Skyfall

In my view, Daniel Craig in his 3 Bond films have so far nearly obliterated my enthusiasm for re-watching any of the other previous Bond movies, minus the Sean Connery classics.  He along with the producers continues to inject a  freshness and an authentic modern relevance in this latest Bond movie.   This time around, the entire theme of the film is finally on par with him in it's tone and story, while still very freshly and simultaneously revisiting it's character's history and brilliantly re-shedding itself as needed.   Silva (Javier Barden), a former MI6 agent and casualty of decisions made long ago by M (Judi Dench), highjack important intelligence information and identities for blackmail as part of an elaborate revenge scheme that shakes the very foundations of British Intelligence along with Bond and M.  Sound familiar?  In brief, Skyfall is great and already classic with definitely some great unexpected moments.  As I alluded to earlier, one of the best things about this particular film is how honestly it shows the arch of self-effacing to unabashed criticism of the intelligence community and it's role in today's world, including the dichotomy  and cost effectiveness of old school human intelligence on the ground and today's high tech capabilities and limitations for an ever changing shadowy enemy.   These topics are finally not so underlying anymore in this installment, and they are handled nicely by director Sam Mendes in a way that comes close to comparing with the climactic clashes of theme  and drama that The Godfather is noted for.  Not that this hasn't been done effectively in other spy movies, but the latest Bond movies, have made more leaps and bounds in catching up with Bourne movies all the while keeping and re-energizing what had been a steady decline in an identity only associated with the Cold War. Lest I not forget the great performances of Naomi Harris and Ralph Fiennes.  No spoiler alerts here, as I loved it.