Skyfall

Now this is what I am talking about, a little bit less Jason Bourne and a whole lot more James Bond. This is the first of the last three James Bond movies that actually feels like a James Bond movie. You have James Bond given an assignment by M, exotic locals, and one of the best villains of the Bond series in general. That sounds like an automatic recipe for success, and it is. Having Sam Mendes fill the director's chair was an interesting if not inspired choice. He has almost no experience with action movies yet proves that he can hang with the best of the action industry. He is also able to evoke emotion from a series that has been devoid of it for some time.

Skyfall tells the story of James Bond(Daniel Craig) coming back to active duty after being deemed M.I.A on a mission that goes horribly wrong. He is brought back in by M(Judi Dench) against the wishes of some higher British government officials. Bond is attempting to gain back the "edge" that everyone thinks he lost during his time being "dead" and he is trying to prove that he is not over the hill. Meanwhile, there is a cyber terrorist that seems to be going directly after MI6 and more specifically M. Bond then goes to in search of the man that is terrorizing MI6 and M, he along his journey he learns to accept why he is the way he is and save the day as well.

Javier Bardem is the one that makes this movie truly great and is the most memorable Bond villain that I have ever seen. Bardem plays him a bit over the top but the character is always based in reality. He has no dream of world domination and only want to exact excruciating revenge on the people he thinks wronged him in the past. In the quieter moments of the movie with him on screen, he brings out how truly troubled the character of, Raoul Silva is.  He plays off Judi Dench and Daniel Craig masterfully and you can see his contempt for M in every frame he is in with her but you can also tell that they were once very close. While on-screen with Craig, he brings about a feeling of sympathy because he feels that what happened to him is what is going to happen to Bond in the future. Just a great performance and should be nominated for Best Supporting Actor in every major award show.

Daniel Craig again kills it as James Bond, and he is neck to neck with Bardem as being the best part of the film. This is the first Bond movie that I can remember that there was some actual back story on Bond, we get to finally see where he comes from and get a little bit on his actual past. M is also an essential part of the movie and Judi Dench is great in every scene that she is in. You can see how conflicted M is in most scenes between what she feels is best for her country and what is best morally. This is one of the only instances that I remember that M is an actual main character in the series and I wonder why no one thought of this concept earlier.

This is the best Bond movie to date in my opinion and made me forget the disaster that was Quantum of Solace almost immediately. The introduction sequence of Bardem's character is one of the best scenes in Bond history and is worth the price of admission alone. This hopefully this is the first in a long string of successes from the Bond franchise and MGM studios. Go see this movie as soon as possible and you are in for a treat. This packs more action, emotion, and badass acting into it than any of the other James Bond imitators.