Spectre review: New James Bond film is 007 at his best

SPECTRE, the fourth outing for Daniel Craig as 007, is as sleek and powerful as the Aston Martin that races through the movie.

This fourth outing for Daniel Craig as James Bond is achingly cool, as sleek and powerful as the silver Aston Martin DB10 that races through the movie. Plus director Sam Mendes and Craig are now so comfortable with the late-007 action genre that a relaxed wit percolates almost every scene. The recipe, like the car, now seems to be bulletproof.

The movie opens in with Bond in a natty skeleton costume and top hat at Mexico City’s Day of the Dead parade, and within minutes a gorgeous woman has been abandoned mid-pout, an assassination has occurred, and tens of thousands of extras are screaming as a helicopter goes wildly out of control. And we’re back!

Monica Bellucci and Daniel Craig. Credit: Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images for CTMG.

Up comes the opening theme from Sam Smith, and what looks like Bond and a nondescript Bond Bird writhing about with an octopus — the symbol of SPECTRE or the Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion first seen in Dr No and later with Blofeld and his white cat.

But times are a-changing at MI6, and human spies are heading for obsolescence. The new C — played by the Andrew Scott (Moriarty in the Sherlock series) — is a grimly smug civil servant, and would like Bond and his cohorts to be superseded by cyber-surveillance and distant death by drone. The old 00 system is seen as being on its last legs, but those legs are attached to the metal and physical muscle of Bond. He goes rogue with the help of Q played again in a variety of ugly knitwear by Ben Whishaw.

Bond heads for Rome and an assignation with Lucia Sciarra, a Mafia (and SPECTRE) widow in a black lace veil, who is less Bond Girl than Bond Goddess, played by Monica Bellucci. At last, we hoped, aside from Judi Dench as the former M, that Bond has an older woman. But while Bellucci tries to channel the Italian grandeur of Sophia Loren, Sciarra has rather a slim role, and the best female character is played by Doctor Madeleine Swann (Lea Sedoux) daughter of Bond’s old nemesis Mr White.

This leads to Bond’s new nemesis, Christoph Waltz who plays Franz Oberhauser, son of Hannes Oberhauser who appeared in Ian Fleming’s Octopussy short story. Bond and Oberhauser’s connections go way back and Oberhauser is head of SPECTRE — omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient. Waltz’s charm hypnotising, radiates intelligence. “And I came here to kill you,” snarls Bond. “And I thought you came here to die,” smiles Oberhauser.

The film fulfils its promise, with sequences free of overcooked CGI and full of real danger. The jewel is the midnight car chase through Rome. Bond is in the Aston Martin DB10, a silver lozenge of power that does 0-60mph in 3.2 seconds, and muscleman Mr Hinx (Dave Bautista) is the more vulgar red Jaguar C-X75. It’s a car chase that could have a soundtrack of easy-listening music, in a film that works perfectly.

FIVE STARS (out of five)

SPECTRE opens in Australia on November 12

The Times