Sam Mendes (American Beauty), who also directed 2012's Skyfall, does a wonderful job with the opening scene. The Dia de Los Muertos (Day of the Dead) parade through the City of Mexico is nothing short of dazzling. The energy and palpable power that Daniel Craig exudes is exactly as a Bond movie should be. Even the opening credits, replete with the Octopus' smoky dark ink swirling about as the feminine forms' hair, are ingenious cinematic art.
Four years after Quantum of Solace, Bond is finally back and Daniel Craig once again nails the role. Casino Royale looked like it would be the strongest of the new Bond movies, but Skyfall manages to rip away that title rather easily. Skyfall not only improves upon the new Bond movies in just about every single way, but it also brings back familiar traits from some of the older movies. Expect to see a gadget or two (along with the return of Q) and one incredibly memorable villain, something the previous two movies lacked.
Being one of the few people on the planet who has not read the book, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo, I can’t attest to the movie version’s accurateness to the book so I can only base this review on the movie itself—which was intense and very well done.
I wanted to watch this movie because it was Indiana Jones and James Bond kicking alien ass in the Wild West. And the movie delivered on that. But in all seriousness I’m glad that the actors were able to go beyond their already established iconic roles to play the characters in this movie.
