All the best Mr Bond

Film review: Skyfall (12a)
Running time 143 minutes
Rating:****
It’s no wonder James Bond (Daniel Craig) is looking a little jaded these days when you consider all the problems he’s currently facing. M’s looking a little flaky, a new man is jostling for her desk, and an especially nasty ex-Secret Service agent is floating about. The film-makers are also facing all the pressure of keeping a 50-year-old franchise humming along to the sound of cash registers. In Skyfall, Craig has managed to take the Bond character back to the lean, mean, killer that the world first saw with Sean Connery’s especially brutal depiction in Dr No.
For the anniversary movie, Bond is sent to clear up when a laptop bearing the names of deeply-buried agents on it, is stolen, and all while it was in M’s care. There’s a stunning motorcycle chase across the rooftops of Istanbul which ends with Bond being harmed by his own sidekick, the beautiful but slightly hapless Eve (Naomie Harris).
With shades of Bourne, Bond recovers eventually in a quiet backwater, keeping himself busy with lots of drinking and decidedly do-or-die games involving scorpions, until he re-emerges just in time to provide M (Judi Dench) with all the support she needs to clear her name. Mayhem is caused by one Silva (Javier Bardem), an ex-favourite of M who went native in the 1990s and now is seeking revenge on Mummy (as he creepily calls her).
As with all Bonds, we must have a Q as well as an M, and this time Ben Whishaw takes over as the nerdy gadget king. Albert Finney makes a welcome guest appearance as a gnarled gamekeeper, Ralph Fiennes arrives as M’s would-be successor, and of course the iconic Aston Martin DB5 almost steals the show – it certainly drew cheers from the Newbury audience on Friday evening. The action ends up in the desolate Highlands, where we are given a tantalising glimpse of Bond’s parentage and Skyfall, his family home, where the final battle takes place.
All in all, it’s a very satisfying experience. Bardem is just as creepy here as he was in No Country for Old Men and Bond remains convincingly careworn but deadly. Dark and sinister it may be, but even at 50, Bond remains among the very best film franchises around.