Review of Skyfall (2012) by Matthew K — 05 Nov 2015

MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS....

Like a pendulum, we swing back from the atrocious airspace that was QUANTUM OF SOLACE, and where we end up is nothing but fresh air all around. SKYFALL delivers on top-notch action and suspense, that's worth drooling over. Craig's Bond is more humorous this time around, which is nice to see him not being so serious when it comes to him worrying about his feelings. It may be arguably questionable on who is the true Bond villain of all time, but I have to say that even though his screen time was short, Javier Bardem's Silva was nothing short of brilliance. At times, he made me think that he was sort of the British version of The Joker. If you want great villains, hire great actors. That's what happened here, and not just with Bardem, but the rest of the cast was good as a whole. One of the things I hated about QOS, other than it being boring, was, from the start, the editing was too fast paced-leaving no time for me to soak in what was happening. This time around, the editing was never an issue, nicely paced. Director Sam Mendes is a good director, having won an Oscar in recent past. He brings his skills to the table and gives us the best Bond yet. Most of the credit I have to give towards the wonderfully shot scenes throughout the film. As much as it looked like a Bond film, it also looked like a potential Oscar contender in the category of Cinematography. Art Direction should also be mentioned, as each new sequence featured a sleek and interesting design that became the backdrop for all the action. With this being the third film since the franchise's 'reboot', the focus on setting up familiar territory---familiar to those Bond films that first came 50 years ago--- is truly seen. What we get by movies end is the mind of Q, the identity of Moneypenny, and the face of a new M. It may not be the best movie this year---though it ends up inside of my top 5---but surely, it's one of the best action films of the year(butting heads with The Avengers) and it is the best Bond movie experience I ever had. I want more!