★ ★ ★ ½ ☆





Daniel Craig and Léa Seydoux charm their way through this thrilling – if flimsy – ‘Best of Bond’ highlight reel. 007’s world is under threat from the inside and out as intelligence higher-up Denbigh (Andrew Scott) promises to scrap the Double-0 programme, while the mysterious Spectre organisation and it’s enigmatic leader Franz Oberhauser (Christoph Waltz) is brought into the light.





If this is truly to be Craig’s final outing as Bond (one can never be too sure given the erratic nature of his recent press outings) then I can’t imagine we could have asked for better demonstration of his commitment to the role. Craig’s Bond has been visibly moulded by the events of the previous three films (yes, even Quantum of Solace!) while still keeping his rough-hewn, bulldog appeal in full effect. His better side is especially brought out during his scenes with Madeleine Swann (Seydoux), a sly and shining character who injects a healthy dose of complexity and depth to the Bond girl formula.





Christoph Waltz (even in movies that don’t deserve him) never half-arses a performance, and Spectre refuses to be the exception. He’s cool and calculating without simply forming a carbon copy of his character from Inglorious Basterds: Hans Landa had a twisted logic and code of ethics about him, but Oberhauser is classic, unswayable Bond baddie. The unravelling plot that falls upon his shoulders also does a very nice job of neatly tying together the story of Craig’s Bond so far (again, even Quantum of Solace factors into the equation without everything falling apart!).