Over Hyped? YES...Best Bond Film? NO WAY...But it's Very Different & I Loved It!

Rating: 9/10 (1 March 2013)

OK...There's a lot of 007 Fans here (or not) 1217 Reviews & Counting, Wow!!!
There's a number of people here perhaps looking for attention who are clearly NOT Bond fans.
Is it the Best Bond film ever? NO WAY!!! Many of the Press & Reviewers did get caught up in the 50th Anniversary hype.
"Goldfinger" Is the Best Bond Film Ever (it's pretty much the perfect Bond film in my eyes) This is closely followed by "The Spy Who Loved Me", "Goldeneye", "OHMSS", "The Man with the Golden Gun" (my first Bond film seen in a Cinema), "The Living Daylights" & "Casino Royale"
Followed by this film "Skyfall" which just pips "Moonraker" (a crazy cash in on Star Wars but God Bless Cubby for it! Entertainment with a capital 'E' that was), "LTK" & "Quantum of Solace"
How in the world reviewers can rate this a 1/10 or 2/10 is beyond me.
Yes it was over-hyped due to it's 50th Anniversary and it has a very different feel & look to every other Bond previously seen but I think this was deliberate...you didn't like it? fair enough but 1/10 or 2/10 get real! There has NEVER been a truly poor Bond film IMHO. I'm not a huge fan of "A View to a Kill" (Roger was past it by then) or "Octopussy" when compared to the rest in the series but boy are these still hugely entertaining and worth a decent 6 or 7 out of 10.
Yes there are Plot Holes here there is no denying this (but many many films have this...you just have to go with the flow) Do they forget about the stolen list of agents on the Hard Drive? (which as one reviewer pointed out has been done many times before) YES They simply went on to concentrate on the threat to London & M? but who cares! I agree they should have tied up that situation....God help us if they the secret services ever did this for real!
Next unreal moment...Bond gets shot and falls from a moving train into a river. OK, no one would ever survive this...No way No how, but do I care? Nope because the film would have ended right there and then (unless M took up the role, now that would have been a truly different Bond film)
The Bond films (for the most part) have always been FANTASY Spy Thrillers.
Would Silva have escaped MI5 / MI6 in real life? No way...but who cares! again the film would have pretty much ended there and then.
The Komodeo Dragon Scene...Crazy, yeah really (even Bond I think does a double take or gestures to the villain that there's one heading for him) But again who cares! probably a fun crazy homage to "Live & Let Die" (crocodiles) it was a spoof scene within a Bond film! kinda liked that in a crazy way.
It looks like 007 could be heading back to fantasy land which is Great!
Someone I liked was Silva (the villain) over-the-top, crazy and brilliant like the old fashioned Bond villains but boy was he underused, he doesn't show up until approx an hour in, then goes missing, the story is structured like this so I understand it but it's a waste of a super villain...for those wondering why he had that crazy looking blonde hair, well you need to see the film again & listen up.
Q...many didn't like the kid, I had no problem with him, in fact it's probably geeks like this that may well save us one day. If i were in control of MI5 / MI6 or the Pentagon i'd head-hunt the best computer programming geeks out there (or 100) I Miss Desmond Llwelyen though (Legendary Q)
Moneypenny...personally I loved the way they've introduced her. Some didn't like her but I don't understand why, great chemistry with Bond & she's truly gorgeous.
It's a shame the main Bond Girl had only 15 minutes of screen time (or thereabouts) I could see why as this story really didn't need her after that but her death was still a surprise to me (especially the way it played out)...It's been awhile since we lost a Bond girl (does Gemma Arterton count? if so then OK not so long)
This Bond Film works...it's different...it looks great...there's less action (it's true) & focuses much of it's running time on political spy issues similar to those seen on TV's "24" & "Spooks" If the next film is like this then yes i'd be a little disappointed.
Hoping we get the gadgets & Bond girls back, some unusual locations, some out-there villains & plots to destroy the world again!
This was a film giving us some background to Bond's past & pretty much to give Judi Dench as 'M' a neat and fitting send off. I loved the Bond opening sequence (Bikes & Train) and the end sequence is highly unusual for a Bond film but I loved it as well as Albert Finney's character (hope he shows up in a cameo for the next one) Oh and welcome aboard Ralph Finnes :-)
My Rating is an up up and away 9/10...Forget those 1/10 reviews they just want to get to the top of the IMDb worst reviews list which is just sad.