Skyfall

This is a hugely enjoyable film that should give the Bond franchise a new lease of life. It starts with a pre-credit chase sequence in which one has no idea what is going on, other than that Bond is being chased, if one recognises Daniel Craig. The film continues with this knowingness, riffing frequently and often humorously on previous bond films.

After the chase there is the most glorious credit sequence I can remember seeing for a long time, accompanied by the excellent theme song written and performed by Adele (known to her mother as Adele Laurie Blue Adkins).

Bond's adversary, Silva, is played by Javier Bardem and his boss, M, by the ever-present Judy Dench. In this film M is not just a remote presence, but she plays an active role in the proceedings. As I watched the film I was tempted by the idea that this, along with Live Flesh,  could be one of Bardem's best films. He has a lot to do and he throws himself imaginatively into his nicely characterised role.

I have much respect for Daniel Craig since I saw him in Our Friends In The North. I recently managed to see him in Layer Cake which, I have heard, got him the Bond role. Here, I thought, he was quite interestingly on the cusp of being too old for the part, although we see that his body is in magnificent condition.

One of the qualities of the film is its humorous riffing on other other films. There is a scene reminding us of Apocalypse Now, with a helicopter approaching blaring music from Tannoys. An old Aston Martin car from the previous bond film is dusted off and used here in tongue-in-cheek way. Although the film has plenty of scenes abroad, particularly in Turkey and Macao, it is not a rootless international mess, but is firmly rooted in a plausible London that would not offend Londoners. There is an excellent British cast, including Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw excellent as a computer geek, Rory Kinnear as a bureaucratic flunky and Albert Finney humiliating hidden behind a huge beard. Female interest is provided by Naomie Harris and Berenice Marlohe. My only slight disappointment with the film was the lack of wit and spark in the exchanges between Bond and these desirable females. These occasionally fell flat for me. I was recently reminded of what wit can do for a script while watching Argo.

This is Sam Mendes' eighth film as director and he has entered very well into the spirit of how a Bond film should be.