【電影簡介】

詹姆斯·邦德（丹尼爾·克雷格飾）是在蘇格蘭長大的孤兒，天幕莊園承載著他童年的記憶。天幕莊園炸毀之際，唯有一張幸存的老照片令邦德難以釋懷。照片上邦德父親站在邦德和另一個孩子中間，那個孩子的身份令人生疑，所以邦德開始了一次神秘任務，從墨西哥城到最終的羅馬他邂逅了美艷的露西亞·斯琪拉（莫妮卡·貝魯奇飾），而她則是一名臭名昭著的意大利黑手黨寡婦，在那里邦德潛入到了一個密會中，揭開了一個名叫幽靈黨的邪惡組織背后的秘密。

然而，遠在倫敦的國家安全中心的新任負責人馬克思·登彼（安德魯·斯科特飾）懷疑邦德這次行動的目的，并挑戰M先生（拉爾夫·費恩斯飾）掌權的軍情六處的地位。然而邦德暗中召集了錢班霓（娜奧米·哈里斯飾）和Q博士（本·威士肖飾），協助他尋找他宿敵的女兒瑪德琳·斯旺（蕾雅·賽杜飾）的下落，瑪德琳·斯旺手里握有解開幽靈黨秘密的線索。作為一名殺手的女兒，斯旺比絕大多數人更了解邦德，正當邦德冒險潛入幽靈黨中心時，他得知自己與他尋找的敵人弗蘭茲·奧博豪斯（克里斯托弗·沃爾茲飾）之間有著駭人的聯系。

【音頻文本】

One of the few possible ways to appreciate "Spectre" is to think of the latest and most expensive title of the series as a standalone piece. The irony notwithstanding, this seems to be the only way to prolong the life of one of the longest continually-running film series in history.

Surely as per routine, "Bond 24" delivers adrenalising car chase, enchanting female bodies and cut-throat fighting scenes. In fact, courtesy of filmmakers Gary Powell and Neil Layton, actresses Monica Bellucci, Léa Seydoux and actor Dave Bautista, "Spectre" has scored well above average in the plentitude of visual thrill.

So Bond is unofficially investigating a case assigned by the previous M, and he finds a secret organization linked to his encounters in all four previous Bond films, so far so good. But nothing about the shadowy organization makes sense. "Spectre" has been powerful enough to wreak havoc in the world, but somehow isn't able to deal with an individual 00-agent. The assassin they've sent on Bond's tail seem quite keen on terminating his prey, but once Bond reaches the den of the criminals, they want to torture him instead. And guess what? They have a torture room and some equipment just in place for that purpose! How convenient!

Instead of convincing us about the threat of the villain and their evil agenda for world-wide surveillance, the filmmakers only manage to tell us the one thing we've already learnt from the last 23 Bond films, that is, attractive women, from girls in their twenties to widows in their fifties, all want to have some with our tuxedo-ed hero.

Some critics believe "Spectre" is identical with "Mission Impossible: Rogue Nation," but that's absurd! Of course both films deal with secret spy organizations, but "Spectre" and "Syndicate" are two different words. Certainly both films are about agents refusing to retire when the intelligence business is modernizing, but "James Bond" and "Ethan Hunt" are two different characters. One sleeps with his enemies and his enemies' wives and mistresses, the other only falls for someone in a more common line of business. Plus the "Rogue Nation" has done a better job in alleviating modern spies' unemployment anxiety. The IMF still needs Ethan Hunt to infiltrate facilities and crack physically isolated terminals, but the 00-agency only needs someone to look the victim in the eyes before deciding to pull the trigger, a job easily replaceable by drones with enhanced camera lenses.

But if we were to fixate on the flaws in the story, this review could go on and on, but since I strongly believe that between a movie and its reviews, only one of them is allowed to reach the two-and-a-half-hour mark, let's look at the distinct style instead.

Starting with the spectacular long take featuring Mexico's Day of the Dead celebration, the cinematographers continue to provide gratifying images as our characters carry on with their adventure across the globe. Sam Smith's "Writing's on the Wall" may not sound immediately impressive, but the controlled pace and tension eventually rise above the anti-climax of the plot. It also strongly points out the theme of the film: Bond 24 is not about spies or surveillance, but about a man's commitment to fulfilling his promise.

Whether Daniel Craig is going to honor his contract and appear in another Bond film for the sake of money, "Spectre" will suffice as a grand finale by itself. Will future directors of the franchise continue to come up with stories with distinctive themes like the Sam Mendes production, or will they churn out more popcorn spy films, we are not sure. But we are sure the latter is getting more and more difficult.

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