Skyfalling

Last night was date night (moved back to Tuesday to accommodate yoga classes for one of us) and we went to see the latest James Bond epic – Skyfall.  I was a little concerned when I heard Sam Mendes was directing because he gets a little carried away with himself in his movies.  007 shouldn’t spend an entire movie contemplating his navel and I was concerned that might happen with Mendes at the helm.

While there was a lot more introspection than your normal Bond adventure it certainly worked.  The first twenty minutes disabused me of the concern for the lack of action with Bond commandeering a train (with a back hoe!) and then being shot.  My radar went up for the next 45 minutes though (my wife even fell asleep) (in a Bond movie!) but the plot soon got away from bickering British bureaucrats and got Bond back throwing people off skyscrapers. 

Craig looked a little tired in this one, hopefully because he was supposed to be in the plot.  There were neat little homages to the Bonds of yesteryear, including two beloved characters reappearing, which is something I always love.  This had the feel of a transition film where we’re moving the background people around Bond and shaking up his private life. Javier Bardem has to be one weird dude or he just might be a fantastic actor.  He was totally eerie as the bad guy and scored another unfortunate hairdo (becoming something of a signature for him).

The bottom line is that this is a great film and one of the best Bonds ever.  I shouldn’t have worried.  Even a touchy feely guy like Mendes is no match for the irresistible force which is James Bond.