A beautifully directed Bond

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2019)

This review contains spoilers.
Skyfall is a spy movie directed by Sam Mendes. The movie premiered in 2012 and is based on James Bond by Ian Fleming. The movie's screenplay is written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, and John Logan. The movie stars Daniel Craig as James Bond. James Bond must deal with a threat to MI6 from a former MI6 agent.
Like the previous Daniel Craig James Bond movies, Skyfall is a movie that is trying to merge the older Bond movies into a modern spy movie. The plot centers around cyber terrorism, and the old spy methods being rendered irrelevant. The plot of this James Bond movie does stand out from the rest and it makes for a surprisingly unique experience. James Bond movies are criticized for always being the same. In this movie the plot is more relevant and it does cause the movie to feel more tense. The writing in this movie is one of the best parts of this movie and it is exemplified in the villain.
Raoul Silva, played by Javier Bardem, is the villain in Skyfall. Raoul Silva is one of the most memorable villains in a James Bond movie. The movie can feel like it is contriving his cyber terrorism abilities, but it does make up for this by actually providing believable motivation for the villain's actions. Raoul Silva is motivated by his betrayal and disfigurement that was inadvertently caused by M. This is a far cry to the from the over the top villains in many previous James Bond movies. The motivation is not a ridiculous wish to dominate the world through a clandestine organization. The motivation is instead purely on revenge. Javier Bardem does a great job in the role. Javier Bardem is able to show a full range of emotions that Raoul Silva experiences. He also still has that smug attitude of superiority when dealing with James Bond. Raoul Silva had control of much of the movie and it was a joy to watch him on the screen. The chemistry that Raoul and James Bond had made the movie exciting.
The directing by Sam Mendes and cinematography by Roger Deakins is impressive. This is an incredibly beautiful movie. This may be one of the most impressively shot and staged James Bond movies ever. There are so many great set-pieces such as a sequence in Shanghai and Macau. These set-pieces only get better with time and the ending in the Scottish highlands without any notable landmarks is still incredibly memorable in its presentation. I absolutely enjoyed all aspects of the production and it made a James Bond movie better on multiple viewings.
James Bond has an excellent movie in its franchise in Skyfall This is an excellent movie for both fans of James Bond and new viewers to James Bond. I highly recommend Skyfall.
Grade: A