SPOOKS casts a long shadow

Rating: 7/10 (4 November 2015)

Well, after the long wait - and all the hype - here it is, the new Bond picture. Does it live up to the hype? Yes - and no.
The stunts are what gives the movie its momentum and they seem not to rely too much on CGI. The plot, broadly a sequel to Daniel Craig's three previous outings, provides Bond with a series of brief violent encounters with SPECTRE's Oberhauser much as he had in the past with Silva and Le Chiffre and other Bonds with Hugo Drax, Mr Big and everybody else all the way back to Dr No. There's a strong feeling of old motifs being recycled here, with scenes that provide echoes from the Roger Moore era and even George Lazenby's. Herr Oberhauser has a henchman who seems to have been cloned (scary biology at work!) from Oddjob and Jaws.
The desert climax is a bit too reminiscent of QUANTUM, and the London 'epilogue', exciting as it may be, is also a re-tread. Where CASINO ROYALE really did seem to breathe new life - and the spirit of Jason Bourne - into the franchise, SPECTRE and SKYFALL have shown Sam Mendes taking on board the 'realpolitik' reach of television's SPOOKS, with Craig's 007 falling - almost believably - somewhere between the superhero and the street-corner spy.