Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating 9/10
Cast: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Monica Bellucci, Ralph Fiennes, Dave Bautista, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris, Andrew Scott, Rory Kinnear, Jesper Christensen.
The old familiar music, the killer instinct, the brutality and scenes of torture to be endured, a world in crisis which hangs by a single thread and a pristine tuxedo filled with the best that MI6 has to offer, Bond is back, this time though, as the saying goes, it really is personal.
The 24th official outing for James Bond and the fourth for Daniel Craig are almost a match in cinematic heaven for an audience still hungry for the franchise, arguably a franchise that under Daniel Craig’s stewardship, Quantum of Solace being the only blip, which has been rejuvenated and cared for almost unlike any other film or hero in the last fifty years.
Spectre, an enemy network so vast, so terrifyingly complex and what makes them and their head man lurking in the shadows so chilling, is their ultimate aim, not money, not wealth, not even in the traditional sense, world domination but information, the sly gathering of every detail about every living person on the planet. The chilling overtones that come with national security cannot be ignored, the worryingly simple idiom that “If you don’t do anything wrong, then you have nothing to fear” being alluded to in the heart of the film and yet it is this information gathering that brings about the downfall of the individual, that festers resentment and asks the salient question, are we created to serve a nation or born to enjoy the fleeting moments of life to their fullest potential, without being subservient to the whims of a master.
The four films under Daniel Craig’s stewardship have all been building to this almighty climax and should this prove to be the last one for the Blonde Bond, then there should no sign of disgruntled opinion, he has truly served the audience well and given James Bond back to those who flock to cinemas. Daniel Craig is Bond, more so than Sean Connery, the grit and tenacity in intensified and with good reason, the fight has got so much bigger, against others and our own Government and it is that audiences need a Bond to depend upon and not one to whom the 60s was a pleasant sepia filled memory.
With excellent performances by Ben Whishaw as Q, an actor that surely audiences could not bear to see leave the franchise, Léa Seydoux turning in a consummate performance as Madeleine Swann and Christop Waltz over turning years of megalomaniacs with one dimensional, almost myopic, outlooks and offering a calm, almost too composed presentation of true evil at work and Ralph Fiennes being a truly inspirational M, Daniel Craig has the cast list he deserves to make Spectre a third classic Bond during his tenure.
Bond is back and it’s truly explosive.
Ian D. Hall