Tear Jerker / Spectre

• Sam Smith's Writing's On the Wall is pretty dreary for a James Bond opening theme, almost like Adele's Skyfall. Near the end of the music video, Sam Smith can be seen crying.
  • The opening titles feature imagery of several deceased characters from the past Craig-era films, including Raoul Silva, Le Chiffre, Vesper Lynd fading into darkness, and the late M evaporating into smoke. The lyrics don't help either:
    A million shards of glass, that haunt me from my past.
  • It's worth remembering that Radiohead had a theme recorded and ready to go, but was rejected for being "too dark." So, knowing their musical atmosphere, this could have been even more depressing.
• The scene where Oberhauser/Blofeld forces Madeleine to watch her father committing suicide on the recorded security camera, as well as the painful torture of Bond later, and Bond's reactions to both events.
  Bond: Turn this off.
  Oberhauser: This is important.
  Bond: I SAID TURN IT OFF!
  [Bond runs towards Blofeld, but is kneecapped by a goon with a truncheon]
• The complete destruction of the Vauxhall Cross SIS building in the climax. This building is part of the modern Bond films ever since the Brosnan era. Just seeing it being attacked in Skyfall is an effective Tear Jerker moment already, but here Bond is forced to walk through the abandoned, almost haunting building that is full of Nightmare Fuel. Blofeld toying Bond with pictures of those who were involved or killed in the tragedies in his life didn't help things. And finally, the whole place exploded and collapsed into nothing, almost signifying the End of an Age that started in GoldenEye, when the building was first used.
  • The absolutely wrenching way Bond cries out Madeline's name as he frantically races through the building, searching for her. You get the feeling that the man is just fed up with losing people that he cares about and will not let it happen this time.
  • The moment where Madeleine must trust Bond as they both jump into the abyss of the shattered building together. It recalls Bond's other gut-wrenching drop after being shot in Skyfall, except this time he's not alone. And fortunately there's something there to break their fall other than a massive body of water.
• Even though it ends for the better and Lucia survives, Lucia Sciarra's readiness to Face Death with Dignity. Her quietly restrained fear and grief are still obvious; she comes home still dressed for the funeral and walks through her stately home out to the courtyard, where slowly the men she knows have been sent to kill her emerge from the shadows.
  • Her life story itself if very tragic. She was married to a man who didn't treat her well and their marriage was the only thing keeping her alive.
• In a way, seeing Bond's virtually character-less apartment (Moneypenny asks if he has just moved in, Bond just replies "No") is kind of sad, as it shows how little of a life he has outside of MI6, and what a lonely and broken man he is. Moneypenny's sarcastic "It's called a life, 007. You should try it sometime" when Bond hears her boyfriend over the phone later in the film almost sounds like a much harsher jab.
• There's something sad about the way Madeleine says "He (My father) kept coming here every year, even after the divorce." While he may have been using it for nefarious purposes, he may have been going back to relive happier times.
• Around halfway through the film James finds a tape in the hotel where Mr. White conducted much of his business. The tape is labeled Vesper Lynd Interrogation. James doesn't watch it, but seeing the title does stop him cold, when previously he'd been the professional MI6 operative looking for information concerning his target. He stares at the tape, almost as if he's in a trance, and it's only when Madeleine questions him that he snaps out of it. Just goes to show that after all this time, James still isn't completely over Vesper and what happened to her.
• Bond's reaction upon hearing that his mentor Hannes Oberhauser was killed by his son Franz Oberhauser/Blofeld 20 years before the events of Spectre.

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