Skyfall

As we were leaving Skyfall my friend and I were talking about the Daniel Craig James Bond legacy that he'll leave behind. Connery was both campy at times and cool at times with Goldfinger quite possibly being the best one ever made. Roger Moore had a decent run, Timothy Dalton was a bit underrated, and Pierce Brosnan was just total cheese with the exception of Goldeneye (and that was mainly because the video game was so cool). But they decided to take the series in a different direction with Craig by reinventing it and turning it into a Jason Bourne esque franchise. And from a story stand point and even from the action point of view it certainly does work and makes the movies better. But they have drained all of the fun out of the movies. There used to be cool gadgets such as explosive devices disguised as toothpaste or Bond cars that had lasers in the rims. But now they openly say things like "What? You were expecting an exploding pen? That's not really what we do anymore" Great! A British hipster indie band wannabe that brags about hacking in his pajamas is apparently what we want to see these days. Actually, no it's not. But outside of the fruity new version of Q I actually liked this movie alot.

Sam Mendes was behind the camera for this one and while he spends most of his filming days making dramas where he shoots his real life wife KateWinslet getting naked(and I certainly do appreciate this) he held his own in his first real major action movie. The plot as always is pretty simple. Someone steals an important list that includes all of Britain's undercover agents and seems to have a personal vendetta against MI6's leader M (Judi Dench). But in the process James is nearly killed by a fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) and has to work his way back into field shape both mentally and physically as he takes on his latest nemesis Silva (Javier Bardem)..That's basically it but they also dedicate quite a bit of time giving you background on Bond and how he grew up which is something that never happens. .

You of course have your over the top action scenes but the one thing you don't expect is the bi sexual gaygent in the form of Bardem. His character seems a bit much at first but as you learn more about him, you start to understand why he acts the way he does. Bardem has fun with this character and takes as many liberties as he can with Silva's personality. He balances his nothing to lose, live life to the fullest, and revengeful insanity perfectly and in the process actually gives you a Bond villain you can sort identify with. Unlike Jaws for instance, who may be my favorite Bond villain of all time. One great moment between Bond and Silva comes when Silva blows up James' classic Aston Martin and James has his "My hair! They shot my hair" Spaceballs moment and goes nuts!

The best shot you will see in any Bond movie is the fight scene between Bond and another agent at the top of this state of the art skyscraper in Shaghai. Mendes plays with the all glass setting and the digital signage running in the background and creates a scene that is nothing short of beautiful. As far as the fighting goes, it is pretty run of the mill, but the backdrop that Mendes provides is what separates it from what you normally see in action movies. And this is why I loved this movie, there is so much thought put into every scene. While it runs a little long, everything is necessary, even the Sliver style sex scene he has with the French hottie. This movie is FRESH and you definitely need to pop in.

If for nothing else, to keep P Diddy from campaigning to be the next Bond. Remember when he did that? How awful would that be? Actually if I was P Diddy and had his money, I'd finance my own Bond movie with me as Bond and I could legally get away with it by calling it Diddy 07. Cant stop, wont stop!