James Bond

So, a Bond film directed by the chap who helmed American Beauty. It would be reasonable for us to expect a different approach, and there certainly is one. Unfortunately, there are way too many contrivances in the plot that are used to bring this about with the end result seeming haphazard and dreary. One minute we are busy in the heart of London and the next we are in the Scottish moors exploring Bond's childhood as part of an insipid climax. There is no build-up at all.

Ah! The joys of reading a well-written spy thriller. TTSS shows that it's not really the James Bonds that keep the world running, but the 'M's. The story is loosely based on Kim Philby and the Cambridge Five who were contemporaries of the author, John Le Carré as a member of MI6.