How much Bond is too much Bond? We might be about to find out. Reports suggest that Spectre, Daniel Craig's latest turn as agent 007, could clock in with the longest runtime in James Bond franchise history. Skyfall director Sam Mendes returns for the new installment, and apparently he's looking to best his previous effort, which clocked in at 143 minutes. Three British theater chains have posted potential Spectre runtimes: (via DigitalSpy) both Odeon and Vue place the film at 160 minutes, while Empire lists a 155 minutes. It remains to be seen which reported runtime is accurate, if either, and of course, there's always the possibility that Mendes and editor Lee Smith will shave off some minutes in the last stages of post-production.

There's no reason an action movie needs to near a 3-hour run time. While both Casino Royale and Skyfall are excellent, they're also the longest-running Bond films to date, and their runtimes can feel wearying, especially upon a re-watch. I'm a massive advocate of taut editing, and find a lot of modern filmmaking runtimes superfluous and indulgent. Most of the revered classics of the 007 canon -- Dr. No, From Russia with Love, Goldfinger -- hover around the 2-hour mark, and that's right on the money. Again, the final run time could end up being a lot different than initial listings suggest, but for now plan on getting your Bond on in a big way.

What do you think? Are you prepared for a possible 160 minute-long 007 adventure? Or is that a little too much of a good thing? Sound off in the comments below.

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Image via EON/MGM/Sony

Here’s the official synopsis for Spectre:

A cryptic message from the past sends James Bond (Daniel Craig) on a rogue mission to Mexico City and eventually Rome, where he meets Lucia Sciarra (Monica Bellucci), the beautiful and forbidden widow of an infamous criminal.  Bond infiltrates a secret meeting and uncovers the existence of the sinister organisation known as SPECTRE.

 

Meanwhile back in London, Max Denbigh (Andrew Scott), the new head of the Centre for National Security, questions Bond’s actions and challenges the relevance of MI6, led by M (Ralph Fiennes). Bond covertly enlists Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) and Q (Ben Whishaw) to help him seek out Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), the daughter of his old nemesis Mr White (Jesper Christensen), who may hold the clue to untangling the web of SPECTRE. As the daughter of an assassin, she understands Bond in a way most others cannot.

 

As Bond ventures towards the heart of SPECTRE, he learns of a chilling connection between himself and the enemy he seeks, played by Christoph Waltz.

You can click here to catch up with all of our Spectre coverage, or check out some recent links below.

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