Spectrecular!

Rating: 9/10 (18 November 2015)

With an excitable audience chirping away to each other inside the cinema, I too felt exhilarated as I rubbed my hands together with admirable expectation at the impending prospect of viewing the return of Britain's favourite secret agent, James Bond. From his very first outing in 'Dr No', I have been intrigued by the man with the License to Kill. I have felt jealousy over the beautiful women, captivated by the exotic locations and enjoyed the thrill and danger of his missions. I have watched the villains in all the glory and have been amused by the flamboyant dialogue. What I have truly come to appreciate about a Bond film is that the series has evolved into an event. Whether it is Connery, Craig or Lazemby, Moore, Brosnan or Dalton; each has been involved in the hype surrounding a blockbuster release, each has brought their own interpretation to the famous role and each have become superstars because of it. James Bond is the character that we all want to be.
Daniel Craig returns as 007 in this new addition to the Bond franchise and 'Spectre' fits nicely into the top pantheon of Bond releases. The rebooted series has provided a new generation to connect deeper with the famous spy and Daniel Craig is the perfect actor to deliver a well rounded assassin for the 21st Century. Craig's portrayal of Bond has given the audience a glimpse into a man that become too one dimensional. Bond is now a man that is haunted by his occupation, vulnerable in a world of danger and voluntarily cold in his emotion. It is played out to perfection by Craig.
007 is now hot on the trail of a mysterious organisation that goes by the name of SPECTRE and the deeper he goes, the more sinister his mission becomes. Bond travels to all corners of the globe to seek the truth behind SPECTRE and its connection to his past. Along the way Bond has his predicted 'dance' with the beautiful Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci) and gets involved with a fellow assassin's daughter, Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux). Christoph Waltz has scored the plum role as Bond's infamous nemesis, Ernst Stavro Blofeld and delivers a cold, emotionless portrayal as SPECTRE'S main man. His almost arrogant delivery of dialogue creates a sociopathic villain who knows he has the power to manipulate anything.
On the home front, M (Ralph Fiennes) is in a battle of his own in convincing the powers that be, that MI6 and the 00's for that matter, are still relevant in the present international climate. Along with Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw), M gets his hands dirty to uncover the truth about a new privately owned security network.
With layer upon layer of fantastic narrative, the story twist and turns through an array of helicopter scuffles, aeroplane sequences, car chases, hand to hand combat, explosions and torture. A wonderfully devious role played by Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx as the old style villainous muscle, adds another dimension to a film that is jam packed full of extraordinary 'Bondisms'. Mr. Hinx relentlessly tracks after Bond with a superb climax unavoidable when the two eventually come face to face. Brilliant stuff.
'Spectre' has everything for the Bond fanatics with Daniel Craig throwing all he has into the role. He is truly superb as the famous spy and will be hard to replace. At 148 minutes it is the longest Bond film ever made but Director Sam Mendes has not let his audience down with action sequence after action sequence the order of the day. Their are periods of down time to let the viewer breathe but this is only to grow the story and it isn't long before another high voltage scene sprawls out across the screen. You will enjoy.