A Disappointment

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2013)

Those expecting the James Bond they have enjoyed in the past may be disappointed. Bond, played by Daniel Craig in his third time in the role, lacks the confidence, the swagger, skills, and tactics of the character's previous incarnations.
After an ineffectual struggle with Patrice, a hit-man, Patrice, Bond is mistakenly shot by Even, another MI6 operative. Rather than undergo a thorough government sponsored therapy, he just drops out of sight. Once he returns to MI6, he must undergo tests to determine his fitness. He flunks the physical, but is reinstated to duty by M (Judi Dench).
Bond's original mission was to retrieve a hard drive containing the names of every NATO agent currently operating undercover. Though this Bond is a protagonist, rather than a hero, the story has a real villain, Silva (Javier Bardem), who has the stolen hard drive. Silva appears to have almost unlimited resources and skills; his planning is so precise as to bring a subway car crashing into a tunnel where he is pursued by Bond.
Silva is eventually killed by Bond and the hard drive recovered. But Bond's secondary mission -- to protect M while using her as bait to lure Silva out of hiding -- is a dismal failure. Bond takes her to his family home (Skyfall) only to see M killed and his home demolished because he greatly underestimated Silva.
More human? Perhaps, but not the man I came to admire.