Worthy addition to the Bond franchise

Rating: 8/10 (7 December 2012)

Bond celebrates his 50th anniversary with this entertaining and enjoyable helping of highly improbable espionage. The franchise has developed over the decades beyond self-parody, and is still developing. Many scenes and situations in Skyfall reflect the modern, shadowy threats to today's society, and in M's public humiliation before a Select Committee, MI6 is reminded it is ultimately accountable to the public. That said, the usual stunts and chases are all there in abundance, together with some sharp banter between Bond and his superiors, his sidekicks, and his deliciously creepy enemy, (played with relish by Javier Bardem). Skyfall benefited from the talents not only of the wonderful Judi Dench and ever dependable Ralph Fiennes but also of the highly promising Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw, who I feel will make Q every bit an institution as Desmond Llewellyn did. If you add in some stunning sequences in Turkey, Shanghai, and Scotland, you have a movie that stands comparison with any other Bond movie (apart from the recent Casino Royale).
The movie was not flawless – there were some gaps that I found puzzling, ie how did Silva escape from his cell in London? What happened to the stolen list of agents? Who was Patrice hired to assassinate and why? How did Bond miraculously recover his shooting skills after failing his fitness test?
The film is well worth a viewing – I enjoyed it very much.