Bond 24 Title and Cast Announced

As I've said once or twice before on this blog, I am a huge James Bond fan. The film series is very close to my heart, and I eagerly await the new installment immediately after the latest one is released. That's not to say I can't enjoy the new ones while they're out. I just can't get enough. And today, some information was revealed regarding the newest Bond film, which has been given the title Spectre. There are plenty of things going on in the movie world that I could talk about. I elected not to post about the latest Star Wars trailer, simply because I was so excited about it my thoughts would have come out incoherently. But, this is something I've been waiting for intensely ever since Skyfall came out two years ago. I've got my 007 shirt on, and I'm ready to go. Here are my initial thoughts about Spectre.

First off, the title. SPECTRE, for those who are unfamiliar with Bond, was a global terrorist group that appeared a lot in the older movies. It's nice to see right off the bat that Sam Mendes and his crew are once again trying to hearken back to the good old days of Sean Connery's Bond films. I felt that's what they did with Skyfall a little bit, and the title of this movie suggests they're doing it again. And I love that.

That brings me to my next topic, which is the casting of Christoph Waltz. The guy is a really talented actor, which he's proven through films like his recent collaborations with Quentin Tarantino. There were a lot of rumors swirling around about Waltz maybe playing the classic Bond villain Ernst Blofield. These rumors have since quieted down, and I heard he's supposedly playing a character named Franz Oberhauser, who is most likely related to Hannes Oberhauser, a character in Ian Fleming's novels. Whether this is just a cover for Waltz' true role, or he's actually playing this Oberhauser guy remains to be seen. As much as I'd love to see Blofield on screen again, the latter choice is the most likely.

There are some other impressive castings for Spectre. These include Andrew Scott, most well-known for his wonderful portrayal of Moriarty in Sherlock, Dave Bautista of Guardians of the Galaxy fame, and Monica Bellucci and Lea Seydoux as the two Bond girls. These are some great additions to the Bond universe, and I'll be interested in seeing what part they play, particularly Scott and Bautista.

One other reveal was a picture of the new Aston Martin for the film. That's become an integral part of the mythos, and while it was awesome to see the DB5 again in Skyfall, the DB10 looks sweet. I seriously cannot wait to see Daniel Craig speeding his way around in this thing. It's going to be epic.





As you can see on the list of my ten favorite Bond films, I absolutely adored Skyfall. Furthermore, Casino Royale remains my favorite 007 movie of all-time. As you may infer from this, I'm a fan of Daniel Craig as Bond. While Connery will always be the best, Craig might just be my personal favorite. Not only does he capture that irresistible cool factor that Bond possesses, he's also got a tremendous amount of style. That's not to say Connery didn't have style, but Craig is a different animal altogether, and I love his interpretation of the character. I'm eagerly looking forward to seeing him in action again.

Sam Mendes is also back as the director for Spectre. He did a fabulous job with Skyfall, which was one of the best directed Bond films ever. I can't wait to see what else Mendes has in store for us. I also look forward to seeing the returning cast members from the previous Craig Bond movies. Ralph Fiennes has stepped into the role of M, replacing the great Judi Dench, who so convincingly inhabited the role for close to 20 years. Ben Wishaw will once again play Q, and Naomie Harris is returning as Moneypenny. I'm anticipating that Mendes will even further integrate these classic characters into his interpretation of the universe.

Spectre has to be one of my two or three most anticipated films of 2015, right up there with Age of Ultron and Star Wars: The Force Awakens. These initial reveals have me very excited for what they've got in store, and November 6 really can't come fast enough.