Skyfail

We saw the new James Bond movie and had mixed feelings about it.

When Daniel Craig reinvigorated the Bond franchise with Casino Royale it was exciting.  Casino Royale was the first Bond movie I'd seen in a theater in more than 25 years (I still remember seeing my first Bond, Dr No, at the Darien Playhouse in the early 60s) and it was exhilarating from the first incredible action scene right to its close.  I looked forward to the future films.

I missed Quantum Of Solace in the theaters and each time I've started to watch it on cable I've turned it off after a few minutes.  Nothing in it grabbed me.

Skyfall falls between Casino and Quantum.  The cast continues to be very strong anchored by Craig and Judy Dench, who gets more screen time than usual.  They've also retooled and restored a couple of the classic characters in a very good way - Ben Whishaw as the new and very young Q and Naomie Harris as Moneypenny (I first saw her in the nerve-rattling 28 Days Later). Javier Bardem plays the villain and he's suitably bizarre, though slightly less monstrous and a little more  animated than he was in the bad guy role in No Country For Old Men.  And Albert Finney is terrific in a small, but important, role.
Ben Whishaw as Q
Naomie Harris as Moneypenny

Parts of the plot and the settings are engaging but therein lies part of the problem.  You get the feeling throughout that Skyfall strains to be a more introspective Bond film that has a deeper meaning.  James Bond, introspection and deeper meaning don't go together.

You can have a ridiculous Bond plot in a ridiculous Bond movie and it can work.  Skyfall has some ridiculous and nonsensical plot points but at the same time the movie is also trying to convey a degree of "realism" unusual in a Bond film and it makes for an odd mixture.  While some of the dialogue has the expected Bond movie wit, much of it is very pedestrian.

Maybe it was because Casino Royale was so terrific but by comparison the action scenes in Skyfall seem a beat off - they just don't have the same crispness and sparkle.

Despite these reservations we enjoyed it, but were left thinking it could have been much better.