Last Rat Standing

Rating: 7/10 (17 November 2012)

When a mysterious threat from the past hacks into the computers of the British Secret Service, superspy 007 must discover the intruder's identity and bring them to justice ...
On his third outing as James Bond, Craig finally scores big in a movie which is grandiose spectacular action entertainment all the way and the best film in the Bond franchise since the nineties. He was good in his first two flicks but they were both let down by lacklustre action and plotting. By contrast, this is extremely well directed by Mendes, with great set pieces (an eye-popping motorbikes / train chase opening, a fight in a sumptuous oriental casino complete with Komodo dragons, a suspenseful pursuit scene through the London Underground, an explosive firefight finale in a Gothic Scottish ancestral pile), a full-on raving loonytoon villain, liberal doses of good humour, gorgeous locations (Istanbul, Shanghai, Macau, Hashima, Glencoe) and a great storyline revolving around M which even manages to make some perceptive social comments about modern-day espionage. Perhaps the best thing is the cast; Craig's physicality and self-confidence are irresistible, Dench's dramatic chops carry the story, whilst Bardem is wonderfully mad, with crazy blonde hair, homoerotic tendencies towards Bond and Oedipal psychosis towards M. Newcomers Harris and Whishaw both judge their performances as the new Moneypenny and Q respectively just right, Finney has a nice bit as an old family retainer and even Fiennes is good (which is quite something, in my view). The film is full of nice bits of business for them all, be it Bond's comic asides (I love the "Health and Safety" moment), villain Silva's wonderful story of the rat infestation, or the delicious irony of M being reprimanded by a Parliamentary subcommittee which Silva proceeds to shoot up. There may be a few plot holes (it's best not to ask how Silva escapes from his MI6 lockdown) but they are few and far between and never detract from the enjoyment of the picture. Mendes has astutely assembled an ultra-talented crew to capture and enhance the action - cameraman Roger Deakins uses old school long shots and close-ups to fine effect, Dennis Gassner's sets are spectacular throughout (particularly Skyfall itself), composer Thomas Newman delineates the characters expertly with a splendid bombastic score and mixes in the traditional themes at all the key moments, uber-selling diva Adele contributes a fabulous title song and Daniel Kleinman puts the icing on the cake with his best opening credits sequence since Goldeneye. This is cracking good fun and the best Bond movie in ages - don't miss it.