Welcome Back 007!

Rating: 10/10 (18 November 2012)

After the depressing letdown of Quantum of Solace in 2008, I was really anticipating an amazing return to the way the James Bond movies should be. And Sam Mendes delivered it on a silver platter. The movie starts off in an intense chase scene between Bond and an unknown character. With M on Bond's radio, she mentions the villain having a list they need and immediately you're hooked. With the exception of the first chase scene in Casino Royale, this is my favorite chase scene in Bond history. In the first 5 minutes you already have action, great characters, and exotic locations, which are three things a Bond movie can't prosper without. The rest of the cinematic shots in the movie are the same, bringing more great cinematography and locations. In one particular scene, Bond is fighting one of Silva's henchmen in a pit with a Komodo Dragon. Now any action star like Bruce Willis or Tom Cruise would have unconvincingly wrestled this beast to the ground, but does bond do that? Nope. He casually hops on it's back and propels himself out of the pit. Classy James, classy.
The seriousness of the last two films are still present in this newest installment, but they are combined with the old classic one-liners of the days before Craig. This is by far my favorite Craig movie yet, because in this movie they take Bond no where he's ever gone before; to a personal level. Craig carries this change in character with ease and makes you believe Bond is getting rusty. He's no longer the man that can jump of cliffs and buildings and land like a cat. Now, he clumsily falls like any normal human being. This is also a very different bond movie for Judi Dench who is wrapping up her role as M in her seventh bond movie. She seems to cancel out the majority of the screen time that the bond girls would usually have and replaces it with her undying determination to stop terrorists from destroying her country. M is as much of the main character as Bond and she handles that well considering that in real life her lines are read to her because she can barely see. Javier Bardem plays Silva, who is a villain to stand next to Goldfinger and Blofeld, only he's ten times more terrifying. His role convinces you that he can kill anyone and feel no pain. Even when he isn't on screen your still worried by his ominous and creepy performance. His main conflict is with M however. He believes it is her fault that he became what his is and there is where his delusional, twisted plot lies. He is one of the few antagonists that are actually equal to Bond. Supporting characters such as Q (Ben Whishaw) and Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) carry important roles that needed to be filled and played them well and should be noted. The bond girls in this aren't very important to the main story line, but they both carry their smaller roles well.
The cultural and memorabilia references in this movie are worth mentioning as well. In many scenes, Bond, M, and the new Q. They talk about exploding pens, ejector seats, and there's even a shot in this that is almost taken straight out of one the early Sean Connery movies. They don't hit you over the head with this idea, but it makes the true bond lovers smirk from time to time. Overall, I only had one or two minor complains with this movie that nearly weren't enough to change my review at all. These only had to do with speeding up the plot a bit, but it wasn't a big deal considering Skyfall is already the longest Bond film, clocking at 2 and a half hours. In conclusion, I must say that Bond isn't one of those movies you'll want to see for the heck of it. It is intense, but amazing. It is action-packed, but witty. It is the true follow up to Casino Royale. Double-0-Seven reporting for duty.