“Skyfall” is consistently listed as one of the best “James Bond” films of all time, while its follow-up, “Spectre,” is considered to be middle-of-the-road and average at best. Sam Mendes’ second foray into Bond’s world was met with mixed-to-positive reviews upon release, with many critics finding it to be an uneventful retread that dialed up the melancholy and moodiness of its predecessor without adding anything new to the formula. On Rotten Tomatoes, it has a 63% critics rating — a sharp drop from the 92% “Skyfall” scored on the review aggregator.
Surprisingly, Quentin Tarantino actually prefers “Spectre.” During an appearance on the “ReelBlend” podcast, Tarantino once again vocalized his disinterest in “Skyfall” while praising its 2015 follow-up. “I thought ‘Skyfall’ was like, ‘This whole f**king movie’s ending at a shootout in a f***ing cabin? This is a ‘James Bond’ movie?” he said, explaining why he felt the 2012 film’s finale was underwhelming. “That’s not James f**king Bond! From the opening action sequence in ‘Spectre’ on, it was like, ‘Now this is a James Bond movie.'”
Tarantino is right — that opening sequence during the Day of the Dead was action-packed, but many fans and critics believe that the 2015 film fell off after that initial scene. The “Django Unchained” creative’s comments are interesting, but not at all surprising considering he has a complicated relationship with the 007 films as a whole. Tarantino wasn’t impressed with the first two “James Bond” films and only started to get into the franchise with “Goldfinger.”
