An unknown agent managed to steal a list of top secret undercover MI6 agents, and is now revealing five new agents each week online. The head of MI6, M, is accosted for such a failure and pressured to retire, with Mallory as her possible successor. British agent James Bond is sent to investigate. As he falls in love with Severine in Macau, they are both abducted by cyberterrorist Raoul Silva, an ex-MI6 agent who wants to take revenge on M for leaving him behind when he was exposed and tortured in '97 by the Chinese soldiers. Severine is shot by Silva, but the latter is arrested by the MI6. However, he escapes in London and wants to kill M. Bond and M flee to Bond's childhood home in Scotland, where they set up a trap. In the shootout, M and Silva are killed. Bond's new superior is now Mallory.
The 23rd film of the James Bond franchize, and the 3rd one featuring Daniel Craig in the title role, is one of the better 21st century Bond films, mostly thanks to the competent directing by Sam Mendes, an unusual but refreshing choice for this action spy genre. The opening action chase sequence in Istanbul is great, featuring one genius moment where Bond is pursuing an agent on a speeding train carrying cargo, but as the agent starts shooting at him, Bond simply enters an excavator on one of the wagons, turns it on, and swings its bucket at the agent as a shield. The ensuing chase ends on a high note "cliffhanger", when Moneypenny wants to shoot the agent, but accidentally shoots Bond who falls down from the train into a river—in any other movie, this would ignite suspense and uncertainty, but, predictably, here Bond survives without much problems, as if it was just a minor inconvenience to him. Such deus ex machina solutions reduce the realism of the storyline, yet Bond movies rarely went out of their mainstream comfort zone, anyway. Luckily, the authors manage to compensate with a lot of style, great action choreography and fast pace. Among the flaws is the main villain, Silva, because he at one point practically gains superpowers akin to the Joker in "The Dark Knight", since he has a plan-within-a-plan-within-a-plan that enables him to always have the upper hand, even when he is arrested, so he is unstoppable, which is unconvincing and far fetched. Actress Berenice Marlohe is sadly underused in the story. The most nostalgic and surprising moment arrives when Bond goes back to his origins, to his derelict childhood home in Scotland, where he wants to set up a trap for Silva's henchmen, reminiscent of "Home Alone" in a more action oriented edition. While mostly stale at its core, "Skyfall" gave a momentum of spark and passion, and features a very unusual ending that speaks about the passage of time, almost as an intruder in this genre.
Grade:++
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