SPECTRE : Monday 9th November 2015.

I was lucky enough to attend an advance screening of 'SPECTRE' on Monday evening at a local multiplex - surely one of the most highly anticipated eagerly awaited films of the year. Hardly surprising after all the hype this film has had in the build up to its release, and, the monumental success of its predecessor 'Skyfall' which took the Bond franchise to record breaking new heights off the back of a US$150-200M budget. With a worldwide sales haul of US$1.1B it peaked at the seventh highest grossing film of all time, and today sits in thirteenth place.

By comparison, 'Spectre' was made for a budget of somewhere between US$245-300M and since its UK release on 26th October has grossed already US$290M - no wonder Sam Mendes as Director of the former was invited back again! Of course all the characters we have come to know and love from the more recent Bond outings are back again, not the least being Daniel Craig as our favourite secret agent and the shaken but not stirred man himself, Bond, James Bond, for his fourth time. Will he be back for a fifth time seems to be a hot topic of conjecture.

As we have come to expect from a Bond film, the pre-title opening action set piece here is well staged and on a grand scale in the streets of Mexico where the locals celebrate 'The Day of the Dead' and are for the most part appropriately attired. Within a few minutes Bond is taking position on a roof top, armed and ready to take out his assailant through the neighbouring building window, but while listening in on the conversation the building explodes and promptly crashes, nearly taking out Bond and the building he stands on. His target escapes through the amassed crowds and Bond gives chase on foot and in hot pursuit. In no time at all Bond and his quarry, Marco Sciarra are fighting it out together on board a helicopter spiralling largely out of control over the partying masses below. In the fist fight Bond prizes a silver looking ring with a black octopus emblem off Sciarra's finger, before kicking him out of the helicopter to his death below. Dispensing with the pilot, he steers the aircraft to a safe landing - impressive staff and a good start!

Back in London, the new 'M' (Ralph Fiennes) has to deal with a newly merged MI5 and MI6 and Max Denbigh (aka 'C' [Andrew Scott])who heads up the newly formed Joint Intelligence Service and who is keen to abolish the '00' Series because it is outdated and no longer relevant in an age where information and surveillance is key. Instead 'C' is looking to launch 'Nine-Eyes' an intelligence sharing pact between nine super-powers based in London. Meanwhile Bond returns to his nondescript Thames side apartment and takes receipt of a video message from the former Bond telling him to search out Sciarra, kill him and then attend his funeral. Having done the fist two, only the funeral awaits - scheduled for three days time in Rome. But now the '00' section has been closed down and Bond is grounded and ordered to remain in London. He pays a visit to 'Q' (Ben Whishaw) where he picks up a new watch, with the new Aston Martin DB10 awaiting 009 - but of course 007 has different ideas as he needs to get to Rome!

At the funeral he meets with Lucia Sciarra (Monica Belluci) the widow of the man he killed and whom he promptly beds. Of course she confides in him that her late husband belonged to a secret criminal organisation and that this group are meeting in Rome at midnight that night. Off he goes in his DB10 and parks up in a palatial car park festooned with just about every other supercar currently in production. He gains entry using Sciarra's ring and slinks around in the shadows as the proceedings commence. Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) sits at the head of the table and discusses recent events in Mexico and that James Bond is amongst them. Caught unawares Bond has to get outta there and is given chase by Mr. Hinx (Dave Bautista) with a car chase through the streets of Rome with Bond employing all the tricks that 'Q' has equipped the DB10 with.

The actions takes us next to Austria where Bond is hunting down Mr. White (Jesper Christensen) who is a former senior operative of the Quantum organisation (a subsidiary of Spectre) and who we saw in 'Casino Royale', where Bond shoots him in the leg and is hauled into MI6 imposed captivity, 'Quantum of Solace' where he escapes MI6 captivity, and here again.This meeting leads Bond to Mr. White's estranged daughter Dr. Madeline Swann (Lea Seydoux), and in turn another mountain peak chase sequence involving Bond in a light aircraft, two black 4WD's, a couple of Land Rovers, Mr. Hinx no less and lots of down hill snow action and misadventure where the baddies don't fare too well . . . but then they never do! Bond & Swann however, walked away unblemished!

Next up we are transported to Morocco to a hotel where Swann's parents used to holiday once a year when she was a child. Staying in that same room Bond is expecting further clues that will reveal who Oberhauser really is, who  and what is the organisation that he heads up, and what is the agenda. Bond knows Oberhauser though but can't quite recall how. Eventually within its walls, the hotel room reveals its secret giving Bond & Swann the further information they need, which in turn puts them on a train bound for some unknown place that doesn't even feature on a map it's so remote! On the train settling down for a romantic dinner for two, suited & booted, with Martini's poured, they are attacked by Mr. Hinx once again who after the scuffle gets pulled off the train wearing a necklace of six Heineken kegs!

Arriving at their destination in the middle of the desert, they await a pick-up. Some time later it arrives and takes them to a crater housing a huge industrial and communications facility spread over several acres. They meet Oberhauser who gives them both a guided tour and explains his agenda - information, intelligence, surveillance and the global power that this can bring (sound familiar? Well it should - refer 'C's' agenda with 'Nine Eyes', and yes 'C' works for Oberhauser as a mere puppet!)

Having been knocked unconscious Bond awakens strapped to a chair in a white and stainless steel clinic with Oberhauser and Swann looking on. Oberhauser is intent of dispensing with the meddling Bond but not before inflicting much surgical pain on him as he can by drilling tiny holes through his skull and jaw for starters. Throughout this time Swann begs for mercy but Oberhauser will have none of it, but he does reveal his identity and the connection he has with Bond from their respective childhoods. It seems that after the young Bond was orphaned he was taken in by Oberhauser's father and they became close like brothers for almost two years until the fathers was killed in an avalanche and the son too, although a body was never found - that was 20 years ago. Now  Oberhauser goes by the name of Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

Bond and Swann engineer their escape just before Oberhauser is about to drill out Bond's eyes. Using the watch given to him by 'Q' the room explodes, power goes down, Bond is released from his chair and the two make their escape leaving the injured Blofeld on the floor. Arriving in London Bond reunites with 'M' who is under close surveillance as Bond reveals the truth about 'C', Blofeld and Spectre.  With 'C' taken down by 'M', Swann bids farewell to Bond knowing that she cannot return to his way of life, but she is promptly captured and used as bait to snare Bond. Moving to the old and now derelict MI6 building Bond meets with Blofled whose face is now badly scarred from the blast back at his facility. He has Swann locked up somewhere in the building and has three minutes to find her and make their escape before the building explodes & collapses!

I enjoyed this film - a lot, but is it up there with 'Skyfall', alas no, but it is a respectable and entertaining addition to the series! It is a throw back to Bond of the Connery era where that same villain Blofeld was portrayed either wholly or partially in several early Bond offerings including 'From Russia With Love', 'Thunderball', 'You Only Live Twice', and 'Diamonds Are Forever', and where SPECTRE came to be (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion). Having disappeared from the EON Produced Bond films since the mid-70's it is good to see that arch enemy back however, and featuring in the story arc linking together Craig's journey through the films so far coming now to the forefront in this 24th instalment of the franchise. Waltz is a convincing Blofeld but I would have liked to see more of him, but, given what we know of the character from those earlier films we know he lives to fight another day - if you know your Bond mythology.

Like all Bond films this has to warrant an outing to your local cinema and you won't be disappointed. It has all the Bond trademarks that you have come to know and love but Craig has made the character his own and has created a side of Bond we have not hitherto seen in those others who have portrayed him. Will Craig be back for a final fifth time - I hope so - but in some scenes I couldn't help thinking that he is beginning to look a little old, and tired around the edges, but perhaps given what he has to go through in saving the world time and again, perhaps that's hardly surprising. Enjoy the film - I know you will!

-Steve, at Odeon Online-