Skyfall – 4/5 stars
Take the bloody shot!
Onto number 3 of the Daniel Craig James Bond films – Skyfall. After Bond fails his mission, the identities of undercover MI6 agents around the world are exposed. This leads to the MI6 headquarters being attacked and MI6 being compromised, so M (Judi Dench) turns to the one agent she can trust – Bond. Along with Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Bond tracks down Silva (Javier Bardem), a former agent recruited by M who uses his previous knowledge of the agency to take revenge on her.
Skyfall was released November 9, 2012, and was directed by Sam Mendes (1917, Road to Perdition). I thought this movie was much better than the previous Quantum of Solace, both story-and directorial-wise. I thought there was some really stunning cinematography of Turkey, Shanghai, London, and even at Bond’s childhood home in Scotland. It was cool getting to learn more about Bond’s backstory. We knew he was an orphan, and in this one, we get to see the house he grew up in and learn more about who his parents were.
In this movie, we are finally introduced to Q, as well as Eve Moneypenny. I loved the banter between Bond and Moneypenny, especially after she shot him off a moving train. Similar to Casino Royale, this movie’s opening chase scene was fantastic starting with a car chase, into a motorcycle chase across rooftops, then off a bridge onto a moving train.
Overall, this was a good movie. It was a little long, but entertaining for the most part and really expanded the relationship between Bond and M. I would rate this movie 4/5 stars. This was actually the very first Bond film I saw, back when it was in theaters. I haven’t seen it since, so it was nice to have a fresh viewing. We decided to wait on watching Spectre until closer to November when No Time To Die is released, since they seem related like how Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace were.