Well, I guess I was attracted to the workings of British intelligence, such as the Double-0 programme, where its agents are sanctioned to kill anyone who poses a threat to Great Britain and the world order, thus giving rise to the famous phrase ‘License to Kill’. The franchise inherits the Cold War-style of how spy agencies operate, such as having cool high-tech gadgetries, classic but technologically-advanced cars and codenames for senior MI6 operatives (who can forget Q and M?)

I will not be revealing the storyline here as you can read it online elsewhere. In fact, you should watch the movie if you haven’t done so. Interestingly, the villain in this movie is not Blofeld. Instead he seeks revenge against Blofeld and the Spectre organisation as his family had been assassinated by them. Our British superspy also discovers that he has a daughter from his relationship with Madeleine Swann. The show ended predictably with James Bond defeating the villain, Safin, but sadly with Bond meeting his own end as well as Safin had infected Bond with the non-curable nano-virus during their scuffle.

The show marks Daniel Craig’s exit from the franchise, paving the way for a possible reboot. It marks the end of a Bond-era which had awed a generation of audience since 2006. Reflecting on this, as I enter middle-age, many of the people I grew up with or know have also aged. Andy Lau is already 61, Shah Rukh Khan is 57 and Takuya Kimura is 50! The passage of time will never stop and this is an inescapable truth of life. While we are still around in this beautiful planet, how can we play our parts to create meaning in the world, to create more meaningful relationship and leave the world a better place than when we first entered it? Opportunities abound for us to effect them and it is up to us to discover them. Life is indeed beautiful.