The Real Truth About Skyfall By A True Bond Fan.

Rating: 1/10 (5 November 2012)

I am a huge James Bond fan. I have watched all the films many times and have played all the video games. I will admit that my favorite James Bond is Pierce Brosnan and I don't think they will find anybody like him ever again. His Bond was a charming gentleman with a great sense of humor but also could be a cold-hearted killer and a lover. Daniel Craig looks like an East European bus driver. He is a ruthless thug with no sense of humor and his Bond is very boring. He is good at the action though and I won't let my dislike of him affect my review of the film.
Many newspapers said that Skyfall was the best Bond film ever. What a load of nonsense! They must have been bribed or wanted to increase Britain's success in this glorious 2012 London Olympic Games year. The first half of the film was abysmal. The opening sequence supposedly took ages to film but was overlong, dull and unimpressive. It was very forgettable. It was just cars chasing cars with no explosions and few stunts. There wasn't another action scene for about 40 minutes, which is far too long when you have a James Bond with no humor and charm to keep you entertained. It was obvious that the budget was lower than previous films with rooms being very simple and locations being cheap and most of it filmed in Britain. The plot was confusing and very poor. What happened to that disc? Surely Bond couldn't have survived a huge fall from the train into the water with two gunshot wounds? The bit in Shaghai when that guy assassinated someone was so confusing. Who was that man and what the hell were those lights/screens and what was this building? The whole Shanghai part was pointless and so was the character of Berenice who only appeared for about 7 minutes. Silva's base was a really low budget location especially the room in which we first saw him, which had plain walls and floor and no furniture except a chair and a few hard drives. The gadgets in the film were terrible. Exploding pens? Yes please. A gun with a fingerprint scanner? No thanks; utterly pointless. The action in the first half of the film was poor. It was mostly hand-to-hand combat and very poorly coordinated. The villain(Javier Bardem) was all right, same standard as the average Dominic Green basically, but it was a little strange that a Spanish person could have been an MI6 agent. Some of his jokes were a little silly and made him look like a pathetic weakling instead of a ruthless, smart and deadly villain.
The music in the film mostly didn't suit a Bond film but there were a few great pieces of music such as the one used at Bond's arrival in China. Adele's theme tune is fantastic, sung really well, and it has a great catchy chorus. It's definitely the best Bond theme tune since 1999's The World is not Enough.
However, the film wasn't all bad. Dame Judi Dench was fantastic in her final Bond film. Ben Whishaw, although he is young, makes a fantastic Q whom you can actually believe is a genius. Ralph Fiennes certainly looks promising as the new M and the character of Tanner played by Rory Kinnear was stronger than in the last two films. The second half of the film (from Silva's escape to the end) was superb; the best stuff I have seen in a Bond film since Die Another Day. The chase on the tube was really exciting and some great stunts were used. The shoot-out in the courthouse where M was being interrogated was the best action scene in the movie: very realistic shooting and the smoke grenades were a nice touch. Bond opening the garage to reveal the Aston Martin DB5 was a classic moment with a nice line by M: "hardly conspicuous!" The house in Scotland actually turned out to be a fantastic location for the finale and the sort of place that has never been used in a Bond film before. The action there was top-notch again and the death of M was very emotional. Eve Moneypenny was quite a good Bond "woman" but didn't play a major part in the film. The very ending with the copy of that door with the red leather which used to be M's office in the old films was a nice touch. The increase of humor was a great improvement over the last two films. Craig had one funny line "not exactly Christmas" but a lot of the humor came from Q and M.
In conclusion, the film is definitely Craig's best (nowhere near the best Bond film though, perhaps not even in the top 10) but it was really let down by the first half of the film. It was far too long and so boring. Surely if you know you've got a tight budget, the answer is to make the film shorter rather than longer? Quality is more important than quantity! Daniel Craig still is a very dull Bond and when there is no action and a poor story, the entertainment has to come from the character of Bond himself and this just doesn't work for Craig as it did for Brosnan and the others. However, the film is totally acceptable and enjoyable unlike Quantum of Solace.
5.5/10.