion. |
| 445 | * RuleOfThree: [[spoiler:Blofeld tells Bond that the old [=MI6=] building they're in will be demolished in three minutes when he sets off the timer on the explosives.]] |
| 446 | * SadisticChoice: [[spoiler:Blofeld]] tries to force this on Bond [[spoiler:in the climax]]. Using a 3-minute bomb, he gives him the choice of either saving Madeleine and risk dying from the explosion, or saving himself and leaving her to die, but sinking further into despair for not saving Madeleine in time for the rest of his life. [[spoiler:Bond being Bond, he TookAThirdOption by not only saving Madeleine in time, but also giving chase to Blofeld on a speedboat he saw earlier.]] |
| 447 | * SafetyInMuggles: Sciarra attempts to elude Bond by walking through the Day of the Dead parade. It works, temporarily. Later, Q escapes capture from some thugs when a bunch of tourists enter the ski lift they are in. |
| 448 | * SayMyName: [[spoiler:Bond screams Madeleine's name three times as he searches the old [=MI6=] building for her, desperate to find her before the building blows up.]] |
| 449 | * SceneryPorn: Standard procedure for a Bond film. Mexico City, Rome, Austria, Morocco, London--all looking spectacular. |
| 450 | * SecondLove: Madeleine will be this to Vesper. |
| 451 | * SelfParody: The standard Q briefing is rife with this, as Bond is shown a magnificent new car and told about all the extras, only to be then told it's for another agent. He's then given a new watch, which unlike most in the series, actually is primarily just a watch, albeit with a "quite loud" alarm. [[spoiler:Subverted when it is revealed that the "quite loud alarm" quip was actually a reference to it having a bomb.]] |
| 452 | * SequelHook: By the end of the movie [[spoiler:Blofeld is still alive but imprisoned by [=MI6=], paving the way for his return]]. On a meta level, the credits say that "James Bond will return" just to reassure the audience that the series has no intention of ending. Daniel Craig and the producers have also indicated that they'd like him to continue in the role, so it's likely the scene at the end will be a TenMinuteRetirement. |
| 453 | * SeriesFauxnale: The movie ends in a way that it simultaneously wraps up Craig's Bond's story, while also having a note of AndTheAdventureContinues. Craig was contracted to appear in one more film, but for a while after this film's release they was uncertainty over whether he would renegotiate, before the sequel, ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', was announced with Craig returning as Bond. |
| 454 | * SexForSolace: Defied. When Bond and Madeleine investigate the hidden clue in [[spoiler:Mr. White]]'s old honeymoon hotel room, she tells him that she won't fall into his arms just because she learned that her father recently killed himself. |
| 455 | * ShoutOut: |
| 456 | ** Part of the opening sequence pays {{homage}} to the "wall of eyes" shot from ''Film/{{Metropolis}}''. |
| 457 | ** The safe house has a cover of a shop called Hildebrand. Tanner says he's never heard of it. Unsurprising, as unless you read the ''Bond'' short stories by Creator/IanFleming, it is unlikely you would have heard of "The Hildebrand Rarity", in the collection ''Literature/ForYourEyesOnly''. |
| 458 | ** That's one Film/{{Bullitt}}-looking Bond in that turtleneck ([[WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} tactleneck?]]). |
| 459 | ** Denbigh's codename is "C". This was the codename of Sir George Mansfield Smith-Cumming, the original chief of the British Secret Service, along with his successors, and the inspiration for the similarly-named M. |
| 460 | ** Bond turns up to a meeting and sarcastically claims his name is WesternAnimation/MickeyMouse to a guard. Hilariously becomes a BrickJoke when the guard calls him by that name [[SpottingTheThread once Blofeld blows 007's cover]]. |
| 461 | ** Among the names on the memorial in the old [=MI6=] Headquarters: [[Series/TheAvengers1960s Emma Pill]]. Ironically though, in this case, the names on the memorial are actually all crew members from the film (Pill being a location manager). However, the name is similar, and Ralph Fiennes gets an ActorAllusion when British spy M [[Film/TheAvengers1998 noticeably brandishes an umbrella while in a pinstripe suit.]] |
| 462 | ** The [[Wrestling/{{Batista}} monstrous giant]] Mr. Hinx killing a (good-looking, Spanish-speaking) Spectre assassin by [[EyePoke ramming his fingers into his eyes]] calls an [[Recap/GameOfThronesS4E8TheMountainAndTheViper infamous TV death scene]] to mind. |
| 463 | ** Bond shooting at [[spoiler:Blofeld]], only to discover he's behind bulletproof glass, echoes the opening of the first episode of ''Series/TheManFromUNCLE''. |
| 464 | ** Mr. Hinx is said to be inspired by ''Film/TheTerminator''. |
| 465 | ** Madeleine Swann: her own name a shoutout to Proust's Swann's Way, and its famous ''madeleine''. |
| 466 | ** A major plot point is a [[Film/{{Casablanca}} Moroccan cafe called l'Americain]]. |
| 467 | * ShownTheirWork: |
| 468 | ** A very small example. During the opening scene in Mexico City, a poster in the hotel reads "Dia de Muertos" (literally "Day of Deads"), how the holiday is actually called in Mexico, in contrast with "Dia de ''los'' Muertos" (Day of ''the'' Dead), how it's commonly called in foreign media. |
| 469 | ** Reidite, the rare mineral that Spectre harvested from the meteorite crater their base was built on and which the organization uses to manufacture their member rings, really is only found in meteorite impact craters. |
| 470 | * SilentAntagonist: Mr. Hinx, a big, no-nonsense badass who proceeds to give Bond the absolute fight of his life. The only time he speaks at all is when Bond is about to send him out of a train via a rope and a really heavy weight, and he just says one word: "Shit..." |
| 471 | * SinisterSurveillance: Denbigh plans to replace the Double-O section with a widespread surveillance programme called "Nine Eyes", despite M's objections. [[spoiler: It is made even more sinister after the reveal that the programme itself is a Trojan horse for world domination, Denbigh is working for Spectre, and all the intel gathered by the programme will be immediately passed on to them]]. |
| 472 | * SlasherSmile: [[spoiler:Blofeld]] briefly gives a creepy grin as he subjects Bond to torture and later on, when he takes Madeleine Swann hostage and threatens to have her killed by blowing up the old [=MI6=] building in an effort to humiliate Bond. |
| 473 | * SlaveryIsASpecialKindOfEvil: During the meeting of SPECTRE leaders, the only presentation that the audience gets to hear in full is the progress report by the German representative about the success of their SexSlave operations and the ''one-hundred and sixty thousand'' women they have placed in this situation. |
| 474 | * SniperPistol: Bond uses a Glock 17 in a pistol-to-carbine conversion kit when he attempts to kill Marco Sciarra in the opening scene in Mexico City. |
| 475 | * SoWhatDoWeDoNow: Madeleine to Bond after they defeat Hinx. |
| 476 | * SoftGlass: Bond jumps through a window to escape the Spectre meeting without even a scratch. |
| 477 | * SortingAlgorithmOfEvil: Mr. White, one of the leaders of the Quantum organisation that gave [=MI6=] so much grief in ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', seems terrified of Spectre more so than even Bond. |
| 478 | * TheSpymaster: M as usual and Franz Oberhauser [[spoiler: whose true identity is Ernst Stavro Blofeld and whose criminal organization Spectre is attempting to get into a position to quietly take over the intelligence services of multiple nations in order to acquire and control the intel that they gather. They intend to do so with an asset that they've cultivated and put into position with a series of [[FalseFlagOperation false flag]] terrorist attacks.]] |
| 479 | * StarterVillain: The film opens with Bond assassinating terrorist-for-hire Marco Sciarra following an eventful chase through Mexico City that climaxes in a fight aboard a moving helicopter. Sciarra has a good deal more plot influence than the average starter villain, however, as a signet ring taken from his body and testimony from his abused wife lead Bond to the realization that all his previous enemies - Le Chiffre, Mr. White, Dominic Greene, Raoul Silva, and the Quantum organization as a whole - had served the same master: Ernst Stavro Blofeld. |
| 480 | * StealthHiBye: |
| 481 | ** Bond when he shows up at Lucia's house to save her. There's absolutely no sign of him until he shoots her two would-be killers. |
| 482 | ** M after the SPECTRE mooks ram his and Bond's car and abduct Bond. An especially good one considering that there's absolutely no way he could have escaped undetected (their backs are turned to him very briefly, and he travels much too far a distance). |
| 483 | * StrappedToAnOperatingTable: Bond is strapped to a high-tech version (more like a dentist chair) while he is remotely tortured by Oberhauser. |
| 484 | * StrictlyFormula: An accusation leveled against the film by detractors is that it's so much an homage to older films and their formulas that it seems bland. Subverted in that the [[spoiler:scenes at the SupervillainLair and the lair itself exploding aren't the climax. Instead, the film continues to London, where the real finale happens.]] |
| 485 | * StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred: [[spoiler:Blofeld]] attempts invoking this to see if Bond will take the bait and become a twisted monster like himself. Instead, 007 simply states that he's "out of bullets" and tosses his gun away so Blofeld can be arrested, leaving him confused at this. It's implied Bond spared Blofeld because he knew that stooping to his level won't bring any satisfaction for all the deaths he's caused. |
| 486 | * SuperWindowJump: Bond smashes through a window in order to escape from the meeting place of the eponymous SPECTRE after he is identified by name. |
| 487 | * SupervillainLair: After three films of either avoiding one (''Casino Royale''), or having villains use pre-existing locations as bases (''Quantum of Solace'' and ''Skyfall''), a Bond villain lair returns in true form in Spectre's Moroccan base. It's a high-tech satellite relay station and server farm that also has an observatory and high-end guest quarters. It's also built inside a crater. |
| 488 | * SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome: |
| 489 | ** Bond gets suspended for his unauthorized mission in Mexico City. |
| 490 | ** You remember that inquiry about the 00 programme in the previous film? Turns out M's speech and Silva's interruption didn't actually derail it. [[spoiler:Heck, Spectre was behind it in the first place.]] |
| 491 | ** The bad guys get a vote, too. They can go to town with armored cars just like Bond does. Bond learns this the hard way when he does a fly-past at the kidnappers' motorcade in Austria and finds Mr Hinx's Range Rover is able to NoSell several 9mm rounds that Bond fires at it. |
| 492 | ** As Bond learns the hard way, the GirlOfTheWeek doesn't immediately fall into his arms after being rescued. Nearly killing her by ramming the trunk of the Range Rover made Swann justifiably angry with 007. |
| 493 | ** The car Bond stole from [=MI6=] garage isn't massively locked and loaded with ammunition like a typical Bond car. Safety protocol dictates that weapons be disarmed when not in commission. |
| 494 | ** PlayedForLaughs when Bond finds out Moneypenny has a boyfriend. Other people have lives, too. Even Moneypenny says as much: "It's called a life. You should try it sometime". |
| 495 | * TeaserOnlyCharacter: Bond kills Marco Sciarra, the terrorist leader, and takes his ring, which is emblazoned with a stylised octopus. |
| 496 | * TermsOfEndangerment: As part of his MotiveRant, Franz Oberhauser mockingly calls Bond a "cuckoo" [[spoiler:because Bond was favored by Oberhauser's father when they were younger, causing Oberhauser to commit {{Patricide}} out of pure jealousy.]] |
| 497 | -->'''Oberhauser:''' You ''know'' what happens when a cuckoo ''hatches'' inside another bird's nest?\ |
| 498 | '''Madeleine Swann:''' Yes - it forces the other eggs out.\ |
| 499 | '''Oberhauser:''' Yes. ''[pointing to Bond]'' [[spoiler:Well, this "cuckoo" made me realize my father's life had to end. In a way, he's responsible for the path I took.]] ''[turns to Bond]'' So thank you, ''cuckoo''! |
| 500 | * TerroristsWithoutACause: SPECTRE are motivated as much by money as they are in taking over the world's intelligence networks so they can subvert investigations against themselves. |
| 501 | * ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:Oberhauser still uses his birth name professionally, despite having faked his death many years earlier, but he considers that man to have actually died. He truly identifies as Ernst Stavro Blofeld.]] |
| 502 | * ThemeMusicPowerUp: |
| 503 | ** The James Bond theme plays when Bond [[spoiler: shoots down Blofeld's helicopter (from a boat, with a pistol!)]] |
| 504 | ** It also booms in (the opening notes, at least) during the cold open, precisely at the point Bond regains control of the plummeting helicopter. |
| 505 | * ThisIsGonnaSuck: Mr. Hinx gives his one and only line in the film when he realizes he's about to be yanked out of a speeding train by his neck. |
| 506 | -->Shit. |
| 507 | * ThrillerOnTheExpress: At one point Bond is forced into a violent brawl with Mr. Hinx through the train they're on. |
| 508 | * ThrowAwayCountry: Hamburg and Tunis are mentioned as having suffered recent terrorist attacks. |
| 509 | * TitleDrop: "Spectre. Its name is Spectre." |
| 510 | * ToThePain: Oberhauser/[[spoiler:Blofeld]] tortures Bond by drilling holes into various parts of his brain while explaining what effect this is having on him throughout. It doesn't actually faze Bond himself that much, because he's, well, James Bond, but it greatly disturbs Madeleine, especially when he threatens to take away Bond's ability to recognize faces. |
| 511 | * TortureIsIneffective: Blofeld tortures Bond by repeatedly driving a small drill into his neck, threatening him that he's going to erase parts of Bond's memory this way, such as his memory of the current Bond girl. Bond withstands the torture and breaks loose immediately after. |
| 512 | * TotalitarianUtilitarian: Max/C justifies his Nine Eyes plan to create a global PoliceState because he sees it as the best way to bring order to a world in chaos. [[spoiler:In reality, he's in bed with SPECTRE, seeking more power at all costs]]. |
| 513 | * TrailersAlwaysSpoil: The trailers are very open about the reappearance of [[spoiler:Mr. White, following his absence from ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'']], but the film itself actually treats this as a twist. Several mentions are made of "The Pale King", the identity of whom anyone who has seen the trailers can work out immediately, but Bond himself doesn't realize it until meeting the man. On the other hand, any Daniel Craig's Bond fan seeing [[spoiler: Creator/JesperChristensen]]'s name in the opening credits would have no trouble working this out for themselves. |
| 514 | * TranquilFury: When C reveals the insubordination of Bond, M and Q to M, he does it while also revealing that he's been spying on [=MI6=]. M never raises his voice but he's visibly '''furious''' that C has been spying on his agents and staff, knowing full well that the others wouldn't go behind his back without good reason. |
| 515 | * TotalitarianUtilitarian: [[spoiler:Max/C]] justifies working with SPECTRE to create a global PoliceState because he sees it as the best way to bring order to a world in chaos. |
| 516 | * TrueCompanions: [[spoiler:Bond, M, Q, Tanner, and Moneypenny risk their lives to take down Blofeld and C in the end.]] |
| 517 | * TwoFaced: Blofeld has the left side of his face disfigured after Madeleine throws Bond's explosive watch at him. Blood can be seen flying off his face as he falls. When the scar is seen later, it's clear that Blofeld can no longer see out of that eye. He simply shrugs as if nothing unusual happened. |
| 518 | * UnfinishedUntestedUsedAnyway: The Aston Martin belonging to another 00 agent that Bond steals is set up with quite a few gadgets and tricks. None of them work. Except for the atmospheric music. |
| 519 | * UniversalDriversLicence: Within the course of this film, Bond pilots two helicopters, two boats, a plane, and a car. |
| 520 | * VengeanceFeelsEmpty: Implied to be the reason why Bond tosses his gun away: [[spoiler:when Blofeld attempts to invoke the StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred trope, knowing that killing Blofeld in revenge won't give him the satisfaction. Instead, Bond has him arrested, leaving Blofeld [[EvilCannotComprehendGood confused]] as to why 007 spared him despite their mutual animosity.]] |
| 521 | * VideoWills: [[spoiler:M, who died in the previous film,]] has left a video recording to be delivered to Bond upon her death. It contains a request to kill an assassin that will provide Bond his first lead to Spectre. |
| 522 | * VillainDecay: Inverted with [[spoiler:Blofeld]], who becomes ''[[KnightOfCerebus even more menacing]]'' than [[spoiler:he was in the original continuity]]. |
| 523 | * TheVoiceless: Mr. Hinx says only one word throughout the film, "Shit.", only before being killed by Bond. |
| 524 | * WallBangHer: Bond pushes Lucia Sciarra up against a full-length mirror for a makeout session. |
| 525 | * WatchThePaintJob: Q notes how the [=DB5=] from ''Skyfall'' will take a while to be rebuilt - "I believe I said 'bring it back in one piece', not 'bring back one piece'!" - [[spoiler:{{Foreshadowing}} how the prototype [=DB10=] which was explicitly ''not'' for Bond to drive will find a similar ending...]] |
| 526 | * WeAreEverywhere: Mr. White's "We have people everywhere" line ironically forces him to hide from his bosses in SPECTRE after he became increasingly disgruntled in the direction Quantum and SPECTRE were heading towards, namely into human trafficking and sexual slavery. |
| 527 | * WeaponizedCar: Bond's Aston Martin [=DB10=], which Bond "borrows" to Q without permision to go to Rome. It has rear machine guns (which sadly weren't loaded by Q before Bond took the car), a rear flamethrower and an EjectionSeat, and ends up at the bottom of the Tiber river. The [=DB5=] gets fully rebuilt by Q at the end, however. |
| 528 | * WhamLine: |
| 529 | -->'''Oberhauser:''' Franz Oberhauser died twenty years ago, in an avalanche together with his father. The man you're talking to now, the man inside your head... is [[spoiler:Ernst Stavro Blofeld]].\ |
| 530 | '''Bond:''' Catchy name. |
| 531 | * WhatHappenedToTheMouse: Lucia Sciarra disappears from the movie following her and Bond's tryst. It's never known if she made contact with Leiter or made it to the embassy safely. |
| 532 | * WhatTheHellHero: |
| 533 | ** M gives Bond an earful for going on an unauthorized mission in Mexico City. |
| 534 | ** Madeleine also chews Bond out after he rescues her from Mr. Hinx, claiming that it was him approaching her that lead the Spectre agents to her in the first place. |
| 535 | ** Lucia also, pointing out that Bond killing her husband has now made her a target of his associates, and that him killing her would-be assassins has done nothing more than delay the inevitable. |
| 536 | * WholePlotReference: |
| 537 | ** Hilariously enough, this movie has many similarities with ''Film/MissionImpossibleRogueNation'', to which itself uses many aspects from previous Craig-Bond movies, despite both coming out the same year. The main focus being the titular NebulousEvilOrganization that has surfaced and is behind numerous incidents all over the world that are connected together. The organization is shrouded in so much secrecy that the main protagonist has no choice but to go rogue in order to track them down on their own. Meanwhile, the main protagonist's stunts in previous films are catching up with them and the government demands to shut down the agency that they worked for because they think it is unreliable and outdated, leaving only a few loyal agents to assist the hero off-the-grid. The second act that take place in Austria and Morocco. The villains' motivation is to acquire something that would help expanding their organizations' influence further [[spoiler: provided by a government official who has ties with them]] and love to push the hero's BerserkButton at any chance they get, [[spoiler: and the climax of both films take place in London, with someone close to the hero got kidnapped by the villains and the hero has to race against time to save them AND stop the villains from escaping, culminating in the main villains got taken into custody, opening up the possibility for them to return in the future.]] Doesn't help that Lea Seydoux, the Bond girl of this movie, also played a villain in the previous [=MI=] movie, ''Film/MissionImpossibleGhostProtocol.'' |
| 538 | ** SPECTRE infiltrates an intelligence organization to set up a global surveillance system that they can use to take out anyone they want, just like HYDRA in ''Film/CaptainAmericaTheWinterSoldier''. M and C both make much the same arguments for and against this system that were made in that film as well. Funnily enough, ComicBook/{{HYDRA}} from Creator/MarvelComics was originally based on SPECTRE, as particularly evidenced by the [[http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/12/05/23C0D62800000578-0-image-m-35_1417748713528.jpg similar]] [[http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/marvelcinematicuniverse/images/8/82/Hydra_logo.png/revision/20150524063701 logos.]] |
| 539 | * WhyDontYouJustShootHim: Right after the car/plane chase scene in the Alps, Mr Hinx is lying unconscious and completely vulnerable after just going through the windshield of his car. No doubt some viewers would've been yelling the obvious at the screen, as while Bond may not have known he was still alive, he could've saved himself a lot of trouble later since it wouldn't have hurt to deliver a quick DoubleTap just to be sure. |
| 540 | * WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: The main dilemma presented here is whether drones can do the job of field agents like 007. It's later proven that yes, Bond is still indeed relevant even in an era of [=WikiLeaks=] and mass surveillance. |
| 541 | * TheWorfEffect: How Mr. Hinx demonstrates that he is the superior candidate for the mission to assassinate [[spoiler:Mr White.]] The man originally tasked with it is implied to be a good assassin, but is quickly and immediately murdered by Hinx. |
| 542 | * WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Oberhauser shows off SPECTRE's surveillance abilities by replaying [[spoiler:Mr. White's]] last moments to Madeleine. |
| 543 | * YouHaveGotToBeKiddingMe: Bond's response to the [=DB10=] he stole having no ammunition. |
| 544 | * YouWontFeelAThing: As Q prepares to inject Bond with a TrackingDevice: |
| 545 | -->'''Q:''' You may feel a little... ''(Pushes the needle in)''\ |
| 546 | '''Bond:''' Christ!\ |
| 547 | '''Q:''' ...prick. |
| 548 | * YoureInsane: Blofeld claims that he and C are "visionaries", but Bond, aware that they're nothing more than insane loons, retorts that both of them are deranged, in an homage to Bond's quote to Dr. No regarding world domination. "Psychiatric wards are full of them." |
| 549 | ---- |
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