The teaser trailer for the new James Bond movie, Spectre, has just been released. It's just a minute and a half's worth, and doesn't really give too much away about the plot of the film, in which Daniel Craig steps into the British spy's shoes for a fourth time. But we can glean a few pieces of information about the movie, which is due to be released on October 23, 2015, in the UK (no UAE release date as yet) and sees.
1. It looks dark
Director Sam Mendes seems to be leaving the Home-Alone-with-high-explosives high jinks of his previous instalment, Skyfall, behind and getting back to the gritty dystopia of the previous, Marc Forster-directed film, Quantum of Solace. I'm sure we won't completely lose the humour – a Bond movie wouldn't be a Bond movie without at least one cringeworthy euphemism aimed at Miss Moneypenny, or a wisecrack at the expense of a defeated foe – but judging from the clip, Mendes is definitely emphasising the less jaunty aspect of the Bond story.
2. History looks key
The movie looks set to bring Bond's past back to haunt him. We're told of a "secret" he has been carrying, which was recovered from his ancestral home following its destruction in the last movie. Bond gazes at a charred photo of two adults and a child – perhaps the orphaned Bond and his still-living parents? Quantum, meanwhile, the baddies of the Quantum of Solace instalment, look set to reappear. Quantum leader Mr White (Jesper Christensen) disappeared at the end of that movie, but he's back in the trailer, and his prognosis for Bond isn't good.
3. Spectre? Or not Spectre?
There’s been much talk about whether the title refers to S.P.E.C.T.R.E. (The Special Executive for Counter-intelligence Revenge and Extortion), the organisation that was the baddie in many of the classic 60s Bond movies, or is simply a red herring for over-excitable fans. Doubts were cast by the fact that none of the original cast announced were said to be playing the shadowy organisation’s sinister leader – and the ultimate Bond villain – Blofeld.
The trailer shows Bond revealing a ring emblazoned with the SPECTRE Octopus logo from the films of old, while the closing title screen, in which a bullet has passed through the glass behind the titles, has a pattern of smoke and cracks in the glass that look remarkably similar to an octopus too.
I think we can put this one to bed – the movie's villains will definitely be SPECTRE, with a supporting role from Quantum, perhaps? Or are the two somehow linked? Or even the same organisation? The producers didn't own the rights to the SPECTRE name when they made QoS. They do now, and with that legal spat over, it looks like Mendes may have the job of tying up the links between the two.
4. But still no Blofeld?
Well, not officially. The rumour mill decided soon after December's cast announcement that Christopher Waltz's character, Oberhausen, was a decoy, and that he would in reality be playing the Polish chaos-bringer who has tormented Bond in such classics as From Russia with Love and For Your Eyes Only.
Waltz certainly has form as a baddie – he won an Oscar playing an evil Nazi in Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds. We also noted at the time the central European link, and the fact that the only Oberhausen to have appeared previously in the Bond universe was a bit-part character who was Bond's skiing instructor – and he seemed unlikely to be making a return in any high-profile capacity.
There’s nothing conclusive about all of this in the clip. Waltz’s brief appearance doesn’t reveal who he is, but it’s safe to say he comes across more Bond villain than skiing instructor.
On the other hand, he appears to have hair, and he isn’t stroking a cat. Has Blofeld had a makeover? Will the organisation have a new leader? Or are we waiting on a new announcement that Mike Myers will be bringing his Dr Evil character back to play the role of the character that inspired him? Unlikely, but would be delightfully postmodern.
cnewbould@thenational.ae
