Believe it or not the James Bond franchise has endured 50 years and continually giving fans what they’ve enjoyed about this franchise – a heroic character that can pull off the   impossible, intriguing plots, ideal locations, mesmerizing gadgets, sexiness, evil villains, and fantastic action with car chases and stunts often unmatched in other films.

Skyfall, the latest Bond film, is getting good buzz for most of the reasons mentioned above even though many are also commenting about some things that just don’t raise the bar of this film to exceptional. The opening scene with Bond (Daniel Craig) racing a motorcycle across rooftops and through traffic congestion in Istanbul is really nothing we haven’t seen before.

Different this time, however, is that Bond doesn’t come out of this unscathed. In fact he has physical injuries that not only set him back but bring up the question of, “Is he too old to have the assignment of keeping the world safe?”

In addition to Bond’s setback, some of MI6’s agents have been exposed, the agency is attacked and even M suffers slight injury. She receives a lashing from Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, that forces her to prove she’s not seen better days as well. As she and Bond talk over their situations she makes a comment that maybe she and Bond should “think on our sins.”

That statement is certainly open for interpretation but it’s also the focus of much of this movie. And really, how many Bond fans want to watch a movie questioning if their main franchise characters can still do their job? Even the scenes with sexy women, a staple in Bond films, comes off rather dull by comparison. It’s almost as if we can hear Bond saying, “You want me to be sexy and super –hero at the same time?”
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