The man needs no introduction. After 53 years and 23 feature films later, the James Bond franchise hit unprecedented heights with the billion dollar grossing Skyfall in 2012 (the previous record was held by Casino Royale with $600m, so that's saying something). The latest entry, titled SPECTRE for its involvement of the evil organisation not seen since the Sean Connery-era (copyright issues), looks to present itself as an amalgamation of the Daniel Craig films in the midst of the well-received Skyfall. With Sam Mendes returning to helm another feature (after initially declining), does SPECTRE look to be another marked improvement for the franchise, or was Skyfall more of a lightning in a bottle?

The action certainly's bigger this time around, with some of the biggest explosions seen in cinema, but none feel as impact-ful than one another, as the stakes during the film never reached fever pitch, leading to a so-so trek around the world featuring our favourite English Scottish spy. Daniel Craig, in his fourth entry as the blonde-haired agent 007, finally feels in his element of the character, exuding his suave demeanour yet crass humour at the same time, but is again held back by personal distractions such as his childhood past (as with  Skyfall) and a former love (as with all Craig-era films, Pierce Brosnan never had so much emotional baggage). Not entirely his best Bond performance to date, but that's largely due to the inconsistent plotline than Craig's performance.

Back to the story though, sounds a little too similar to Skyfall doesn't it? The billion dollar entry wasn't the only 007 film referenced, as SPECTRE  attempts to pay homage to the franchise history with a return of swift gadgets (the dastardly Aston Martin DB10 is one), a snow chase reminiscent of For Your Eyes Only, and an evil underground lair. The homage to the Bond of ole continues by bring a new henchman in the form of Hinx, a barely speaking, eyeball-gauging man mountain played by Dave 'GOTG's Drax' Bautista. While the fight scenes between Craig and Bautista come thick and fast (and there are plenty), they aren't as memorable as the likes of Oddjob or Jaws.

SPECTRE here also tries its earnest to tie back all the Craig-era movies into one big storyline, or a "Bond Cinematic Universe" if I may. This however wasn't executed too well, with only subtle name drops and a diagram to show the linkage between previous installment's Le Griffe, Mr. White (Casino Royale) and Raoul Silva (Skyfall) operating under Franz Oberhauser's (Christoph Waltz) SPECTRE organisation. The film's story, being promoted as having a personal stake in Bond's past, seems few in between (most of it's been explored already... in Skyfall), and their scenes barely correlate with each other.

Speaking of the evil octopus-shaped group, Waltz role is another Benedict Cumberbatch as John Harrison case from Star Trek Into Darkness, and the pay-off was probably not as epic as the producers intended. Shame, but if the character was seriously alluded to in previous installments, rather than just revealed over a two and a half hour film, the build-up would have been worth the price of admission alone, because we didn't get to feel the full impact of Waltz and Oberhauser in SPECTRE. 

Another refreshing factor taken straight out of Skyfall was the increasing involvement of the MI6 department in Bond's worldwide espionage. You had M (Ralph Fiennes), Q (Ben Whishaw) and Ms Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) assisting Bond whether he was in China and back in London, but that wasn't replicated in SPECTRE, though the banter/conversation bounces off each other really well. The crew now seems to be working independently (with reason) as they intend to take down an internal threat within the British government, but that distant interaction with our hero feels limited here and looks to retract to the older franchise entries.

The Bond girls this time out are a marked improvement over the muted lot from Skyfall, though the 'now relegated to a desk job' Ms. Moneypenny is a loss to the franchise. In comes Léa Seydoux as , who shows she's up to Bond's mantle when it comes to weapons and tussling in cars, though she's criminally underused especially in the third act. The same can't be said of veteran Italian actress Monica Bellucci, who feels like the rarely-used football player who gets called up just for the sake of breaking the 'oldest player' record, in this case the coveted (?) crown of being the oldest on-screen Bond girl.

You may have noticed much of my comparisons were made between Skyfall and SPECTRE, you'll be right to think that the latter was looking to replicate the same formula of the former. The Skyfall storyline seems to be the perfect blueprint for what SPECTRE was trying to achieve, which was to connect and bring Daniel Craig's Bond saga full circle while introducing a villain worthy of his equal. 

SPECTRE unfortunately never treads anywhere near to the amazing scale set by Skyfall, even by upping the ante with beautifully-shot action spectacles, as it was muddled by its priority to inject forced continuity into the franchise, but while compromising the the solo film's own continuity in the process. SPECTRE is an excitingly enjoyable action film on its own, but it is in no way one of the better Bond films. Skyfall looks to be now aging a lot better now.

6.5/10