If not for the absolutely adrenalin-pumping action in the first 15 min, you would be hard-pressed to believe Skyfall is a Bond movie. You barely settle in your seat when the action rushes you, but alas, it's just the beginning, and there it ends. Almost.
There are no complex plots, no nuclear attacks. Instead a disgruntled MI6 agent, out to wreak havoc on his ex-employer, exposing MI6 and NATO agents across the globe, leading to the murder of 3 of them. With the ever-faithful Bond, back from hibernation and trying to get back to prime (he flunks every exam he takes on his comeback), trying to save M by barricading her away in his childhood home.
The movie opens with Bond chasing the bad guy, a super scene involving an old Land Rover chasing an Audi through crowded streets, an unbelievable bike chase sequence on roof tops, and a nerve-racking action sequence involving Bond driving an earthmover on top of a train.
As the movie meanders along, the quick witted dialogues make you smile, and some breathtaking vistas from London's quaint buildings to Macau's fantasy world, from Shanghai's gleaming skyscrapers to the Scottish moors, engage your attention. But there are no cool gadgets - were you expecting an exploding pen, asks Bond's new barely adolescent Q - instead, Bond and M fashion a very back-to-basics and almost Rajnikantish attack on the bad guys in an isolated Scottish manor, with old bulbs, nails, Bond's beautiful old Aston Martin and sticks of dynamite. Until it explodes into a fiery inferno, this is another scene that is beautifully shot and executed, the chopper's advance on the desolate mansion invoking some real menace. The hand to hand combat in Shanghai, against the backdrop of moving Neon signs is also amazing.
Daniel Craig works very well as the ageing Bond, as always. Judi Dench has an unusually long role in what will be her last Bond movie. As the bad guy Silva, Javier Bardem is amazing, his opening sequence develops word by word into a stunning entry. Both the girls Naome Harris (the MI6 agent) and Berenice Marlohe (the tortured sex worker) impress in their brief appearances.
But when the movie ends, Bond promising the new M that he is ready for action, you almost wish this was was the beginning of the movie, with lots more to come. If you are not really a Bond fan, you might want to check out the first 15 min, then move on to whatever else catches your fancy! As an action movie, Skyfall is like it's Bond - not really back to prime.
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