Fallen, Indeed

Rating: 5/10 (10 November 2012)

And the Bond reboot trilogy comes to a close. Although, I believe they might have left it open to another sequel
I really don't know what to think, immediately, at any rate, of Bond's latest, Skyfall. Well, of course, I'm happy to see him (and Daniel Craig, my favorite Bond) back on the big screen – IMAX, no less – after such a long and unnecessary absence.
The reason for my hesitation was because I was disappointed in the poor script, plot holes, and terrible villain – although I should be proud of what I think they were portraying him to be. In addition, there were so many references to the older Bond flicks that I just re-watched or watched for the very first time recently that I just didn't care about. Injunction with the seven or eight attempts at homage, all they talked about was the same boring cliché Lethal Weapon kept reminding us of: "We're getting too old for this sh|t."
Enough! I am a James Bond fan, for the most part, and I put him in the same category as a super-hero. I don't want to see him fall from the sky, get shot, complain about cramps, want to move into a retirement home or act human. Sure, it makes it more realistic, but Jason Bourne was pretty banged up for most of his trilogy and he didn't make us listen to all his wines or grunts. Ironically, Judi Dench's M was tough as ever and she's twice Bond's age.
Regardless, take out the meager writing – including the most obvious twists, the crying and one-too-many homage's – even the so-so title song was one, it was a very decent action film that started off with a fantastic chase scene, had a great silhouette shot and included one of the best cinematographers in the series. I also enjoyed the Bond Girls, albeit they were fairly absence throughout. The lesser of the two girls in relation to screen time, Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe) has to be one of the best looking Bond Girls of all time.
Bond's chasing a man with a drive, hard drive, that is, containing the secret identities to all MI6's agents and inadvertently gets "dead" for several months. When the sh|t hits the fan, Bond pulls himself out of semi-dead mode to aid M find the computer hacker while she's dealing with, ah-hem, politics to continue funding the spy organization.
Things get personal and hit home for our heroes and once again, our Bond villains always stop short of either killing Bond or escaping and giving Bond more than adequate time to basically reload or recover.
That last part is a Bond film signature, and as much as they tried to make this the most realistic, I found myself pointing to the screen to the most obvious exits or actions the villains should be doing while waiting for Bond to catch up. They might as well be tripping over some bushes at Camp Crystal Lake while Jason Voorhees slowly walks to them.
I'm really not trying to dog the film that much, and it was a slight improvement over Quantum of Solace, but it was a letdown from what I expected. I still love Craig (and his Dumbo ears) as Bond, and Judi Dench as M, and I will be excited for the next chapter, but I hope they get away from all those Bond references and just start making individual Bond movies again.
Forthis movie truly made the exceedingly superior Casino Royale look like just the first part of a reboot trilogy. With all that came to pass, all the way to the finale of Skyfall, it finally looks like the series came in full circle. So much so, that the movie basically felt like it immediately preceded Dr. No.
In regards to that, I praise them and I yearn for an energized and original Bond to come next.
Side Note: The movie touched on one topic close to my heart and opened the door wide for people like me. I'm being very general here, because I don't want to spoil anythingbut, I was shocked and pleased with Bond's reaction and statement while tied to a chair and being interrogated, sort of, by the villain. Way to go. I'm glad this Bond film has an open mind. I just don't want to hear the backlash from the general public.