It has sillier bits (A VILLAIN WHO CANNOT FEEL PAIN! OHHHH!!! ... Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist!), but the overall story is quite a bit darker and more serious than Tomorrow Never Dies.

Its not although it tries to be

Saw it again tonight and I loved it even more. It's arguably the most ambitious Bond movie ever made because of how dramatic it is and Mendes somehow manages to pull it off. It's very clear he's a huge fan of the series. What's surprising is how well the action scenes work (especially at the end). I even got a little misty-eyed at the end. No other Bond film has come close to doing that since On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

And as I repeatedly mentioned in my other reviews for the other movies, the Bond films only work as well as their villain, and Skyfall has a real winner in Raoul Silva. He's the only villain in the series, that I can remember, who's on a vendetta. That makes him much more relatable and much more dangerous. He could've been killed off in a more enjoyable manner, but that's only a small complaint.

Skyfall is also the best looking James Bond film ever made. Before the honor went to On Her Majesty's Secret Service because it looked unique and stood apart from the Connery's, but this is in an entirely different ballpark. The skyscraper fight in Shanghai looks exquisite and the scene where Bond rides up in a boat to the casino in Macau looks stunning. They can't pay Roger Deakins enough to come back for the next one. Actually they might as well bring back Mendes while they're at it.

Skyfall is the movie I wanted immediately following Casino Royale. The series got a little sidetracked with Quantum of Solace (it still has it's moments), but it's back on track and arguably better than ever. Skyfall is one of the best James Bond movies and it's the best movie of the year thus far.

Oh and fuck you Connery. You should've been in this.

***** (A+)

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) - ***** (A+)
2. Goldfinger (1964) - ***** (A+)
3. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) - ***** (A+)
4. Skyfall (2012) - ***** (A+)
5. Casino Royale (2006) - ***** (A+)
6. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) - ***** (A+)
7. From Russia with Love (1963) - ****½ (A)
8. Licence to Kill (1989) - ****½ (A)
9. Goldeneye (1995) - **** (A-)
10. The Living Daylights (1987) - **** (A-)
11. Live and Let Die (1973) - ***½ (B+)
12. You Only Live Twice (1967) - *** (B)
13. For Your Eyes Only (1981) - *** (B)
14. The World is Not Enough (1999) - *** (B)
15. Thunderball (1965) - *** (B)
16. Dr. No (1962) - *** (B)
17. Quantum of Solace (2008) - **½ (B-)
18. A View to a Kill (1985) - **½ (B-)
19. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) - **½ (C+)
20. Diamonds are Forever (1971) - **½ (C+)
21. Octopussy (1983) - ** (C)
22. Moonraker (1979) - ** (C)
23. Die Another Day (2002) - *½ (C-)

Raoul Silva, not Carlos.

I somehow dug that name up from the back of my baseball brain. I swear I even heard Carlos too.

Alec Trevelyan in Goldeneye is straight up vendetta against both James Bond and the British government at large.

Yeah, but he also wants to destroy London's economy. What does Silva want to do besides kill M?

One nerd-pick: Craig looks too stiff in his gunbarrel pose and the gunbarrel itself looks odd. A slowed down version of the QoS gunbarrel would've been perfect.



Blame that on Fleming. Bond's back story here is the same as it was in the novels.

And lets not forget, the Nolan Batman films (and Inception) were heavily influenced by the Bond movies. So in a way, the movie is really borrowing from the series.

Yeah, I'd agree with that though it at least does it very well.

Casino Royale is way more of a 'normal' Bond film than people give it credit for.

Casino Royale has a more muscular storyline, and the Craig/Green relationship is the Bond franchise at its most touching. Skyfall, however, is a more electrifying visual experience and also has a fascinating dynamic where Craig, over the course of the film, transitions from the "James Bourne" of Quantum of Solace to a more old-school, Connery style vision of the character.

I prefer Casino Royale by a hair, but both are amazing and, in fact, go together well. Skyfall is the sequel Casino Royale deserves.

I saw the latest episode of Generic Action Guy tonight.

Skyfall is Crank... without the wit.

...and then the story's yet another self-referential wankfest to boot.

An embarrassment to the franchise.


1 out of 5

And all was right with the world.

Is that the title for the next episode of GAG? Sounds appropriate.

This indeed may be the best Bond film ever, and for one major reason: the cinematography. From a visual standpoint alone, no other film in the franchise has managed to be this brilliant.

I've seen it for the 2nd time today, this time in IMAX and it was amazing. This is just an all-around great movie. Like 2001 mentioned, the cinematography is brilliant.

Yep, it was awesome.

So who here wants to see a Brad Bird James Bond?

He could probably make a good one. I don't see it happening though. There hasn't been an American Bond director in the series entire run.

At least some of the IMDb User Reviews are getting it right...

Mmm, IMDB, where insight goes to die.

A+. I had seen ten Bonds before and this topped them all. Deakins is the MVP here, with Bardem as the runner up.

Honestly I really didn't like Skyfall either. It's full of egregious plot holes, it doesn't give Bond anything more to do than brood, it relies on sycophantic/'iconic' Bond moments to get a reaction out of Pavlovian crowds, and the trailers showed just about every good action beat. Javier Bardem is too good for his underwritten character, a bad guy who doesn't make much sense and whose hacker persona never figures into his character in any substantial way. It's pretty to look at, but too self-serious to enjoy. It worships at the altar of Bond, but doesn't do the character justice.

C-

it's fine. the plot is even dumber than usual. I'm mostly perplexed by the "bond's a dinosaur in a new world" approach, which makes zero sense in conjunction with the last two movies, both of which appeared to be showing bond at the beginning of his career. i think this is a better approach, but inasmuch as it reboots not just the crappy movies but casino royale too, it's confusing

roger deakins saves it

die another day began in the same fashion as this one, bond is old and out of it. Craigs gray beard was gross

Has some pretty cinematography, but I found it pretty boring and flat, and frankly while I'm willing to let minor holes go most of the time, this thing is dumb as a fucking rock. I mean some of the screenwriting is just outrageous. Stuff like Bond hearing M's order to shoot him but not ducking/Eve not taking the other guy out after him, MI6 literally instantly tracking the guy in Shanghai by having a piece of just so happens to be uranium bullet in Bond's chest that he never removed???, or there just happens to be a trap-door in the room they're keeping Bardem in (this one is my favorite, did I miss something explaining this because LOL) + Bardem happens to be caught by Bond at the right time in the right room exactly when a train is over top of them to let off the bomb (and frankly everything about Bardem's "Hanna" like plot to get captured and escape is ridiculous. and the stolen agents list was Palin's Bridge to Nowhere), or Bond's great plan being to go to a cottage with no backup, or M and totally unnecessary should've-been-Connery guy using a flashlight to get to the church when there's a huge flaming cottage behind them to light their way, are just terrible gaffes. I would be more willing to let these go if the film wowed me but frankly, it didn't. Mendes pretty much created a standard, nicely shot, but hollow and stupid action film that happened to star James Bond and a pretty cool villain