Bond grows up

Rating: 9/10 (1 March 2014)

Seems James Bond, aka 007, ain't quite as young and as spry as he used to be. After years of chasing the bad guys and suffering one too many injuries and wounds on the job, the world's premier secret agent is beginning to feel his age.
In this outing, a noticeably creakier Bond goes in pursuit of an ex-agent who's targeting MI6 and particularly its chief, M, for wrongs he believes he's suffered at their hands.
In addition to providing a more relatable Bond - replete with autobiographical back story - and M, "SkyFall" is that rare action movie that actually finds time to probe some surprisingly heady themes amid all the obligatory shootouts and chase scenes (which are excellent, by the way, especially the tour de force opening scene).
For instance, the script ponders whether MI6's old-school reliance on secret agents has become a hopelessly antiquated business model for a world in which technology has begun to replace time-consuming footwork and in which the enemy is no longer out in the open but operating in the shadows.
The movie also questions M's practice of cutting loose her most loyal and valued agents (Bond included) - essentially treating them as disposable assets - when a greater goal is to be achieved through their sacrifice.
The dialogue between Daniel Craig as Bond and Judi Dench as M is some of the best in the whole Bond series, and there is a genuine connection between the two individuals who, although they're working for the same team, often seem more like adversaries than allies.
"Skyfall" also provides us with one of the most effective villains we've come across in quite awhile, in the person of Javier Bardem as the former operative who's decided to exact his revenge on the people and the organization that he feels have done him wrong.
Director Sam Raimi even manages to achieve some genuine lyricism in his direction, something one almost never finds in an action film.
It seems to me that the Bond franchise has really upped its game since Craig hopped aboard in 2006's "Casino Royale" (despite the stumble of "Quantum of Solace"). Happily, "Skyfall" restores that upward trajectory.