THE FRENCH DISPATCH : Tuesday 14th December 2021.

I saw the 'THE FRENCH DISPATCH' at my local independent cinema earlier this week. This M Rated anthology comedy film is Directed, Written and Co-Produced by Wes Anderson whose previous film making credits take in his feature length debut with 'Bottle Rocket' in 1996, then 'The Royal Tenenbaums', 'The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou', 'The Darjeeling Limited', 'Fantastic Mr. Fox', 'Moonrise Kingdom', 'The Grand Budapest Hotel' and 'Isle of Dogs'. It was set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-May 2020, and get a wide release on 24th July, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the festival was cancelled and the film was pulled from the schedule in early April 2020. The film was rescheduled for release in mid-October 2020, before being pulled from the schedule again on 23rd July 2020 for an indefinite period. Eventually the film saw its World Premiere screening at the Cannes Film Festival in mid-July this year, and was released in the US in late October. The film received generally positive reviews from critics, and has thus far grossed US$41M exceeding its production budget of US$25M.

A love letter to journalists set in an outpost of an American newspaper - Liberty, Kansas Evening Sun - in the fictional 20th-century French city of Ennui-sur-Blase, that brings to life a collection of stories published in 'The French Dispatch' where Arthur Howitzer Jr. (Bill Murray), the editor of the newspaper dies suddenly of a heart attack. According to the wishes expressed in his will, publication of the newspaper is immediately suspended following one final farewell issue, in which three articles from past editions of the paper are republished, along with an obituary. 

After a cycling tour of the city of Ennui-sur-Blase by reporter Herbsaint Sazerac (Owen Wilson) in which he guides us through some of the history, the colourful personalities, and the key locations including the arcade, pick-pockets alley, and a noted cafe comparing each place and the residents therein to the past and the present day and observing that whilst so much has altered, just how little has changed over the years in his beautiful city, we see Howitzer critiquing Sazerac's report, while the latter tends to his bicycle. 

The Concrete Masterpiece

J.K.L. Berensen (Tilda Swinton), a writer and staffer at The French Dispatch, is seen giving a lecture at the art gallery of her former employer, Upshur 'Maw' Clampette (Lois Smith), in which she goes into fine detail about the career of Moses Rosenthaler (Benicio del Toro). Rosenthaler, is a mentally disturbed artist serving a sentence in the Ennui prison for a double murder. Allowed out of his straightjacket he paints an abstract nude portrait of Simone (Lea Seydoux), a prison officer with whom he develops a close relationship. Julien Cadazio (Adrien Brody), an art dealer also serving a sentence for tax evasion, is so impressed by the painting that he offers to buy it despite Rosenthaler's reluctance. Upon his release, Cadazio convinces his family of art exhibitors to put it on display, and Rosenthaler soon becomes a sensation in the art world. Rosenthaler, however, struggles with inspiration, and devotes himself to a long-term project. 

Fast forward three years and Cadazio, his uncles Nick and Joe (Bob Balaban and Henry Winkler respectively), Clampette, Berensen, and a bunch of artists inspired by Rosenthaler, all frustrated at the lack of further artworks, bribe their way into the prison to confront him, only to discover that his masterpiece is in fact a series of ten frescoes painted onto the concrete wall of the prison hall. Angered that the paintings cannot be removed from the prison, Cadazio and his delegation gets into a physical altercation with Rosenthaler and the other inmates, but soon appreciates the paintings for what they are, and later arranges for the entire room to be airlifted out of the prison into a private museum in Kansas, owned by Clampette. For his actions in halting a prison riot that breaks out during the reveal of the paintings, Rosenthaler is released on probation.

Revisions to a Manifesto

Lucinda Krementz (Frances McDormand) a journalist for The French Dispatch, reports on a University student protest breaking out in the streets of Ennui that soon escalates into what becomes known as the 'Chessboard Revolution'. While the revolution initially is inspired by petty concerns over access to the girls dormitory, the traumatic military conscription of one student, Mitch-Mitch (Mohamed Belhadjine), leads to more stringent protests. The students’ cause spreads to the working class folk of Ennui.

Despite her insistence on maintaining 'journalistic neutrality', Krementz has a brief romance with Zeffirelli (Timothee Chalamet), the self-appointed leader of the uprising, and in secret helps him write his manifesto while they are in bed together, and adds an appendix. Juliette (Lyna Khoudri), a fellow revolutionary, is unimpressed with his manifesto. After they briefly express their disagreement about its contents and the appendix, Krementz tells the two to 'go make love', which they do. A few weeks later, Zeffirelli is killed while trying to repair the tower of a revolutionary pirate radio station, and soon a photograph of his likeness becomes symbolic of the movement. Years later, Krementz adapts the story of Mitch-Mitch’s conscription, and Zeffirelli and Juliette’s relationship, for a stage play.

The Private Dining Room of the Police Commissioner

During a television interview, Roebuck Wright (Jeffrey Wright) recounts the story to the interviewer (Liev Schreiber) of his attending a private dinner with The Commissaire of the Ennui Police Department (Mathieu Amalric), prepared by legendary Police Officer and acclaimed Chef Lt. Nescaffier (Stephen Park). The dinner is disrupted when the Commissaire's son Gigi (Winston Ait Hellal) is kidnapped and held for ransom by the criminal underworld of Ennui, led by a failed musician called The Chauffeur (Edward Norton), who is demanding the release of an underworld accountant called 'The Abacus' (Willem Dafoe), who possesses their combined financial records. 'The Abacus' is in a solitary confinement cell at Police HQ where the dinner is being held. Wright recounts his own imprisonment in that same cell for his homosexuality, for which he was bailed out by Howitzer and offered a job at The French Dispatch.

Following a late night shoot-out at the kidnapper's hideout, Gigi is able to tap out a message in Morse Code using a coin and a radiator to 'send the cook'. Lt. Nescaffier is sent into the kidnappers' hideout to provide both them and Gigi with food, but secretly the food is laced with poison. The criminals all fall victim to the poisoned fare, and Nescaffier barely survives (because to his strong constitution) after being made to taste test it first. The Chauffeur escapes with Gigi, and leads the police on an animated foot and car chase through the city. Gigi manages to escape out of the sunroof and reunites with his father. During his recovery, Nescaffier saves 'The Abacus' from near starvation by preparing him an omelette, the prisoner having been totally neglected in the fracas. Back at the office of The French Dispatch, Howitzer tells Wright to reinsert a deleted page. In it, a recovering Nescaffier tells Wright that the taste of the poison was unlike anything he had ever eaten in his life, before they commiserate over the state of both being foreigners in France.

In the epilogue, Howitzer is seen to be laid out on his desk, covered in a sheet very dead, on his birthday. The French Dispatch staff, consisting Owen Wilson, Elisabeth Moss, Jason Schwartzman, Fisher Stevens, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Griffin Dunne and the waiter (Pablo Pauly) who delivers the birthday cake all mourn Howitzer's passing, but all set to work on his obituary and on the final issue in honour of his memory. 

'The French Dispatch' is whimsical, quirky and imaginative Wes Anderson storytelling at almost its best (although not quite up there with 'The Grand Budapest Hotel'), and that's because with an opening prologue, a closing epilogue and three stories sandwiched between there is so much to take in, so much to see and so much to read on screen that it's really difficult to keep up. That said, the set designs are impeccable and richly realised, the assembled cast of A-list Actors is straight out of the Who's Who of European and American acting talent, and the sure fired quick witted dialogue is sure to raise a smile a least for even the most hard boiled viewers. As far the three individual stories are concerned not one of these stands out as being head and shoulders above the others and whilst each stands alone on its own merits, as a whole it's hardly the sum of its parts. All credit though to Director and Writer Wes Anderson for his truly unique approach to storytelling and film making, that makes his films stand aloft in a world dominated by comic book adaptations, RomComs, and shoot 'em up take no prisoners action fare.  

'The French Dispatch' merits three claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a possible five claps.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

NO TIME TO DIE : Tuesday 16th November 2021.

I saw the M Rated 'NO TIME TO DIE' at my local multiplex this week and finally, the 25th Bond film is released in Australia, as Directed and Co-Written by Cary Joji Fukunaga whose prior film making credits include 'Jane Eyre' in 2011 and 'Beasts of No Nation' in 2015. Phoebe Waller-Bridge also Co-Wrote this film with Neal Purvis and Robert Wade. The film was originally scheduled for release in November 2019, but was postponed to February 2020 and then to April 2020 after Danny Boyle's departure as Director due to creative differences. It was then postponed until a November 2020 release date due to the ongoing severity of the COVID-19 pandemic worldwide, and was pushed back again to an early April 2021 date. It was then postponed to an October 2021 release date, with the World Premier screening scheduled for London's Royal Albert Hall on 28th September. The film was released in the UK on 8th October, in the US on 15th October and in China on 29th October, with the release postponed until last week in Australia because of national lockdowns which have since been lifted. The film has so far grossed US$710M off the back of a production budget somewhere in the vicinity of US$280M, and has garnered generally positive Reviews for this, Daniel Craig's final outing as the titular British MI6 Agent James Bond.  

The film opens up with a lone gunman traipsing through the snow to an isolated house by a lake surrounded by a forest. Inside the house, a young Madeleine Swann (Coline Defaud) looks after her near comatose mother (Mathilde Bourbin) on the verge of passing out on the sofa under the influence of alcohol, cigarettes and who knows what else. As the gunman approaches and enters the house the mother has passed out, leaving the young girl terrified as the masked gunman approaches. Madeleine runs upstairs and cowers under the bed having retrieved a revolver from under the kitchen sink. The gunman says to the mother that her husband was responsible for the death of his whole family and promptly shoots the mother dead where she lays, and then walks upstairs to Madeleine's bedroom. Seeing the room seemingly empty he turns around to leave, just as the young girl pops her head over the side of the bed and fires off several shots into the gunman, sending him crashing through the wooden balustrade down into the room below, apparently dead. As the girl drags the lifeless body outside through the snow, the gunman comes around and rises up. Madeleine makes a hasty exit across the iced up lake, but once in the middle the ice begins to crack under her weight, and she falls through. The gunman rescues Madeleine. 

We then fast forward to five years ago and a now adult Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) is in the southern Italian city of Matera with James Bond (Daniel Craig) - the pair in love. Bond is there with the intention of paying his final respects to Vesper Lynd as she is entombed there. Upon visiting the tomb he notices in a bunch of flowers a Spectre calling card, at which point the tomb explodes. 

Spectre assassins are soon hot on Bond's heels led by Primo (Dali Benssalah) but he successfully manages to evade being killed off and escapes with Madeleine in the bullet riddled yet gadget heavy Aston Martin DB5. Bond believes that Swann has betrayed him, and despite her pleas to the contrary, he packs her on a train and says that she will never see him again. 

Fast forward to the present day, and MI6 scientist Valdo Obruchev (David Dencik) is kidnapped from an MI6 off-grid laboratory, with the lab destroyed and all working operatives therein shot dead. With M's approval Obruchev had developed the top-secret Project Heracles, an exclusive bioweapon containing nanobots designed to infect like a virus upon touch that are coded to an individual's DNA, rendering it lethal to the target and their relatives, but completely harmless to anyone else. 

Bond meanwhile has retired to Jamaica, where he is enjoying the laid back relaxed lifestyle. He is contacted by his old friend from the CIA, Agent Felix Leiter (Jeffrey Wright) and his colleague Logan Ash (Billy Magnussen), who ask for Bond's help, for old time's sake, in finding Obruchev. Bond declines, but after Nomi (Lashana Lynch), an MI6 agent and his replacement as 007, tells him about Project Heracles, Bond agrees to help Leiter, over Nomi's warnings not to get involved.

Bond sails into Cuba and meets Paloma (Ana de Armis), a CIA agent, with three weeks training allegedly, working with Leiter. They infiltrate a Spectre meeting to celebrate Blofeld's birthday to extract Obruchev. Still locked up inside Belmarsh Prison, Blofeld uses a disembodied 'bionic eye' to lead the meeting and order his members to kill Bond with a 'nanobot mist', but it kills all the Spectre members, as Obruchev had reprogrammed the nanobots to infect them all instead. It turns out that the masked gunman in the opening scene is Lyutsifer Safin (Rami Malek) who had given the orders to Obruchev to wipe out all of Spectre. Bond captures Obruchev and  flies out on Nomi's seaplane to meet with Leiter and Ash on a fishing trawler out at sea. Ash, however, reveals himself to be a double agent who is working for Safin. In a fight between Bond and Ash, Leiter is shot in the stomach. Ash escapes with Obruchev on the seaplane leaving Bond and Leiter locked in the engine room, as the trawler explodes in a ball of flame and gradually begins to sink. As the water rises Leiter bids his final farewell to his old friend and sinks below the water succumbing to his wound. Bond swims through the hole caused by the explosion to the surface, finds a life raft, and is picked up later the next day by a passing container ship. 

Back now in London and Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) arrange a meeting between Bond and Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) in Belmarsh Prison to try to locate the whereabouts of Obruchev. Meanwhile, Safin visits and coerces the now psychotherapist Dr. Madeleine Swann to infect herself with a nanobot dose to kill Blofeld, as she has been in contact with him for treatment since his imprisonment. 

When Bond encounters Madeleine for the first time in five years at Belmarsh their reception is frosty to say the least. Once inside the confines of Blofeld's high security prison cell, he touches her and unknowingly infects himself before she leaves, unable to go through with Safin's plan. Blofeld confesses to Bond that he staged the explosion at Vesper Lynd's tomb to make it seem as though Madeleine had betrayed him. Bond reacts by grabbing Blofeld by the throat in a strangle hold, but M's Chief of Staff Bill Tanner (Rory Kinnear) intervenes. Moments later when the dust has settled, they both look around to see Blofeld slumped back in his chair dead, as Bond had unintentionally caused the nanobots to infect and kill him.

Bond traces Madeleine back to her childhood home in Norway and learns that she has a five-year-old daughter, Mathilde ((Lisa-Dorah Sonnet), who she claims is not his. After kissing and making-up for lost time in which Bond says his biggest regret is putting Madeleine on that train five years ago, she tells him that when Safin was a boy, his parents were murdered by her father on Blofeld's orders. Having avenged them by killing Blofeld and destroying Spectre, Safin continues his rampage with Ash and their henchmen in pursuit of Bond, Madeleine and Mathilde in a high speed chase through the mountainous Norwegian countryside and forest. Ultimately Bond kills Ash by crushing him under his upturned Range Rover from which he had just crawled out of, and the other thugs, but Safin captures Madeleine and Mathilde and makes off with them in a helicopter, leaving Bond on the ground looking on.

Q enables Bond and Nomi to infiltrate Safin's headquarters in a former WWII missile base, converted to a nanobot factory, on an island located somewhere between Japan and Russia. There Obruchev is mass-producing the Heracles technology so Safin can use it to systematically wipe out millions of people. Bond kills many of Safin's men while Nomi kills Obruchev by shoving him backwards into a huge nanobot vat. 

Madeleine escapes captivity at the hands of Primo, while Safin lets Mathilde go after she bites him on the hand, for which he has no patience. Nomi takes Madeleine and Mathilde away from the island while Bond stays behind to open the island's 1950's Russian era blast-resistant silo doors, and calls in a missile strike from HMS Dragon, as the only Royal Navy vessel in the area, to destroy the installation with M's (Ralph Fiennes) approval despite protestations from the Russian and Japanese governments and the UK's Prime Minister. Bond, while making a sharp exit encounters more of Safin's men whom he kills, including Primo.

Safin ambushes Bond as he is making his way outta there, shooting him twice and infecting him with a vial containing nanobots programmed to kill Madeleine and Mathilde. Despite his injuries, Bond kills Safin after a fight and re-opens the silos which Safin had previously closed. Speaking by radio with Madeleine, Bond tells her he loves her and encourages her to move on without him. Madeleine confirms that Mathilde is his daughter as Bond says his final farewell.

Much has been written about 'No Time To Die' and most of it positive, and as Australia is just about the last country on Earth to see 007 doing what he does best, it will come as no surprise to anyone to learn that James Bond carks it at the end of this film. This of course begs the question of the Producers and the Writers of how do they bring back James Bond for the 26th instalment in this ever popular franchise. Perhaps this episode is all just a dream and Bond will wake up next to Swann and Blofeld, Leiter and Spectre will all still be very much alive and kicking and Safin never existed! Maybe! That said, this film has all the usual touchstones that make Bond such an enjoyable watch - the big action set pieces, the exotic locations, the gadgets, the intrigue, the quips, the megalomaniacal villain and in this one the emotion too that Bond portrays in his love and regret for Swann and for ever doubting her, that ultimately costs him his life. The film has heart and soul as well as a more mature Bond who is still able to handle himself, albeit not quite as bullet proof as he once was, and deliver the one liners with aplomb whilst showing us that he is capable of real care, love and emotion. Craig gives his all in this his final performance as the titular Secret Agent and his demise is a fitting end to his legacy over the last five films. At a run time of 163 minutes it is however, just a tad on the lengthy side, albeit the film never leaves you wanting and it moves along at a swift pace, despite the mid-section dragging its heels a little. 

'No Time To Die' merits four claps of the Odeon Online clapperboard from a potential five claps. 

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

THE LOBSTER : Saturday 14th November 2015.

'THE LOBSTER', which I saw over the weekend, has received generally positive reviews although it is hailed as weird, surreal, and quite unlike anything before seen. And it certainly is that - bizarre is how I would describe it and I struggled to connect with this near future dystopian romantic comedy that in its latter half I felt my attention ebbing away as it seemed to be going around in circles before reaching its final destination - and when it does the ending comes very abruptly.

Made for just US$4.5M this film has so far grossed US$2.7M and is likely to find a select audience only of alternative art house types wanting to see this Written, Produced and Directed Film by Greek Yorgos Lanthimos in his English language debut. The film was shown at this years Cannes Film Festival where it took out the Jury Prize and it was shown in the Special Presentations section too and this years Toronto International Film Festival, and at the recent Adelaide Film Festival also.

Although we don't know when, 'The Lobster' is set in the very near future, and we open up with David (Colin Farrell) sat on the sofa at home being delivered the news by his wife in the background that their marriage of eleven or so years is over. A dog sits beside him at his feet. He seems accepting of this news, resigned to his fate, asks a few questions and the next day or so he boards a bus with his dog and a small suitcase in tow. He is taken to 'The Hotel' where he goes through a series of personal questions, bodily inspections, given a new set of clothes and a set of rules by which he must abide by in the time he is there. Escorted to his room overlooking a stretch of water David makes himself comfortable with his dog.

In this near future society those single individuals are rounded up and taken to The Hotel where they have 45 days in which to find a mate amongst the other occupants. If they do find a match this is celebrated and they then have a month in which to live together in another section to determine if they are truly compatible, and if so they are released back to 'The City'. If however, they are unsuccessful they are killed and reincarnated as an animal of their pre-determined choice and released into the nearby woods. David advises the Hotel Manager (Olivia Colman) that his choice is to become a lobster - because they can live for 100 years, continue to reproduce throughout their entire life, are sea dwelling blue bloods and therefore a little aristocratic, and live in the sea which he has an affinity with. The dog that has accompanied David we learn is his brother, who stayed in The Hotel previously and was unsuccessful in his attempt to find a match.

Early on over breakfast David meets up with The Lisping Man (John C. Reilly) and The Limping Man (Ben Whishaw) and the three form a bond. There are planned activities to keep the occupants of The Hotel amused which includes propaganda acted out on stage about the virtues of being a couple over being single in this new world order, simulated sexual arousal with a hotel maid because masturbation is strictly forbidden, and 'The Hunt' where occupants venture out in to the woods armed with tranquilliser guns to capture 'The Loners' - those who have escaped from The Hotel and seek a singular existence. Each Loner captured guarantees one extra day of human existence.

As time progresses The Limping Man matches up with The Nosebleed Woman, by faking his own nosebleeds to garner empathy and foster a connection. They get together and are determined a match and move out for the month to test their true compatibility. David meets up with The Heartless Woman - an ice maiden with zero personality, nerves of steel and needless to say seemingly no heart but a stellar track record at bringing in Loners, so much so that she has raked up 100+ bonus days at The Hotel. Through some of his own manipulation The Heartless Woman determines that they may be matched and so they are put to the test for a month. However, one morning when she awakens him with a bloodied leg she announces that she has kicked his dog to death in the bathroom. Realising they are not compatible, David overcomes her and secretly takes her to 'The Transformation Room' where he turns her into an animal, although what animal is not revealed. He then escapes into the woods and is taken in by The Loners.

The Loners here sleep in the undergrowth, forage for food, have their own set of rules by which they must abide and must remain hidden during The Hunt for fear of capture. The Loners are governed over by The Loner Leader (Lea Seydoux) and here David meets with The Shortsighted Woman (Rachel Weisz) with whom he strikes a connection being shortsighted himself, and The Loner Swimmer (Michael Smiley). From time to time there are covert missions back to The City where the four will go together undercover as couples eating in cafes, shopping for clothes and visiting the parents of The Loner Leader and talking over tea.  David and The Shortsighted Woman secretly enjoy these outings as it enables them to connect physically and be the couple they secretly long to be.

Things take a cruel twist for The Shortsighted Woman at the hands of The Loner Leader when their clandestine affair is revealed. This leaves David unsure of his feelings for her as her physical abilities now would make her so much more dependant upon on him and very difficult given their woodland existence. However, over time he warms to her once more and they hatch a plan to return to The City and live as the couple they long to be. Sat in a restaurant we see David take his leave to go to the restroom armed with a steak knife to inflict upon himself the same disability that The Shortsighted Woman now has, in order that they both can share a true connection again. And . . . fade to black, pause,and roll the credits!

This is a bizarre, weird, very alternative film that will not be for everyone. It explores the meaning of relationships, the need for acceptance and to conform, what is compatibility, and how fixated we are on being one half of a couple - casually, temporarily or permanently. The first half of the film is a lot more engaging than the second half which I thought meandered around without really going anywhere. There are some genuine laugh out loud moments in the film as well as some shocks and surprises, but equally there are some frustrations too where the scene is left hanging and you're left wondering - no more so than right at the end! Colin Farrell plays against type here and convincingly enough as the portly deadpan unassuming anti-hero having stacked on the kilos for his architect character thrown into a very different environment where relationships are a matter of life and death!

With six award wins already and another twelve nominations pending, this is a film to search out if your looking for an alternative, quirky, at times disturbing film that will make you reflect on what you know of our dating society, relationships, the meaning of love and how we view singles over couples.

-Steve, at Odeon Online-

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-