SkyFall

This is the twent-third official film about Ian Fleming's suave secret agent (Let's not talk about the 1967 version of Casino Royale or Never Say Never Again, shall we? Although I’d just like to say I do like both for various reasons!) and Daniel Craig's third appearance as Bond. Let's get straight to it... the man just gets better and better, aided by American Beauty's Sam Mendes as director for a film that both celebrates everything you'd expect from the Bond franchise as well as delivering some new ideas and hints at a new beginning.

A well written script by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan begins with 007 & Eve (Naomie Harris) causing chaos through the mean streets of Istanbul, not Constantinople, in hot pursuit of a motorcycle riding villain. They are doing so in the hope of retrieving a stolen hard drive which contains the identities of undercover agents embedded in terrorist groups around the world. The stakes as high as this make it the biggest potential security leak in the history of MI6.

Things go wrong - the hard drive isn't retrieved and Bond is missing in action, presumed dead until events in the spy world lead to a disheveled and damaged Commander Bond making his return. He finds that things are changing in the Secret Service and that, once again, his abilities are being questioned by those around him. His relationship with M (Dame Judi Dench) seems even more fractured as the search for the stolen information leads to Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) an unhinged cyber-terrorist whose own past is tied into M's. Bardem makes quite the villain, he's a charming chilling and at times camp match for Craig's bruised and battered hero. At one point - while Silva interrogates Bond, and discusses how much they have in common, how the security service has moulded their lives and left them to fend for themselves - he subtly changes the tone to almost an attempted seduction as he runs his hands delicately over his prisoners body.

Silva, it turns out, was once of M's protege's, but things went wrong and he was left for dead just as Bond was earlier in the film. But whereas Bond's loyalty to Her Majesty's Secret Service has been pushed to the limit, Silva wants nothing more than revenge, on the secret service and most of all, M herself....

Skyfall travels the globe from Turkey to London to Shanghai to Macau (well a fantasy approximation of the Vegas of the east) back to London and eventually to the highlands of Scotland and in the end there can be only one...

While the fortieth anniversary Bond movie Die Another Day imploded under a mixture of classic Bond movie references, some nice ideas but far too much cheese, Skyfall celebrates the fiftieth anniversary more subtlely, with plenty of references to the franchise's rich history (including the return of a certain Aston Martin DB5, and the introduction of new versions of certain classic characters including the first appearance of the new Q played by Ben Whishaw). The film doesn't dwell upon them, the references are there for you to pick up on or not, but they're not signposted as they were in Die Another Day.  It ahs to eb said, though, thatwe could do without some of the most blatant product placement of recent years, too many lingering shots of certain brands and a few lines of dialogue “Volkswagen Beetles Ma’am!" That seem to have been inserted by the finance department!)

The introduction of the new Q is handled well, presenting Bond with a new Walther PPK and radio transmitter and asking Bond, 'What were you expecting-an exploding pen? We don't go in for that any more!' As with Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, this is Bond in a relatively real world - no invisible cars or handy dandy laser guns - and it works all the better for it. For his first outing Whishaw gets a reasonable amount to do, and while we'll always have a soft spot for the late Desmond Lewelyn take on the character we give the thumbs up to Whishaw. The interplay between him and Bond is handled nicely with respect and a certain degree of animosity between the two - and its a nice nod to give Q one of Lewelyn's frequent lines to a departing Bond. Eve, played by Naomie Harris from 28 Days Later, comes across well as a verbal and physical sparring partner to Bond, she looks great and is able to match Bond as a 'cunning linguist' and can also handle herself in the action beats too. Ralph Fiennes is introduced as Mallory, the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, a man who could be a friend or a foe. Berenice Marlohe who looks great playing the seductive woman who works for Silva and is of course turned by Bond and pays for her failing, looks great but is the one weak link in terms of casting, she does seem somewhat out of her depth in the acting scenes, seeming more removed than involved in the proceedings.

Rory Kinnear (son of Roy Kinnear) returns as Bill Tanner, M's number 2 and is one of the solid support players who does so well with that supporting remit, while the great Judi Dench gives her all as M and gets to drop the first F-bomb in the history of the franchise! Dench was an interesting choice when she first played M in Goldeneye and the continued relationship her character has with Bond is one of the best in the series., and she's given a lot more to do in this film than her previous six appearances,

SPOILER ALERT: A Santa Claus bearded Albert Finney turns up as Kincaide, a character from Bond's past - it's a fun role and its great to see Finney having fun but it does feel very much like it was a character originally written with another actor in mind, someone who previously had appeared in the franchise themselves and with a very distinctive brogue that would have made a meal out of the line 'welcome to Scotland” (yes I am talking about a certain fellow who was in Darby O'Gill and the Little People!)

The last half of the movie is pretty much a solid hour of finale as Bond and Silva battle through London and finally to Scotland, as we end up in a location that means much to Bond' and a finale that tips its hat at more than a few previous films from the franchise, leading to possibly the most emotional moment since the finale of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, although I do feel the final showdown between Silva and Bond should have been a little stronger. Bond deals with a great many henchmen but while the final moments between the main characters work, perhaps I was expecting a little more for the final beat between such a memorable villain and the hero.

Skyfall gets the big thumbs up from me, I loved Casino Royale. Quantum of Solace... I was a little disappointed by at first, but repeated viewings made re-evaluate and I really like the film now... and Skyfall makes a worthy third chapter in Craig's Bond series. Despite the four year lay-off it recaptures the spirit perfectly and I look forward to further adventures of Craig as Ian Fleming's most famous creation. There are some great action set pieces, some great character interplay, and some stunning location work ranging from Turkey to Shanghai (combining a few days location work with studio interiors shot in NUK), Macau (well a Macau that doesn’t exist outside of this movie, although the casino design looked great, and Komodo Dragons always rock!), the abandoned Hashima Island, and great location work in the UK. It's got great turns by the main cast... so good that I’m off to see it again tonight....

James Bond will return and so will I!

SkyFall is on general release in the UK and opens this coming Friday in the US.

Please note: We apologise this review did not appear last week. This was due to circumstances beyond our control and down to the unfortunate restrictions placed on screenings made available to us by Sony.