Skyfall

Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench
Director: Sam Mendes
Rating: ●●○○○

What better way to re-start the 7th art blog than reviewing Skyfall, a movie promoted none the less by HM the Queen of England.
Let's go straight to the point: is all the hype worth? Depends how much of a 007 fan you are.
If when asked your name you answer "Smith, Paul Smith" then you will find here the car chases (at the beginning), the impeccable suits, the exotic locations, the also exotic women, you will even find the Aston Martin DB5 used in Goldfinger, and most of all the great opening song sang by Adele.
Basically all you expect from this modern age British hero. Maybe that's why Metro in the UK rates this movie with 5 stars (as a masterpiece).

But if you are just a normal viewer like me, what do you get out of this movie?
Well, not much frankly. One scene probably describes all my perplexity and it's the opening chasing scene. The chase ends with Bond being shot, falling from a very tall bridge in the water, his body dragged in a water fall... and yes, he survives.
As he does later on after falling in a frozen lake and fighting underwater for a minute. If this is the case, than let's just say he is an X-man and next time let's have him defeat the evil using magnetic brain powers or laser beams flashing from the eyes.
The action scenes (of the kind described above) are 80% of this movie, but what about the other 20%? Not much. The plot has gaps all over. You keep thinking "why is he doing this?", but then you realize that this has to be, so you give up asking yourself stupid questions.

There is actually one thing very good about this movie, and it's Javier Bardem's interpretation of the villain, crazy, clever, disturbed and mad. But from a guy who won best actor in Cannes, Venice and the Oscar, you cannot expect less. And yes, the song by Adele.