Great fun

Rating: 7/10 (17 December 2012)

In this, the 23rd James Bond film, and the third to star the grimy yet regal Daniel Craig as the most truly British bond we've seen, skilfully dramatic director Sam Mendes, who's perhaps best known for the quirkily captivating American Beauty (1999) achieves an impressive balancing act of the old and the new, in various aspects of this refreshingly exciting Bond outing.
Veteran 007 screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, as well as newcomer John Logan (Hugo, The Aviator) are fully aware of the contemporary setting of the film. Whilst we're still treated to improbably heightened action sequences, energetic mission briefs, witty, confident one-liners and even a few, but not many, fancy gadgets, the reality that these are fading, old-fashioned ministerial and cinematic methods is well is always at the forefront of every scene. The theatrically psychopathic, but not terribly cartoonish villain merciless attacks the weak spots of Bond's inevitable middle age, M's senility and guilt-ridden blunders, and the unfeeling upheavals of the digital age, with his fierce cunning and his alarming technical abilities. M is here at her most vulnerable, but also her most fiercely determined, in a movie that gives her an uncommonly generous amount of screen time. The magnificent Judi Dench continues to show what a good sport she is, and invests the role with terrific gusto. The spectacularly ruthless actions of the dastardly Silva (an even more invested Javier Bardem, channeling some of the chills of Anton Chigurh from No Country For Old Men) are make viewing that's all the more intense as both the big-budget orchestrations and the characterisations contribute to the excitement.
Two MI agents who are more well-adapted to the digital revolution are also a nice addition: the unapologetically youthful computer whiz now holding the position of Q (Ben Wishaw), and the enigmatic realist, Gareth Mallory (Ralph Feinnes, cheerfully sporting his usual tongue-in- cheek comedic flair).
In most long-running franchises, new characters moulded in the latest cinematic style are not appreciated. The prevailing rule imposed by fans is that all new additions must be modelled on characterisations of the period of the series' beginning. However, three breaches of this rule, also counting Silva, have served the writers very well indeed, and all the adherences are at best forgettable, as with Silva's henchmen, and at worst tiresomely predictable. The latter category consisting of one of those dreadfully boring, but perhaps obligatory, femme fatales. As the wimpy Sévérine, French actress Bérénice Marlohe gives a performance as grindingly overblown as the sickeningly ridiculous costume that Jany Temine has designed for her. The writers sleepily go through the motions of making her snobby, then flirtatious, then cocky, then clumsy, then vulnerable, then broken, then needy, then helpless and finally, perhaps, dead – I honestly paid no attention to her fate. She certainly wasn't missed when she vanished without a word. Miss Eve Moneypenny, played by Naomie Harris is a far better creation, propelled by the efforts of a much more winsome and convincing actress.
It is truly a wonder how Logan and Mendes, usually masters of measured complexity, have coughed up such a pedestrian characterisation right in the middle of this ripper action flick. Only half an hour ago, they made the ingenious placement of an animated credits sequence of the sort that normally closes a film, but here sufficiently gives the impression we need that a long passage of time has swept by our characters, without forcing the audience to share that boredom. The that it is played over by a song that the beautiful Adele wrote and performed especially for the film makes it all the more enjoyable a diversion.
It all amounts to a very enjoyable two hours of entertainment, despite that one little lapse.