Science Fiction World

It's been a long time coming, with a few serious financial hiccups along the way, but the new James Bond production Skyfall has finally managed to produce its first trailer and a definite launch date - 9 November worldwide. The long running British Spy series (this is the 23rd film) again stars Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming's 007 and features Javier Bardem as a new villain called Raoul Silva.

According to the official plug, "Bond's loyalty to M is challenged over secrets from her past. When MI6 is attacked, it falls to Bond to seek out and eliminate the threat regardless of the cost to himself."

Judi Dench returns as M and Albert Finney plays Kincade. Ralph Fiennes is in this one too, playing Mallory, a government agent with the authority to regulate MI6.

At first glance the plot appears pretty standard stuff and nothing to get too excited about, but if they can reach the heights of Casino Royale or the Quantum of Solace (the first two Daniel Craig Bond films), it will hopefully be worth the price of a movie ticket - or maybe two or three movie tickets and a bucket of popcorn (if you don't like popcorn or movie tickets substitute objects of equal value and reread this paragraph).

The trailer starts with Bond being interrogated as M and Mallory watch. Standard action sequences follow. Things blow up. Guns are fired repeatedly. People fall into water or fall through the sky. Other people run past things as they explode. Exotic locations and exotic women ensue. More things blow up. As you would expect, near the end of the trailer, a train crashes through a brick wall. Must have been speeding while trying to stick to its timetable.

This is not the most promising trailer I've ever seen, but hopefully with the acting talent detailed above and Sam Mendes of American Beauty fame in the director's chair, the film in full will be a lot more interesting. We'll have to wait until November to find out.

Check out the trailer on YouTube below. You can find the official Skyfall website here.