Skyfall

On Sunday night after Jack's last baseball game, Sharon, Jack and I went to see Skyfall. Over the last few years, I watched all of the Bond films.

Skyfall is the twenty-third spy film in the James Bond series. The film's release coincided with the 50th anniversary of the James Bond series, which began with Dr. No in 1962. It features Daniel Craig's third performance as James Bond. The title refers to the Skyfall Lodge, Bond's childhood home and the setting for the film's finale.

In addition to Daniel Craig as James Bond, agent 007, the film includes: Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva (Tiago Rodriguez), the film's main antagonist; Judi Dench as M, the head of MI6 and Bond's commanding officer; Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army and now the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee; Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny; Ben Whishaw as Q, the MI6 quartermaster, and; Albert Finney as Kincade, the gamekeeper of the Skyfall estate.

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. Sean Connery was almost approached to play the gamekeeper role as part of the 50th anniversary of the film series. I would have loved to have seen Connery in the film.

The plot centers around a stolen hard drive that details almost all undercover NATO agents in terrorist organizations and the villain's attempts to get back at M for sins of the past. The film makes heavy use of hacking and cyber attacks.

I complained that the last movie--Quantum of Solace-was almost non-stop stunts and special effects. It had less plot and more action than probably any of the other Bond films. Skyfall definitely had a better balance between the action and the story. Sharon commented that Skyfall actually had a plot that you could follow. We enjoyed the film and are looking forward to the next one in the series!