Spectre First Review: Bond Is Back - And With A Bang - In A Movie That Warrants All The Hype With 007 Returning To His Murderous, Glamorous Best

Does it warrant all the hype, the secrecy, the breathless anticipation? Indubitably, yes, writes BRIAN VINER. From the exhilarating pre-credits sequence, against the backdrop of the Day of the Dead festival in Mexico City, to a spectacular denouement in the shadow of the Houses of Parliament, Spectre is a proper joyride of a James Bond film. It features everything (with the exception of a really memorable theme song) that most of us hope for in a 007 picture: great gadgets, stunts, and a handful of laugh-out loud one-liners. Will it overtake Bond's last outing, Skyfall, which took over $1 billion at the global box-office, to become the most successful British-made film ever? Well, it stands every chance. And we live in record-breaking times. Spectre not only features the oldest of all Bond "girls" in 51-year-old Monica Bellucci (bottom left), it is also, at nigh on two and a half hours, the longest of all 24 Bond films.

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