"Skyfall" Movie Review

"Skyfall" Movie Review

 Skyfall delivers an intense action-packed thriller that is sure to keep Bond Fans satisfied!  James Bond actor: Daniel Craig exhibits exceptionally great acting throughout the entire course of the movie. Craig creates a spontaneous and sensational James bond character unlike ever before! Skyfall features a brilliant storyline that is personal and intensely emotional. 

Plot

            James Bond is back and as good as ever…well, maybe. In Skyfall, the newest addition to the James Bond collection, it seems that he may be losing some of his physical and mental ability and his potential is questioned by others in MI6. The opening sequence has Bond in a car chase with the newest Bond girl, Eve Moneypenny, which leads to a fight atop a train. With the recent deaths of MI6 agents, Bond is needed to find whoever has retrieved the list of fellow agents and prevent them from being the next victims. His mission leads him to Shanghai where he is to get information from Patrice about his boss and kill him. While Bond and Patrice are fighting, Patrice falls out of the building and dies before Bond can find out who his boss is. Bond finds a gambling chip in Patrice’s belongings and it takes him to a casino in Macau. In the casino, Bond encounters Sévérine who he had also seen in Shanghai and requests to meet Raoul Silva, her employer. When Bond meets Silva he secretly calls in reinforcements and Silva is brought back to MI6. Once Silva is captured and locked up, Silva reveals that he is a former agent and is seeking revenge on M. The tech savvy Q begins hacking into Silva’s computer and falls right into his trap. Silva is able to escape and when Bond can’t catch him their only option is to protect M. James Bond takes her to his childhood home, Skyfall, located in Scotland in his classic Aston Martin. In preparation for the upcoming fight with Silva, Bond, M, and the Skyfall gamekeeper, Kincaid, lay booby traps throughout the house and board up windows. After the initial attack including a helicopter, Kincaid and an injured M use a hidden tunnel to escape and Bond is left to fight Silva and his followers. Bond ignites two gas tanks and when it explodes, the helicopter is hit and crashes into the house creating an even larger explosion while James flees through the tunnel. Silva can see M and Kincaid in the distance and begins to chase her and his pursuit becomes a race between him and Bond. Who will get to M first? Will it be too late?

Gadgets & Technology

            Separating itself from most James Bond movies, Skyfall does something surprisingly different. The gadgets aren’t one of the main focuses in the movie. It is probably due to the fact that we live in a modern era with gadgets of our own. Another reason may be that they wanted to focus more on the story and fighting sequences. The gadgets Bond was provided in this movie was the Walther PPK, which is nostalgic, used by him in all OO7 movies. This time “Q” added a palm-sensitive hammer to it ensuring that only Bond can use it. For communication they used the Sony Xperia T, some might call it a super phone. They also had the typical radio transmitter in the movie so M16 could find Bond. The Aston Martin DB5 made a made a comeback in this movie which was a nice surprise for the older Bond fans. It even has the same license plate as the one in “Thunderball”. In Skyfall it was outfitted with machine gun headlights, a nice new touch. All in all the gadgets satisfy the older Bond fans and encourages the younger crowd to rewatch some of the older movies.

Soundtrack

            The soundtrack from James Bond Skyfall is quite distinct from the older classic James Bond movies. Thomas Newman, the composer of the Skyfall soundtrack, was an unexpected choice by the director, Sam Mendes, proved his worth when coming up with the soundtrack for the new James Bond film. When compared to older James Bond soundtracks, that were composed by John Barry, the newer sound track is much slower in pace and has a distinct tune that sets itself apart from the classic soundtracks. Yet, at the same time, Skyfall still is able to maintain the classic feel found in much older James Bond films and gives it a sense of mystery. While other scores in the Skyfall film were able to provide a feeling of fast-paced action and excitement but maintains an aura of elegance. Also, when in certain settings of “Skyfall”, the soundtrack used in that setting helps add to it, by implementing certain ethnic sounds that are found in the culture or background of that setting. The James Bond Skyfall soundtrack is able to preserve a feel of a classic James Bond music score, but also maintain its own individual uniqueness.

Action sequences

            The action sequences in the movie James Bond Skyfall seem to be faster paced compared to the older movies. This movie starts out with Bond chasing a man named Patrice who has stolen a list of fellow MI6 agents. The scene takes place in the city of Istanbul and the chase starts out with Bond and a fellow agent driving after Patrice. It is the stereotypical chase scene from any movie, but after the adversary crashes his car it gets very interesting. Patrice pulls out a fully automatic pistol and shoots a few police off their motorcycles. After He killed the cops, Bond does not even hesitate and follows in pursuit. They are both racing down the street while Bond’s accomplice is also driving, trying to block the man off. This seems to work, but once they corner him on a bridge Patrice jumps off onto a passing train. Again Bond does not think twice and rams his bike into the wall of the bridge and flips off the bike onto the train. After doing this, they both exchange shots at each other, Bond runs out of ammo and climbs into a backhoe on the train. He then operates the machine using its digger to block the man’s bullets. Patrice then attempts to shoot the cables connecting the train cars together. In response, Bond used the backhoe to grab onto the next car, which he then jumped to. Bond's accomplice is still driving next to the train in case anything goes wrong. Bond makes his way to the roof of the train car and begins fighting the man with his bare hands. As they are about to approach a tunnel, Bond’s accomplice sets up a rifle above them on a cliff. As they approach on the train she takes the shot and hits Bond, he falls off the train into a river. This is the end of the opening action scene. This movie is action packed throughout, if you like action movies you will not be disappointed. So go out and watch James Bond Skyfall to find out more about the movie.