SPECTRE - "Resurrected" and Rising, in time

Rating: 7/10 (23 November 2015)

The 24th installment of the James Bond film-series turns out to be an elaborately detailed film with suavely presented drama and dialogues, and the occasional yet consistent ting of action; just like Bond's martini – "not shaken, but stirred". However, 'all that glitters isn't gold' in this film.
In the aftermath of being resurrected in "Skyfall", Agent-007 James Bond (Daniel Craig) finds a secret-message from the now deceased M (Judi Dench) asking him to hunt down a man who happened to be the member of an anti-nationalist organization which had been covertly active since a long time working to bring down the world-order in a series of destructive events. Coincidentally in its uncovering, Bond stumbles upon the knowledge of every tragedy of his life being linked to this organization's leader – Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), the arch-nemesis.
In his pursuit, Bond visits another nemesis, a retired assassin, Mr. White who directs Bond to his own daughter, Dr. Swann (Léa Seydoux). To protect this newfound link, and also to gain important knowledge, Bond chases down through Europe with the help of Q (Ben Wishaw) and Moneypenny (Naomi Harris) despite being stood-down by the new M (Ralph Fiennes), due to the bureaucratic pressures with the new merger of MI6 into a Centre of Nationa Security, headed by Denbigh (Andrew Scott, "SHERLOCK"). Despite progress, Bond is on his own with the "00- Program" being shut-down and the Blofeld's henchmen narrowing him down in the rat and cat chase. The film then traverses through the back-and- forth between and more to deadly-conclusions, till the time all are in the open facing the heat.
As a film, it gives a high dose of paraphernalia - the opening "barrel-shot" with the firing James Bond; a brilliantly graphic main-titles (by the series regular, Daniel Kleinman) alongside Bond's signature-themed original song "Writing on the Wall" by Sam Smith; the grand visuals (Hoyte Van Hoytema, "Interstellar"); extreme and opulent-level of thrills and stunts; a flamboyant cast (including – Monica Belluci, Dave Bautista) with Waltz, Scott and Fiennes shining-out, and an abundant score (Thomas Newman, "Skyfall"). To top it all, we have the Skyfall director – Sam Mendes ("American Beauty") – reprising his role to deliver us another larger-than-life Bond- flick. All very impressive and good; however all is very workmanlike and surprisingly lacks a certain 'bond-ing', and becomes a little too predictable at several instants with the plot line and giveaways. Thus, despite the thrills and splendor, the film falls short of being "extraordinary".
"Spectre" is no "Skyfall", sadly; still it is a fresh take on the life of Bond – professionally and personally. And that would hold a good deal of interest. Bond may be "a kite flying in a hurricane", yet it's a pretty good-looking and strong kite, and we all like the way it flies.
Rating – 7.5/10