What a joy to introduce my son this weekend to the legacy of James Bond. 007 in my family is like Star Wars, something that is passed from one generation to another with a little bit of hope and excitement because I wanted my son to love the movies as much as I have and now I know we can watch them all again, (well maybe not the Timothy Dalton ones) but still, it’s something fun we can share and marvel at.

I remember Never Say Never Again, Sean Connery’s last kick at the can, and octopussy, with Roger Moore. I think the theme song for that one is still rattling around in my brain somewhere. I was about eight years old when I saw it and asked my father what a virgin was. Not such a great moment but memorable.

I think the problem is that I loved Skyfall, so much that I don’t think it could be topped. Sure, Daniel Craig is absolutely beautiful, and what woman wouldn’t swoon after five minutes in his presence? But as good as parts of it were, the parts didn’t make a whole.

A big part of the plot is how 007 is being shut down in favor of an international intelligence agency. Bond is out there alone. In Africa, looking like he’s on a magazine shoot, he’s that beautiful.

But I kept asking myself why he would come back, after all had been settled in Skyfall? I’ll take Daniel Craig any day with a cherry on top, but maybe not as Bond again. He’s said this will be his last one, and maybe it’s that undercurrent that sweeps through the movie making it lackluster and falling short on why Bond is doing it at all. Good question.