Tremendous stupendous monumental action entertainment as director Sam Mendes pulls out all the stops

Rating: 9/10 (13 November 2015)

Spectre", James Bond Number 24. Tremendous stupendous monumental action entertainment as director Sam Mendes pulls out all the stops. (Remember, Mendes is no dummy -- he got best director and best picture Oscars for his debut film "American Beauty" in 1999) Arguably the best James Bond ever -- and indisputably the longest most globe trotting and spectacular of all. Something like six exciting films packed into one. The pre-main title sequence alone, set in Downtown Mexico City in the midst of a super spectacular Day of the Dead celebration, the streets packed wall to wall with dancing people wearing black skeleton bone shrouds, faces covered with realistic death head skulls -- takes up a full twenty minutes and concludes with a fierce battle to the death between Bond and an unidentified killer aboard a helicopter with open doors and a hostile pilot at the controls as the aircraft whirls crazily over the crowd. The dizzy aerobatics of the whirlybird alone are breathtaking as Bond finally manages to kick his burly main opponent out of the craft and into the void, then has to struggle with the enemy pilot as the copter loops the loop spinning in and out of control, finally subdues him, takes over the controls and then coolly guides the machine to a safe landing on top of some building --But this was only the prelude: cut to Main Title,
"Spectre" and opening credits over the London offices of the British Secret Service, M16 -- with a soberly suited Ralph Fiennes in charge. We now find out that Bond was on his own and had no official business in Mexico, moreover his activities there have created an international incident. Like Dirty Harry he is suspended from 007 Duty until further notice. However Bond (a stony faced Daniel Craig in his 4th 007 outing) is On to Something Big and, with the informal assistance of a pretty black secretary and a youthful M16 technical expert, he will go out on his own again to track down his arch nemesis, the sinister villain "Blomfeld", head of the mysterious Spectre organization, which dedicated 007 fans will recall from the 1967 Bond Installment ("You only live Twice" -- with Sean Connery as Bond) is Tokyo based and whose goal is to create world chaos causing all major powers to declare war on each other -- so that they can take over ... And will stop at nothing to achieve this goal implanting random terrorist catastrophes everywhere -- like Capetown, South Africa.
To make a very long and very exciting story relatively short, Bond will visit Tokyo, Rome, the snow covered Austrian Alps, Paris, and finally the major Spectre stronghold hidden far away in the Deserts of Morocco, before coming back to London for a final confrontation with terrorist madman Blomfeld embodied in this installment by that man we love to hate, a handsome gentlemanly looking utterly cold-blooded sadistic murderous Christoph Waltz. Along the way in Rome he will meet a restrained Monica Bellucci clad in veil and widow's black but Craig will manage to unclad her and bed her down before leaving the eternal city -- lots of lip on lip closeups in this romantic interlude -- we don't actually see much of la Bellucci, but she still looks great in what amounts to a bedroom cameo ... However, Bond's main romantic interest in the film is supplied by currently popular French actress Lea Sedoux (Blue was the warmest Color) and, although she is in reality young enough to play Craig's daughter, the chemistry between them somehow works and their relationship takes up the entire second half of the picture. (In passing it may be observed that she has the most perfect "ski nose" since Bob Hope) Each segment under the direction of Sam Mendes is handled with such action packed thoroughness that each one, Mexico, Tokyo, Rome, Austria, Morocco, and the final section in London could almost stand alone as independent features. The length of the film required an intermission to stop and catch one's breath. I must say that I have had some trouble accepting stony faced Mr. Craig as a replacement for infinitely suave Sean Connery, and he is physically much shorter, but this time around I thought he was up to the part -- tough enough and agile enough for the acrobatics involved if not quite the type you expect women to swoon over. The scenes with Bellucci seemed a little forced, but that's a minor complaint in a night of such rip-roaring action packed globe-trotting overall entertainment. Granted one has to suspend ones doubts to accept Craig's incredible hairbreadth escapes from certain death -- one after another, each one more hairy than the one before --but that's what James Bond films are all about -- an invulnerable hero and escapism from the daily grind while at the same time putting us in touch indirectly with some truly grim realities out there -- such as international terrorism. The final sequence filmed on familiar London landmarks-- as Bond in a speedboat on the Thames shoots down the helicopter in which the unbelievably evil Waltz is escaping, causing it to crash in flames and blow up right on Parliament bridge in front of Big Ben -- looks like a fitting end to arch villain Blomfeld ... but -- amazingly he crawls out of the flaming wreckage, and as he lies crumpled up on the paving of the bridge Mr. Fiennes, head of British Intelligence, approaches and, with typical dry British understatement, delivers the last line of the picture: "I am detaining you in the name of Her Majesty the Queen". Well, if he could survive that crash this bloody bastard deserves to be detained -- rather than shot in the head on the spot ... So I guess we'll be seeing more of Mr. Waltz in Bond 25. Alex, Alper Hotel, Potsdamer Platz, Berlin