Skyfall (Movie Review)

Updated December 2025

“The Best Bond Ever!” so says one critic whose Skyfall review is so fervent it is hard to take him seriously. In my professional opinion, Skyfall falls short of Daniel Craig’s quintessential Bond film, Casino Royale, a 007 motion picture unrivaled in its action, intensity, stunning cinematography, and arresting plotline.

That film is, in my mind, the best Bond movie Craig has done and one of the top five action movies I have ever seen. But by no means does my preferred choice signify that Skyfall is not worth watching. Au contraire, it is entertaining cinema worthy of multiple views, even if it possesses two defects that lessen its acclaim.

Skyfall starts with Bond on his latest assignment. It goes gravely wrong; several undercover agents around the world are exposed and MI6 is attacked, forcing M to relocate the agency. These events cause her authority and position to be challenged by Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee. With MI6 now compromised from both inside and out, M is left with one ally she can trust: Bond. 007 takes to the shadows, aided only by field agent Eve (Naomie Harris), following a trail to the mysterious Silva (Javier Bardem), whose lethal and hidden motives have yet to reveal themselves.

The issue I have with Skyfall is that director Sam Mendes, cheered on by Craig, tinkered with the Bond universe in such a way that I feel violated. The two worst offenders are aging Bond and the reduced role of the Bond girl. How could he have done this? By developing a real aging gene to the 007 character, you are essentially making him human. Bond does not age. He has been in his prime for 50 years.

Now all of a sudden “he shouldn’t be ashamed to lose a step,” voiced to Bond by Gareth Mallory in a tense scene. By Mendes opening this Pandora’s box, the travesty sets in motion Bond’s eventual demise because of his future elder age. The producers would then have to reboot the series in its entirety with 007’s unknown son or a new young agent, 008, similar to the way the Bourne franchise did when they transitioned from Matt Damon to Jeremy Renner.

Also, the selection of the Bond girl is not just a carnal passage for Bond but a symbol of long-lasting prestige for any woman in film. In Skyfall, Bérénice Marlohe is only a brief incident dealt with in an anticlimactic shower scene and a quick dismissal. Naomie Harris’ character is an agent of MI6, not a real Bond girl in the true sense of the term. These two grave decisions have ramifications down the line for the franchise, and I am aghast that many critics have not accentuated the discrepancies.

The aforementioned blemishes ultimately were too distracting for me to suspend disbelief. It kept haunting me, not allowing me to immerse myself in this new universe. Bond didn’t even ask the bartender for a “martini shaken, not stirred,” because the bartender supposedly knew the drill. The Heineken scene took place on a beach. Against the philosophies of Craig and Mendes, they need to understand that these are the classic elements fans look forward to in every movie. They endure because they work; that is why they become classic moments every few years.

Despite my vexing remarks, they do not apply to the grand production, the ambitious entertainment value, and the multi-dimensional layers that James Bond is draped in. I will not mention references of “best,” but I will highlight reasons why you should still see Skyfall. The opening action sequence is once again one of the reasons you cannot come late to a 007 movie.

Car chases, tractors, guns, trains, and deadly jumps create a most energetic beginning. Adele’s sultry and enchanting opening number is Grammy and Oscar-deserving. If you can dismiss the bumps on the road, Craig gives an affecting performance that merges the better parts of his acting in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace.

Then we enter Javier Bardem, the first Hispanic actor to ever play a Bond villain. As he made history by playing the effeminate and demented Raoul Silva (according to Bardem himself, Silva is Portuguese), Bardem holds his own against the pantheon of memorable evil adversaries Bond had to kill. He is not as good as Anton Chigurh, the role he won the Oscar for in No Country for Old Men, but he is nonetheless intimidating.

As an action movie, Skyfall works. It holds a sense of danger and peril not associated with the other films. Yet, I felt that 2012 offered better action with The Raid: Redemption and The Dark Knight Rises. Skyfall is not a masterpiece. It is better than average and has a lot to applaud, but not enough to revere. Go ahead and buy your ticket, watch it, and enjoy it, but know that there are better films out there.