Page 1 of 3
Please allow us to introduce the first legitimately excellent high-definition release of 2013....
Fox / 143 Minutes / 2012 / Rated PG-13 / Street Date: February 12, 2013
If Casino Royale was a shot in the arm to the James Bond franchise, consider Skyfall a blast of adrenaline straight to its heart. In addition to being a fine Bond movie, Skyfall is a billion dollar baby, a film that has energized an international audience to unprecedented ends – as far as dollars and cents goes, it’s a bona fide monster success.
But this Blu-ray edition proves that in addition to being a currency-generating machine, Skyfall is actually a damned fine picture. It’s not without its shortcomings – a second viewing definitely draws attention to some wear and tear in terms of the movie’s structure and story arc – but this latest Bond flick is solid adult fun, a tale of espionage and loyalty that is equal parts classic Bond and sleek modern-day actioner.
The issue at the center of Skyfall is a list, a compilation of the identities of spies who are currently on assignment – the reveal of this information (especially to a bad guy) would spell disaster. Bond (Daniel Craig) starts Skyfall off the grid, but after M (Judi Dench) is booted after the list gets lost and MI6 in London gets bombed, Bond returns to the fold. And it goes without saying that Silva (Javier Bardem) is not the guy MI6 wants to have access to the list. A game of cat-and-mouse ensues.
Director Sam Mendes gets a chance to really kick into some zippy retro fun in Skyfall – when M and Bond get into the classic Bond Aston Martin, the ensuing sequence is a nostalgic blast – and taken as a whole, the film works with well-oiled finesse. The movie’s climactic sequences are perhaps a bit misguided, but that is often the case with Bond flicks, and if we can forgive A View to a Kill, we can forgive Skyfall.