The Best, and Only, James Bond Movie I've Ever Seen!

Rating: 9/10 (12 November 2012)

You read correctly, folks: This is the first James Bond movie that I've seen, at least all the way through. I guess that's not technically true; I guess I have seen one or two on television, but to be one hundred percent honest, they were pretty forgettable. However, if every Bond movie was like "Skyfall", then I'd go out and buy the entire collection.
Honestly, I had no intention of seeing this movie. I saw the trailers, which looked pretty cool and also had the fortune of having Javier Bardem in them, but they didn't really impress me to such a degree that I'd actually go ahead and see the movie. But, as it turns out, I received an invitation from a friend to go and see it. And I came out of the theater satisfied.
Director Sam Mendes said in an interview that "The Dark Knight" was a huge influence on this new installment in the Bond franchise and it really does show. This movie has deep emotional layers to it, alway staying a step ahead of its audience without entirely alienating them. The camera angles are very unique and really add something to the film.
The nice thing about James Bond is that he's a staple of pop culture to such a degree that I already knew the character before I entered the theater. He's very suave and elegant, but also very hardcore and awesome. And Daniel Craig plays the part very well.
Since I mentioned him when talking about the trailer, you could probably guess that I am a Javier Bardem fan. And he plays a villain that is so intimidating and so confident in how awesome he is, that he literally blows all other villains out of the water. There's a scene in a jail cell between him and M (played masterfully by Judi Dench) where he is so scary that it might as well have been Hannibal Lecter standing in that cell.
Final verdict: I have no complaints about this film. Yeah, there's definitely some stuff to nitpick, but seeing as I'm not that type of person, Skyfall, to me, is a modern day masterpiece. The only reason it gets a 9 instead of a 10 is because I only score movies a 10 if it's one of my favorite movies. Still, if you're a fan of James Bond, I don't know how I could give this a proper recommendation since I haven't seen the other movies. But if you're looking for a great action movie that's a little deeper then you have been lead to believe, Skyfall is the film for you. It's one of the best movies of the year.