Skyfall

This article is about the James Bond film. For the film's theme song of the same name, by Adele, see Skyfall (song). For other uses, see Skyfall (disambiguation).

Skyfall
British cinema poster for Skyfall, designed by Empire Design
Directed by	Sam Mendes
Screenplay by	Neal Purvis Robert Wade John Logan
Produced by	Michael G. Wilson Barbara Broccoli
Starring	Daniel Craig Judi Dench Javier Bardem Ralph Fiennes Naomie Harris Bérénice Marlohe Albert Finney
Cinematography	Roger Deakins
Edited by	Stuart Baird Kate Baird
Music by	Thomas Newman
Production companies	Eon Productions Danjaq LLC
Distributed by	Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Columbia Pictures
Release dates	23 October 2012 (2012-10-23) (London, premiere) 26 October 2012 (2012-10-26) (United Kingdom) 8 November 2012 (2012-11-08) (United States)
Running time	143 minutes
Countries	United Kingdom United States
Language	English
Budget	$150−200 million
Box office	$790,120,000

Skyfall (2012) is the twenty-third in the James Bond series of spy films, produced by Eon Productions and distributed by MGM and Sony Pictures Entertainment. It features Daniel Craig's third performance as James Bond, and Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the film's antagonist. The film was directed by Sam Mendes and written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.

In the film, Bond investigates an attack on MI6; it transpires that it is part of an attack on M by former MI6 operative Raoul Silva. The film sees the return of two recurring characters after an absence of two films: Q, played by Ben Whishaw, and Eve Moneypenny, played by Naomie Harris. Skyfall is the last film of the series for Judi Dench, who played M; a role which she had played in the previous six films. The position is subsequently filled by Ralph Fiennes' character, Gareth Mallory.

Mendes was approached to direct the film after the release of Quantum of Solace in 2008. Development was suspended when MGM encountered financial troubles, and did not resume until December 2010; during this time, Mendes remained attached to the project as a consultant. The original screenwriter, Peter Morgan, left the project during the suspension. When production resumed, Logan, Purvis and Wade continued writing what became the final version of the script. Filming began in November 2011, and primarily took place in the United Kingdom, China and Turkey.

Skyfall premiered on 23 October 2012, and was released in the United Kingdom on 26 October 2012, and in the United States on 8 November 2012. It was the first James Bond film to be screened in IMAX venues, although it was not filmed with IMAX cameras. The film's release coincided with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, which began with Dr. No in 1962. Skyfall was positively received by critics and at the box office, becoming the highest-grossing James Bond film.

Plot

In Turkey, MI6 agents James Bond and Eve chase the mercenary Patrice, who has stolen a computer hard drive containing details of undercover agents placed in terrorist organisations by NATO states. Patrice wounds Bond in the shoulder and, as the two men fight atop a train, Eve accidentally shoots Bond, allowing Patrice to escape. Bond goes missing, presumed dead.

The head of MI6, M, comes under political pressure to retire during a meeting with the Intelligence and Security Committee Chairman, Gareth Mallory. On her return from the meeting, MI6's servers are breached and the offices are blown up, killing a number of employees; the service relocates to its emergency offices underground. Bond, having used his supposed death to retire, learns of the attack and returns to London. As a condition of his return to active duty, Bond must pass a series of physical and psychological examinations. He fails, but M approves his return to the field regardless. Shrapnel taken from a shoulder wound helps identify Patrice, and Bond tracks the mercenary to Shanghai, where Patrice is planning an assassination.

After Patrice kills his target, he and Bond fight. Patrice falls to his death before Bond can learn of his employer. Searching Patrice's equipment, Bond finds a gambling chip intended as payment for the assassination, which leads him to a casino in Macau. Sévérine, whom Bond witnessed as part of the assassination, warns him that he is about to be killed, but promises to help him if he will kill her employer. Bond beats his attackers and joins Sévérine on her boat. They travel to the abandoned island of Hashima, where they are taken prisoner by the crew and delivered to Sévérine's employer, Raoul Silva. A former MI6 agent who had previously worked under M, Silva holds her responsible for his torture and imprisonment by Chinese security forces. Silva kills Sévérine, but Bond overpowers his guards and captures Silva for extraction to Britain.

Back at MI6's underground headquarters, Q attempts to decrypt Silva's laptop, but inadvertently enables it to access the MI6 systems, allowing Silva to escape. Pursued by Bond, he uses the tunnel system under London—including part of the London Underground—as part of his plan to kill M. Silva attacks M during a public inquiry into her handling of the stolen hard drive. Bond arrives to join Mallory and Eve in beating off Silva's attack, and M is hurried from the building by her aide, Bill Tanner. Bond drives M away from the scene and takes her to his childhood home in Scotland; Skyfall. He instructs Q to leave an electronic trail for Silva to follow, a decision supported by Mallory.

Bond and M are met by Kincade, the gamekeeper to the Bond family estate. The trio are only lightly armed, but they improvise a series of booby traps throughout the house. When Silva's men arrive, Bond, M and Kincade fight off the first assault, although M is wounded. Silva arrives by helicopter with a second wave, and Bond sends M and Kincade off through a secret tunnel at the back of a priest hole to a chapel on the grounds. The second assault uses firepower from the helicopter, and Silva throws incendiary grenades into the building. Bond detonates two gas canisters with a stick of dynamite and retreats down the same tunnel as M and Kincade. The resulting blast causes the helicopter to crash, destroying the house and killing most of Silva's men. Silva spots Kincade's torch beam and follows, meeting Bond on a frozen lake. Bond fights Silva's sole remaining follower, and the two fall through the ice, where Bond kills him. Silva meanwhile makes his way to the chapel and forces his gun into M's hand where he begs her to kill them both. Bond arrives and kills Silva, but M collapses from her earlier wound and dies. Mallory becomes the new head of MI6 and assumes the title of M, while Eve—introducing herself as Eve Moneypenny—retires from field work to become M's secretary.

Cast

The main cast of Skyfall was officially announced at a press conference held at the Corinthia Hotel in London on 3 November 2011, fifty years to the day since Sean Connery was announced to play James Bond in the film Dr. No.

• Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007. Director Sam Mendes described Bond as experiencing a "combination of lassitude, boredom, depression [and] difficulty with what he's chosen to do for a living."
• Judi Dench as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's commanding officer. Skyfall is Dench's seventh and final appearance in the role.
• Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva (born Tiago Rodriguez), the film's main antagonist. Silva is a former MI6 agent turned cyberterrorist who is seeking revenge against those he holds responsible for betraying him, which resulted in his captivity, torture and eventual disfigurement when his cyanide pill failed to kill him, and instead burned his body internally. He now wears a prosthetic plate inside his mouth to give his face a human appearance after the damage caused parts of his face to collapse. Bardem described Silva as "more than a villain", while Craig stated that Bond has a "very important relationship" to Silva. In casting the role, director Sam Mendes admitted that he lobbied hard for Bardem to accept the part. Mendes saw the potential for the character to be recognised as one of the most memorable characters in the franchise and wanted to create "something [the audience] may consider to have been absent from the Bond movies for a long time". He felt that Bardem was one of the few actors up to the task of becoming "colourless" and existing within the world of the film as something more than a function of the plot. In preparing for the role, Bardem had the script translated into his native Spanish in order to better understand his character, which Mendes cited as being a sign of the actor's commitment to the film. Bardem dyed his hair blond for the role after brainstorming ideas with Mendes to come up with a distinct visual look for the character, which led some commentators to observe a similarity between the character with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange.
• Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army and now the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. His position gives him the authority to regulate MI6. During production, Fiennes stated that he could not say anything specific about the role other than that it was a "really interesting part which is really quite fun".
• Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny. Harris' role was initially presented as that of Eve, an MI6 field agent who works closely with Bond. Despite ongoing speculation in the media that Harris had been cast as Miss Moneypenny, this was not confirmed by anyone involved in production of the film, with Harris herself even going so far as to dismiss claims that Eve was in fact Moneypenny, stating that "Eve is not remotely office-bound". According to Harris, Eve "[believes] she is Bond's equal, but she is really his junior".
• Bérénice Lim Marlohe as Sévérine, a woman who was saved from the Macau sex trade by Silva and now works as his representative. Marlohe described her character as being "glamorous and enigmatic", and that she drew inspiration from GoldenEye villain Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen) in playing Sévérine.
• Albert Finney as Kincade, the gamekeeper of the Skyfall estate. The producers briefly considered approaching Sean Connery to play the role in a nod to the 50th anniversary of the film series, but elected not to as they felt Connery's presence would be seen as stunt casting and disengage audiences from the film.
• Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 quartermaster.
• Rory Kinnear as Bill Tanner, the MI6 Chief of Staff.
• Ola Rapace as Patrice, a mercenary who "is a man of few words" and "loves violence".
• Helen McCrory as Clair Dowar, a British minister who oversees the public inquiry into M's leadership of MI6. McCrory joined the cast after Sam Mendes contacted her personally and offered her the part.

Production

File:Skyfall's cast and crew arrive on location in Istanbul (1).jpg

The cast and crew of Skyfall on location in Istanbul (L-R): director Sam Mendes, actors Naomie Harris, Daniel Craig, Bérénice Marlohe and Ola Rapace, with producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson.

Development

Production of Skyfall was suspended throughout 2010 because of MGM's financial troubles. They resumed pre-production following MGM's exit from bankruptcy on 21 December 2010 and in January 2011 the film was officially given a release date of 9 November 2012 by MGM and the Broccoli family, with production scheduled to start in late 2011. Since then, MGM and Sony Pictures had announced that the UK and Ireland release date would be brought forward to 26 October 2012, two weeks ahead of the US release date, which was 9 November 2012. The film's budget is estimated to be between $150 million and $200 million, compared to the $200 million spent on Quantum of Solace.

Skyfall is part of year-long celebrations of the 50th anniversary of Dr. No and the Bond film series. According to producer Michael G. Wilson, a documentary crew is scheduled to follow production of the film to celebrate the anniversary. Skyfall was also the first James Bond film to be released in Imax venues.

Title

In August 2011, several news websites reposted a rumour that originally appeared in Serbian newspaper Blic stating that Bond 23 would be entitled Carte Blanche and would be an adaptation of the recent continuation novel by Jeffery Deaver. On 30 August, Eon Productions officially denied any link between Bond 23 and Carte Blanche, stating that "the new film is not going to be called Carte Blanche and will have nothing to do with the Jeffery Deaver book." On 3 October 2011, fifteen domain names including 'jamesbond-skyfall.com' and 'skyfallthefilm.com' were reported to have been registered on behalf of MGM and Sony Pictures by Internet brand-protection service MarkMonitor. This led to supposition in media that the film had been given the name "Skyfall". These reports were not confirmed at the time by Eon Productions, Sony or MGM. Skyfall was later confirmed as the title at the November press conference, during which co-producer Barbara Broccoli said that the title "has some emotional context which will be revealed in the film". The title refers to the name of Bond's childhood home "Skyfall", and the setting for the film's finale.

Crew

Skyfall was directed by Sam Mendes, who first signed on to the project shortly after Quantum of Solace was released, and remained on board as a consultant during the period of uncertainty surrounding MGM's financial situation. Speculation in the media suggested that Mendes had commissioned rewrites of the script to "[remove] action scenes in favour of 'characterful performances'" with the intention of bidding for an Academy Award. Mendes denied the reports, stating that the film's planned action scenes were an important part of the overall film.

Peter Morgan was originally commissioned to write a script, but left the project when MGM filed for bankruptcy and production of the film stalled; despite his departure, Morgan later stated that the final script was based on his original idea, retaining what he described as the film's "big hook". Director Mendes adamantly denied this, saying, "Absolutely not. Definitively not. That's a lie. I don't want to make a big story about it, that's just not true ... I read that treatment of Peter's and nothing remains. He wrote the treatment, but they binned it when I arrived. That credit grabbing is not fair on the writers." The final script was written by Bond screenwriting regulars Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, as well as John Logan. Logan recounted being brought into the project by his long-time friend Sam Mendes, describing the process between Mendes and the writers as "very collaborative", and that writing Skyfall was one of the best experiences he had had in writing a film.

Roger Deakins signed on as cinematographer, having previously worked with Mendes on Jarhead and Revolutionary Road. Deakins used the Arri Alexa camera for filming. Dennis Gassner returned as production designer, the costume designer was Jany Temime, Alexander Witt was director of the second unit, the stunt co-ordinator was Gary Powell, and Chris Corbould supervised the special effects, while the visual effects supervisor was Steve Begg. All have worked on previous Bond films. Daniel Kleinman returned to design the film's title sequence after stepping aside to allow graphic design studio MK12 to create the Quantum of Solace sequence.

Locations

Sam Mendes and Barbara Broccoli travelled to South Africa for location scouting in April 2011. With the film moving into pre-production in August, reports emerged that shooting would take place in India, with scenes to be shot in the Sarojini Nagar district of New Delhi and on railway lines between Goa and Ahmedabad. The production crew faced complications in securing permission to close sections of the Konkan Railway. Similar problems in obtaining filming permits were encountered by production crews for The Dark Knight Rises and Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol. Permission was eventually granted to the Bond production crew, with some additional restrictions put in place at the request of the Indian authorities; however, it was later reported that the production crew had elected not to shoot in India. Further reports emerged stating that filming would take place in Istanbul's Sultanahmet Square, the Hagia Sophia museum, the city of Fethiye and the Varda railway bridge near Adana, with production expected to spend three months in the country. Adana stands in for the outskirts of Istanbul in the film.

Mendes confirmed that China would be featured in the film, with shooting scheduled to take place in Shanghai and "other parts" of the country. The first official image from the film was released on 1 February 2012, showing Daniel Craig on set at Pinewood Studios, within a recreation of a skyscraper in Shanghai. Set reports dated April 2012 recorded that scenes would be set on Hashima Island, an abandoned island off the coast of Nagasaki, Japan. In actuality, the scene was set on an unnamed island off the coast of Macau, though based on the real-life Hashima. "That's not the real island," Mendes explained, but rather "a set and computer-generated. We built the street and the courtyard and then we created the rest." A scene set in the swimming pool of a Shanghai hotel was shot in London.

Shooting of the finale was planned to take place at Duntrune Castle in Argyll, but was cancelled shortly after filming began. Glencoe was instead chosen for filming of these scenes. Although supposedly based in Scotland, Bond's family home of Skyfall was constructed on Hankley Common in Surrey using plywood and plaster to build a full-scale model of the building.

Filming

Principal photography was scheduled to take up 133 days. Filming began on 7 November 2011 in and around London, with scenes shot in Southwark and Whitehall, the National Gallery, Smithfield meat market and St Bartholomew's Hospital for the scene in which Bond enters MI6's underground headquarters, Canary Wharf, the Department of Energy and Climate Change, Charing Cross station (not the District line as in the film, but the disused Charing Cross branch of the Jubilee line) and the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, with residents reporting further filming as taking place in Cadogan Square, Tower Hill, and Parliament Square. The Vauxhall Bridge was closed to traffic for filming the aftermath of an explosion at the MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall Cross. Unlike The World Is Not Enough, which also featured an explosion at the building—which was filmed at a large-scale replica—the explosion in Skyfall was added digitally in post-production.

Production moved to Turkey in March 2012, with filming reported to be continuing until 6 May. A group of Turkish teenagers infiltrated a closed set in a railyard in Adana to film rehearsals of a fight scene on top of a train before being caught by security. Parts of Istanbul — including the Spice Bazaar, Yeni Camii, the Imperial Post Office, Sultanahmet Square and the Grand Bazaar — were closed for filming in April. Store owners in the affected areas were reportedly allowed to open their shops, but were not allowed to conduct business, instead being paid TRY₺750 (US$418) per day as compensation. Production faced criticism for allegedly damaging buildings while filming a motorcycle chase across rooftops in the city. Michael G. Wilson denied these claims, pointing out that the film crew had removed sections of rooftops before filming began and replaced them with replicas for the duration of the shoot; when filming finished, the original rooftops would be restored.

Music

Thomas Newman composed the film's score.

Main article: Skyfall (soundtrack)

Thomas Newman, who worked with Sam Mendes as composer for American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Jarhead and Revolutionary Road, replaced David Arnold as composer, becoming the ninth composer in the series' history. When asked about the circumstances surrounding his departure from the role, David Arnold commented that Newman had been selected by Mendes because of their work together, rather than because of Arnold's commitment to working with director Danny Boyle as composer for the Opening Ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics. The soundtrack album was released on 29 October 2012 in the United Kingdom and on 6 November 2012 in the United States.

In October 2012, British singer-songwriter Adele confirmed that she had written and recorded the film's theme song with her regular songwriter, Paul Epworth. She later posted the cover for the "Skyfall" sheet music on Twitter, crediting the songwriting to herself and Epworth, with arrangements to both Epworth and orchestrator J. A. C. Redford. The song was released online at 0:07 am BST on 5 October 2012, a day dubbed "James Bond Day" by the producers as it marked fifty years to the day of the release of Dr. No.

Release and reception

The premiere of Skyfall was on 23 October 2012 at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The event was attended by Charles, Prince of Wales and his wife Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall. The film was released in the UK three days later on 26 October and into US cinemas on 8 November.

Box office

Skyfall has earned an estimated $790 million worldwide. On its opening weekend, it earned $80.6 million from 25 markets. In the UK the film grossed $32.4 million on its opening weekend, making it the second-highest Friday-to-Sunday debut ever behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 2. It also achieved the second-highest IMAX debut ever behind The Dark Knight Rises. The film set a record for the highest seven-day gross with £37.2 million ($59.9 million), surpassing previous record holder Deathly Hallows – Part 2 (£35.7 million). By 8 November 2012, the film had earned over $91 million to surpass The Dark Knight Rises as the highest grossing film of 2012, and the highest grossing James Bond film of all time in the UK. By 21 November 2012 the total UK gross increased to $131.5 million.

Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Bérénice Marlohe in Paris at the film's French premiere, October 2012.

Skyfall set an opening-weekend record in Switzerland ($5.3 million) and recorded the second-largest opening weekend for a Hollywood film in India ($5.1 million). In Austria, it achieved the second-highest opening weekend ever ($3.4 million) behind The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, while in Finland, it scored the largest opening weekend when excluding previews ($1.47 million).

In North America, the film opened in 3,505 cinemas, the widest opening for a Bond film. The film earned $2.4 million from midnight showings on its opening day and a further $2.2 million from IMAX and large-format cinemas. CinemaScore polls reported that the average grade filmgoers gave the film was an "A" on an A+ to F scale. Skyfall went on to gross $30.8 million on its opening day in the US and Canada, and $88.4 million in its opening weekend, the biggest debut yet for a Bond film.

Critical reception

Skyfall received generally positive reviews from critics, scoring a 92% approval rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 256 reviews, as well as a score of 81 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 43 reviews. The Daily Telegraph's film reviewer, Robbie Collin, considered Skyfall to be "often dazzling, always audacious", and observed that as well as excellent action sequences, the film was "also full of humour and warmth". Collin predicted that the film "will be a stratospheric hit". Reviewing for The Times, Kate Muir called Skyfall, "a great British bulldog of a movie ... a triumphant return to classic Bond", which she considered to be "a resurrection, and [which] will go down as one of 007's best". Writing for her sister paper, The Sunday Times, Edward Porter considered the action scenes to be "tough and crunchy", although he also thought that "the exaltation of [Bond] is achieved with wit and panache". Porter went on to write that the climax to the film was slightly disappointing, although the "weaknesses in the final stages are not serious, however, and the film's brief epilogue is wonderful". Philip French, writing in The Observer, described Skyfall as "possibly the best" of the 23 Eon movies, and concluded that it is "admirably staged, has a suitably sombre look, and the oddly moving final scenes have an elegiac grace and a tragic sense that the end of On Her Majesty's Secret Service only hints at. At the centre, Craig manages to get out of the shadow of Connery." He criticised the film for "some lazy repetition" and argued, "the badinage is often perfunctory and Bond is as usual captured too easily and too easily escapes." Reviewing for New Statesman, Ryan Gilbey saw that "nostalgia permeates the movie", going on to say that "sometimes the old ways are the best". Gilbey thought that Craig had "relaxed into Bond without losing any steeliness".

The Daily Record also praised Skyfall, saying that the film was "brimming with action and excitement" and could possibly be considered as "what just might be the 007 agent's finest hour". Alistair Harkness, writing for The Scotsman thought that Mendes had created a "James Bond for the 21st century and also made a film with genuine heart", and in doing so had "reconfigured the tropes of the series so that Bond is once again out in front, setting the template anew for what a Bond film can really do". The reviewer for Irish Independent considered that Skyfall may be "the best Bond in many a moon, and maybe even the best of them all." With a script that "balances humour and suspense skilfully" and a leading actor in Craig who "seems more relaxed and at ease in the role", the conclusion was that "Skyfall is a hugely enjoyable rollercoaster ride and easily the best action film this year."

Jane Horwitz, writing for The Washington Post, thought it was an "endlessly clever" film, with "dark humor and worldview, complex characters, moral dilemmas and high-stakes action". Her colleague, Ann Hornaday thought Sam Mendes had reinvigorated the series, with Skyfall being "sleek, crisp, classy … exhibiting just the right proportion of respect for legacy and embrace of novelty". Reviewing for The New York Times, Dave Itzkoff considered Skyfall to be "a superior follow-up to Casino Royale" which "even plays like something of a franchise rethink". He went on to say that the film is "opulent rather than outlandish and insistently, progressively low-key". Claudia Puig, reviewing for USA Today, opined that "It might sound blasphemous, but in Skyfall, Daniel Craig has it all over previous 007s", in a film that "sizzles with style and substance". Betsy Sharkey, reviewing for the Los Angeles Times thought Skyfall is "a well-cast, smartly acted film", noting that Mendes "has upped the ante, the action and the artistry in "Skyfall" without losing all the defining traits we've come to expect—and need—from Bond".

Writing for the Chicago Tribune, Michael Phillips, considered that Skyfall is "reasonably grown-up escapism, but with the swank and polish and movie smarts to deliver what Bond has always delivered". Phillips noted that although the final third was "protracted", this did not spoil the film, which he rated as being "just a notch below" Casino Royale. Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter thought that Skyfall was "dramatically gripping while still brandishing a droll undercurrent of humor", going on to say that it was a film that had "some weight and complexity to it". Variety's Peter DeBruge suggested that the film's greatest strength lay in its willingness to put as much focus on characterisation as it did action set-pieces, allowing the two to co-exist rather than compete for the audience's attention. DeBruge's comments were supported by IGN's Daniel Krupa, who applauded the film for concentrating on its themes rather than action. Krupa also praised Daniel Craig for refusing to let Javier Bardem "steal the show" by matching Bardem's performance. Krupa called Skyfall the "best Bond film yet." Several reviewers further noted that the production had learned greatly from director Christopher Nolan, highlighting The Dark Knight as the film Skyfall was most indebted to in reinventing the concept of what a Bond film could be. Neil Smith of Total Film gave Skyfall 5 stars out of 5, concluding that "it all adds up to the 007 adventure we've been waiting for: a flawlessly assembled thrill ride with a cast to die for and a nakedly emotional undertow." Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film four stars, describing the film as "a full-blooded, joyous, intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon, with Daniel Craig taking full possession of a role he previously played unconvincingly," adding that he did not know what what to expect from the film, but was pleasantly suprised that it was "invigorating".

Larushka Ivan-Zadeh of Metro also gave the film 5 stars out of 5, saying "it's certainly the best acted, most ravishingly beautiful and all-round best Bond to date" and the best "50th anniversary present ever". Ivan-Zadeh said "Craig's brilliance is that, just by looking at him, we see the deep scars of hurt beneath his icy blue eyes, even before a slightly weird finale takes Bond into uncharted childhood 'back-story' territory and it all goes a bit Nolan-era Batman." Kim Newman, reviewing the film for Empire, concluded, "Skyfall is pretty much all you could want from a 21st Century Bond: cool but not camp, respectful of tradition but up to the moment, serious in its thrills and relatively complex in its characters but with the sense of fun that hasn't always been evident lately." Newman praised Sam Mendes' direction of the action sequences, the "warmth and gravitas" of Finney's performance, and commented that "cinematographer Roger Deakins... delivers the most impressive visuals this series has had since the 1960s". Henry K. Miller of Sight & Sound also singled out Deakins' work, describing the film as "dazzlingly photographed"; he also praised Bardem's performance as "the most authentically Bondian Bond villain in decades," and believed that Mendes had "proved himself well up to the task" of directing future James Bond films.

Former James Bond actor Sir Roger Moore praised the film after a private screening, claiming that the film would go a long way towards convincing audiences that Daniel Craig would usurp Sean Connery in defining the role of James Bond.

The film did not escape criticism, with reviews pointing to its two and a half-hour running time and a third act that could not match the first two in its momentum as the underlying flaws in the film. Xan Brooks of The Guardian criticised the "touchy-feely indulgence" of "the bold decision to open Bond up – to probe at the character's back-story and raise a toast to his relationship with M." Daniel Krupa also singled out Naomie Harris as "awkward" and having a "virtually non-existent chemistry" with Daniel Craig.

Skyfall was criticised by victim advocacy groups for Bond's perceived abuse of power and authority during a scene that suggests he has sex with Sévérine, a former victim of sex trafficking. On 23 November UKIP candidate Robin Johnson also slated the film for the very same reason whilst giving a speach to an all womens group on 'Violence against Women' in Lambeth stating 'that violence against women in the media is seen as a green light by those who perpetrate it'.

See also

• Outline of James Bond
• Happy and Glorious, a short film starring Daniel Craig as James Bond produced for the opening ceremony of the 2012 Summer Olympics.

External links

• Official website
• Skyfall at IMDb
• Skyfall at Box Office Mojo
• Skyfall at Rotten Tomatoes
• Skyfall at Metacritic