I just finished my retrospective on James Bond and I was totally psyched to see this movie. All the reviews I read for Skyfall were positive and I just had to see a Bond movie. While I like Daniel Craig as an actor, (he's awesome in The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo), I can't say I was ever sold on him as James Bond. Not that he's a bad actor or anything like that, he just didn't ever project the attitude I've come to expect from Sean Connery or Pierce Brosnan.
The Daniel Craig Bond movies were a complete reboot of the franchise starting with Casino Royale. And when looked in that context the series is actually quite brilliant. Instead of starting off with a polished product like we got with every other Bond movie, we get to see the character grow from his early beginnings at MI6. It provides a little more understanding into why he can be such a cold-hearted bastard or a hopeless womanizer. Skyfall was the ultimate payoff from the build we got in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace. Now we have the suave, ice-cold, witty secret agent we all know and love.
Everything in this movie clicked. The opening sequence alone is worth the price of the movie ticket. It's exactly the kind of action packed start that Bond movies are famous for. The introduction of Q was wonderfully done and while it didn't go into the campy realm, they still managed to squeeze a couple good dry-witty quips out of it.
Judy Dench as M is just so memorable. She's played the character ever since Goldeneye and really made that character her own. M also has gone through quite a number of changes and it's something they happened to play with in this movie. In Goldeneye M was a number cruncher who dismissed the real-life experience and gut instinct of 007. Now in Skyfall she's 007's greatest champion arguing against the "technospy" approach and saying that we need people like James Bond to keep our world safe from enemies we don't know exist.
I would be remiss if I didn't mention how awesome Javier Bardem was as the villian, Silva. He's equal parts sadism, fanaticism, brilliance, and straight up awkwardness. It's a very memorable villian and a great foil for James Bond.
I can't say much more without giving the story away. After 50 years of James Bond movies, this is a great movie to get fans to keep asking for more.
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