Skyfall Review
3.5/4 Stars
James Bond Has Returned in Smart Action Thriller
Not having seen any James Bond movies prior to this one, I was a little worried. What if I'm taking a chance on seeing this and I'll have to have watched every Bond movie made to comprehend it? Well, I'm happy to say that's not the case. This is truly its own movie. On top of the not very confusing plot, the action and the adventure are simply amazing, and even complex. Here is breakdown of the story.
So, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is back, and on a mission. Someone has stolen a list of some of MI6's agents' real names, and M16 needs it back at any cost to protect the agents. We open with Bond chasing a man in a foreign county, who he believes knows info about the stolen list. At one point he and the man are fighting on top of a train when the woman who is part of the agency and traveled with him there, Eve (Naomie Harris), is standing with a gun waiting for a chance to shoot the guy fighting Bond. As the train approaches her, she realizes she could easily hit Bond instead. Head of the agency, M (Judi Dench), talking to her orders to take a shot. Unfortunately James is shot instead and falls into the water under the bridge. After all this chaos, a man named Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) informs M that because of everything that is going on, she will announce her retirement in 2 months, saying it was voluntary. She has no choice, but she says she plans to leave the agency as she found it when she first took over. When she is returning to the building, her assistant in the car, his computer reveals there is activity from her computer and he realizes they are being hacked and the words "think about your sins" appear, directed to M. Then the M16 building explodes as they see on the road. Later, being the tough cookie he is, James Bond (who everybody thinks is dead) survives the shot and lies low for a while. He then reveals himself to M, and she tells him to become an agent again he has to pass the required tests. There are physical and mental evaluations which he must pass, and does not do well on any because of his injuries. However, M reinstates him, and he continues to hunt for the list. One event leads to the other and he discovers that the thief is a disgruntled agent (Javier Bardem) who will stop at nothing for revenge.
Besides the awesome story, the acting is nothing short of superb. However one thing I find strange is the end credits playing only a little bit after the movie starts. I suppose that is smart so you force the audience to watch it and not give them the option to skip it by playing at the very end. I was actually disappointed cause I wanted those credits at the end so the movie would end with Adele's "Skyfall". Oh well, at least I got to hear it. I most definitely recommend this movie to anyone, regardless of prior knowledge of these movies, because anyone will enjoy the story and have a good time. I think this movie might have convinced me to watch the other previous entries.