There is something about wood, beautiful rich wood that makes for incredible doors and windows at the old British buildings and houses. Something so pleasing and reassuring. A reminder that while we may be losing everything fast, there is a chance, even if a small one, that class may survive.

Skyfall is a the brilliant new James Bond film that changes a lot about what Bond means to us but also brings back to us that same romance for our new times. A time when Bond doesn't stand for classy cars, gadgets and babes. That's all been done and over with. That's now the purview of the Mission Impossibles. That is not our world with well-formed anything - from friends to enemies - we live in a changing or changed world where everything is constantly moving and slipping from under our feet. Our missions merely improbable. We are all in our own Skyfall: Individuals, corporations and governments. We are ascending too fast for our own good.

Sam Mendes and Daniel Craig bring to us a world in part inspired by the darkness spread around our modern superhero movies. Mendes adds a touch of nostalgia and patience in Skyfall, a lost art. He adds silence, words and emotions between the chases. They make Bond a personal rather than a digital experience, not just in gadgets but in personalities. And yet, this is more a  Road to Perdition than a Dr. No.

The film features a powerful cast that play their roles and seem to understand their representative positions in the new world order. A story that, as stories go in this type of films, holds well enough for the drama to play out.

Javier Bardem, who resurrected our fear of villainy in ' No Country for Old Men' plays a freak who Mendes thankfully uses only sparingly. 

Daniel Craig looks old, weary perhaps. His job harder and painful. Resurrecting Bond must at least be a quantum of solace though. Judi Dench is crusty and understands well that she is the odd M out.

And finally a Bond song to last a generation. Adele's brilliant 'Skyfall 'and the dark, brooding title works almost as well for this film as Chris Cornell's ' You Know my Name' did for ' Casino Royale', the last best modern Bond film.

But to me the film shines in a brilliantly filmed final act. I cannot remember the last time I've seen a more elaborate, deliberate and engaging climax. That majestic old house in the Scottish highlands? Well, that's one of the best things you'll ever see blown up.