Skyfall (2012)
**SPOILER ALAERT**
Surprisingly this anticipated Bond movie got a theatrical release here (just after a week of the US release) at our only multiplex theater in the city. Anyway, I understand it was an effort to making some sort of a 'transitional' film to go back to the traditional bond flavor but I was kinda disappointed. I really loved the way the series took a sensitive & believable approach from Daniel Craig's debut Bond feature
Casino Royale (2006) & its highly action packed follow up
Quantum of Solace (2008). Though director Sam Mendes did a good job with a story that's dealing with an interesting treatment like re-introducing some classic bond features but along the way it just came with an unoriginal antagonist character...an ex-MI6 agent (reminded me Sean Bean as 006 in Golden Eye). Obviously, Javier Bardem was a great cast but it was a missed opportunity, IMO. He was menacing as Raoul Silva but I just found the identity/background & motivation of his character pretty cliched & less interesting than earlier Craig-Bond films. The 2nd disappointment was the ending, particularly the final showdown between Bond & Silva. I'm not complaining about the premise (loved the location) or the killing of Judi Dench (surely I'll miss her in future 007 flicks but the "M" got a great replacement) but quite surprised & disappointed to see Bond killing off his such a wicked villain by only throwing a knife from behind!?! Both the character deserved a good fight between them. And last but not the least, I wish that
French hottie could get e bigger role & more screen presence:).
>>: B-