Spectre (2015)

My Review

James Bond once again faces the global crime organization “Spectre,” where he infiltrates one of their meetings, but is recognized by his old nemesis E. S. Blofeld, who sends one of his goons to pursue him. Bond has not faced Blofeld and SPECTRE since “Diamonds are Forever” (1971), which was actually a Sean Connery experience. (They were also Bond’s opponents in “Never Say Never Again” of 1983, a non-Eon product.) Director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty” 1999) retained high production values for this twenty-fourth 007 film from Eon Productions. The screenplay was penned by John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and Jez Butterworth.

The cast includes Daniel Craig as James Bond, Chrisoph Walz as Ernst Stavro Blofeld, Ben Whishaw as Q, Ralph Fiennes as M, Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, Lea Seydoux as Dr. Madeleine White Swann, Dave Bautista as Mr. Hinx, Monica Bellucci as Lucia Sciarra, and Judi Dench in a cameo as the previous M. “Spectre” was the sixth highest grossing film of 2015 for producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, Eon Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Columbia Pictures, and Sony Pictures Releasing.

“Spectre” was filmed in England, Italy, Austria, Morocco, and Mexico. It won one Academy Award for Best Song (“Writing’s on the Wall,” Sam Smith and Jimmy Napes). By the way, SPECTRE is the acronym for Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge, and Extortion.