Movie: Skyfall

Skyfall: the Bond franchise is at the top of its game.   This time the movie ad stating best one yet may be correct.   Daniel Craig is superb as Bond.  The decision to acknowledge that Bond has aged is part of the reason this film is successful.   Also helps that Javier Bardem plays the bad guy.   Bardem does it so well: he may be currently the best bad guy movie actor.   And Naomie Harris maintains the tradition of a beautiful female player.  The opening movie sequence grabs your attention after hearing part of the traditional Bond music score.   The film fits together quite nicely.   The storyline is that Silva, played by Bardem, is a former British intelligence officer who M (Judi Dench: wonderful as she always is) traded to the Chinese to free others.   He is looking for vengeance against both M and England.  We learn the why as to his actions about halfway through the film.   The scenes with Craig and Bardem have the appropriate tension.   Instead of gadgetry, the film acknowledges the computer world and raises the question of the need for field agents.   Bond answers this question for us.   Along with a strong script, there is excellent acting and not limited to Craig, Bardem, Dench and Harris.   Albert Finney, Ben Whishaw and Ralph Fiennes are among those giving a fine performance.   The film is long (2 hrs 25 min) but the director, Sam Mendes, keeps you interested.   I should mention that in addition to hardly any gadgets, there is not a string of bikini women in this Bond film.   Since Craig became Bond, the stories have become more intense and plausible, the Bond character has become more complex and the movies are more than excellent special effects.   This occurs with the essence of Bond remaining strong.   I loved the fact that Bond takes time to adjust his shirt cuff after jumping into a moving train car.  If you are truly into Bond, you will find a surplus of references to prior Bond films.   These references also assist in making Bond more than a caricature when coupled with taking us to the Bond homestead in a cold barren section of the British Isles.    Every Bond fan needs to see this film and for those of you who are not, you may want to give Bond a second chance