Review – Skyfall
After James Bond was rebooted in ‘Casino Royale’ and the slight detour via the dreadful ‘Quantum of Solace (QOS)’, Daniel Craig’s era of Bond has spent a lot of time with training wheels on. ‘Skyfall’ has Bond still learning the ropes and leaning on 50 years of nostalgic gimmicks for appeal, but it could be the final step in a prolonged road to the first great Craig Bond flick.
MI6 is under attack and M (Judy Dench) is the target. Bond (Craig) is dispatched to hunt down the threat.
Director Sam Mendes kicks things off with an over-the-top chase sequence that hints of Bond finally finding his feet in 2012 while Mendes displays skills for crafting action sequences. As Bond uses earth moving machinery while on board a moving train to cut a hole in a train carriage, and jump onto it while fixing his suit, it feels like Bond is back.
After the traditional silhouetted naked ladies dancing to the tones of Adele it becomes clear that Bond is still in a rebuilding phase as almost rebooting the character again as to erase ‘QOS’ from the mind. A cyber threat one Facebook reference away from trying too hard to – make Bond matter to a tech savvy audience with the keyboard trumping the way of the gun.
An intriguing villain in the form of Javier Bardem skulks over the plot like a phantom but is never fully utilised when in action. Bardem’s manikin like appearance is a false projection of perfection that hides a scared backstory which is where the character shines briefly.
Craig’s Bond is a dull, advertising meat sack. The franchise has always been plagued by product placement but when he’s slowly pulling back on a specific brand of beer or randomly putting on designer sunglasses while being held hostage it’s clear that Craig’s performance as a walking billboard is as good as it gets. An attempt is made to plunge into Bond’s past to give the character depth but it’s a futile attempt to ground a character who is a shallow womanising embodiment of the male bravado. The relief is that Ben Whishaw brings personality to franchise favourite, Q and Naomie Harris is flirtatious and dangerous as a minor sidekick.
Mendes is a steady hand with the camera in an age where most spy themed films look like they were shot in the middle of an earthquake. Instead of forging ahead with something new, the film relies on gags and references to previous Bond films with familiar cars, gadgets and one liners that proves it’s only as good as your fondness of the franchise will allow.
‘Skyfall’ is thankfully an end of the beginning of Craig’s Bond. There are certainly moments that farewell the past to set the stage for Craig to finally fill the boots of the character after playing in the kiddie pool for three films. It seems the wait is over, well, until Bond 24 is released.
2.5/5
Cameron Williams
The Popcorn Junkie
‘Skyfall’ is released:
9 November 2012 USA
22 November 2012 Australia
You absolutely don’t have a clue do you. This was the most fun I had at the movies all year. It’s not only one of the Best Bond films ever, it’s one of the Best films of 2012.
Thanks for checking out the review, glad you enjoyed the film.
Thanks for reading the review, sorry we don’t agree but sometimes people have different opinions, imagine that.
It’s not the first time you pull this off.
And you know very well what I’m talking about, giving a movie at who’s widely considered good or very good by other critics and audiences a very low score. I’ve tried to bite my tongue with Chronicle and The Descendants. But I’ll be damned if I’ll do that again, I’ll point out the obvious pattern emerging from your actions, low scores bring high traffic and comments to the website.
And trust me, I would gladly push this aside under the cover of “different opinions” but I simply can not, not when there is a pattern staring me straight in the face, people like you is what make me trust less and less “authority reviews” from websites like IMDB or rottentomatoes.
Regards, a Spillio.
Hey Spillo, thanks for your comment. Honesty is something I value and I will never mislead people on purpose for the sake of traffic. Just because I didn’t like a few popular films doesn’t make me a crook. I think it’s far worse if I hid my opinion for the sake of agreeing with the majority. I’m a critic, not a sheep. If acusing me of baiting is a way of shaming me out of being honest with my reviews then it’s a damn shame and I’m sorry you feel that way. I can’t help the way aggregate sites work but I’m never going to change my opinion for the sake of traffic or to please a majority. People will have different opinions sometimes and the CONFORM OR DIE attitude makes me sad. Some of the best reviews I’ve ever read are for films I didn’t enjoy but I’m not going to make that person feel bad about offering a different point of view. Just tell me you disagree with my opinion and give me your take on it. That’s what I love to hear, different opinions because it opens up a conversation about a film. Thanks for visiting the site and I look forward to hearing your opinions on films in the future.
I agree with you.
The movie is superficially enjoyable but: Javier Bardem is cartoonish in a bland way (yes, Connery’s villains were cartoonish too, but we are not in the 60s anymore), Craig is dull, the “romantic” scenes are redundant, and the general approach “we don’t need democratic institutions, just a couple of superheroes” is plain silly.
This doesn’t mean the movie is awful in itself, but so much more could be done with Bond.
The whole thing is also, on Bond’s part, completely lacking in irony, the smooth, velvety irony that made Connery’s so great. That Bond didn’t take himself seriously, nor did he need any childhood trauma to justify he’s being a ruthless secret agent with no strings attached.
Let’s hope this is just a transition, and that the glimpse of a sparkle in Craig’s eyes at the end of the movie is a good omen.
Thanks for checking out the review and having the decency to provide a decent comment. Agree about the glint in Craig’s, eye and as I mentioned in my review, can’t wait to see what happens in the next one now all the pieces are in place.
Ok, you don’t love it (i do so much) but please not the same rate of Battleship!! 🙂
Happy you enjoyed the film, maybe I am an idiot, here’s to different opinions huzzah!
Thanks for… well based on this completely non constructive comment, nothing, did you even read the review or are you just here to abuse me? Very unlike someone who calls themselves “Bond”. Someone who doesn’t accept different opinions, I’ll mark that down as a gargantuan fail.
You are criticizing the character of Bond in your review, which begs the question, do you actually even enjoy Bond films, and if so which is your favourite film?
I do enjoy Bond films, my favourite is ‘Goldfinger’
Goldfinger is mine too. And the fact that, in Goldfinger, Bond saves the day by bascially forcing himself sexually onto a lesbian (with the ridiculous name ‘Pussy Galore’) against her will, only to have her turn around and fall in love with him and turn to the good side because of it, really highlights the differences between that classic Bond film, and this below average Bond film.
Skyfall is just far to nauseatingly Politically Correct and leftist-feminist to be any fun for the “warm-blooded heterosexuals” for whom the novels were written in Fleming’s own words.
Can you imagine Daniel Craig’s Bond being such a devilish womanizer? Of course not. Daniel Craig’s Bond has been neutered by the script-writers, denuded of the raw sexual dominance and charisma that is meant to characterize James Bond.
I’m sure you’re tired of defending your review here, but here goes…
I was looking through your other reviews, you gave Skyfall, Snow White and the Huntsman, and Battleship all the same score. Are they really all equally as bad?
I made the mistake of seeing the SW movie with the g/f, I don’t see how Skyfall would even be the same caliber of movie.
Hey Chris,
Thanks for visiting the site. Great observation and this is a comment that comes up a lot with critics in general defining a film by a set score. The most obvious comment people make is “AND THIS IS THE GUY THAT LIKE BLAH MORE THAN BLAH”. I hope that within the written review you can see the pros and cons that will separate each film from the eventual score. Yes, scores can lump a group of films together but the context is in the review. I hope this makes sense and thanks for the great question. Hopefully your girlfriend doesn’t drag you through another dud.
I personally enjoyed Battleship more than Skyfall. Haven’t seen Snow White and the Huntsman though.
N.B. I’m a fanatical Bond fan, far more than just a casual movie watcher. It is for this reason (i.e. because I’m a fanatical Bond fan) that Skyfall is so disappointing to me.
Finally a review that gets it right!
Gets it right for who? You? Me? Everyone? One review doesn’t make it so for everyone else. 😉
Wow! Amazing that you are replying to most of the comments Mr. Williams. That’s cool. That said, why is it that you need to give this film a rotten score because there were minor things about it that didn’t satisfy you? Wasn’t it entertaining enough overall to reward it with a positive score? Maybe it deserves a second viewing and you may change your mind. 🙂
Thanks for reading the review and visiting the site. When you log into Rotten Tomatoes as a critic you have to choose whether a film is “rotten” or “fresh” when filing your review. When scoring a film 2.5 out of 5 which is a 50/50 score, there is no middle option, you have to pick “rotten” or “fresh”. This makes it tough because you really have to trust your gut and pick the one that best reflects how you really feel. If you don’t want to get abused it’s easy to just give a film a fresh rating and pass by. I honestly felt that the overall experience of ‘Skyfall’ was a little sour which is why I picked it as “rotten”. People that actually read my review will see that for all my gripes I am optimistic that Bond is on the right track and I can’t wait for the next film. So often people see the “rotten” score and just fire off abuse without reading the review.
Again, thanks for visiting the site.
Yippe! I really find this movie a little too slow moving, too not-action packed. the villian is really just walking around and swinging his guns and posing for too many shots and talking too slowly.. oh… thanks for the lovely review. 🙂
Its like Craig was going the motions. Casino Royale was great, Quantum not so much, Skyfall was more Batman than Bond and not in a good way. The cheese factor started to return to Peirce Brosnan levels. The whole final standoff thing was just dumb.
Cameron, I’ve been in the same spot as you before. There are movies considered nearly universally great that I absolutely do not get, and I’m sure most people think I’m just trolling for saying I don’t like them. At the same time, I still can’t help but wonder about your comments. Casino Royale and Skyfall are two of the best action films of this era. No Bond actor before Daniel Craig had made truly great movies since Sean Connery. These movies are better than Bourne films, which is probably the second-best spy series out there. While not as popular as the new Batman series, the Craig 007 movies are arguably just as good. I just don’t know what you’re expecting from a Bond film.
Hey Brandon,
Thanks for checking out the review. You are never a troll if you can properly articulate your opinion and thanks for leaving your thoughts. I agree with you about ‘Casino Royale’ (CR) I loved how that film rebooted Bond and showed him making mistakes and finding is feet as a 00 Agent with fantastic action too. The less said about ‘QOS’ the better but when it came to ‘Skyfall’ I felt that they didn’t capitalise on forging ahead with the character. I thought the opener was great but then they de-powered the character and built him up again (like another reboot). Craig is good as Bond, ‘CR’ shows that, but I felt he was in auto-pilot for most of ‘Skyfall’. As you would know from ‘Skyfall’ they introduce a lot of characters crucial to the Bond universe as if putting those final pieces of “the beginning” in place. As mentioned in my review, now all that origin is out of the way I’m looking forward to the next Bond flick with a fully powered and confident Bond. In those final minutes of ‘Skyfall’ I was genuinely happy knowing three films worth of origin was over and it was time for Bond it step up. Even one of the characters references that it’s time to stop messing around and get to work. Again, thanks for your comment Brandon and I’m really happy you’ve got two Bond films you love that double as the best action films of your era.
Regards
Cam
Cameron,
If you say your are a Bond fan I accept you at your word but if so then to complain about a ridiculous setup at the end is to pass on this aspect of nearly every Bond movie. I enjoyed the film and rate it higher than any since Connery left the stage (Casino Royal excluded). It is good to see Bond drop the gimmicks and build on the character from the books. Bond is basically not a nice or likeable person in the books, a psychopath you learn to love because he is on your side but that has never really been truly developed until Casino Royal and now Sky Fall. I believe Craig has brought an edge to the character that Connery hinted at but couldn’t develop and like you I want to see where they go next. I think you are being too harsh on Craig, before Casino Royal I didn’t understand why he had been chosen then I watched Layer Cake and my reaction was I get it, I see Bond here but not the play it for laughs wise cracking or laid back Bond of Moore or Brosnen but the damaged goods from Flemings original. Commander Bond is back but is not yet complete, QOS was a bad detour but it is coming together nicely with the new M, Q and Moneypenny to look forward to as well. Number 23 deserves more than 2.5 number 24 should be a cracker.
Hey Jim,
Thanks for the comment and all your points are valid but I stand by my review of ‘Skyfall’. Like you I enjoyed how it came together in those final moments and I do believe that (hopefully) after three films or origin that Commander Bond is somewhere near complete. All the new characters got me excited for Bond 24 in those final moments and maybe that’s the Bond film I’ve been waiting for in the Craig era.
Regards
Cam
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I was so happy with this after the bland blockbuster, which was quantum of solace. however skyfall still didn’t quite come close to the sheer brilliance of casino royale.
Your blog looks awesome by the way and great review!
I still want to see the film, although I have heard of many mixed reviews. this is the only bond film that in the last 20 years I have not seen at the cinema. I hope that I don’t rerget that
I will examine this movie not in comparison to prequels but to action movies in general.
The action scenes, acting and the plot were great (I didn’t expect anything less). Though, everything seemed a bit predictable. This brings me to ask a fundamental question to all action films: why are the bad guys so stupid? If I was one of those villains and I had a gun pointed at Bond, I would kill him. I wouldn’t: stand near him with a gun, untie him nor have a long chat with him.
Furthermore, I didn’t see enough of the villain (who was brilliant), I didn’t have an emotional connection with the Bond character (should I’ve?) and the action scenes weren’t great enough. It felt like one of those Transporter movies. All action – no connection. Oh, the Bond girls didn’t do it for me. They didn’t have that appeal that I so desire in actions film.
Maybe, it was the best Bond movie and I just don’t like these types of movies or I don’t no what the hell I’m talking about (highly possible). Nonetheless, it was entertaining and you definitely should watch it.