“Last Rat Standing”

“Hotshots” looks at a movie!

Skyfall is the 23rd “official” James Bond movie, which began 50 years ago with the 1962 Dr. No, and the third one starring Daniel Craig as British spy, Agent 007.

And of all the Bond films over the years, official and unofficial, both serious and spoof, this is definitely the most recent one.

Oh, all the traditional, key elements are there:  Bond looks good, damn good, when he is dressed to kill; there is a memorable villain, played by Javier Bardem, but he has a back story that we have already seen before in the 1995 GoldenEye; there is another in a long line of so-called “Bond girls,” but her name isn’t as striking as previous ones; there are chases aplenty; there are gadgets for Bond, but some of them we have literally seen before; and finally there are familiar names, but they are played by new characters.

In other words, call me jaded or call me old, but I have pretty much seen it all before.

Except for the opening sequence, which features a motorcycle chase across the rooftops of buildings in Istanbul, a fight between Bond and another man atop a moving train, and then while Bond’s backup agent can shoot to save him, but doesn’t have a clear shot, the agent is ordered by M back in London, “Take the bloody shot!”

Unfortunately, the agent misses the villain, hits Bond, and Bond falls off the train into a river, over some falls, and he is missing from the story long enough for M, again played by Judi Dench, to write his obituary and have his government-paid apartment cleaned out of all Bond’s possessions.

But not to worry.  Bond comes back, perhaps reluctantly, when things go bad in London for M, MI6, and the entire secret agency.

However, Bond has to prove that he is still able and fit for his license to kill, and he is back on the job.

He goes to Shanghai, he goes to Macao, and he encounters Silva, who has a personal grudge against M from days long past.

The story ends in Scotland, the meaning of the film’s title is revealed, and the movie ends with a comment about “last rat standing.”

Skyfall also ends with a promise that James Bond will return, but I say give it a rest.

I’m Dan Culberson and this is “Hotshots.”