Spectre, James Bond Movie 2015

It was an unfortunate year for the makers of Spectre, the 24th film in the iconic James Bond franchise. Not only did the headline-grabbing Sony Hackers infiltrate e-mail exchanges between film executives, they also laid hands on an early draft of the script, which circulated the internet far and wide.

Despite the drama, however, Spectre has now made its way into UK cinemas and is no doubt about to attract typically large audiences upon early next week.

The film retains the majority of Skyfall's creative crew, with Daniel Craig returning as James Bond 007 and oscar-winning Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road) directing a script written by three-time nominee John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator).

The film’s title is derived from the criminal terrorist organisation SPECTRE (Special Executive for Counter-intelligence, Terrorism, Revenge and Extortion), a fictional global terrorist organisation that was prominent during the original Bond films and several Ian Fleming novels. The film entails a trail of sinister investigations into the past of Britain's favourite smooth-talking Lothario with a licence to kill.

Purist film buffs were pleased to learn that cinematographer Hoyte Van Hoytema (Her, Interstellar, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy) has shot the entire thing on 35mm film, eschewing the hyper-realism of the digital era in favour of nostalgia for some of the early Bond classics. Spectre enjoys an all-star cast including Lea Seydoux (Blue is the Warmest Colour, The Lobster) and Monica Bellucci (The Matrix Reloaded, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice) in leading female roles (and at fifty, Italian actress Monica Bellucci is the oldest 'Bond Girl' yet) alongside Christoph Waltz as baddie ‘Oberhauser.’ Andrew Scott (Sherlock, Pride) plays Whitehall-based Denbigh, and Dave Bautista (Guardians of the Galaxy) is Mr Hinx. Returning cast members include Ben Whishaw as Q , Naomie Harris as Moneypenny, Rory Kinnear as Tanner, and Ralph Fiennes as ‘M’ (though we're sad to see the departure of Judi Dench, who had an impressive run commanding the screen as 'M' in the last seven Bond films). The film was shot in London, Rome, Mexico City, the Alps and Morocco, and Craig as Bond drives a new Aston Martin DB10 exclusively for the Spectre movie.

With a stellar cast, and epic score inundated with famous names: the award-winning Sam Smith having recorded the theme tune, Spectre has been one of the most anticipated films of 2015, and could be in the running for one of the best James Bond films so far. Monday can't come soon enough.

James Bond outdoors:

Spectre is being screened in London parks this summer as part of Luna Cinema's open-air film programme - book your tickets now!