The James Bond Rewatch: Current Movie - SPECTRE

[Darwinianevolution]

I just saw Skyfall.

Wow. This was amazing. After watching the hit and miss that Quantum of Solace was, this feels like they fixed everything wrong, and made everything good even better. I feel like there's no real bad sides to this flick, from beginning to end it's an amazing movie. The action is stellar, taking Bond's invulnerability by wounding him for half of the movie actually makes everything more exciting, plus some very creative set pieces. The locations are mesmerizing, they did not pull their punches with their budget, all look great and all move the story along. Craig as Bond is at the top of his game here, this is his best performance yet. The fact that we continue with the character study of Bond in his movies keeps everything grounded and relateable, which could be a problem for previous incarnations of the role: we actually know there's a character behind the façade. Bardem as Silva is also an excellent actor. He takes the "renegade agent thought dead" from Goldeneye and kicks it into overdrive: he has a much more simple yet terrifying plan, revenge at all costs. And he does terrible things to get it. He will attack the MI6, kill innocent civilians, blow up the cover of other agents and getting them killed, fucking drop a train on top of Bond... All to get to M, who used him as a barganing chip in the past. His demeanor is terrifying even to the unflappable M, and that also plays in the theme of what has to be done for the greater good. What Silva had to go through is absolutely horrible, yet it doesn't stop you for a minute to think what he does might be right for his crusade. And all that leaves the best performance in the movie: M. Judi Dench does the performance of a lifetime here, being as prominent on a Bond movie as the character's ever been. She is able to transmit both her strenght as the head of intelligence while also selling her fear of being chased down by a fucking maniac, doing both at once must have been terribly difficult, and she pulled it off with flying colours. And all of that ends up with a Home Alone standoff of all things in Bond's family home in Scotland. They fight hordes of henchmen with barely a couple of guns and their own smarts, and that's always very entertaining to see.

If I had to critizise something, the movie sadly takes a while to really get going. They dwell on Bond's wounds too much, we know he's going to go into the assignement, so why waste time here? Also, the last fight is too dark, a lighter illumination would've been ideal. But this is just nitpick. This is the best serious Bond movie of the series. 9/10