Rent Skyfall (2012)

A masterful, spectacular & extraordinarily moving masterpiece - Skyfall review by TB

I love this film. It is a wonderful, moving & action-packed movie, but more than anything, for me it is quintessentially a James Bond film. Bond is show to be fiercely patriotic & loyal, plus also vulnerable. Not since Die Another Day have we seen him beaten up, exhausted & jaded. But as he starts to get back to who he was, the screen just lights up & the joy you feel is the reason why, for so many people, there is no substitute.

Amusingly, one reason why Skyfall also works is because it is the only film of the series which in no way tries to tie itself in to the shadowy organisation which is first introduced in Casino Royale & then attempted to be fleshed out in Quantum of Solace. This is a truly standalone Bond film & is all the better for it.

And it starts as it means to go on: a shadow appears in the distance, then there is the almost deafening blast of the iconic Bond chords. Sat in the IMAX watching this, immediately it grabbed me & the message straight away, loud & clear was "Bond is back." In the space of 10 minutes, we see Bond desperately chase, with a car & motorbike, then on top of a moving train, a mercenary who has stolen highly classified files. The mission goes awry & Bond then vanishes, spending months in an island paradise drinking the bars dry & bedding beautiful women. However, a terrorist attack in London then draws him back to his home country & tracking down the mastermind behind it all.

This film has everything: a fantastic script, beautiful cinematography from Roger Deakins, a perfect score from Thomas Newman & theme song by Adele, incredible stunts & note-perfect performances. I mean, the list just goes on. And it is so welcome & brilliant to be able to sit in your seat & be totally swept up in everything that is going on, especially as the story & themes become much more personal. As much there is the real-world element to this & every Bond film (in Skyfall, it is mainly hacking/destroying high-value or important targets,) it becomes much more about James Bond himself & particularly his relationship with M.

Central to all of this is Daniel Craig. This is, even though Casino Royale is my favourite film overall, his best performance as Bond. Having 2 films under his belt (one spectacularly successful, the other average at best,) here you feel that he is much more comfortable & confident in the role. He really has grown into the skin of Bond & never for a second did I doubt any part of his performance. Judi Dench is also, as you would expect, incredible. Having been M since 1995 with Pierce's 1st film, here she is in many ways given her meatiest role in the 007 series. As you would expect, she delivers everything you could want & more. Alongside her, we get the return of Q, Ben Whishaw perfectly filling the shoes of Desmond Llewellyn after a long hiatus.

And then there is Javier Bardem as Silva. With a shock of blond hair & an extremely eccentric/camp persona, you almost dismiss him at first, even as he tells a fairly repugnant story in his opening monologue. But you underestimate him at your peril. He is totally ruthless, vain & evil, valuing only himself & prepared to destroy everything to get what he wants. He matches Craig toe-to-toe in dramatic tension & stakes.

Then we come to the ending. Again, no other Bond film makes you actually FEEL so strongly & emphatically the raw emotion which is shown on screen. As the final credits rolled, I felt every type of joy imaginable. I loved this film & it still saddens me to this day that despite trying, Bond has never again reached the heights it scaled here. This is James Bond, one of the greatest action heroes ever created, in one of the best films in the series.

Nobody will ever do it better.

Best Bond for characters - Skyfall review by DD

Best level of acting in any of the series. 

Great special effects.

My favourite line in the film is from Albert Finney  the gamekeeper, Mr. Kincade, at the Bond Family's Skyfall estate in the scenic highlands of Scotland:

“Welcome to Scotland! “

Classic Bond - Skyfall review by GI

Goldfinger (1964) is often considered Sean Connery's best Bond film, his third. Skyfall will no doubt be Daniel Craig's most revered outing as the iconic British agent, also his third film. It's certainly a highly entertaining action adventure furthering Craig's emotionally damaged take on the role with 007's drive mixed with his self doubt and focused on the only meaningful relationship he has with the matriarchal M played superbly by Judi Dench. The film has everything you want in a Bond film, it's a globe trotting plot with a deformed and warped baddie in the guise of Javier Bardem playing Silva. There's some really breathtaking chases sequences from the get go and the script is clever and brings in pieces of Bond's history, not only from the novels but also from the earlier films, even the iconic Aston Martin DB5 is dusted off. When a mission in Turkey goes awry James Bond is presumed dead. Then when MI6 is attacked and there seems to be a plot to assassinate M 007 reappears to help track down a former British agent who is intent on revenge for being abandoned years earlier. Albert Finney makes an appearance in the film's gritty final battle scenes and Ben Whishaw is the new Q and Naomie Harris the new Moneypenny. The Craig Bond films have been a classic reboot of what had become a tired franchise and with the films now having a consistent link with one another there is a great story beyond the story in the actual film. This is a first class piece of action entertainment and definitely a film to enjoy time and time again. Everyone has their favourite Bond but sometimes it's just good to sit back and enjoy them for what they do as individual films. This one ticks all the boxes.