Weakest of the three

Rating: 7/10 (18 June 2015)

I thought Skyfall was the weakest of the three Bond films starring Daniel Craig. It was a sentimental mess with none of the hard edge of the previous films. The whole story of disappointment with M was childish. M wasn't being a nice mommy. Where is the professionalism of a double-o agent? SPOILERS ahead. I had three scenes that were a major problem to me. First when Eve was told to "take the shot" why didn't she fire again? If the hard drive was the most important item then the thing to do would be to shoot Bond and once he was out of the way to shoot Patrice and knock him off the train. Instead the scene was wrapped in this sentimental emotionalism. "Oh no I shot James Bond!" Weak. The second was the escape of Silva from the glass cage. Okay I can accept some deus ex machina reason for his slipping away, just to keep the story going, but why weren't the underground passages and tube guarded or secured. This facility was supposed to be highly guarded and top secret and all Bond had to do was to lift a grate and voilà a ladder leading to the tube. They had to know the ladder and tunnel were there when they built the place or did the entire British secret service not think about looking under the grates. It was a HUGE security hole. Did they rent the place at the last minute from an ad in the newspaper? It is a wonder some wino living in the subway didn't wander up the ladder and fall asleep in the glass cage. Come on. Why not have Patrice blow a hole in a wall that led to the tube? The third problem was the ending. If Bond knew that people were coming to kill he and M then why not get some help. I assume Britain has an army, or Special Forces, or a police department that could have been utilized. If they were out of communication then how did Patrice find them? Couldn't that dork Q do something to help? Was this action over a weekend and no one was available? How could Silva commander a helicopter and troop of men and the British secret service had nothing. The whole scheme was so amateurish. Silva should have won since he seemed more capable than the whole British government. The whole end fight sequence seemed from a different movie that would have starred Arnold Schwarzenegger. Disappointing. Lots of action and big bangs but a weak script. I thought Javier Bardem was good as the bad guy, given the weak script. Naomie Harris is likable but the love interest part was not believable. Bérénice Marlohe was sufficiently babeish. Ralph Fiennes seems to be a good replacement for Judi Dench and the whole ending in M's office was fun.