SPECTRE: The Character of Bond

I've only just got back from seeing the latest Bond film 'Spectre' and I loved every minute of it!! A wonderful and thrilling film that I would advise anyone to see in the cinema, and if this is Daniel Craig's last Bond film then it was a spectacular send off for him. But I will leave others to review the film and speculate about it, I want to talk about what I got from the film about Bond's character.

This may contain a few little spoilers but nothing major!

Now as we all know Daniel Craig has changed the way we see Bond, adding depth to his background more than any other Bond actor did. Raising a lot of questions about his past with some of it being revealed in 'Skyfall' and now a little bit more in 'Spectre'. One major factor Daniel Craig brought to the table was how cold Bond can be at times and this is shown in 'Spectre' when it was most unexpected. As seen at a funeral when Bond is speaking to a grieving widow she says to him "Can't you see I'm grieving?" To which he replies "No." staring at her with those ominous blue eyes of his. Further reinstating his inability to sympathize with this woman. Or maybe he is fascinated by this, maybe he wishes to know what it would be like to grieve for someone he loves, did he even grieve for his parents? It opens up a few questions but it was something I found was an interesting factor to his character in the film.

He has built up defences about his past as we'd expect him to do being 007, but we never really prepared for them to be questioned directly in this film. As we see Lea Seydoux character 'Madeleine' ask him about his parents and repeatedly attempt to try and ask him his age when they died. He simply shrugs it off and doesn't seem harmed by anything she asks and then begins questioning her at the first chance he gets. I felt a sense of discomfort around Bond when he was being questioned, almost like he acts as if he doesn't feel affected by what happened but actually was and still is haunted by the tragedy. Maybe this plays a key part in the way he acts around other people and possibly why killing comes so easy to him. It may even be bigger than that and open up why Bond occasionally questions authority.

There is even a part where Bond questions himself (a spoiler here) having one of the main antagonists at gun point with Madeleine and M either side of the bridge they are on with Bond centre. As he looks at Madeleine he drops the magazine from the gun and the loaded bullets and walks towards Madeleine. In any other situation Bond wouldn't hesitate to kill the bad guy but the effect Madeleine has on him in this film is strong and different to the previous Bond Girls. At this point for me he seems conflicted between fulfilling his 'License to kill' or leaving the antagonist to be arrested which is obviously not the Bond way. Maybe he sees Madeleine as an escape from his World which is plagued with death so he feels that he doesn't need to end this man's life and instead leaves him in the hands of the law.

I wasn't going to make this long I just wanted to point out some great moments in this film for people to think about. Now go and see Spectre people!

Thanks for reading, oh and Blofeld has something to say...