Reviews

For me, the Bond movies are always varying degrees of great. Even the worst of them entertains. So if I sound critical of SPECTRE, it's within the context that I'll probably only see it three times instead of five. That said…

SPECTRE gets so much right and so much wrong that the film almost cancels itself out in some weird way. At its best, it's a nostalgic pastiche of classic moments and plot elements that are often amusingly reinvented and thoroughly enjoyable by themselves. But they are strung together so clumsily that any attempt to interpret them as a coherent plot will confound logic.

And, what's even more frustrating: Every time the movie starts to relax and have fun, Mendes can't resist the impulse to bog down the pace with a leaden sense of profundity. I think there's a good reason why the best Bond directors aren't household names. The more iconic your personal style, the less likely you are to deliver the established style and formula. I really can't distinguish Guy Hamilton from Lewis Gilbert. But Sam Mendes stands out, and not always in the most flattering light.

Let's be clear: This is not an easy movie to watch. Like Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? or (more recently) Carnage, Between Us almost seems to revel in exposing the nastier side of human nature. We're given a ringside seat at an emotional slugfest as a pair of (nominally friendly) couples eviscerate themselves and each other at a series of ill-advised dinner parties. Once the wine starts to loosen tongues and inhibitions, verbal sparring quickly escalates into full-on psychological warfare -- the 'take no prisoners' kind. And trust me: There's more genuine violence in this movie than the entire third act of Man of Steel -- it's just that here the characters are clobbered with words, not skyscrapers.

In short: If you like Who's Afraid...? and Carnage, then Between Us is a must-see.

Skyfall is not a return to "classic Bond"; it is rather a completely unique hybrid of elements from the earlier films and the darker tone and character of Fleming's later novels (which have been hinted at, but never fully explored before now). Thematically, the film is a Freudian examination of two orphaned sons and the cold, manipulative and abandoning surrogate mother they share. Bond's trademark self-confidence is shattered by a monumental betrayal by M., who seems to have lost her moral compass. And Bardem's Silva offers a manic and terrifying glimpse of what Bond may well become if he continues on his self-destructive path.

It is strange and disturbing to see Bond as anything less than the tuxedoed superhero that drew me to the cinema religiously every other year for decades. I don't consider Skyfall the best Bond film by any stretch (for me, that would be Goldfinger, followed by OHMSS and Casino Royale), but it is certainly the most disturbing and thought-provoking. I respect it for those reasons. I also pray the folks at Eon don't try it again for a very long time. There's a place yet in the world for the glorious popcorn days of exploding pens and space stations.