Skyfall: Sadly the best Bond movie ever...Only question is...How??

Rating: 6/10 (9 November 2013)

One of the best Bond movies ever (at least what the film experts call it) 'Skyfall' gathered a whopping 1 billion at the box office thus being the only highest earning James Bond movie. Having a budget of 150-200 million, Skyfall takes you to some of the appealing locations in the world. Thanks to Sam Mendes's extra-ordinary imagination, the film takes us on a mini tour. May it be the ostentatious city of Shanghai to one of the magnificent gambling dens in Macau; Mendes has done an impressive job in the director's chair.
As a movie buff, I would give my thumbs up to the director without a slight reluctance. Only problem lies with me is the weak plot of the movie clearing giving clichés at some points. I am quite sure that this utter statement which I made might drop some jaws enough to tag me as a hysterical person altogether. But I personally found Daniel Craig starrer 'Casino Royale', a far improved & an impeccable endeavour than Skyfall.
The movie starts with two agents James Bond & Eve Moneypenny chasing a man named Patrice down the streets of Istanbul who has a very important hard drive; something which acquired can save a cataclysmic event. A terrific bike chase sequence is shown where Bond & Patrice end up falling on the top of the train. "Ok! Now I am excited. Let's see what Mendes has to show now " was how my thoughts were directed watching Bond & Patrice engage in a pernicious fistfight.
But somehow I was disappointed when Eve who got herself positioned alongside with a sniper rifle under the pretext of shooting Patrice, shot Bond instead. It was her mistake. Mistakes do happen. But a man who falls from a height in the waterfall with a bullet in his shoulder is sure to die. But he doesn't. The question of 'Who saves him?' is still unresolved till date. C'mon Mendes, show some realism while making such sequences. Only Indian audiences can put their faith here only because they have been subjected to many such mindless sequences in past.
A presumed-dead James Bond soon returns back to London when his organization MI6 is targeted to massive gas explosions as someone underground hacks into their highly secure systems. Put out on the field by his boss M (Judi Dench) even though he is degraded & merely held on his feet by alcohol, Bond makes himself ready to chase down this hacker who has started a grudge mission against British Secret service. The film is magnificent, Bond happens to look cooler than before but the plot is flawed at places but somehow those flaws aren't important enough to be noticed by viewers.
But some scenes did deserve some more thinking, brilliance & realism. I recollect a scene where Silva, the hacker is caught up & held in MI6 headquarters but he soon escapes the cell with no bigger fuss than you could imagine. Mendes did his best to imitate the Joker sequence from The Dark Knight but ended up doing rather childishly. I mean as soon as the bespectacled geeky-looking genius 'Q' connects Silva's laptop to the main server, the port generates an algorithm hacking the entire system thus setting the cell door open. Now you don't really require a cinematic vision to think about such a plot. Even a not-so-expert naive software engineer can think about such an idea. The movie deserved better considering the hype it left behind after its release. Then they mention that Silva's planning the escape since years. Oh really! I mean he really knew the new changed location of MI6 after gas bombing since years. Admirable foresight he has I must say.
The action sequence towards the end of the movie looks promising except few unanswered questions which still linger in my mind. I heard bullet in legs can take days for an unattended victim to die. So how does M succumb to her injury just after hours of being shot on her leg? A helicopter falls on the mansion & there is a massive explosion & anything within a radius of few meters of the bungalow is sure to be caught in fire. But Silva who is just standing in front of the house escapes without even a small burn or a bruise. How? Jump in the water beneath the ice & I am confident you won't even be able to stand properly when you get out. But here comes James Bond as if he is just back from his regular swimming sessions.
Overall, I have no qualms with Skyfall except the fact that a small love story or a romantic angle at some point could have been poignant on the celluloid. The film is opulent & deserved more judging Craig's superb acting. Nevertheless I personally feel the tag of the highest Bond earning movie would have looked better on 'Casino Royale' rather than 'Skyfall'.
But for action lovers, Skyfall is not worth giving a miss. It remains brilliant if the sluggish flaws are proudly overlooked. I tried doing it but I failed to know why. Maybe others can. Good Luck!