BOND #23: SKYFALL (2012)
Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ 1/2

Skyfall is only Daniel Craig’s third outing as Bond and yet he has already shown that he owns the franchise as much as anyone of his predecessors. He continues to demonstrate an unmatched flair in the embodiment of Bond the killer, the lover, the patriot and the super spy. Many people have proclaim that Skyfall is THE Best Bond movie ever. This is of course debatable and certainly arguable given the vast differences in viewing standards of the human race. There are after all many who still stand by their absolute preference for Sean Connery as the Best Bond and Connery’s Bond movies as their favorite. I say this is a case of “to each his own”.
For me, Skyfall does indeed flow smoothly from the get set with an incredibly exciting opening gambit that introduces the unmistakeable voice of Adele singing the title song. After that the action does not stop but unlike Quantum of Solace the pacing here is much better, allowing time for the clever and funny dialogue to flow. The action set pieces were all superbly photographed and choreographed. We have a strangely beautiful fight scene in an abandoned floor of a high-rise building, with the illumination from colourful neon lights of Hong Kong acting as a backdrop. Then the grand entrance to the floating casino which invariably result in another fight scene. We have a villain worthy of Bond in the form of the mysterious but deadly Silva played by Javier Bardem. Along the way, we are introduced finally to Bond’s new team members, Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) the sexy and very capable secretary to boss M, a very young Q (Ben Whishaw) the gadgets wizard, and the new boss to the boss, Gareth Mallory played by Ralph Fiennes. Despite brief screen times, these characters all manage to come across as unique, and memorable.
My only reservations for Skyfall is in its final act which felt a bit unnecessary and a bit out of character from what had transpired in the preceding. It seems to be an excuse to allow for the unfortunate fate for one of the characters and unlike the usual clever details and mind blowing set designs, the climatic ending seemed more like a “Home Alone” routine. It also opt for the noisy and destructive ending which is just money burnt by the production in the hope of generating an explosive finale.
In conclusion, Skyfall did indeed felt like it was THE best Bond outing .. until its finale act which spoilt it a little for me. It is nevertheless still a remarkably well made movie that excel in every aspects, from the direction, to the acting, to the music, the stunts, the music, the sound effects, the script, the make-up effects … everything. This has become the staple in the new era of Bond movies under the helm of Daniel Craig.