On Friday night we saw the latest Bond film, Skyfall, at a ridiculously crowded late session. We had originally planned on seeing it when we were in London right after it was released in UK on the 26th October, but I was too unwell at the time. By the way, it's still shocking that for a movie of this magnitude that the Australian release date is a month later than the UK, and two weeks after the US. In an internet connected world, it's just not acceptable any more.
Anywho, some might recall my earlier opinions on Casino Royal back in 2006 ("great movie, but it wasn't a Bond movie"), and Quantum of Solace in 2008 ("The storyline was whiney and disjointed, and most obviously the action scenes were totally crap [mainly for shooting and editing reasons]"), so all in all, I wasn't expecting much from this latest instalment.
After seeing it, I can say that I was pleasantly surprised. The directing and editing were miles better than Quantum of Solace, the action scenes were good, and the story wasn't half bad either. Overall, unlike both its predecessors, the movie felt like a Bond film; not in the cheesy over-the-top Roger Moore kind of way, but from the music to the direction to the plot (as well as some nicely placed references and subtle-ish one-liners), meant that it was very enjoyable Bond movie.
David Craig is still a little bit too 'whiney' for my liking, but I guess that's his take on the role, and it wasn't not nearly as bad and irritating as before. Javier Bardem played a great creepy villain, Judi Dench had a much bigger role and as always was great, whilst the 'girls' were a little disappointing both in casting and the roles they played. My other only criticism would be that it was a tiny bit too long, but that's a really small negative if it were to have one.
In hindsight, I really don't know what they were thinking in terms of Quantum of Solace and how bad it that movie was. The plot in Skyfall made absolutely no reference to it, nor carried on from it in any way, shape, or form. For anyone wanting to watch these movies fresh, or even re-watch them, it is so much better just to skip that second movie and you wouldn't really notice at all.