It seems that 2015 is shaping up to be a vintage year for spy capers at the cinema. It’s hardly half way through February and already we’ve had the ubiquitous Johnny Depp and Gwyneth Paltrow appear in the lacklustre Mortdecai which, despite opening at over 2,600 screens in America the film proved dead in the water as hits like the topical American Sniper left everything else in its wake. More successful was the feisty, streetwise Kingsman. The suave spy adventure from the golden pen of Jonathan Ross’s wife Jane Goldman and director Matthew Vaughan has a much healthier forecast, already having raked in over $20 million since its release at the end of January, and it hasn’t even opened in America yet – whose interest should keep it well buoyant as we all know how the Americans are suckers for anything or anyone with a bit of stiff upper lip.
Which should auger well for the other two secret agents due to hit the big screen before the year is out. Yesterday saw the release of further teasers for two of 2015’s mostly eagerly anticipated spy adventures – and initial signs are promising. Director Guy Ritchie is looking to repeat his Sherlock Holmes magic by reinventing for the big screen the cult 60’s TV series The Man From U.N.C.L.E.: with a new poster promising to give us ‘a higher class of hero’ and starring the epitome of gentlemanly sophistication in the form of Henry Cavill and Hugh Grant (and even a rumoured appearance by David Beckham), the signs are that he might well be on the right track.
As for the one which everyone is waiting for, some tantalising location shots have been released for Spectre, the twenty fourth outing for the only spy who really matters. Returning for a second time director Sam Mendes takes Bond back to the snow – and let’s be honest 007 is always at his best on skis – the stills of Daniel Craig on the slopes of Sölden in Austria will be enough to make fans rush to book their tickets now for the film’s November release.
