Future to the back

Rating: 6/10 (15 October 2013)

After the soulless mess that was "Quantum of Solace", it was important that James Bond's next outing get the franchise back on track and to a degree "Skyfall" does that. Much more like "Casino Royale" which was Daniel Craig's first outing as 007, here again we see greater concentration on character, with Bond entering the post-modern era with questions over his fallibility, age and even childhood brought to the fore. Again, the use of established 007 motifs like glamorous Bond girls and weapons gimmickry are largely curtailed indeed the most prominent female relationship James enjoys here is with his boss M, played by Judi Dench. Personally, I've been critical of this development so that I'm not unhappy with the outcome at the end of this movie, where hopefully we can see Bond move on with a bit less emotional baggage, taking on megalomaniac would-be world conquerors once again, I hope!
It all starts encouragingly enough with a thrilling chase on motorbike, car and train, introducing the rather simple plot line of a disgruntled former MI6 operative's grand revenge scheme against M but of course this doesn't prevent the use of glamorous locations like Shanghai and Istanbul as well as more down-to-earth locales like central London and the Scottish Highlands. There's intrigue initially as we're made to wait for Bond to reappear from his apparently certain death (how he does so isn't explained, just assumed) while MI6's computer security is hacked by M's pursuer, which brings Bond and his boss into a proximity that lasts the whole of the film.
Underlying the main story is the sub-text of Bond's personal struggle to stay relevant and competitive in his field, but this is overplayed when he rendezvous with a new, younger, geeky Q at the National Gallery in front of Turner's symbolic (for Bond) "The Fighting Temerare". I didn't like this new Q, a sop to younger viewers and also didn't like Albert Finney as Bond's old ghillie in the Highlands, with old Albert not even attempting a native Scottish accent.
The film rumbles on with an attempt on M's life at Parliament, with tasty nostalgic morsels thrown at older fans to keep us interested, like the beautiful old silver Aston Martin, complete with ejector seat and his favourite drink wordlessly inserted into the piece. However the linking between the action scenes isn't always engaging and besides, Javier Barden looks more like a demented Boris Johnston than the psychotic mastermind he's meant to be and I also can't think why Moneypenny has to be black either.
The movie's certainly an improvement on "Quantum" but could have done with sharper editing and a clearer focus on what kind of Bond film it wanted to be. A bit like James himself, the film has a bit of an identity crisis, but just about recovers itself in time, leaving hope that his next outing will be better again.