Review of Skyfall (2012) by Aodhan R — 25 Sep 2014

Like most of the older Bond movies, Skyfall opens to an iconic chase sequence which ultimately leads Bond to falling to his supposed death and the assailant getting away. It's a bit odd, even for 007 - but he bounces back when learning of a chaotic explosion that hits MI6 and takes the lives of several dedicated agents in the line of duty. Bond, seemingly in-fit and in bad condition due to his long disappearance, is assigned to find the one responsible for the murders and whoever else is involved, which leads him to pursuing an ex-MI6 agent turned rogue murderer, who will stop at nothing to see that M is eliminated.

Like in Goldeneye, Pierce Brosnan's first outing as Bond, Bond goes up against another ex-agent turned rogue murderer. Only this time the villain Silva, played magnificently by Javier Bardem, has personal issues with M, whereas Alec from Goldeneye wanted the power to neutralise London. It's an interesting take with fab performances, but the only downside is that Skyfall seems to have a few blanks in it's storytelling and I still - for some apparent reason - can't figure out what that is. And Daniel Craig's Bond, seems to lose his edge, this time around - compared to his endless and unique stunts in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. But Skyfall manages work excessively on character development and feature a better villain than many Bond movies had to offer. For once he's a villain not bent on world domination.