I was willing to overlook Quantum of Solace, but this has gone too far...

Rating: 5/10 (28 October 2012)

This is a cracking action film. It is not, however, what I would consider to be a Bond film. If anyone has watched any of the older Bond films (ignoring the messes that were Pierce Brosnan's), then they can see easily what James Bond is about. James Bond is about a suave man's man who speaks in sexual innuendo, beds numerous women, kills frequently and efficiently and with the aid of super-cool gadgets and a top of the range Aston Martin. He is not an emotional man. He is the epitome of cool.
Skyfall is about none of the above. Skyfall is first and foremost about product placement. When one wades through all the product placement, one can view the plot, which goes something like this (please note that due to the overwhelming and unavoidable evidence to suggest that this is not a James Bond film, I will now be referring to the protagonist - formerly known as James Bond - as Daniel Craig) :
A very old-for-his-age Daniel Craig is fighting on the roof of a train and his colleague needs to take a shot at the man he is fighting with. He can HEAR this, we later find out. He can hear M saying "take the shot" despite Bond being in the way. At NO POINT does Bond try and get out of the way so she can make a shot. She shoots and Bond gets shot. The rest of the film is a mix between The Dark Knight Rises (an old, injured hero trying to make himself strong again), Law Abiding Citizen (a villain who WANTS to be caught for his "master plan") and Home Alone (the "goodies" boobytrap a house with objects they find lying around to defend against the "baddies"). Most of the film focuses around Judi Dench, in some kind of bizarre tribute. Javier Bardem's character, whilst amazing, smacks somewhat of the Joker in the Dark Knight and his relationship with M was creepy to the point of distasteful.
Let's have a look at the Craig girls. Naomie Harris and her quite frankly appalling banter with Bond (another thing - Craig is supposed to be good at flirting) leaves her looking like a sarcastic t4 presenter. Berenice is electric for all of the 5 minutes she is in the film, before she is killed.
Other issues with the film: Daniel Craig is unshaven for a quarter of the film. No, just no. Daniel Craig CRIES. Way too much of the film was insulting Great Britain and MI6. Find out too much of Craig's family history.
Don't get me wrong - if you completely ignore that this is supposed to be a Bond film, it is a very enjoyable action film. Some of the sequences are breathtaking, the chases are brilliant and the plot is (albeit plagarised) jolly good fun. There is some decent humour in there too. I just can't help but feel that somewhere between the point where Sam Mendes was overseeing the script-writing, and the point where he had his head up Judi Dench's backside, SOMEONE, ANYONE might have said "um...just a few things about this..." or at the very least you'd think he might have watched a few Bond films himself and not have to be told. Because, from this utterly misguided attempt, I can see that he has never ever watched a Bond film that did not include craggy Craig.