James Bond still sharp and fit at 50!

"Skyfall" is the new 50; James Bond is handling it remarkably well. Five decades after the first cinematic incarnation of 007, novelist Ian Fleming's agent provocateur, the spy-craft in the new film is sharper, the intrigue deeper, the beauties brighter (more brain, less bare).

And yet if I'm not mistaken, there are perilous emotional peaks and valleys along with all that bloody cheek. Daniel Craig's Bond is not quite as detached, his martini not quite as dry. Even the villain, a masterfully menacing Javier Bardem, is an emotional wreck whose angst is actually explored. Indeed the entire film is shrink-wrapped in self-examination that somehow manages not to dint, much less destroy, the explosive fun. The splashy gadgets that are a Bond tradition are few. Instead, the film is framed by the high-tech age of satellite communication and cyber bullies. Agent Q (Ben Whishaw) is an electronics genius with plenty of nerdy quirks, intellectual arrogance chief among them. But he's a good ally in tracing the shadowy cyber trail of the film's arch archenemy, Silva (Bardem going bad bottle-blond for Bond). Silva's got a wicked sense of humor as well as a carefully refined sadistic streak that keeps the body count climbing. But it is what drives Silva to such deadly extremism that makes the movie interesting. The splashy gadgets that are a Bond tradition are few. Instead, the film is framed by the high-tech age of satellite communication and cyber bullies. Agent Q (Ben Whishaw) is an electronics genius with plenty of nerdy quirks, intellectual arrogance chief among them. But he's a good ally in tracing the shadowy cyber trail of the film's arch archenemy, Silva (Bardem going bad bottle-blond for Bond). Silva's got a wicked sense of humor as well as a carefully refined sadistic streak that keeps the body count climbing. But it is what drives Silva to such deadly extremism that makes the movie interesting.

Though "Skyfall" begins in Turkey and spends some quality time in Shanghai, most of the anxiety and action is unspooling on the home front — strategic London bombings, a beyond-belief subway ride and a country home in Scotland where everything (metaphorically at least) blows up. Scarier, and more to the point of things we have come to fear most, the bad guys are able to plot a path of destruction with extraordinary precision — and complete anonymity. It's a conspiracy of shadows using social media — a YouTube sensibility gone rogue where targets can be mocked and kills get their 15 minutes of fame.

In "Skyfall," Mendes has given us a thrilling new chapter in a franchise that by all rights should have been gasping for air — which really makes him the hero of this saga. Saving Bond, after all, is rather like saving the day.

Abiha Raza
11U0682