Now we are finally back on track... or are we?... with only a three year gap leading up to the Spectre movie this November. It's still a lengthy wait, but it'll be worth it if the film lives up to its title. Spectre instantly conjures up images of the Bond pictures of the 60's, the originals, the classics that set the standards for what we'd come to expect in every 007 movie. High adventure, good escapist fun, and thrills and girls and gadgets to your heart's content.
The James Bond Story, a documentary about the 007
phenomenon; and Goldeneye, a so-so bio-pic about Bond
creator Ian Fleming.
Spectre will haunt movie theatres come November 6th. For now we have the movie teaser trailer to keep us happy. The trailer doesn't give us much, but what we see is in keeping with the dark tone that crept into the Bond films when Casino Royale came along. I don't want any big reveals at this point anyway; that would only spoil the surprises that will doubtless be crucial points in the movie.
Spectre picks up shortly after the events of Skyfall, the destruction of the MI6 headquarters and James' ancestral home. Bond's mysterious past again plays a role in the story, some sort of family secret.
One particular shot in the trailer shows us a great visual setting: the frosty mountains surrounding a lake, with Bond (presumably) boating toward a large cabin on the shore. The isolated spot in the wilderness is a nice switch from the usual urban tank races and free-running.
We also get a glimpse of the Spectre ring we know and love from the early Bond pictures. Head villainous honcho Blofeld and his crew of terror killers always sported the tentacular piece of jewelry. There were variations in the design over the years, and even in the new film trailer, we see a sleeker, less gaudy styling.
Just one of the Spectre ring designs from the 60's flms
A scruffy Mr. White, who we know from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, figures into this story. His line in the trailer informs us that Bond is once again up against the huge and powerful criminal organization: "You're a kite dancing in a hurricane, Mr. Bond". The formality of the warning is standard fare for the polite maniacal characters of 007's world.
Modern day acting great Christoph Waltz plays the main bad guy in Spectre, though that character is not Blofeld, if the small amount of available information is correct. Interestingly, Waltz appeared in the 1989 Ian Fleming bio-pic called Goldeneye (not to be confused with the 1995 official Bond film of the same name) as a German spy. The bio-pic was rather forgettable, poorly paced and not very interesting overall. In fact, the more recent BBC TV offering, Fleming: The Man Who Would Be Bond, was a more enticing effort, though it was weakened by too much artistic license.
It's nice to see Skyfall's Sam Mendes back in the director's chair here. His superb skills gave the franchise a solid fuel injection that was sorely needed after the lacklustre Quantum of Solace. Quantum, for me, fell far short of the brilliance that was Casino Royale, though the bar was set ridiculously high by that one. Skyfall achieved Casino success, not by duplicating its dark and gritty tone, but by polishing it with an eye toward 007's early cinematic adventures. Neat little references to 60's Bondisms, plus a focus on his personal history, blend the familiar tropes with the eternal questions of our hero's origins.
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From 1962's Dr. No:
Dr. No: I'm a member of SPECTRE.
Bond: SPECTRE?
Dr. No: SPECTRE: Special Executive for Counter-Intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, Extortion. The four great cornerstones of power headed by the greatest brains in the world.
Bond: Correction: Criminal brains!
Dr. No: The successful criminal brain is always superior. It has to be.
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