.: Skyfall :.

There has been some mixed review of the latest James Bond movie - Skyfall, but like everything else in life, one can never please everyone.

The fact of the matter is that majority (with exception of a handful) of the reviews I have read and gotten so far is that it is indeed one of the best James Bond movies in the last 50 years.

Now, I have to first disclaim that I could not concur with such a bold statement as I am not such a die-hard great fan of the iconic shaken-but-not-stirred Bond, but I have caught a few of the movies on screen as merely for entertainment purpose - so I did have a few predecessing Bond movies to compare with anyways.

I have to admit that Skyfall is one of the best I have watched in the James Bond series and also in fact one of the better movies I have watch this year! I love this quote from one of the reviewers "Few things get better with age. Among things that do; a good scotch and, in his latest incarnation, Bond….James Bond."

And here is why I conclude so
(WARNING, SPOILER ALERT!)

The movie plot is simple thrilling & at a climax - all the way from it's opening sequence until the end. Unlike the previous few movies ago, this 23rd Bond movie is less gadgety (it's all back to the basic "gun & radio").

I must also note that Ben Whishaw played a very cute Q (youngest actor to have played Q in fact). I loved the conversation between Bond & Q when they first met, so pay more attention during that scene!

I also find this double-oh-7 movie a little bit less sexist, and I was surprise to find out that there are some out there who concurs with me (read here for an interesting article by The Guardian). Sure, there are still steamy scenes with hot babes (how can it be a Bond film without?), but the fact that the backstory of Sévérine being a victim of sex trade perhaps explain the reasons of the positions of all the other Bond women? Anyhows, I did left the movie without feeling that the babes were just merely eye-candies; all this with just a one minute scene of conversation. Well scripted, if I do say so myself!

Also kudos to the villian's role Tiago Rodriguez aka Raoul Silva, very well played by Spanish actor, Javier Bardem (looks a lot like Robert Downey Jr, don't you think so?) which, in my books puts him the same league as Joker in the Dark Knight! A role that "honored the bad guys of old, yet one that breaks new ground" is apt to decribe Raoul - which is all eccentric, sick-humoured and creepy with huge mummy-issues. The scene of Bond's first encounter with Raoul was also one of my favourite - where Raoul tells a symbolic & sinuous story of rats on an island and then proceed to behave suggestively towards Bond! (Oh, I just have too many of favourite scenes in this movie!)

The one that takes the cake, is M played by Judi Dench which is oscar-worthy in my books! In this film, it's really a lil less of Bond and a lil more of M, in a good way. I guess it's no huge secret that she died in the end (kinda sad really)!

So, in conclusion - well developed characters with great chemistry, back-to-basic-weaponary and fights, unconventional villian, awesome soundtrack with the same title by Adele (Her voice! Wow!), well-written script… Isn't that enough reasons for one to catch this highly anticipated movie? :)

Q: It always makes me feel a bit melancholy. Grand old war ship. being ignominiously haunted away to scrap... The inevitability of time, don't you think? What do you see?
James Bond: A bloody big ship. Excuse me.
Q: 007. I'm your new Quartermaster.
James Bond: You must be joking.
Q: Why, Because I'm not wearing a lab coat?
James Bond: Because you still have spots.
Q: My complexion is hardly relevant.
James Bond: Your competence is.
Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency.
James Bond: And youth is no guarantee of innovation.
Q: Well, I'll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field.
James Bond: Oh, so why do you need me?
Q: Every now and then a trigger has to be pulled.
James Bond: Or not pulled.
Q: It's hard to know which in your pajamas. Q.
James Bond: 007.