Skyfall – Inferior Bond

*** out of *****

Running time: 145 minutes

MPAA rating: PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking.

Is it a matter of pride to be able to say that I've never missed a James Bond film?

Over the course of 50 years and 25 "official" and "not so-official" films, I've been thrilled by the exploits of Sean Connery, satisfied by the rest of the film surrounding of ex-model George Lazenby, amused by the miscasting of the most un-Bond-like Roger Moore, quite pleased by the interim place holders Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan and. finally, once-again excited by the proper balance of thuggishness and sophistication displayed by Daniel Craig, the best Bond since Connery signed off in 1983's Never Say Never Again.

Sad to report, therefore, that Skyfall is neither a great Bond film or even a very good one.

Directed by Sam Mendes, best known as a filmmaker with an ear for dialogue and a skill for serious drama (American Beauty, Revolutionary Road), the newest Bond film fails as an action thriller and leaves one wanting more as a character drama. Although it is peppered with all the usual thrills, chases, fights and pyrotechnics typical of the Bond oeuvre, the action sequences cannot compare to the best this series has offered in the past.

Craig, Dame Judy Dench, Ralph Fiennes and newcomers Naomie Harris and Ben Wishaw do their duty but rarely rise above the level of cartoon characters. And most disappointing is Javier Bardem as the piece's villain. This brilliant actor, whose work in No Country of Old Men ranks as one of the most memorable depictions of a sociopath in screen history, is just another Bond mental case to be outwitted by 007 in the final reel.

Save this one for viewing on a future Saturday night on HBO, Showtime or Netflix. It's not worth the time or money you'll spend seeing it in a theater.

James Delson attended NYU film school, studying under Martin Scorsese and William K. Everson. He has been the film and television critic for WFUV-FM, WNYC-FM, Omni, Psychology Today and Fantastic Films magazines. He assembled an extensive private library of film research materials, numbering over 2,000,000 clippings which he used to prepare for 600 in-depth interviews with many of the most important filmmakers of the past four decades. Delson became the country's first computer gaming critic in 1983, his reviews appearing in Scholastic's Family Computing magazine. He donated his reference collection to the Museum of Modern Art where it was incorporated into their Film Study Center. Since 1984 he has owned and operated The Toy Soldier Company, which offers its vintage and current toys through a monthly catalog and an on-line website: www.toysoldierco.com.