Spectre (Limited Edition Steelbook) [Blu-ray] [2015]

SPECTRE [2015 / 2016] [Exclusive Limited Edition Steelbook] [Blu-ray] From the Director of SKYFALL! Hang On To Your Seats: Bond is Back, With A Vengeance!A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra [Monica Bellucci], the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal. Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE.Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond’s actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny [Naomie Harris] and Q [Ben Whishaw] to help him seek out Madeleine Swann [Léa Seydoux], the daughter of his old nemesis Mr. White [Jesper Christensen], who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot.As James Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, Ernst Stavro Blofeld played by Christoph Waltz.Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Dave Bautista, Andrew Scott, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen, Alessandro Cremona, Stephanie Sigman, Tenoch Huerta, Adriana Paz, Domenico Fortunato, Marco Zingaro, Stefano Elfi DiClaudia, Ian Bonar, Tam Williams, Richard Banham, Pip Carter, Simon Lenagan, Alessandro Bressanello, Marc Zinga, Brigitte Millar, Adel Bencherif, Gediminas Adomaitis, Emilio Aniba, Erick Hayden, Nigel Barber, Patrice Naiambana, Stephane Cornicard, Gary Fannin, Sadao Ueda, Philip Law, Wai Wong, Joseph Balderrama, Eiji Mihara, Junichi Kajioka, Victor Schefé, Harald Windisch, Tristan Matthiae, Detlef Bothe, Bodo Friesecke, Michael Glantschnig, Lara Parmiani, Umit Ulgen, Amra Mallassi, Ziad Abaza, Walid Mumuni, Derek Horsham, Nari Blair-Mangat, Michael White, Adam McGrady, Nader Dernaika, Pezhmaan Alinia, Nad Abdoolakhan (uncredited), Lasco Atkins (uncredited), David Olawale Ayinde (uncredited), Steve Barnett (uncredited), Oliver Cantú Lozano (uncredited), Maurisa Selene Coleman (uncredited), Marianna Dean (uncredited), Alan Del Castillo (uncredited), Dame Judi Dench (uncredited), Gloria Garcia (uncredited), Solomon Taiwo Justified (uncredited), Gjevat Kelmendi (uncredited), Jorge Leon Martinez (uncredited), Johnny Lynch (uncredited), Christopher Marsh (uncredited), Taylor Murphy (uncredited), Mac Pietowski (uncredited), Vuksan Rovcanin (uncredited), Conny Sharp (uncredited), Clem So (uncredited), Daniel Stisen (uncredited), Romeo Visca (uncredited), Tony Paul West (uncredited), Daniel Westwood (uncredited), Gregg Wilson (uncredited), Michael G. Wilson (uncredited), Miroslav Zaruba (uncredited), Ruolan Zhang (uncredited) and Dominic Zwemmer (uncredited)Director: Sam MendesProducers: Andrew Noakes, Barbara Broccoli, Callum McDougall, Daniel Craig, David Pope, Gregg Wilson, Jayne-Ann Tenggren, Michael G. Wilson, Roberto Malerba, Stacy Perskie, Wolfgang Ramml and Zakaria AlaouiScreenplay: Jez Butterworth, John Logan (story), Neal Purvis (story) and Robert Wade (story)Composer: Thomas NewmanCinematography: Hoyte van HoytemaVideo Resolution: 1080pAspect Ratio: 2.40:1Audio: English: 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, English: 5.1 Descriptive Audio, Spanish: 5.1 Dolby Digital, French: 5.1 Dolby Digital and Portuguese: 5.1 Dolby DigitalSubtitles: English SDH, Spanish, French and PortugueseRunning Time: 148 minutesRegion: Region A/1 / B/2Number of discs: 1Studio: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer / Columbia PicturesAndrew’s Blu-ray Review: British secret agent James Bond [Daniel Craig] discovers that a vast international terrorist/espionage organisation has been behind many of the villains he has faced in the recent past. With MI6 falling under the control of a surveillance-obsessed bureaucrat, Bond has to disobey orders and strike out on his own against Spectre."The dead are alive," we're informed at the start of Sam Mendes' second James Bond outing ‘SPECTRE’ [2015], and there's a definite sense that this 24th entry into the franchise is attempting to resurrect ghosts from the past. The action begins gliding through the bustling streets of Mexico City on the Day of the Dead as Bond, once again played by Daniel Craig in what is presumed to be his final turn as 007, navigates crowds decked in myriad skull costumes, like some fantastical danse macabre.This lavish opening tracking shot, captured in one take by cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema, dazzles, promising a spectacular follow-up to 2012's box office behemoth ‘SKYFALL.’ After a rapid costume change and a brief glimpse of Stephanie Sigman's Estrella, we see Bond suited and booted as he hops across rooftops on a mission to kill mafia boss Sciarra [Alessandro Cremona]. A dizzying helicopter battle knocks the wind from your lungs and Bond acquires a ring bearing a mysterious symbol before the credits roll, backed by Sam Smith's title track “Writing's on the Wall,” which to my mind is not a patch or good as the Adel song “Skyfall.” Once this opening sucker-punch of a set-piece has concluded we enter much more familiar Bond territory. Like ‘SKYFALL,’ ‘SPECTRE’ is loaded with allusions to the previous entries in the franchise, undoubtedly providing much glee for James Bond fans.Unlike ‘SKYFALL,’ which explored how such a dinosaur of the secret service could still exist and operate in the modern world, ‘SPECTRE’ is more confident about James Bond, no doubt bolstered by the success of the previous film which took a staggering $1bn worldwide. ‘SPECTRE’ has a level of confidence that dares to return to the James Bond franchise of old. There is a typical battle of wits between James Bond and his superior M; this time seeing Ralph Fiennes secured as the head of MI6, Mallory, following the death of Dame Judy Dench's M in the previous outing. Mallory explains how the 00 programme is under threat from a new security initiative, dubbed “Nine Eyes” which is a surveillance programme linking the world's nations, and headed up by paper-pusher Denbigh, aka C [Andrew Scott]. Sam Mendes, along with screenwriters John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and Jez Butterworth, uses the rivalry between C and M as a chance to explore the current zeitgeist of anxiety surrounding modern day surveillance and the secret services and high-level intelligence leaks.James Bond is determined to discover the meaning behind the mysterious ring and after a visit to Q-branch, where the returning and brilliant quartermaster [Ben Whishaw] teases Bond with a new Aston Martin and hands out a single gadget to help him on his missions. In Rome, Bond encounters Sciarra's wife [Monica Bellucci] who points him towards a gathering of a clandestine organisation, headed by Franz Oberhauser [Christoph Waltz]. The settings are lavish; Rome, Morocco and Austria look glorious, with Van Hoytema's cinematography warranting comparison to Roger Deakins' marvellous work on the last Bond outing. However, the action is lacklustre, the script bloated with cheap, repetitive gags, that make Daniel Craig's Bond arrogant rather than endearingly cocksure. It diminishes his charm, which is blunted further but Daniel Craig's baffling half-smirks that give the impression of Bond cracking 'dad' jokes. After Rome comes Austria and the reappearance of a familiar face, Mr White [Jesper Christensen] and direction to seek out his daughter, Madeleine Swan [Léa Seydoux], who can reveal all about the mysterious organisation. Along the way, James Bond is pursued by Dave Bautista's Mr. Hinx, a hulking hitman with a deadly manicure and a penchant for popping eyes. He is a combination of Jaws and Oddjob and serves little purpose to the plot other than kick-starting fight sequences.Daniel Craig had a less tough job at the start than Ralph Fiennes does here, taking over from perhaps the most-beloved M in the series [Dame Judi Dench] and entering the superspy arena without reminding you that he was in the Avengers film we don’t talk about. With his own subplot, clashing with a slick new spymaster [Andrew Scott] whose wrong’un status is affirmed when it’s mentioned he was “at school with the Home Secretary,” Ralph Fiennes is so convincing in and out of the action that his M could probably carry a series on his own. If this is to be Daniel Craig’s last bow as 007 (the credits at least promise James Bond will return), he’ll be remembered as the man who brought Ian Fleming’s grit back to one of the great British film franchises. Full marks to Sam Mendes, Daniel Craig, Christopher Waltz, Ralph Fiennes and the brilliant locations. But could we please get a much better and a more uplifting James Bond style song next time and definitely not be hiring Sam Smith, who is not a totally boring non entity to sing the next James Bond theme song, as this is one of the worst I have ever heard and is such a boring dirge, that’s for sure and please I beg of you at E.ON definitely get someone like the brilliant and professional Adel again, who knows how to produce and sing a proper classic James Bond theme song that we can all admire and cherish for future viewing and listening pleasure. Because Sam Smith cat wailing sounds, should in future sit him in a James Bond car and had them flick the ejector switch and as long as they had forgotten to do his seat belt up and blast him to outer space and to never be heard again, ever, and let’s hope it happens for real, as this was a total awful jaw dropping boring dirge, that makes me cringe each time I hear it, and what idiot had the audacity to award Sam Smith an Oscar®, as that just sucks with a total insult to other musicians and composers who produce much more professional music and songs!Blu-ray Video Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer once again brings us this James Bond Blu-ray that is presented in an awesome theatrical 2.40:1 aspect ratio. But on top of that we have an equally impressive 1080p encoded transfer image that will blow you away. The transfer has a strong sense of detail and no digital artefacts of note. Grain, when apparent, has a tightly controlled structure. When cinematographer Roger Deakins, who'd shot the last film, wasn't available for the follow-up, director Sam Mendes turned to Hoyte Van Hoytema, not only did Hoyte Van Hoytema return the production to 35mm photography as opposed to digital, his work seems to be itself set apart from the look of 'SKYFALL' as much as possible, whereas ‘SPECTRE’ is its own master. The film's photography is deliberately stylized to be little soft and hazy, with flat contrasts and muted colours. As so many films today move toward High Dynamic Range projection in modern cinemas and on the new Ultra HD home format, this is consciously a low dynamic range picture. Black levels are noticeably elevated and never particularly inky. Colours are understated with a frequent yellowish overcast to the entire image. Notice that the background behind the opening gun barrel sequence is more beige than white. Film grain is often visible, even prominent. None of this is to say that the film is poorly photographed. Sam Mendes and Hoyte Van Hoytema conjure up many brilliant striking images within their chosen style. The shadows that frequently conceal Christoph Waltz's Franz Oberhauser are deep and black, and they lift with precision at just the right moments. Digital colour grading provides a distinctive palette for each location, from the yellowed air of Mexico City, especially with its legendary pollution, to the cool blues and whites of the Alpine clinic where James Bond connects with Dr. Swann. Fine detail is so good that even the aerial shots of crowds in the “Day of the Dead” sequence reveal individual figures on the ground. ‘SPECTRE’ has the longest running time of any of EON Productions' Bond films to date, and M-G-M has mastered the 148-minute feature and between the letterbox bars and obvious care taken in the compression, the image has transferred to Blu-ray without any artefacts or other interference. The transfer is a total winner in my eyes.Blu-ray Audio Quality – Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer once again brings us this James Bond Blu-ray that is presented in an awesome and equally impressive 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio, that is a rock solid bass of fun and what all good soundtrack needs and you get this with this audio presentation. On top of that it also delivers robust music and plenty of enveloping directional activity all through the room and the actual character dialogue is always perfectly clear, intelligibility of the lyrics during the terrible Sam Smith theme song is very poor and pathetic. The sound mix also has a frustrating tendency to suppress sound effects, such as gunfire or car noises, during the action scenes and bury them under the much louder musical score. While that's more of a mixing decision than a disc authoring problem, it holds back some of the big action sequences from being as involving as they might have been. The film did get an immersive 12.1 channel mix in my IMAX cinema, but that IMAX format is proprietary and doesn't have a comparable home version sound mix. But with my Pioneer A/V receiver Dolby Surround function, the early awesome helicopter stunt worked extremely well with all the channels and speakers, with helicopter noises panning back and forth around my lounge. If you don't have a good subwoofer in your home cinema set up, then please go out there purchase yourself one and buy it right now, as it is a must, because the bass on this Blu-ray disc is insane. My sensory memory of the opening scene reverberated through my bones a full day after watching it and that was just from the throbbing music. When the explosions hit… well, just make sure you secure anything in your home that might rattle or fall, because your whole house is going to shake.Blu-ray Special Features and Extras:Special Feature: SPECTRE: Bond's Biggest Opening Scene [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1] [20:12] With this special feature we get a nice introduction in showing us the filming of the start of the film ‘SPECTRE.’ In a mix of behind-the-scenes footage and interviews, we get a cursory, superficial overview of the effort that went into preparing to film the massive “Day of the Dead” scene in Mexico City and it is an impressive sequence that required elaborate make-up, costumes and choreography for over 1,500 extras and not to mention some crazy helicopter stunts that were performed for real with an actual helicopter. But what we also witness is the spectacular ‘SPECTRE’ Film Premier in Mexico after 7 months after the fiming had finished. But the main part of this special feature is the contribution from people like Sam Mendes [Director]; Daniel Craig [James Bond]; Michael Lerman [First Assistant Director]; Barbara Broccoli [Producer]; Dennis Gassner [Production Designer]; Jany Temine [Costume Designer]; Stephanie Sigman [Estrelle]; Stacy Perkskie [Line Producer, Mexico]; Anna Terrazas [Costume Supervisor, Mexico]; Michael G. Wilson [Producer]; Kenny Crouch [Costume Supervisor]; Hayley Barkway [Crowd Make-up Artist]; Polly Coxon-Smith [Crowd Hairdresser]; Naoli Donne [Make-up Designer]; Tracey Smith [Crowd Hair Supervisor]; Priscila Hernandez [Choreographer]; Ben Collins [Art Director]; Gary Powell [Stunt Coordinator]; Chris Corbould [Special Effects Supervisor]; Olivier Schneider [Flight Coordinator]; Chuck Aaron [Helicopter Pilot]; Ali James [Location Manager]; Monica Bellucci [Lucia Sciarra] and Christopher Waltz [Oberhauser].Special Feature: Video Blogs [2015] [1080p] [1.78:1] [9:08] Here we have six very short video soundbites which consist of: Director – Sam Mendes: what drew director Sam Mendes back to make another James Bond film. Supercars: the car chase scenes. Introducing Léa Seydoux and Monica Bellucci: talking about being the new Bond Girls. Action: the film focuses on practical stunts rather than CGI effects. Music: hearing about that totally awful boring Sam Smith theme song. Guinness World Record: we get to see the filming of the Guinness World Record for the biggest film explosion near the end of the film. You can as usual play each video separately or Play All.Special Feature: Stills Gallery [2015] [1080p] [1:32] Here we get to view 19 stunning colour still images from the film ‘SPECTRE’ and they consist of promotional and behind-the-scenes photos. You can either do Auto Advance or Manuel Advance.Theatrical Trailers [2015] [1080p] [2.40:1] [5:18] What you have is three Original Theatrical Trailers for the film ‘SPECTRE,’ which consist of “Teaser Trailer;” “No.1 Theatrical Trailer” and “No.2 Theatrical Trailer.” You of course can either play them separately or Play All.BONUS: The Exclusive Limited Edition Steelbook Blu-ray UK Release design of the case is an absolutely stunning black design and having the hole where the letter C is, is so brilliant and whoever did the design should get an award and now has now gone pride of place in my James Bond Blu-ray Collection.Finally, even if it is ultimately unable to live up to its own ambitions or the huge success of 'SKYFALL,' to which it is always going to be a direct comparison, 'SPECTRE' is still a pretty spectacular and entertaining James Bond film with a number of memorable sequences. It plays better on repeat viewings once you've accepted some of its limitations, which perhaps makes home video a much better venue than seeing in the cinema, for repeat viewing. But I must admit when seeing it at my local cinema on a massive IMAX screen, I was blown away. The Blu-ray definitely captures the film's very stylized exotic photographic style. Its soundtrack is also a bass lover's dream. The only real failure here is the meagre selection of bonus features. Aside from that, this is a really worthy ultimate purchase for any James Bond fans. Very Highly Recommended!Andrew C. Miller – Your Ultimate No.1 Film FanLe Cinema ParadisoWARE, United Kingdom

epic

It's a Bond film, so you kinda know what to expect, it's okay but not my favourite Daniel Craig Bond film, but entertaining nonetheless

Great film. Easy to rent

007 has made a mark in my heart and Daniel Craig the best 007 without a doubt. Exciting and dazzling from minute one and location filming beyond compare.I would like to be 007 just for a moment for an incredible adrenalin rush in 2024.Please......

I won't describe the film, but rather this product.The steelbook bluray format is a habit I've only recently become interested in. There is no difference to the bluray disc you receive from standard /normal bluray purchases. I bought one steelbook (incidently it was Skyfall), liked the cover for its artwork/photo, as well as the cold steely feel of the secure box.Firstly the steelbook comes with a cardboard partial sleeve which covers the reverse of the steelbook. This contains the film summary, credits, and information blurb etc you find on most dvd/bluray cases.This steelbook unfortunately isn't a new photo or artwork but features the promotional poster of the bullet shattering a pane of glass, leaving the outline of the SPECTRE organisation symbol of an Octopus. However, the centre of the 'C' which overlaps the bullet holes is indented and 3-D, which is a minimal but welcomed feature.Opening the case, we have the digital code and generic information on how to watch the film on multiple devices. However, overleaf there is the photo of Daniel Craig in his white tuxeudo, arms crossed and holding a pistol. Again this is not new artwork as I beleive it is the same picture used on the DVD release.So over all a good addition to your collection, the indented bullet outline is a welcomed feature, although there is no new artwork included.