Review of Skyfall (2012) by Rameshwar I — 20 Apr 2016

Easily the most entertaining Bond movie I have come across and the best after 'Casino Royale' which only beats it for its trend-breaking factor. A Bond movie is basically an action-thriller and the thriller part has been forgotten for so long until the movies with Craig started and this one complements it to the core. It got most aspects right with a good balance of dramatic elements, subtle humor (occasionally Q misfires not with the bad taste of jokes but the wrong timing), a villain to match, brilliant visuals and action sequences (I especially liked the silhouette fight in Shanghai), pulsating background score (the one with the rapid violin mixing Adele's tune and Bond's theme) and a strong climax (though the final action took forever).

Bond (Daniel Craig) is presumed dead when a pursue mission goes bad. He comes out of his exile when he learns about the bombing of MI6 headquarters by a former agent Silva (Javier Bardem) who is planning to exact revenge on M (Judi Dench) for betraying him during his time with the agency. M is under scrutiny for the security breaches from Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) and she wanted Bond so badly that she puts him on active service even though he fails all his tests. With the body count rising, Bond resorts to isolate Silva to take him on individually going against odds with little firepower and no backing from the Agency.

It is not without its flaws even with all the positive chatter for example, the bad guy getting caught intentionally has been overdone these days and the editing during some action sequences did not look studio standard and so are the numerous obvious continuity errors or goof-ups. Craig looked old and may not suit for another installment but fits the part perfectly as the story recognizes his aging. The Bond girls share too little screen time unlike its predecessors. It was a surprise for me when I heard Sam Mendes will be directing a Bond movie but he actually did a fantastic job by having a good story, developed characters but also mixes all the craziness associated with the franchise.

A very well made action thriller not just for the Bond fans.