The Old Ways are Indeed the Best

Rating: 10/10 (3 November 2012)

After a long four year wait for the next 007 film to come out due to MGM's financial issues, SKYFALL finally hit cinemas and it was more than worth the wait. It's obvious that the crew behind the movie took a lot of time and effort perfecting what could be considered as the best Bond movie in years. What unfolded before my eyes wasn't just a movie but an experience.
What made SKYFALL great was that it took everything that makes a James Bond movie great (exotic locations, action, a threatening villain, etc.) and improves every single one of them while at the same time adding new ones. SKYFALL finally returns the franchise back to its roots so no longer do we have the boredom and excessive BOURNE influence seen in the previous two installments; this is a James Bond film just like the old days where entertainment and story are balanced. The movie also serves as a love letter to the fans with the numerous references to the old Bond movies and its old-school style; anyone who's seen Bond since the start will love SKYFALL, all the way from the nostalgic theme song opening to the climatic confrontation at the end.
The cast fit their roles perfectly and redefined established characters in the Bond mythology. I have no doubt that Daniel Craig can be a great James Bond but it was only now that he was given a good James Bond script to work with; Bond is still the playboy and efficient MI6 agent but now, he's also a human being. The same goes for the rest of the cast; one of the new things added into the film which was rarely seen in previous Bond films was the complexity of the characters. They're still the usual mainstays of a Bond film (a terrorist mastermind, M, a bureaucrat, the Bond girl, etc.) but now they're all human beings with motivations that drive their actions. They don't rely anymore on simple politics but now they rely on personal issues to drive them. This addition only made the drama of SKYFALL more engaging and believable.
Another addition that I appreciated was the overlying theme of the secret service's relevance in the changing times. Such themes were mentioned off-hand and never fully explored in the Brosnan movies (especially GOLDENEYE) so now that it gets full focus, it helps the movie become more relevant in our time period. The problem with reviving old franchises is the task of making the aged characters work in a time period different from the one they were originally envisioned in; in the case of Bond, he was born in the golden age of espionage of the Cold War but now, in an age that relies more on a computer for intelligence information, those like him have close to no purpose at all. SKYFALL successfully overcomes the problem in a masterful way with its impressive dialogue between the old guard of espionage and the modern age believers. The dialogue between the characters is powerful enough to make even a James Bond fan (like myself) question the franchise's relevance now that the Cold War and the need for spies is long over; what makes the script great is not only in how it will get you involved in the story and its characters but it will definitely make you think and reflect a lot many other things.
My only complaint with SKYFALL was the CGI. The green-screen effects of some scenes were pretty obvious and while it doesn't dent the movie at all, it was a bit distracting and annoying to look at. Hopefully, in the next bond movies, the crew ditches or at least improves the CGI to make things look more realistic. I personally hope they go back to practical effects but that may just be me.
SKYFALL is the best thing that happened to James Bond in the new millennium. By far, this is the most emotional and exciting James Bond in recent memory and none of the drama in the storyline felt forced as everything worked well in the film's context as it did in CASINO ROYALE. Those who are worried that SKYFALL is only a James Bond movie in name will have no reason to fear. SKYFALL is an old-school Bond movie with all the improvements and additions the 2000's could provide and it works well, molding SKYFALL into a masterpiece in the long history of the James Bond franchise. It just goes to show that, indeed, (quoting Kincade in the movie) "Sometimes the old ways are the best."