The medium is the message.Mr Mendes plays with 007...

Rating: 8/10 (20 March 2013)

Mr Sam Mendes has had the nerve to take one of the cinema's biggest money - spinners and,well,spin it. In doing so he has made the first James Bond film that can stand on its merits and not merely drape itself round a carefully staged star performance. Certainly Mr D.Craig is more than adequate as OO7,albeit a slightly diminished 007,a bit worn round the edges,but he is not meant to dominate "Skyfall",neither does he.Instead Mr Mendes uses an ageing Bond as a discourse on acknowledging the past and accepting that actions have consequences. In addition to this new reading of a very familiar character he has brought joined - up film - making to the franchise,during the course of which there are many joyous references from "The lady from Shanghai" to Indiana Jones that had me laughing with delight;not a reaction one has come to expect a Bond film,however slick,to produce. Miss J.Dench - a bruised and vulnerable "M"- gives her best film performance for some time. "Skyfall" gives force to the argument that film is a directors' medium.