Rushing through the city of Istanbul on a motorbike, destroying everything in his path, the

mysterious man jumps from the rooftops and through traffic and on top of an ongoing train

and the attempt to take down a man whom has classified MI6 information. The well dressed

man of mystery takes it all in his stride and even has time to re do his cufflinks ripping half of

the train to pieces. But suddenly, on the roof, the unthinkable happens and he is accidently

shot by his partner. He falls into the water below and he sinks down to the blackness at the

bottom. Is this the end of the famous James Bond?

Of course not, he survives - he always does. But in this 23rd version of the biggest spy

franchise of its kind it creates a more venerable 007 than we have ever encountered before

and it is also one of the darkest that we have ever seen.

We have always seen Bond as this invincible hero who has overcome danger in more way

than we can remember, but in the new Skyfall film Bond finds it difficult to fully recover

from his last shooting which nearly left him for dead and even his mentor ‘M’ wonders if he

is able to continue with his 007 title.

But the darkness of the film doesn’t stop at Bond’s mentality but continues even into

possibly one of the greatest villain creations of the film franchise Silva. With his white blond

hair, hidden disfigured face and vengeful ‘M’ fixation would already makes for a chilling bad

guy that genuinely terrifies. Though he also has a playful side, witness the thigh rubbing glee

in his first scene which intensifies the fear factor as he views his revenge on M simply as a

game. Stalking her with his cyber messages and hacking into MI6 he finally bring bond into

the 21st century that somehow makes it seem all the more possible.

Though James Bond hasn’t forgotten where he truly comes from. In celebrating the 50 years

of James Bond there are, any references to the past and attempts to bring it back, in a

classic Aston Martin no doubt, and many of the characters return with some very famous

lines. But we also learn something of his past and his childhood that we never knew before

which puts an explanation into why this Bond seems mentally unstable and darker. He now

has to face the daemons of his past such as his parent’s death and return to his roots in

Scotland to become a stronger and more able agent.

In keeping with this theme of combining the past with the present, director Sam Mendes

even brought back Daniel Kleinman to work his magic on the classic opening sequence of

the film, which is almost as important as the film itself. Though he had a disappointing start

with the opening of Casino Royal, which lead to his replacement on Quantum of Solace, how

now shows why he has been doing this Job for bond since 1995’s GoldenEye. With the

Gothic graveyard underwater and the eerie prediction of the trouble the Bond will face

without giving too much away and of course the naked Bond girl at the beginning, Kleinman

brings back everything that we fell in love with in Bond, seduction, action and mystery.

The difference between this film and the other Bond films that Daniel Craig has been in is

undeniable. Between the safe and unimaginative Casino Royal and to over the top

destruction of Quantum of Solace we didn’t feel that we got to know or understand this

James as he was too busy running around killing everyone and Daniel Craig was trying to be

the Bond that we ‘wanted’ and not trying to put his own stamp on the famous character.

But now we can firmly put Daniel as one of the best Bonds we have ever watched.

If Casino Royal was Bond finding his footing, Quantum of Solace a bit of a stumble then

Skyfall is Bond well and truly putting his footprint in the sand for all to remember in years to

come.