There is something about Bond movies that separates him from other films. While James Bond is not a superhero, he still acts like one. In the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series and in Bond’s 23th film, Bond can still keep up and be relevant in today’s world. This was my first Bond movie that I went to in the theaters. I have seen many Bond movies. My dad grew up a big Bond fan and I was at the theaters with him watching
Skyfall. While this is a comic book movie site and is probably not the best place to say this but I feel that
Skyfall is the best movie of the year and yes that includes
The Avengers and
The Dark Knight Rises. Let’s begin.
I really don’t want to spoil the story at all. The main plot is about Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. Yes I took that from the article Josh and the others write about with Bond updates but because this movie can out yesterday I don’t want to spoil the film.
There were so many things I loved about the film. The opening credits to the film were visually amazing and it was boosted with the Adele song
Skyfall for the film. This is Daniel Craig’s best performance as Bond yet. Bond is different in this film then the rest. Very early in the film there is a chase scene and Bond dies. Bond was shot off a train and his body landed in a river of water but as this was in the beginning we know Bond wasn’t dead. How Bond is living after his “death” I feel this is how Bruce Wayne/Batman should have been more like in
The Dark Knight Rises. Bond actually reminds me of Batman in Frank Miller’s
The Dark Knight Returns. We see him going to the bar drinking. He comes back from the world after seeing that there was a terrorist attack on MI6. It reminded me of how Bruce came back in
The Dark Knight Returns how he was seeing the tragedies hitting home and deciding to come back into the world. This Bond film is also a little more personal. With Bond’s “death” he has been out of shape. He was cleared to be fit to back in after training by M but we find out he failed all the training tests. Even though the villain is from M’s past we all learn a lot about Bond’s past.
The villain of the story is beautifully played by Javier Bardem is Silva. As I said I’m not trying to spoil the film but I loved his character relationship with Bond. If I could describe him; he would have the mind of the Riddler, the charisma and charm of the Joker, and the relationship to Bond like how Batman and Bane are in
The Dark Knight Rises. He is always one step ahead and it wasn’t until Bond came up with an idea for Silva to not have the one up. Javier gave truly one of the best performances in the film and at times with some of the points he mentioned it made you wonder; he is the villain or the victim?
The whole cast as a whole gave a great performance. The story to the movie was so good. Before the film came out, the director Sam Mendes said that
The Dark Knight was an inspiration in the Bond film. A lot of people gave crap for Mendes but I loved it.
The Dark Knight in my mind is the
Empire Strikes Back of this generation. You could tell in some scenes the influences and I loved it. I loved the ending. I love endings like
The Dark Knight and
Empire Strikes Back where the hero won the battle but at a deadly cost and that happens in
Skyfall.
Loved the Bond nods. Normally we hear Bond say “shaken not stirred” in a movie. There was a scene where the bartender was shaking the drink then pouring it for Bond and Bond said “Just the way I like it.” You could tell that is a nod. Loved how the Aston Martin was in it and how it was revealed. Loved who we find truly finding out who Naomie Harris’s character was and how it deals with the Bond world.
Last thing I loved is how it is connected to today’s world. A major factor in the film is about cyber terrorism. We are living in a dangerous world where you could do so much damage on a computer instead of out in the field. A great deal of this is in the story and we see how Bond isn’t fond of it. Bond doesn’t really like how the world is moving. We see him go into more old fashion type ways and its ways that Silva isn’t use to because of how depended he is on technology. Because truthful as a 19 year old kid who still goes to the store and buys CD’s instead of using iTunes and takes notes on paper instead of a laptop, sometimes the old ways are the best.
The reason I think
Skyfall is the better than
The Avengers and
The Dark Knight Rises is because I’ve felt that one thing no one talks about with
The Avengers is how memorable the story and that is because story wasn’t. You had 6 heroes come together by a secret organization to fight an alien attack. Joss did a great job but it felt predictable. I’m the type of guy that loves a story more so than action even though I will most likely watch
The Avengers more than
Skyfall. The thing I really didn’t like in
The Dark Knight Rises is that Bane just dropped Bruce Wayne in some Middle Eastern country while he destroys Gotham. It seemed like a stupid way to get Wayne out of your face.
Skyfall is just all around a great movie. If you’re a true Bond fan and haven’t seen it then leave right now and see it. If you’re a fan of action, thrillers, and suspense movies then this is good for you. If you’re a fan of westerns, well this film isn’t for you but still go see it.
4 OUT OF 4 STARS
10/10
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