God cannot change the past, but a historian can. And so can a scriptwriter.

Rating: 8/10 (3 December 2015)

In the early Connery-Lazenby years of the Bond franchise, 007's most frequent enemies were the international terrorist organisation Spectre, generally spelt as SPECTRE in those days, and their leader Ernst Stavro Blofeld. After "Diamonds Are Forever" in 1971, however, Spectre disappeared from the screen, at least as far as the official franchise was concerned, although they did reappear in the unofficial "Never Say Never Again" in 1983. The reasons for this, apparently, are connected with the terms on which Ian Fleming settled a lawsuit in the early sixties about the film rights to "Thunderball".
Now, however, MGM have acquired full rights to the concept of Spectre and the character of Blofeld, allowing the organisation to resurface in the twenty-fourth official Bond adventure. The film-makers also have taken the opportunity to change Bond's past retrospectively. It transpires that the nefarious plots cooked up in "Casino Royale" and "Quantum of Solace" were in fact all down to Spectre; the organisation Quantum featured in the latter film is revealed to be a Spectre subsidiary. (As they say, God cannot change the past, but a historian can. And so can a scriptwriter).
I won't say too much about the plot, as it is the typical Bond mixture of derring-do, complete with cliff-hangers, beautiful women and a spectacular car chase through the streets of Rome, involving our hero travelling round the world to thwart Spectre and their evil machinations. The story also features an element of office politics as Bond's boss M (rather supercilious but with his heart in the right place) struggles with Max Denbigh, the unpleasant former head of MI5, now merged with MI6 to form the Joint Intelligence Service. It comes as no surprise when Denbigh is exposed as a fascist, in league with Spectre to undermine democracy.
This was the second Bond film to be directed by Sam Mendes after "Skyfall". Mendes has brought a very distinctive visual style to his two Bonds; whereas most of the early Bonds were bright and colourful, especially during the Roger Moore era, Mendes' contributions to the cannon are marked by a dark, sombre tone with few bright colours. Bond moves between a dull, grey London, a dull, grey Mexico and a dull, grey and snowbound Austria. Even Morocco seems much duller and greyer than it did when I visited the country. Several key scenes, including the aforementioned car chase, take place at night. This look may be intended to reflect the increasingly dark nature of the scripts, less lightened by humour than most of the earlier instalments. What humour there is tends to be sardonic and cynical.
Christoph Waltz is a talented actor, but I don't think that his Blofeld really qualifies as one of the great Bond villains, if only because his screen time is so limited in comparison with his two illustrious predecessors in the role, Donald Pleasence and Charles Gray. (I never really cared for Telly Savalas' rather crude interpretation, one of a number of things I disliked about "On Her Majesty's Secret Service"). Léa Seydoux is the latest in a long line of beautiful and talented Bond Girls from France, following on from Claudine Auger, Carole Bouquet, Sophie Marceau, Eva Green and Bérénice Marlohe. Léa's character, the daughter of a disillusioned Spectre operative, is named Madeleine Swann, a fairly obvious reference to Proust's "Swann's Way", at the beginning of which the narrator eats a cake called a "madeleine". At 50, Monica Bellucci becomes, by a considerable margin, the oldest ever Bond Girl. (The previous record holders, Honor Blackman and Maud Adams, were both 37 when they made their appearances, Honor in "Goldfinger" and Maud in "Octopussy").
One of the supporting cast who deserves special mention is Ben Whishaw as Q. Reinterpreting a role originally created by the much-loved Desmond Llewellyn is a difficult task, and I never felt that John Cleese, who never seemed quite sure whether he was acting in James Bond or Monty Python, really pulled it off. Whishaw, however, succeeds in making the role his own. Whereas Llewellyn's Q was an elderly, testy laboratory boffin, Whishaw's is a youthful computer geek who plays a more active role in supporting Bond than Llewellyn normally did, reflecting the growing importance of computer technology in intelligence work. (Likewise, Naomie Harris makes a much more proactive Moneypenny than Lois Maxwell ever did). The film does, however, make a contribution to the current debate about the role of the intelligence services, emphasising the equal importance of human intelligence; it is the villainous Denbigh who wants to close down the "00" section and rely exclusively on technology.
Some scepticism was expressed when Daniel Craig was first cast as 007, but it now seems clear to me that he is one of the classic Bonds. The dull "Quantum of Solace" was admittedly a dud, but Craig's other three outings have all been good or excellent. He brings a greater emotional depth to the role than most of his predecessors, portraying a man who (as Moneypenny perceptively notes) hides strong feelings but who is afraid to share them because he doesn't trust anyone. I note from press reports that he is expected to sign up for a fifth Bond. I will look forward to seeing that. 8/10