SPECTRE promises to be a twisty tale of reveals and double-crosses, and Sam Mendes is the right filmmaker for the task, says Raja Sen.
A skeleton wears a top hat waking through a black-clad Dance Of The Dead parade in dusty Mexico City.
James Bond shuffles across a roof and takes aim at a window while the new M admonishes him for being in Mexico without authority.
What, he demands, was Bond doing there?
"I was taking some overdue holiday,” Bond deadpans, and it is in that moment -- where he pronounces the word sloppily (‘overdjoo’ as opposed to the drier, classic way) -- and the next shot that makes him look unflatteringly hippy in a long coat that it becomes hard to take Daniel Craig’s 007 as seriously.
This is his last outing as Bond, and while director Sam Mendes looks to have figured out quite a plot, it might be one Bond attempt too many for Craig, whose charm looks in danger of wearing off.
Bond is chasing down an elusive enemy who “is everywhere” and lives “where there is no mercy”, and Dave Bautista, the wrestler we last loved in Guardians Of The Galaxy, is around to thump James around a bit.
But hey, there’s also the lovely Léa Seydoux and the eternally stunning Monica Bellucci -- not to mention the car, the delicious Aston Martin DB10 -- to make his tough job worthwhile.
At the end of his perilous path stands a smiling, all-knowing Christoph Waltz, very clearly playing Bond’s nemesis Ernst Stavro Blofeld, head of SPECTRE, introducing himself as the author of Bond’s pain.
Oh yeah.
SPECTRE promises to be a twisty tale of reveals and double-crosses, and Sam Mendes is the right filmmaker for the task.
Can Craig carry it off, though? Let’s wait and see.
SPECTRE releases in the UK on October 26 and in India on November 6.
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