Familiar, yet original

Rating: 9/10 (10 November 2012)

For a film that happens to be the 23rd installment in a movie franchise, the latest James Bond thriller, Skyfall, is surprisingly original. Though it marks the series' 50th anniversary by paying homage to many of the previous movies, Daniel Craig's third outing as 007 is unlike any Bond movie we've seen before.
The surprises start early. At the end of an opening action sequence that may be the most elaborate ever (it's actually three or four action sequences rolled into one), we are hit with an unexpected twist that puts Her Majesty's top secret agent out of action. While he's sidelined, a terrorist begins targeting MI6 and its covert agents. Bond must struggle to get back in the game so he can set out to uncover who's behind the plot.
What follows is a movie that turns the Bond formula inside-out. While there is an element of globetrotting, and exotic locales are definitely featured, much of the movie actually takes place in the U.K. That's just one of the ways this Bond movie zigs where most others have zagged. And, without giving too much away, the movie's finale is set-up as an almost mirror image of all those we've seen before.
This is also a film that takes place in the real world. Buildings still blow up (it is a Bond movie after all). But when they do, we quickly see Wolf Blitzer reporting the explosion on CNN as breaking news. In this version of the Bond Universe, when things go wrong, M is called to testify before a committee hearing.
The more plausible setting fits with Craig's take on the classic character. In his first two Bond films, he presented the secret agent as a real flesh and blood human being. You can believe this guy really exists. This time out, he takes that characterization even further. Not only do we get to see him made weakened and addled by the physical rigors of his job, but we also dig deeper into his back-story than ever before. If Casino Royale began a reboot of the series, then Skyfall completes the Bond "origin story". In this movie, we learn more about who Bond is and how he came to be the man he is today, than we did in all the previous 50 years of 007 flicks.
Of course, most Bond movies are only as good as their villain, and Javier Bardem's Silva may not be simply the best Bond villain ever, he may rank pretty high on the all-time movie bad guy list, too. Bardem simply outdoes himself as an evil mastermind bent not on world domination, but rather, revenge. With Academy Award winning director Sam Mendes as a guide, the scenes between Craig and Bardem are engrossing to watch. It gives us something else we haven't really seen before in a Bond movie: two great actors going head-to-head.
There are also Bond girls, naturally. Naomi Harris livens things up as a spunky field agent. And the gorgeous Berenice Marlohe plays the obligatory woman-with-a-tragic-past. But the real female lead this time is Judi Dench's M. She is in many ways front and center in a story that deals with loyalty, principles and the moral ambiguities of national defense in the terrorist age. In a non-romantic way, she is also Bond's true love interest this time around.
Skyfall looks back on the first 50 years of Bond, then shows him to us again in a new light and sets him up nicely for his next 50 years. As they always say in the closing credits, "James Bond Will Return".