Skyfall Reviews

Not at all what I expected, although with Sam Mendes at the helm it does make sense. It's the re-invention of re-inventions, God knows Bond has been through a few in recent years. I think this time though they got it right and it was a long time coming. Casino Royal was a misfired attempt at an idea that Quentin Tarantino touted and quite frankly, they should have let him have a go. Instead they played it safe and it was boring. Same goes for Quantum of Solace which was even more boring, I can't even remember what happened it was that forgettable. Skyfall has re-invented the idea of Bond, what is his point in this day and age you ask, well Skyfall tells you, it makes him relevant again. It also touches on him as a character as well, I'm not sure he really needed a back story, although Flemming does touch on it in his books. He's quite a dark character when you look at his history, they wisely avoid this though in Skyfall. Bond has shown his venerability before but never so much so as he does here, frankly I didn't like it but they just about get away with the cliche of the washout returns to form. The real re-invention here though is actually (and quite unashamedly) a return to what Bond always was. (Doh!). I've heard people say that it was the only thing they could do to avoid spending a massive budget, indeed this did feel like credit-crunch Bond but again I'm not sure past Bond budgets have been justifiable. *Spoilers* Basically, Bond isn't redundant in the modern technologically dependent world because computers etc can be manipulated, you need a man on the ground, you need the man in the shadows, the ruthless killer and ladies man of the Flemming novels. Q is back, toned down a bit but still he's back, as is Miss Money Penny (brilliantly reintroduced). Then we have M. No more being bossed around by a Women eh! Not very PC but in their defence Money Penny is now Black! *Sarcastic wink*. Also, and this really did surprise me (although it was probably common knowledge by now) M is a man again! Break out the cigars and Brandy, he's even got a leather door! Bond, very much back then. A brave move, even though it felt like they had to do it to save the franchise, either way, good move. Maybe now we can start to forget all about that invisible car...

A

How can a James Bond get any less then a 5. Movie scenes spectacular. I did miss all the fancy gadgets and a shame to see the Astro Martin shot up and blown up, can't bring that one back. Don't miss this one. 5 stars 3-11-13

Pretty mediocre, I must say. I was looking forward to this, but more for action than for psychology. Why do they feel that we have to go touchy feely deep on Bond's character? I do appreciate that they are trying to recapture some of the tongue-in-cheek humor though. Too much M, and Q is obnoxious, but Moneypenny I'm looking forward to seeing more of. And Fiennes.

Let's get this out of the way right now, "Skyfall" is not the greatest Bond movie of all time. That being said, it's very entertaining, and Craig/Bardem give great performances. There was a bit too much M in this one for my liking, and the ending is very anticlimactic. "Skyfall" is a great movie, but it's no "Casino Royale." Grade: B

Skyfall is an entertaining Bond film with charismatic performances from Bardem and Craig, but the action, story, and side characters may not be deep or engrossing enough for some.

With all the hype that's been surrounding it, I honestly expected something more. The cinematography is fantastic, as are the set pieces and Thomas Newman's score. The actors are all in top form- I'm happy with the additions of Ben Winhshaw as Q and Ralph Fiennes as Malory. I'm also happy to see Judi Dench getting more sceen time. As for Javier Bardem, he wasn't given much to work with. I felt that the movie didn't present anything innovative to the action genre, and I was never really intellectually satisfied. But Bond fans and the casual moviegoer should (and have) be pleased.

James Bond is presumed KIA on a mission but is lured back into service by an elaborate cyber-terrorist threat targeting MI6 itself. Skyfall seems to begin as yet another "evil hacker takes over the world with his dastardly laptop" story that has become as tedious as it is ubiquitous in this day and age. Combining this concept with the old "I'm too old for this shit" theme that first reared its head in the Lethal Weapon franchise and some moments of irrelevant Bond totty and cheesy quips and I feared Skyfall had fallen into the same trap of excessively self-referential corn for its 50th birthday that Die Another Day tumbled into. And then Javier Bardem appeared on the screen. The character dynamic is very like that of The Dark Knight; Craig faces off against an effeminate, playful yet clearly psychotic version of himself and all the cyber-nonsense falls away to become a personal duel between the two men for the affections of their adopted mother figure. Sam Mendes' direction takes a far more subtle approach when harking back to Bond's past as he battles the anti-Bond whilst hurtling backwards through his life amidst decaying monuments to empire. The classic DB5 makes a welcome return and makes a literal blast from the past culminating in a Straw Dogs style showdown with a military helicopter, like North By Northwest on steroids as Bond's own past burns to the ground all around him. It's a daring rewrite of the history of 007 leading up to the classic Bond/M/Moneypenny dynamic from the very beginnings of the character and Sam Mendes pulls it off beautifully. I personally preferred Casino Royale but at the same time I suspect that repeated viewings of Skyfall are required and will be appropriately rewarding. It's yet more proof that a 12A blockbuster in the right hands can become something with sophistication and adult themes and it begs the question why studios choose to hand these kinds of projects and their associated multi-million dollar budgets over to talentless hacks with such depressing regularity.

Not as James Bond-y as I would have liked, however a solid film regardless.

Much better on a second viewing.

This is the bestest James Bond 007 film of the history I ever watched.
The consensus on Daniel Craig's tenure as James Bond so far is that he started out impressively in Casino Royale but wavered in Quantum of Solace. Here, in a Bond specifically tailored for the 50th anniversary of the series, the dangling plot-threads of Casino and Quantum are left in the wind as a more experienced, more damaged hero deals with a villain from his boss's past.
Having rebooted the franchise by depicting Bond's first days with a license to kill in Casino Royale, this picks him up later in his career.
The pre-credits sequence establishes that Sam Mendes - brought in to raise the tone a bit - can handle a fist-fight on top of a train as well as anyone. The boldest hire for this go-round is cinematographer Roger Deakins, who delivers the most impressive visuals this series has had since the 1960s. No one will ever mistake Skyfall for an introspective picture, though Bond's rarely-mentioned dead parents get trottec out in Christopher Nolanesque way which aligns him with all other orphan heroes of current cinema.
The challenge of delivering a series entry is to present the mandatory elements - the credits sequences, the girls, the cars, the locations, the stunts, the villains, the novelty pets, the gadgets - in fresh, surprising ways. Regular screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, augmented by John Logan, skate over their MacGuffin with some computerspeak and politicking, then hit all the required notes - with sidebar-friendly anniversary nods to practically every previous Bond film, including the David Niven Casino Royale - while telling a story that doesn't strictly adhere to the umpteenth-remake-of-Dr. No format that wore thin during the Roger Moore-Pierce Brosnan eras. Among other innovations, this is the first Bond really to make use of spectacular British locations, in and out of London, as a plot hatched in exotic places comes home to burn down the Establishment.
Craig takes a fall into a surreal credits sequence accompanied by that Adele song, then spends a reel or so as an unshaven, washed-up wreck who can't shoot straight and shows signs of psychological trauma. It's a character stretch Craig manages better than Brosnan's bout with beardiness in Die Another Day, mostly because he gets his chops back - and his chops shaven, in a sexy sequence with fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) - with credible effort. It's a reading of the role that comes from the later Fleming novels.
Harris's peppy M16 sniper and Berenice Marlohe's slinky woman of mystery have a few good scenes, but the main Bond girl here is Judi Dench - whose M is harried by bureaucrats who want her to retire, but has to stay in office to cope with her own nightmare legacy. Javier Bardem's villain makes a grand entrance delivering a parable about rats in a barrel, then gets deeper under the hero's skin than any official shrink, prodding him into reflections about his drink and pill dependency and sexual identity which would have made Sean Connery flinch. Silva is a Flemingseque creation - a loathesome foreigner with a hidden deformity - but Bardem adds in a little Hannibal Lecter vibe and even becomes a horror movie slasher for a surprisingly gothic, down-and-dirty climax.
Ralph Fiennes plays it ambiguously as M's political rival, but gets some good scenes late in the day, and there's a reinvention of the role of Q from Ben Whishaw, who is now the spook's computer whiz as well as quartermaster. And Albert Finney brings gravitas to a key role in the home stretch.

Skyfall is yet another blockbuster hyped to such proportions that it will impede the viewing of anyone coming to the film after the storm of praise. However, I also believe it helps in terms of clarity. Skyfall is a wonderful action movie with some truly fantastic scenes and performances that elevate the acting above other efforts in the franchise. But that's about it really. The emotional elements are not fully fleshed out, with Silva's motivation being summarised by Dench's M in just a few lines. Luckily Bardem is easily able to take the role to new heights with just the raise of an eyebrow. The film tries very hard at giving us old characters and situations from previous Bond films, but it is also very derivative and in debt to other films, especially Nolan's The Dark Knight trilogy. Bond comes back from the dead, he now has a mansion and elderly butler, the villain gets kidnapped on purpose, etc. I really did feel as though I was watching an adapted Batman screenplay at times. The film was also uneven in terms of the tone it wanted to give to the franchise, at one point Q is taking the mick from previous installments to empthasise this efforts realism, and the next Silva's complex plan is going off with some very contrived and convenient twists. Despite the film's shortcomings, at least it was damn entertaining, unlike the previous film, but why did the end turn into Home Alone?

Daniel Craig embodies Bond more than ever, but "Skyfall" overall seems somewhat flat. There's not much to separate this from any other standard action flick (and Bond films tend to be anything but standard). In Skyfall, James Bond is brought back to action after terrorists hack into the MI6 master computer files and steal the identities of all the 00 agents in the world. M (Judi Dench) must stand before a hearing to prove the necessity and relevency of MI6 in the world today (why would we need secret agents running around when everything can be done with computers now?). The villain this time is Silva (Javier Bardem), a disgruntled 00 agent who wants to settle the score with M. Bardem can be a great villain (as in "No Country For Old Men"), but here, he does little more than mug for the camera.

Much like the recent re-launch of "Star Trek" or "Tron", there seems to be a desperate need to re-connect with the series' past here. Some things are worked into the plot naturally while others are arbitrarily thrown in there for no other reason than to trigger an audience reaction. Skyfall is the twenty-third Bond film in a series that has been going for fifty years now, and yes there have been some great ones as well as some bad ones. "Skyfall" is neither the "Best Bond Ever", nor is it the worst. It's a healthy middle-of-the-road.

M's pragmatism tests Bond's loyalty and creates a fearless, technologically savvy villain.
As Bond films go, this is one of the better ones. It's stylish, well choreographed, and actually spends some time developing character. After all, the central conflict between Bond and M is the driving force behind the film, and the conflict is ideological. In most action films the hero prevails because of his superior violence or some magic -- magic defined as a technological know-how that the audience neither cares about nor understands i.e. Captain Kirk does something with the Enterprise's computer or Batman has a cool toy. But here the conflict between M and Bond is most compelling because it's based on whether or not M's cool, pragmatic management is morally reprehensible. Though this conflict is never really resolved, it's nonetheless nice to see a Bond movie doing something with the characters.
Javier Bardem is very good as a villain as always, and Daniel Craig is a strong Bond. There is one scene in which there's an undercurrent of homosexuality, which is a welcome addition to the franchise and an aspect of the hyper-masculine character that would be laughable in a Connery Bond.
Overall, I'm not often a fan of Bond films, but I found this one decently entertaining.

A great film and an utterly sublime Bond film. The cast are uniformly brilliant, to the extent they almost seem to become an ensemble. The score and photography are note perfect. The editing, production design and effects are all bang on. But this is all because they are all perfectly in line with the disciplined, witty, referential, pioneering, borderline genius vision of Sam Mendes, and he is the real hero here.

M (Judi Dench) is being politically pressured into retirement after a disastrous theft results in the exposure of multiple agents; an aging James Bond (Daniel Craig) tracks the rogue spy responsible. Starting off string with the best chase and titles sequences of the year, it's more fun foolishness from the franchise that refuses to retire after 50 years of capers.

A decent movie but those saying this is the best Bond film ever have clearly not seen any of the older ones. Craig is boring as Bond, he is not the best of actors and does not engage the viewer. Bardem as the bad guy was such a waste. Why oh why do all modern bond villains seem to be some kind of camp clone? The character he played in No Country for Old Men oozed menace, in this he was just a bit odd. In fact it reminded me a bit of David Walliams. The new Q was annoying and lacked any substance, acted like a poor mans Dr Who. All in all the film was good, but not anywhere near the hype that people have been giving it.

"Skyfall" is the best Bond film to date.

Bond needed something new. After "Die Another Day", easily one of the worst Bond films of all time, the Bond franchise was ready to move onto something new, and it had it with "Casino Royale". Agreeably, the tone it presented was more darker and similar to the Bourne series, but it was a much needed change of pace for the Bond series. But then came along "Quantum of Solace". Incomprehensible plot and with action -- although entertaining -- that drew way too many similarities with the Bourne franchise, it made audiences question whether the Bond series was merely copying the intensity and frenetic action Bourne was founded on. It seemed like there was very little hope to be found in future installments. Suddenly, I heard Sam Mendes took the helm of the director's chair. My hopes couldn't have been higher. To no disappointment, Mendes dishes out the most immaculate, visually stunning, and extremely entertaining Bond put to film ever. Best of all, it's not copying Bourne!

Bond fanatics are complaining how "Skyfall" is not a Bond film. Yeah, you're not gonna spot eccentric gadgets, over-the-top action set-pieces, and Bond girls that encapsulated the franchise. However, Mendes wisely makes the focus of the film on one central element: the iconic character of James Bond. Though the narrative itself may be linear, it's hugely entertaining and bolstered with a surprisingly deep character study of the Bond character. There's interesting finds, and surprisingly entertaining revelations that build unto what makes Bond tick. This alone, makes "Skyfall" a very different Bond film, but still remains a Bond film. Plucked with a number of homages to old-school Bond installments, "Skyfall" is a beautiful motion picture that portrays a multi-layered Bond in a contemporary setting. You're probably thinking, "Dude, enough with the character analysis -- what about the action? Is it any fun?" Unlike "Royale" or "Quantum of Solace", you're not going to find over-the-top, Bourne-esque action set pieces, but it's highly entertaining and used sparingly. Yes, used sparingly. Regardless, "Skyfall"'s pacing isn't bogged down during times of dialogue due to the wittiest screenplay I have seen from any Bond film. Audiences are not gonna be looking at their watches, waiting for the next upcoming action set-piece. The dialogue is so superb that may be it's TOO good. What do I mean? It's extremely witty and stylish. And that's the main tone "Skyfall" exudes: stylish and a cool-blue tone. This couldn't have been done without the help of the crisp, sharp, and visually awe-striking cinematography. Take note: Every single scene is shot flawlessly. With deep rich hues of colors and impeccable lighting, this is by a long run, one of the best looking films ever due to the masterful work of Roger Deakins.

"Casino Royale" may have been an entertaining Blockbuster movie that revived the entire franchise, but "Skyfall" is the most cohesive action-thriller that pushed the Bond series to a whole 'nother level. With more films like "Skyfall", Bond may grow to be a commendable action franchise the contends with other Oscar nominees. Though I don't believe "Skyfall" is going to touch best picture nominations, "Skyfall" is definitely making me think about it. This is Bond at its finest hour.

An introspective look of MI6, where Skyfall boldly plays with time and change in a way no bond film has. We don't ever see the transitions of Bond and company within a film. Here we see quite a few, alongside tweaks in the traditional plot structure - instead of gadgets, we actually get insight into the man.

To be honest, compared with the other Bond movies, 'Skyfall' is the most out of line of James Bond movie because they had the least similarities with the others.. But what makes 'Skyfall' is one of the best Bond movies (in the era of Daniel Craig except 'Casino Royale'), is the director Sam Mendes which is in my opinion did his job fantastically.. Yes there's definitely a lot of action in this movie and by I mean a lot yes it is a lot, but the twist that they had in here just getting the movie more interesting again to be watched.. Daniel Craig has done it again with style, while Judi Dench final performance's as M seriously considered with a few of Awards judges and have a big possibilities to steal an Oscar nomination this year.. And for Javier Bardem, I had no doubt again for his acting.. He played Silva character brilliantly just as brilliant as the character that he played in 'No Country For Old Men' when he won his first and only Oscar out to date.. Overall, 'Skyfall' has been a thrilling and joyful movie for both action lovers audiences or James Bond's movies audiences..