Amazing!

Rating: 8/10 (29 October 2012)

As soon as i had seen the first teaser of SKyfall, I knew that another of Craig's Bonds could not possibly disappoint.. And I was right.
After a long wait of four years due to delays in production and MGM's financial problems, Bond has returned and once again things are personal. Sam Mendes' film has gotten almost everything right including the plot, characters and set pieces.
The film opens with Bond and new field agent Eve Moneypenny(Naomie Harris) attempting to recover a hard drive with all the under MI6 agents' names from a French mercenary. The opening sequence instantly captures our attention and has to be the best opening since Brosnan's famous bungee jump in Goldeneye. A bike chase on the rooftops of Istanbul ensues and leads to a well executed fist fight on top of a train. After a miscalculated shot from Moneypenny and a poor decision form M(Judi Dench), Bond is thrown off the train and Adele's "Skyfall" title song begins with Bond's future unknown.
The rest of the plot revolves around Javier Bardem's Raoul Silva trying to kill M out of revenge. Silva is more of a classic Bond villain even though he is not out for world domination or have a volcano that opens up but he does have his own little deserted island. Silva is probably the most memorable villain in recent Bond movies. Bardem deserves recognition and does justice to the part, especially his introduction with a chilling anecdote in which he compares himself and Bond to rats.
There is some excellent banter between Q(Ben Wishaw) and Bond in which Wishaw provides a great spin on the role. Ralph Fiennes could have been given a larger role but that will soon occur in the next Bond movies. Berenice Marlohe provides a forgettable Bond girl as she quickly dies within three scenes although her death scene is memorable.
The only flaws that can be found within the film are small script issues such as M losing a hard drive with undercover agents' names. CLearly Judi Dench's M is not wise in matters of security as MI6 has been blown up and then she was kidnapped(The World Is Not Enough), enemy spies have infiltrated MI6(QOS) and now a missing hard drive. It also does not seem credible that Bond and M would go 'Home Alone' on Silva when in the finale and that they would be best friends and go on a road trip together.
To conclude, this is a film for Bond fans due to the many references to past films but as action film it is probably one of the best this year.
Just waiting for Bond 24