Skyfall

I'm having a hard time expressing myself when it comes to this movie. It was a great movie all in all, but I feel like there's something missing.

Javier Bardem played the villain fantastically, the way he spoke and acted gave you chills and made you believe that there was something beneath his facade. (I don't think it's worth mentioning that Daniel Craigs acting was good, that has already been acknowledged).

After almost two hours in, I felt that I had so many questions unanswered and I started to worry how the movie was going to answer all of them in just half an hour. But I wasn't disappointed. Yet I was still hoping for something more, in a way.

There was just bits missing that would have made the film so much more better (even though it was great). For example getting to know more about Raoul Silvas life would have given him a stronger role in the movie. But I believe that the thing that i was the most disappointed about was Q. Bringing the character back after a few years sure brings peoples hopes up. And I was really expecting the cool gadgets that we've seen in the earlier movies. It was always fantastic to see the awesome stuff that a 007 got access to that made the spy life seem so cool. But in this movie I feel like they under-did his role a bit. A gun responding to fingerprints is cool, but the last time we saw Q, Bond got an invisible car with rocket launchers and a ring that could break glass. Sure they try to make the movies more realistic today, but I still feel that giving him a bigger role would have brought the movie up a bit.

Although I don't want to complain to much. The movie was great, go see it, you will like it and its a bit darker side than the previous films.

Bond 23 and 007 has to literally come back from the dead when a stolen hard-drive makes M (Dench) look bad at a time when a face from her past comes homing into blood thirsty view.

There is one sure fire fact in cinema that nobody can dispute, that of there never ever being a James Bond film that all Bondphiles will agree on. From each corner of the spectrum will come arguments that said Bond film is not gritty enough, not fun enough, not enough sex, not enough action, not enough fantastical stunts and etc etc etc. Well that's fine of course, we all have our peccadilloes we prefer in our Bond movies, but we do live in different times now, the world has changed, and so has Bond. You may not get the ultimate Bond you want, but this is a 21st Century Bond and a new era of 007 is upon us, something which makes Skyfall even the more bolder and braver because it marks the 50th anniversary by blending the old with the new and mostly achieving brilliant results.

Skyfall allows us to bathe in nostalgia whilst also forcing us to re- evaluate just where we are at in terms of our beloved super secret agent. One of the great things about this Bond is that there is a bubbling under current of time's importance delicately perched on each side of James Bond's shoulders. Is he (and M etc) outdated? Or is the future still in need of such operatives/organisations? Director Mendes and his team don't take any of the easy options that were clearly available to them to answer the question, they instead build a film around Bond and M as characters, embrace the traditions of the series and hit us hard in head and heart.

The plot of Skyfall as written is simple, absolutely nailed on it is straight and true to Hollywood conventions, but what fills out the simple plot is a series of Bondian delights, thrills spills and emotionally splintered kills. The stunning pre-credits sequence sees Bond traverse the rooftops of Istanbul on a motorcycle and then fight on top of a speeding train. Only to then find himself expendable. Which leads to Daniel Kleinman's title credits sequence that is filled with ominous portents of death and blood, in turn backed by the wonderfully Bondian of old title song warbled by Adele. It's clear at this point that this Bond movie is nodding to traditional values whilst promising to deliver some emotional pain. And so it proves.

A washed up Bond enters the fray, and he convinces, he's dishevelled, unshaven and unfit, but he's still a tough bastard who can drink hard and stare a scorpion down. He'll be back soon, we know this, and he will be in wonderful physical shape, and loyal to his surrogate mother for sure. Ah, but there's the adversary on the scene now, a villain to finally give Craig's Bond something to fret about. It's Javier Bardem's (perfect) Silva, a cyber terrorist with a shock of blonde hair, a nasty dental trick and a devilish sexiness that unnerves during an interrogation scene; to which Bond cheekily opens up some wink wink possibilities. There is other sexual tension in the film as well, not just a steamy shower scene, but the ongoing banter with Naomie Harris' (excellent) Eve that positively fizzes with smirking innuendo.

But ultimately this comes down to the love between a man and a woman, the kind that is so different to the type that has so often underpinned a Bond movie. Bond will kill or be killed for M, and how marvellous to see a director really able to give Judi Dench the direction she so deserves, and Bond, in Craig's magnetic and gritty hands, responds in kind to deliver a last half hour as good as any in the 50 years of Bond on film. As we know, all turf is Bond's turf, but this time it really is HIS turf, and as a little back story comes seeping out, Bond gets to exorcise some demons whilst kicking considerable ass. Get ready Bondphiles, this has the emotional wallop only seen in the best Bond movies of old.

All the Bondian trappings are still here, exotic locales, gorgeous women, speeding vehicles, fights, stupendous stunts, bizarre lairs and balls out machismo. It's also funny! I myself commented when reviewing Quantum of Solace that it was pretty ace as an action film, but for many it's not Bondian enough, and the truth of the matter is Bond still needs to have a degree of fun, no matter how grim and gritty the story line is. Thankfully Skyfall is often a blast, with Craig (surely convincing even the most stubborn of dissenters how good a Bond he is) having the confidence and skill to lace his Bond's macho broody instinct with a desert dry wit and shrug of the shoulders nonchalance. Other side of the camera the tech credits are high, with Deakins proving to be one of the aces in the pack. His capturing of vistas, be it a neon city scape or a mountainous valley, are eye delights, his colour tones are beautiful, I promise you, nobody these days does golden browns like Deakins.

It's not the masterpiece that I or gazillions of others hoped for, and it does have flaws (new Q a bit too geeky safe, finale lacks a substantial battle with the villain) and it remains simple in plot, but it's Bond's birthday and the birthday boy has been done proud by the makers. It's a new era Bond for sure, but that most definitely isn't a bad thing, it knows its past and it now knows its future, and without doubt we all still know the name. 9/10

I first saw this with my family in a theatre in 2012.

Revisited it recently on a dvd which I own.

This is my all time fav Bond film.

This is the twenty-third in the Bond series n the third to star Daniel Craig as James Bond.

This time Bond returns to service after MI6's servers are hacked and M receives a taunting computer message moments before the MI6 building explodes.

Inspite of failing a series of physical, medical, and psychological examinations, Bond returns to the field to pursue an assassin known as Patrice n to recover a stolen hard drive containing details of undercover agents which is in the hands of Patrice's employer, Raoul Silva, a cyberterrorist seeking revenge against those he holds responsible for betraying him.

I love the pre credit scene in this one, the motorcycle chase on the rooftops is awesome, the train chase sequence is adrenaline filled n the scene at The Varda Viaduct is amazeballs.

The climactic action is more old skool n filled with solid atmosphere.

The title track along with the picturization n Bond's fall from The Varda Viaduct is very gothic like.

The abandoned palatial house, the vast moors, the chapel, the secret passageway, the isolation n the sky almost touching the ground, is filled with top notch atmosphere.

This time Bond faces Raoul Silva n lots of his henchmen n a komodo dragon.

Bond also faces Patrice, a mercenary working for Silva.

This time Bond gets to cool off with Naomie Harris, Tonia Sotiropoulou n Berenice Marlohe.

In this movie, for the first n last time we get to see Moneypenny doing field work along with Bond and later how she opted for the iconic desktop work.

"He knows us. He's one of us. He comes from the same place as Bond, a place you say doesn't exist, the shadows." The world's greatest secret agent is back, but is the need for an agent outdated in today's modern world? After MI-6 is attacked and M (Dench) is brought under scrutiny by the government Bond (Craig) alone is left to find out who is behind the attack while M is trying to both help Bond and defend the need for an agency that has been compromised. I know that a review is really not needed here, being the 23rd Bond movie either you will watch it or not. I am a huge fan of the series and was really looking forward to this after hearing this is the best Bond movie yet. I have really loved the Craig movies but for some reason they never had the feel of a Bond movie to me, I wasn't sure what was missing but they didn't have the same feel. Knowing that they were re-booting the series I was lenient and with this one the re-boot is complete. This had much more of a feel of a classic Bond movie and by the end I was excited to see the next one. I got chills watching a few times and especially at the end. This had possibly the best opening and ending to a Bond movie ever. I could go on and on about this but I will just say if you love Bond you will love this, if you have never seen one then this one will make you a fan. Overall, From Russia With Love is my favorite Bond movie but this a very close second, and I think may be more re-watchable. I wanted to watch this one again as soon as the movie was over. I give this a very high A.

Having watched every James Bond film on the big silver screen since The Spy Who Loved Me in 1977.

It was almost surreal to see Skyfall being made by an Oscar winning director, go on to win Oscars and become one of the top grossing films of all time. The billion dollar Bond.

To think back in 1989, Licence to Kill could not compete with the likes of Batman, Indiana Jones or Lethal Weapon 2 in the US box office.

Bond is presumed dead after a mission goes wrong in Istanbul as he tries to retrieve a hard drive containing a list of top agents. M is under pressure especially as it seems she is being targeted by an anonymous cyber terrorist who turns out to be a rogue agent Silva (Javier Bardem) who was once M's most effective spy.

Skyfall celebrated 50 years of the Bond films in the cinemas. It also takes liberties with the messy timeline of the film series. Daniel Craig's novice spy from Casino Royale is now a disillusioned veteran, at one point told to call it a day.

The film re-introduces some familiar characters after being away for a few films, a younger more hi-tech Q and a new Miss Moneypenny. There is also a new M hovering in the background. The film also references earlier Bond movies as part of its golden anniversary celebrations.

Although the film contains international locations, breathtaking action, some sumptuous cinematography from Roger Deakins, it flags a bit in the middle when it needed an additional action sequence.

What director Sam Mendes does bring is some character moments and making effective use of Judi Dench as she recites some Tennyson.

Unusually for a Bond film, this must be the only occasion where the villain actually achieved all of his objectives!