Skyfall begins a new age of Bond films.

Rating: 9/10 (11 December 2012)

The Good: Daniel Craig is as great and badass as ever in this new type of Bond film. Despite looking old and rather haggard, he is still brilliant in his role. The concept of James Bond's age is a really interesting one. Is Craig the best Bond? I would say him and Connery are tied in first place.
Great intro with action and tension right off the bat.
Amazing opening credit sequence with Adele's Skyfall really blending well with the design of the sequence.
Judi Dench as M. She has given a consistent and excellent performance since Goldeneye and hasn't stopped for this film. Here, she is at her best.
The return of Q (Ben Whitshaw) and Moneypenny (Naomi Harris). Two beloved characters of the films return and are superbly played. Q is a young man, not old like John Cleese or Desmond Llewelyn, breathing new life into the character and Moneypenny is still hot but wraps up her transition from field agent to desk worker very well.
Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory. Interesting story and great performance.
Direction by Sam Mendes. The director of American Beauty and Road To Perdition has not lost his touch. Amazing cinematography and dark lighting give the film a very Dark Knight sort of feel to it. This may not be a reboot, but the direction makes it feel like it is. It's started a new age of James Bond films and has jumped a long way since making James Bond wear a clown costume in Octopussy.
Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the antagonist. He is a villain with the motivation of revenge. But, although this motivation is common as muck, his reasons for wanting to kill M are reasonable. Plus his performance is just amazing. Do I see an Oscar nomination for best supporting actor on the way? You bet your ass I do.
Brilliant 1st and 2nd acts, which really draws you in. There's always an undercurrent of humour and quiet scenes which show off the cinematography before kicking your brains ass (in my alternate universe, brains have asses, don't question it) for falling into a lulled sense of security with a brilliantly shot action scene. Excellent pace!
The Bad: The third act definitely starts sinking the film a little, trying to go into the title characters back-story. Most of it is good but that's when you start to feel that the film is 2 and a half hours long. With the first and second acts, it only felt about an hour long. This is where the film dragged like a ship that hits a mud-bank.
Overall Rating: 9/10. AWESOME!!!! Brilliant story, characters, cinematography, references to old James Bond of the 60s to 80S, it's all around amazing. Only thing that keeps it from a perfect rating is the third act, which could have been done a little better. But it's a damned amazing film, definitely in line for an Academy Award or an Oscar. Is it the best Bond film ever? Well, yeah. Affleck and Jackson had better not disappoint with Argo or The Hobbit because this film could be unbeatable.