Re-boot finally finished now let's get on with it.

Rating: 8/10 (19 November 2012)

I thoroughly enjoyed Craig's third instalment and was relieved by its excellent photography and depth of plot and character. It seemed to have a layered construction which will enable the viewer to enjoy for the second and third viewing as traditional Bond themes were complimented by humour, stylish action and some less obvious choices of location and character behaviour. The casting of Q (Ben Whishaw), for example, was difficult for even Bond to accept due to his young age and appearance. This lead to an interesting exchange as Bond was supplied with gadgets and the narrative set the new Q up as someone surprisingly clever and powerful.
Of the two Bond girls, one had an interesting back story linked with the villain, and the other a struggling MI6 agent torn between the field and desk work. Further interest came from Ralph Fiennes' character, Mallory, whose credibility as someone who could be in charge of Bond increased throughout the movie, again, due to increasing depth of character and telling of back story.
The action begins with the opening set piece that sets up the plot. In essence the central character of the movie is M (Judi Dench) and it is in this opening sequence where she makes a judgement call that prevents Bond from completing his mission and sends him off the radar for several months. During this period he drinks heavily and gets enough out of shape to fail the MI6 "return to active service" tests when he is finally compelled to return to London due to MI6 coming under terrorist attack.
It is a slow build through the first hour of the movie as Bond sets about his mission building up to the point where he both encounters the villain and his skills return with Bourne like efficiency. We see Istanbul, Shanghai then a return to Britain for the last hour where the plot unfolds, action continues and also where the movie begins to strongly reference Bond of old - particularly towards the end where, at the point of integrating the Aston Martin DB5, we are taken back to basics in the twist of a dark ending rich in back story.
Javier Bardem's sinister take on the Bond villain, Silva, goes much further than simply wearing a strange hair style and being associated with No Country For Old Men. His behaviour is equally strange as his large masculine presence including deep voice is made, somehow, far more intimidating by a camp demeanour. His opening monologue is clever both in terms of the narrative content, his acting and the nature of how it was shot. This monologue introduces him as part of M's past and his reasons for villainous behaviour being due to mistakes that she has made. He is a reflection of what Bond could have been, or could even become, if mistakes are made and an agent is left out in the field to fend for themselves - potentially becoming subject to the most horrendous ordeals.
We get a real sense of the action taking place both in the field and at MI6 headquarters where M and Q feed orders and information into ear pieces resulting in a nice tension build to the action. There is not an awful lot that occurs in this movie that we haven't seen in other movies before, and I am slightly tired of the "Bond begins" vibe where we are still waiting for Bond to become Bond. Quantum of Solace really hampered the momentum of Craig's refreshing take on the franchise, that began with Casino Royale, and I feel it has took to long to get to where we are. Having said that, Skyfall is easily good enough to set Craig up for at least one more where he can put the production politics behind him and go out with a bang.