Spectre
Director: Sam Mendes
Featuring: Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux
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There can be no better complement to a box of popcorn than the perfectly predictable plots we’ve come to expect from James Bond.
You know how it goes: Bond is chilling, then there’s a threat to the survival of the British Empire, he intervenes, scores a good-looking sidekick and then saves the world.
But things have changed this time around. Bond is getting tired, and it’s not pretty.
For the first time, I’m longing for the wicked charm of Pierce Brosnan, or the quick wit and guffaw of Sean Connery.
Our current Bond, Daniel Craig, whose blend of dry humour and rough hands has been a formula that has worked before, now seems thoroughly worn out.
In fact, he alluded to this himself in a recent interview, saying he would “rather break this glass and slash my wrists” than do another Bond film.
What was once dry humour now just comes across as grumpiness, and his rough hands are more like an inappropriate slap on the arse than anything romantic. But he’s signed a five-film deal, so we’ll have to put up with him for one more movie.
In Spectre, however, there are still all the awesome bits you’ve come to expect from the franchise. The car – a specially designed Aston Martin DB10 – is practically dripping with seduction.
The opening fight scene happens inside a helicopter as it falls and soars through the sky over thousands of people – sufficiently hair-raising stuff. It also features the film franchise’s largest explosion so far – setting a Guinness world record for the largest stunt explosion – so you’ll be impressed.
The new Bond girl, played by Léa Seydoux, is also really, really beautiful and a perfectly defiant (at first) sidekick.
But these elements always get better with each film, so to keep the Bond institution alive, the film makers really need to move on from Craig – everyone else already has.
