The latest trailer for Spectre has been released and more details about the forthcoming James Bond film, set for release on October 26 in the UK, have been revealed.
The trailer shows Bond on an unofficial mission to Mexico City and later being quizzed about it by M (Ralph Fiennes).
Bond’s trademark humourous asides appear to have been reintroduced along with additional gadgets which have been largely noticeable by their absence from Daniel Craig’s Bond films.
Also back for Craig’s Bond are the white tuxedo, Aston Martin (with added gadgets), plenty of stunts and a menacing chief henchman, Mr Hinx, played by Dave Bautista.
Andrew Scott, who plays Max Denbigh, appears to be an antagonist in the trailer – possibly struggling with M as they fight over a gun in a brief split-second scene.
The trailer remains ambiguous over the motivations of the two Bond girls – with Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci) and Madeleine Swann (Lea Seydoux) offering few hints within the trailer.
The notes within the trailer suggest that Swann will be the daughter of the villainous Mr White, who last appeared in Quantum of Solace in 2008.
There is also a more direct echo back to one of the better Bond films (and sound tracks) of the past when a few bars of John Barry’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service are heard towards the end of the trailer, combined with the Alpine locations on show to hark back to a film that many Bond fans rate highly.
That film might not have starred the best Bond, although George Lazenby did the best he could, but it was one of the most memorable appearances of iconic Bond villain Ernst Stavro Blofeld.
Christoph Waltz plays the mysterious Franz Oberhauser, having continually denied that he was playing Blofeld, but the trailer plays on his character’s apparently unnoticed omnipresence in Bond’s life until now.
It was reported last week on BBC Test Match Special that Spectre director Sam Mendes will “likely not be” helming any further entries in the James Bond canon although the film after Spectre would be the 25th official Bond movie and potentially the last one starring Craig.