Skyfall is a 2012 film directed by Sam Mendes and starring Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, and Javier Bardem. It follows James Bond as he takes on a dangerous rogue agent from MI6’s past, as well as demons from his own past. This is regarded as one of the greatest Bond ever, as it featured great action, one of the best villains of the series, and a pretty epic main theme by Adele.
Skyfall follows a damaged and grizzled James Bond, a far cry from the slick and confident one audiences met in Casino Royale. After being wounded in action by a fellow agent, Bond falls into alcoholism and leaves MI6, with them all believing him to be dead. However, he is forced to come back when Silva, a rogue MI6 agent comes back and seeks revenge. Bond must then confront Silva, as well as his own personal demons at his ancestral family home, Skyfall.
This is the best of the Daniel Craig Bond films. Up until Skyfall, Bond’s humanity has really never been explored. This film makes Bond seem more like an actual damaged human being, instead of a slick womanizing super-spy. Additionally, Skyfall has one of the absolute best Bond villains ever with Raoul Silva. Javier Bardem plays an ex MI6 agent who went rogue after his superior, M, possibly gave him up to be captured and tortured. He’s unique and unpredictable. One moment he’ll pull out his prosthetic jaw to reveal cyanide burns, while in the next he may try and turn Bond gay. He’s interestingly written and very well acted. There’s also a cool contrast between old and new in this movie. Bond is referred to as being off his game due to leaving MI6 temporarily, which contrasts nicely with his new quartermaster, a very young inventor. Additionally, the end of the movie takes place at Bond’s ancient ancestral family home in Scotland, Skyfall. It’s a cool underlying theme, and it makes the movie feel very smart compared to some of the dumber James Bond movies such as moonraker.
The one thing I wish they did with this movie is better explain Bond’s past. It seems like he’s going to have to confront his personal demons from his parent’s death but nothing ever comes of it. They’re even building up to it, by having him freeze when he hears the word “Skyfall” during a therapy analysis session. In fact, the audience doesn’t know or find out what trauma happened in Bond’s past. Characters make allusions to it, saying “how old were you when it happened?” Or “He hid here for two days when they died.” But it feels pointless and a bit disappointing that the audience never finds out what happened to Bond, and that he never has to confront his demons.
Skyfall is a great film, and it is much better than it’s predecessor Quantum of Solace. Although it’s not the absolute best Bond film of all time, it probably falls into the top 5, and deserves to be seen.