Skyfall
Skyfall 7.5/10
The first two thirds of the movie were fantastic. Great characters and wonderful locations. Beautifully shot, great music, etc.
But after a certain character is encountered and his plan is set into motion, the plot holes start popping up and the story goes downhill and ends up underwhelming and predictable.
That's a real shame, because if it had kept up the pace and stayed consistent - it would have been the best Bond of all time. As is, it's definitely up there with the best of them - but falls short of true greatness.
But I LOVED that it was character driven - and that they made Bond a more human character. A good and believable balance - all things considered.
I pretty much agree with everything you wrote, but I see it a bit more positive. While it's true that the film has a very strong first half and then gets weaker, I think the second half is still better than most Brosnan Bonds. Even the build-up to the showdown ( I don't want to spoil it - if you've seen it you know what I mean ) was (a) stupid from a story stand point, but (b) technically well executed, involved another well known guest star (Albert Finney) and led to an ending which was new for a Bond film. So it was at least a good implementation of a Hollywood standard.
It's worth repeating again that Skyfall is a beautiful movie. The combination of a character driven script, a director known for calm films (Sam Mendez -> American Beauty, Road to Perdition) and the cinematographer of most Coen Brothers movies (Roger Deakins) works superbly. The result is long but fast paced film with long passages without dialog, excellent camera work - unhurried and calm but at the same time dynamic. Storytelling through pictures.
No other Bond film looks so classy.
There's enough action too, which is on a smaller scale than usual because it's character driven too. What it has more than most other Bond films is suspense. There's more thrill in it than in almost every other Bond.
It's a transitional film. A couple of known characters are either introduced to the Craig line of Bonds or are prepared for retirement. Even Daniel Craig could retire after this movie, if his contract negotiations fall through. [edit: He decided to take the money and make 2 more.
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I quite like the new Q (Ben Wishaw from the interesting
Perfume - Story of a Murderer). The new government commitee suit (Lord Voldemort) also does a decent job in the few scenes he has. Unfortunately I found the main villain unconvincing whenever he opened his mouth. Too much overacting by our favourite Spanish Oscar winner. I'm not sure why he played it that way, we all know he can do better.
A-.