00My

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2012)

Before I say anything, there are some minor spoilers here...
Right, Skyfall. Bond movies are rarely compared with other spy movies, like Bourne or Tinker Tailor. If we're honest, we compare them with other Bond movies - because Bond is the longest running movie franchise of all time and there's nothing else quite like it. Skyfall, thankfully, is one of Bond's finer moments. Fittingly for his fiftieth anniversary, this film felt like a celebration of the character. He wasn't upstaged by the cars, the women or the villain (though the villain was a cut above the rest...). This was a BOND movie in every way.
I was curious to see whether director Sam Mendes' claims that he had taken inspiration from Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy were in any way noticeable. And I have to say in my opinion, there was a Nolan-esq feel in parts. Silva, for example, had a very subtle Joker-y nature which made him one of the best and most memorable Bond villains of recent... well, decades. Though the film was clearly a sequel, there were familiar elements that smacked more of a re-imagining for the 21st Century - namely the new Quartermaster and Miss Moneypenny.
The film itself isn't perfect. I'd heard not a bad word said about Skyfall before I saw it, but I have to admit up until two thirds of the way through the film, I couldn't help but wonder what all the fuss was about. Not that it was in any way awful. It just didn't WOW me like I'd expected.
That is until the final act. Bravely set entirely in Britain, the last third of the film was thoroughly entertaining with it's back-to-basics approach and tense build-up. It turned the film completely on it's head - from a mildly enjoyable Bond film to a deeply engrossing thriller. It also broke the mould and left us all psyched up for the next one - kind of like Batman Begins...
A fantastic return to form and one of the few must sees of 2012.