James Bond films have always played loose with continuity, but that hasn't stopped a sense of history from creeping into them. 2006's Casino Royale was supposed to mark a fresh start, with a new, 21st-century-ready Bond in the form of Daniel Craig, plus a back-to-basics approach to big-screen spycraft. Apart from (smartly) keeping Judi Dench on as Bond's boss M, it did just that, but the haunted look in Craig's eyes and the mournful undertones of both that film and its successor, Quantum Of Solace , suggested the toll taken on those who toil in the fields of espionage too long. Helmed by American Beauty and Revolutionary Road director Sam Mendes -- an unusual but effective choice -- and arriving 50 years after Dr. No , Skyfall turns up the volume of those undertones, making Bond's tortured history a major theme, finding a fragile humanity beneath the character's usually unshakable exterior of the sort not seen since George Lazenby broke down in tears at the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service . Skyfall doesn't forget it has to be an exciting spy film above all, but from its first scene, it ratchets up the drama in ways that have little to do with action. Stumbling into a mission gone wrong into Turkey, Bond finds a badly wounded agent. He wants to stay and help, but M tells him to pursue the enemy instead. After pausing, briefly but noticeably, he does what he's told. Then, at the end of one