FILM REVIEW Spectre

COOL UNDER PRESSURE?Daniel Craig in latest Bond film ‘Spectre’.

Cinema
Ciara Galvin

WHAT’S more irritating than not knowing what’s happening in a film? I’ll tell you, it’s listening to a running commentary of what’s happening in a film, what is going to happen in a film, and what might possibly happen in a film.
I suppose it’s to be expected from excited fans of the 24th instalment of everyone’s favourite womanising special agent, James Bond. ‘Spectre’ has broken opening-day box-office figures in the UK, raking in £6.3 million. Not bad, eh?
It seems all the hype and media coverage before its opening has paid off. First there was the critiquing of Sam Smith’s warbling ballad ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, then Daniel Craig’s bizarre comment that he’d rather slash his own wrists than star in another Bond film.
The film’s opening is a feast for the senses. We’re in Mexico City where thousands of people are celebrating the Day of the Dead, wearing skull masks. The repetitive beating of drums coincides with the meandering of a masked man and his female friend. As they make their way to a hotel room, a nearby audience member in the cinema rightly guesses aloud that it is James Bond.
Next thing, Bond is coolly exiting through the hotel room window and walking along a dizzying ledge. After a 25-minute-long opening scene, we are treated to another five- or six-minute sequence of opening credits as Craig is rubbed by women who seem to be in flames. Artistically in flames, of course.
Director Sam Mendes definitely pulled out all the stops for his second Bond film.
As Bond is the quintessential rogue, it’s no surprise that he finds himself facing the wrath of boss M, played by Ralph Fiennes. Like only Bond can do, he responds to M’s questions as to why he was in Mexico, with ‘I was taking some holiday time’.
The premise of this latest offering is based on everyone’s Orwellian fear of being watched. A proposal to disband the trusted ‘Double 0’ programme in which Bond is employed, in favour of a worldwide surveillance network leads to the usual explosions, love affairs and killings.
Though definitely not a Bond aficionado, what struck me about this film was its throwback to previous films in the franchise. Bond is faced with his past at every turn.
What remains the same is the usual whistle-stop tour of the world, from Mexico to Italy, and Austria to Morocco. And the women? Yes, there’s still no fear of him ditching his womanising ways. He outdoes himself this time, bedding the widow (Monica Bellucci) of an assassin he has killed. But thankfully he meets his match in Madeleine Swann, played by the brooding Léa Seydoux. Their partnership has an air of ‘The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo’ about it.
Speaking as a female viewer, Bond’s sleeping around has become tiresome viewing. Can the man not just kill the baddy without it being followed up with him bursting through a door passionately kissing the nearest woman to him?
Of course there’s the bad guy Franz Oberhauser, played by the impeccably eerie Christoph Waltz. Bond takes to plane, train and automobile to stop his grand plan.
I liked the subtle ending and the hat tip to bygone eras.
Two downsides: the incredibly drawn-out opening, and listening to the running commentary for said drawn-out period.

Rating: 9 0ut of 10