Adele's song makes sense now!

Rating: 7/10 (6 November 2012)

50 years have definitely been kind to the Bond franchise the appeal of car chases, brutal action, snazzy suits, gadgets, larger than life villains and Bond babes is a spectacle that definitely endures to modern day audiences and has been implemented in other films and TV shows but Bond has had some catching up to do with the likes of plot and character heavy movies of today while maintaining its identity. The first 2 Daniel Craig Bonds haven't quite reached these expectations but Skyfall has definitely created something new yet retaining Bonds swarvness. Mendes is to be commended for his vision, style and flair and combining it with character richness making this probably the most character driven Bond film yet specially into the second act. Some Bond purists may be up in arms about making Bond more human and attached but it is only a small part of his character it is not delved into its only touched upon and shown and never explicitly told. The only grumble I have with this is that the film becomes slightly more complicated when the franchise is more about style than substance but I would much prefer to see a more vulnerable human being then just a womanising action man. Despite seeing a more vulnerable James Bond this is strictly meant in the psychological sense not the physical sense, the action scenes are as ludicrous as ever normally he would dodge the bullet and get out of sticky situations but even when he doesn't dodge the bullet he survives with hardly an explanation no bullet proof vest or nifty gadget he just shrugs it off, bones some chick and pretends to be dead for awhile (which is starting to become a cliché that is really pissing me off, main characters pretending to be dead with the audience for a brief moment believing are hero to be dead but revealing not to be and is integral to the plot e.g. The Dark Knight Rises, Sherlock, Dr Who) The story starts off with this recent cliché and starts off slow because of this we know Bond is alive and is going back to MI6 he is not just going to sit around in Istanbul or wherever he is since we have another 2 hours of film left. So it's a little hard to get into the first 30 or 40 minutes of the film because of this implausible even for James Bond standards opener however once the villain starts to come to the forefront of the film the film picks up brilliantly. Javier Bardem as Silva is quite simply the best Bond villain ever he is every great Bond Villain rolled into one he is maniacal, sinister and slightly camp with a really intriguing motive for revenge. I won't reveal what it is but he and Bond are sort of like the 2 sides of the same coin and both of them have their similarities. Through Bardem's performance the script writing really shines through. Silva's reveal brings excellent writing, excellent direction and excellent performances all at once to the screen. Once the momentum gets going the plot of Skyfall is brilliant normally the plot of a James Bond film will follow a formula of stopping the bad guy and his cronies while making smart quips and driving fast cars along the way but in Skyfall it felt like they done that in the first half and show of the locales then make the movie more character driven Bond is a wreck and is losing his skills because of old age the future of a nation isn't really at stake it's more about loyalty and a bit of self reflection. Overall Bond is well and truly back with the classic style the older films merging with a more credible and personal story creating something fresh yet familiar. The action set pieces are as excellent and as explosive as ever. It probably isn't the best Bond film but probably has one of its greatest Villains in the franchises 50 years of history.