Bond Back to Form-I was Shaken and Stirred (almost...)

Rating: 9/10 (26 October 2015)

Wow!! Just got back from first screening of Spectre and it's a return to form for Daniel Craig's Bond and the canon itself. From a staggeringly audacious opening sequence to a nice coda at the end this is a Bond that will leave you breathless from the action set pieces,and marveling at the twists and turns of the plot. Craig's Bond is the epitome of cool right from the off evoking both Connery swagger and Moore humour. M, Q and Moneypenny all get a share of the action. The bad guys in the form of Christoph Waltz's Franz Oberhauser, and Dave Bautista's hulking Mr. Hinx are suitably menacing. As always the "Bond girls" are quite underused and I'm afraid Lea Seydoux ends up criminally bereft of her gutsiness by the end of the picture. Neither her nor Monica Bellucci can hold a candle to the 3 dimensional Vesper Lynd character from "Casino Royale". But still go and see this Bond for what bases every Bond movie should hit to feel like a Bond film-action,humour, stunning locations, Bond being Bond (not naval gazing)and a bonkers plot line. I only knock a point off for a slightly disappointing ending though-a firecracker of a climax which doesn't quite go off IE a bit of a damp squib...