A nice 50th anniversary piece, for the series, and fans will love it!

Rating: 9/10 (14 November 2012)

'SKYFALL': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
The 50th anniversary of the James Bond series brings us the third appearance of Daniel Craig as Bond in it's twenty-third film. Judi Dench makes her seventh (and final) appearance as M in her biggest turn as the role yet. Javier Bardem also co-stars as the movie's main villain. The film was directed by Sam Mendes (of 'AMERICAN BEAUTY' fame) and written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (who also co-wrote the last four Bond films) as well as John Logan. The story revolves around a computer drive, with a list of British secret agents on it, falling in to the wrong hands. The movie is masterfully directed by Mendes and features more than a handful of spectacular action scenes that Bond films are loved for. One of the better films of the series.
The movie opens with Bond and another MI6 agent, named Eve (Naomie Harris), in Turkey in hot pursuit of the mercenary, Patrice (Ola Rapace), who stole the list of undercover NATO agents. Patrice escapes and Bond is believed to be killed. The MI6 commander, M (Dench), is being pressured to retire because of the incident when MI6 is hacked and eight agents are killed. Bond learns of the attack and returns to London, after letting everyone think he was dead for months, and is returned to active duty despite failing his aptitude tests (which M keeps secret, even from Bond). Bond then teams with Eve once again to find out who's responsible for the attack on MI6, as more agents are killed, and tracks the culprit to an island in China.
I've always found good Bond films to have great elaborate action scenes but to be light on pacing and excitement in between. This film is actually much faster paced than most others in the series. It's really exciting and involving all the way up to the last 40 minutes when it seems to drag a little and go on for too long. It appears to climax at about an hour and forty minutes but then unexpectedly takes another turn and continues on (somewhat needlessly) for another 40 minutes. The ending is still action packed and somewhat exciting but by the time it gets there it's ran a little low on steam. This is a flaw in my opinion but not a great one. It's still better than most other Bond films and Craig and Dench are outstanding in it once again (Bardem is also an excellent bad guy). The script is routine but a little more emotionally involving than usual, especially involving M's character, and Mendes is perfectly apt at directing a Bond film. It's a nice 50th anniversary piece, for the series, and fans will love it.
Watch our movie review show 'MOVIE TALK' at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ge23zs5RPrM