Skyfall Review

Justin and I saw Skyfall on November 10, 2012. I am not a huge fan of James Bond overall, but I have to say this installment was excellent!!! Daniel Craig has been amazing as the iconic male agent giving it a darker realism to it, much like Christopher Nolan and Christian Bale have done with Batman and The Dark Knight trilogy. The cast of this movie was excellent from Daniel Craig to Javier Bardem to Ralph Fiennes. The opening sequence in general is one of the most entertaining openings I've ever seen. It's action packed and certainly presents a pulse-pounding cinematic experience. From there, we go into Adele's Skyfall theme-probably one of my new favorite songs. The main theme of this Bond is to show how much loyalty Bond has to M. He has to help her erase the past and infiltrate who is behind the threat...at any cost to himself physically or emotionally. We definitely see Bond take a beating, and as I've said before I feel Craig has stated in his contract: I must have the crap beaten out of me. Bardem's portrayal of Silva was great-he was intimidating and at the same time had some silly qualities. Bond in general should have a mixture of both and it does. It really helps revitalize the British feel to the Bond franchise which is important. I thought the different shooting locations capture the emotions at each stage of the movie. The Shanghai sequence in particular was beautiful in terms of scenery and displaying the suave demeanor of Bond. I really liked the red and gold atmosphere amidst a kaleidoscope of greens, blues, pinks, and yellows on the skyline. You also have a deserted mansion/church which is demonstrative of Bond's early childhood as an orphan. Sam Mendes did an amazing job at the director's helm. The emotional ending really wraps up this trilogy of Craig's take on the character. Each character's arc comes to a crescendo at the Bond mansion-so nicely done filled with intense action and strong dialogue. I definitely give this movie a 5/5-the movie received a huge applause from the packed theater I saw this in as the signature gun barrel walk concluded. Also, it seems that Voldemort is now in charge of England's national defense which is awesome!!! I give this movie a well deserved 5/5 for brilliant action, characters, dialogue, and scenery.