Was ever a cinematic hero less of his time than James Bond is today? "Spectre", the 24th film in the series, exudes nostalgia for when men were men, Britain was a superpower and political correctness had something to do with Erskine May's treatise on parliamentary procedure. It is terrific fun: a giant, boozy, explosion-filled convulsion of insecurity on behalf of the country that, as Dean Acheson put it, "has lost an empire and has not yet found a role". Britain may be a diminished power, but Daniel Craig's snarling spy has the world view of a snug-bar reactionary and the moral credo of an alcoholic sex tourist: James Bond as the geopolitical equivalent of a Napoleon complex.
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