Amongst the very best of Bond

Rating: 8/10 (1 November 2012)

Bond fans can heave a sigh of relief. The franchisee is in safe hands with Sam Mendes and the redoubtable Daniel Craig.
Bond no. 23 (Skyfall) for most parts works like a charm. Its beauty lying in the deft directorial touches from director Mendes and ably supported by master actors like Judie Dench and Javier Bardem. Bardem is slimy, memorable, deranged, grand, dramatic, homo-erotic and frighteningly off his rocker as the wrecker in chief, Silva. Silva is an honorable entry in the rogue's gallery of Bond's nemeses. Bardem pulls off the act well, never letting it get out of control.
Director Sam Mendes clearly is a Bond fan what with many references to previous Bond films cleverly inserted here and there. Mendes also is high on symbolism. We see a crook in a cop's uniform running helter skelter to save his skin, the two "rats" scampering through underground drainage like real rats would, court proceedings being brought to halt by some instant justice meted out and of course the final denouement in the house of Lord.
Mendes has also tried to be crowd pleaser with a new, young, freshly scrubbed Quartermaster (Q) and Ms MoneyPenny, obligatory love making scenes plus the new eye candy Bond girl (Bérénice Marlohe). But thankfully he doesn't try too hard. A word must be mentioned of Roger Deakin, the staple cinematographer of Mendes' films. He lends a refreshingly beautiful, majestic and picturesque touch to the locations and proceedings.
The film opens with a crackerjack of an opening action sequence which grabs you by the seat of your pants and doesn't let go of it till Adele belts out her haunting and memorable theme number.
So how does Skyfall stack up against other Bond movies? Well, my answer is that it is good enough to be counted amongst the top 5.
A job well done Agent 007. I am going with 3.5 stars on 5.