The Name's Bond, James Bond

Spectre: Rated “PG-13“ (2 h. 28 m.)

Starring: Daniel Craig, Christoph Waltz, Léa Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci

Directed by: Sam Mendes

Yes, we know that Daniel Craig has very publically indicated that he is no longer interested in populating the role of the top agent on Her Majesties’ Secret Service, but that shouldn’t stop us from still tall talking about his last outing as James Bond — especially as it was his initial appearance in that role that led us back to truly enjoying the franchise.

So, to jump right in, we start this one out with Bond (still Craig) on a rogue mission in first Mexico City, where he winds up not only blowing up a large part of a building, but killing an infamous criminal named Marco Sciarra (Alessandro Cremona), whom Bond has been tracking. Checking in at HQ, Bond is spanked by M (Fiennes) for going off-script, which Bond brushes off as he is wont to do before scurrying off to Rome, where the MI6 agent is meets the very beautiful Lucia (Bellucci), Sciarra’s widow. Bond then infiltrates a secret meeting of some very mysterious fellows, where he uncovers the existence of the sinister organization known as SPECTRE.

Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh, (Andrew Scott) the new head of the Centre of National Security, who not only questions Bond’s actions but goes on to challenge the actual relevance of MI6 led by M. All the while, Moneypenny and Q (both of whom have been covertly enlisted by Bond to assist on his current quest) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann, (Seydoux) who is the daughter of his old nemesis Mr. White, (Jesper Christensen) who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of the assassin, Swann seems to understand Bond in a way that most others apparently cannot. As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks.

As with other Craig-lead Bond films, this one is a twisted Gordian knot of lies, secrets, and deception that wind themselves around high-octane intrigue, firefights, hyper-kinetic violence, and high-speed chase sequences. Yes, much of a Bond film is seeing what exciting thing is going to blow up next as he wends his way through the mystery to arrive at the conclusion and breaking the back of whatever sinister plot is afoot this time around. Still that doesn’t so much make the films monotonous, but really does (for some of us at least) add to the thrill of the hunt.

Sure, sure Jason Borne may very well be tougher and rougher, Jack Bauer may be more aggressively pro-active, and Nick Fury may be more Machiavellianly suave, but when talking about the very definition of über-spy coolness, Bond is the cock of the walk. Now while — as we pointed out at the top of this piece — Craig is no longer part of the legend, we still can look forward to who might very well be next in line to take over this very iconic spot. Several names have been bandied about, including Idris Elba, Tom Hardy, Henry Cavill (who just did a turn as Napoleon Solo in the big-screen reboot of The Man from U.N.C.L.E.), Tom Hiddleston (who is currently playing a spy John le Carré's The Night Manager on AMC), Jason Statham, Michael Fassbender, Colin Firth, and (believe it or not) Gillian Anderson (Scully from X-Files).

Whoever winds up next as Bond (including apparently even Craig himself), we’ll just have to wait and see. In the mean time we still have the eight actors who have already played Bond (nine if you count David Oyelowo who played Bond in the audiobook Trigger Mortis), 26 films and one TV series.