Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on November 2012

Sam Mendes (American Beauty; Road to Perdition) works some kind of magic here, challenging perceptions of the iconic spy while maintaining an almost elegiac love and respect for the 50-year franchise. He elegantly takes Daniel Craig’s 007 back in time, past Brosnan’s stuffy superhero, past Moore’s clown, and brings him full circle to his Connerian genesis. While this is thankfully not an “origins” story, its examination of Bond’s backstory takes the franchise to places it’s never been before. Mendes adds drama and pathos to the suspense and spectacle, notably with Judi Dench, who finally gets the opportunity to make M into a three-dimensional character. Javier Bardem’s nihilistic and sexually ambiguous villain exudes the same evil as he did in No Country for Old Men, but with jokes. Ralph Fiennes is a new national-security suit, Ben Whishaw is the 20-something new Q, and Albert Finney even pops up. Adele channels Shirley Bassey for the astounding opening credits sequence. And I loved the reappearance of Connery’s Aston Martin DB5 from Goldfinger. Roger Deakins’s striking cinematography borders on the expressionistic, but in good old-school tradition never gets lost in manic editing tricks and such. Fifty more years, please.