Immersed in Movies: 'Skyfall' Is Both Homecoming and Breakthrough

"We are not now that
strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that
which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic
hearts,
Made weak by time and fate,
but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find,
and not to yield."

But it's not only a question of pushing the seriousness but also celebrating the style and wit that make Bond so distinctive. We want to see Bond brazenly enjoying his freedom and power. That's why he's lasted so long as our most enduring cinematic figure. As Craig says in Esquire: "What's fantastic about the Bond stories is that there's always darkness, but with a sense of humor. It's about danger, about someone who's saying, 'Fuck you' to risk, 'Fuck you' to dying."

Still, it's fun watching Mendes mixing up the familiar Bond tropes in "Skyfall": The return of Q (Ben Whishaw) as young and nerdy yet vital to the mission because of his computer hacking skills; field agent Eve (Naomie Harris) giving Bond "a close shave" and serving the function of Miss Moneypenny in a whole new flirty way; MI6 going underground in Winston Churchill's bunker; the return of the fully-loaded Aston Martin DB5 but in a way that suits Craig rather than Sean Connery; the dance with Bardem's baddie in a brilliant six-minute exchange that's more sexually charged than Bond's seduction of Berenice Marlohe's Severine.

It turns out that you can teach an old dog some new tricks after half a century -- and then some.

'Skyfall'