It's a Batman movie, only with Bond.

Rating: 2/10 (17 May 2013)

After all the brouhaha and critical raves for "Skyfall," I finally got around to seeing it. Now I'd really like to know what the critics were smoking. I actually fell asleep in the middle of this loooooong, boring epic, that has practically nothing to do with any previous Bond film, except for an action-packed pre-credits sequence (action-packed, but ridiculous, as Bond is shown to be as indestructible as Superman). Here's the plot: somebody connected with MI6 has stolen a list of agent identities and starts outing them, causing not only their deaths, but great embarrassment to M (Judi Dench), so she reactivates a somewhat dissipated, believed dead, James Bond goes to find the guilty party. A cat and mouse game ensues until he's found. That's it. For two-and-a-half hours. It seems like six. Judi Dench as M acts like someone doing a Judi Dench impression, while Daniel Craig is starting to resemble a "Spitting Image" caricature of himself. The tough-as-nails approach to Bond is great, but only if it's not retrofitted into a super-hero storyline more reminiscent of the Roger Moore era. Javier Bardem plays, well, he plays The Joker, really, but that's not his character name. I was ready to write this off as the worst Bond movie ever until an Aston Martin DB5 shows up, making the most welcome cameo in recent film history. (Other cameos are not as good, including a completely unrecognizable Albert Finney as an old, old family retainer). So because of the Aston Martin, "Skyfall" moves up the list, but it's still in the bottom three of worst Bond films.