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James Bond in 'SPECTRE': Will the new take on an old plot succeed?

Judging by the title, the newest Bond film will involve the villainous SPECTRE organization, one of the most famous parts of Bond lore.

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Kerstin Joensson/AP
'SPECTRE' stars Daniel Craig (l.) and L茅a Seydoux (r.).

The newest James Bond movie, 鈥淪PECTRE,鈥 opens on Nov. 6 and features the return of actor Daniel Craig as the superspy.聽

鈥淪PECTRE鈥 also features the return of actors Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, and Naomie Harris as those who help Bond behind the scenes as well as new actors like Christoph Waltz, L茅a Seydoux, Dave Bautista, Monica Belluci, and Andrew Scott.聽

The new film follows the smash hit success of the previous Bond movie, 2012鈥檚 鈥淪kyfall.鈥 That film, the third starring Mr. Craig as Bond, became the highest-grossing Bond movie of all time. The song of the same name also became a hit 鈥撀燼nd the first Bond song to win the Oscar for best original song.聽

In Hollywood, we are in the age of the reboot, in which studios recast a story and put a different spin on it (most of the time). Look no further than the superhero movies topping the box office, where there have been three different Spider-Mans in the last 13 years and a sequel to this summer鈥檚 flop 鈥淔antastic Four鈥 is not off the table, despite the fact that not one but two iterations of the story have failed to score with critics 鈥撀燼nd while the first series did fine at the box office, this summer鈥檚 did not.聽

Like many other movie series, the James Bond movies found success with the reboot-and-recast model as well, around the same time as the 鈥淒ark Knight鈥 movie series.

2006鈥檚 鈥淐asino Royale鈥 showed James Bond at the beginning of his career and had a romance which suggested an explanation for the way Bond treats women. The most recent movie, 鈥淪kyfall,鈥 filled in some of the blanks in its hero's backstory, bringing James Bond back to his family home.

Both the 鈥淒ark Knight鈥 series and the James Bond series found success with bringing their heroes back to their beginnings and then integrating some of their series鈥 most famous characters.

The 鈥淒ark Knight鈥 series had huge success with integrating the famous 鈥淏atman鈥 villain the Joker into the story. Actor Heath Ledger was universally praised for his performance and won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his work, and many were shocked that the film聽was not nominated for a Best Picture Oscar.

Now those behind the James Bond movie series are trying to bring back a famous piece of previous movies. The 鈥淪PECTRE鈥 of the title presumably refers to a crime group that has appeared before in the movies. It鈥檚 normally headed up by Ernst Blofeld, who is one of, if not the, most famous Bond villains. Blofeld has been portrayed by actors including Donald Pleasence and Max Von Sydow.聽

Mr. Waltz, one of the stars of "SPECTRE," is playing Oberhauser, a name that in the Bond novels belongs to a ski instructor whom James Bond befriends. Waltz has said in interviews he is not Blofeld, so perhaps the villain is the same man who is now evil or is somehow related to the ski instructor.聽

Regardless, bringing in the SPECTRE organization raises high hopes for Bond fans. Will the 鈥淪PECTRE鈥 movie live up to their expectations?

鈥淪kyfall鈥 was well-received by critics, and the screenwriters from that film are returning for 鈥淪PECTRE,鈥 so chances seem good that the upcoming film will weave a satisfying and fresh story from the old plotline.

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