Reviews for Skyfall
RedEyeThough not a reference to Chicken Little, “Skyfall” (opening Nov. 9) does carry a thunderclap of impending doom: A modern threat has emerged, and the old guard that is MI6 may not be up to the task.
Fresno BeeDaniel Craig takes his third turn at playing 007 in the new "Skyfall" (a Bond movie title that actually makes sense). The stunts have gotten bigger and Craig's the latest to play super spy Bond, James Bond, but in the end, the formula for these...
Advocate (Baton Rouge, LA)Skyfall deals with loyalty, revenge and the passing of the torch. And even as an immensely mad and dangerous new Bond villain seeks to destroy British intelligence service MI6 from the outside, there’s a power struggle inside between classic espionage...
Cole Smithey“Skyfall” stands as one of the shrewder blasts of ecstasy in the long list of compelling 007 spy flicks. Another flawless credit sequence — this time featuring an evocative title song powerfully delivered by Adele — follows a mind-blowing mano-a-mano...
LarsenOnFilmWith Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig established himself as the gritty, grim James Bond. The hair was lighter; the mood was not. Skyfall, Craig’s third film, is a throwback, much like the Adele torch song that anchors it.
Mark Reviews MoviesMore than any James Bond film since From Russia with Love in 1963, Skyfall attempts to bring the world's most famous spy back into the realm of relative reality—of the possible. Gone is the array of nifty and sometimes improbable gadgets that seemed...
Houston PressI wanted to like Skyfall more than I did, which is funny because after the opening sequence, I felt sure I would love it. Bond (along with fellow agent "Eve," played by Naomie Harris) pursues the hard drive thief through Istanbul and onto a moving...
Eric D. SniderThere aren’t many franchises that this applies to, but if anyone ever needs advice on how to make a 50-year-old movie series seem fresh and relevant again, “Skyfall” is the model. James Bond’s 23rd outing, in which he is once again played by a...
NorthShoreMovies.netFor those of us old enough to remember the first James Bond movie, “Dr. No,” it’s hard to believe that the James Bond movies are celebrating their 50th anniversary this year. The latest one, SKYFALL, isn’t a reboot as was “Casino Royale” – the 2006...
Rolling StoneIf you can forget the putrid follow-up to Casino Royale that was Quantum of Solace, then Skyfall continues James Bond's backstory with staggering style and assurance. This is Bond like you've never seen him, almost Freudian in his vulnerability.
HollywoodSkyfall is the perfect film to accompany the 50th Anniversary of the first big screen Bond movie, Dr. No. The movie is a crossroads for 007; the spy is an old soul with unconventional, archaic methods, struggling to exist in a high-tech world with...
Reel ViewsSkyfall can take its place alongside From Russia with Love, Goldfinger, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service as the best Bond can offer. With an Oscar winner at the helm and Oscar winners in two prominent roles, Skyfall overflows with talent but...
FirstShowing.net50 years. 23 movies. A franchise as rambunctious and stubborn as its lead character, the James Bond series wouldn't have lasted as long as it has without a few great movies here and there in its arsenal. Skyfall is a great movie.
Washington PostOne of the marks of a good director is the taste and judgment with which he deploys the most cherished tropes of the franchise he’s in charge of extending. With “Skyfall,” Sam Mendes proves to be just that adept, reinvigorating the James Bond series...
Miami HeraldJames Bond dies in Skyfall — not literally, of course. Fifty years since 1962’s Dr. No, the character remains so lucrative and profitable, he is guaranteed to outlive us all.
Reel Film ReviewsA clear and unequivocal improvement over the reprehensible Quantum of Solace, SkyFall follows Daniel Craig's James Bond as he attempts to stop a brutal adversary (Javier Bardem's Silva) bent on destroying M's (Judi Dench) life and reputation.
Sacramento News & ReviewWe’ve had James Bond movies for 50 years now, and Skyfall treats the benchmark like a special occasion. In its urbane yet never-too-serious way, it honors the formidable legacy not just of this particular franchise, but of British spy fiction as a whole.
Entertainment WeeklyOf all the marvelous feats that make Skyfall such a thrilling addition to the James Bond movie canon, the greatest may be that the 23rd entry conveys the melancholy of loss, mortality, and future-shock anxiety, while at the same time leaving us...
ABC Radio (Australia)Sam Mendes' new film Skyfall, the twenty-third Bond film and the one that marks the series' fiftieth anniversary, is spectacular, wonderful, daring, touching, and simultaneously a celebration of the entire series while also, in its careful way, a push...
SFX“Is there any of the old 007 left?” asks Raoul Silva, the pansexual supervillain of Skyfall, brought to the screen in a masterclass of bug-eyed camp by Javier Bardem.
View LondonFittingly for Bond's 50th anniversary, Skyfall delivers a number of crowd-pleasing nods to previous Bonds and manages to tick off all the series staples (glamorous locations, gorgeous ladies, a spot of gadgetry, thrilling action set-pieces) while...
Indian ExpressAny which way you look at Skyfall, James Bond -- the film and the character -- have matured. And there could have been no better hand to lead them towards it than Sam Mendes, a director who does rather well with middle-age at crossroads.
TotalFilm.com“You know the rules of the game,” M tells Bond near the start of Skyfall, “You’ve been playing it long enough!” Fifty years to be exact, an anniversary that makes the 23rd entry in the world’s most durable franchise both a cue for nostalgia and a chance t
QNetwork EntertainmentSkyfall has a lot riding on it—perhaps more than any other big-budget franchise film this year. The 23rd “official” James Bond film released during the 50th anniversary year of Ian Fleming’s enduring pop culture creation, it emerges from the dust...
India Today"Old dog, new tricks." Naomie Harris's sexed-up Moneypenny tells Daniel Craig's James Bond. Skyfall was always about making that obvious point: Bond at 50 is an old dog good enough to learn a few new tricks. And score. It was about proving that Agent...
Rediff.comSkyfall is, at heart, a crowdpleaser. The first three Bond greats -- Dr No, Goldfinger and From Russia With Love -- were like big-band flourishes, clever and symphonic and throbbing with energy: jazz, played loudly and fearlessly.
Hindustan TimesPunchy one-liners, designer costumes, the best cinematography that money can buy and stunts that will no doubt be imitated extensively -- Skyfall has them all. But wait. This slick spy versus mega-megalomaniacs may have all that the script doctors...
MediaMikesOne of the things you learn as a film critic is to always hedge your bets. Which is why, six years ago this month, I called ‘Casino Royale’ “possibly the best Bond movie ever!” Thank goodness for the word “possibly.”
CLIPSMissing and presumed dead, James Bond (Daniel Craig) returns to help the besieged M (Judi Dench) after a devastating attack on MI6. The formidable and dangerous ex-agent Silva (Javier Bardem) seeks revenge against those he holds responsible for his...
Aisle SeatI take part in a weekly feature called the Criticwire Survey on the popular Indiewire website. The feature polls several dozen film critics on various movie-related subjects. Last week, we were asked to pick our favorite James Bond film.
Movie WebAfter a incredible and tiring month last October, me and my beautiful wife head off to our well spent vacation to relax and unwind! Here, we continue to what has been a trend of sorts since the first time I've watched Daniel Craig portray the Spy of...
Screen JabberSo the Bond film series is now 50 years old, and it's clearly time for a little soul searching. In 1995's GoldenEye, M (Dench, in her first Bond film) calls Bond (Pierce Brosnan) a sexist, misogynist dinosaur and a relic of the Cold War.
iHaveNet.comEarly on in his stage career, director Sam Mendes worked with Dame Judi Dench on a production of "The Cherry Orchard." Now they have reteamed for a slightly less Chekhovian project: the 23rd official James Bond film (24th if you count the Sean Connery...
CinemaBlend.comThe impact that Ian Fleming’s James Bond has had on our culture is so deep that even a person who has never seen a 007 movie before knows the character’s trademarks. There’s the shaken-not-stirred vodka martini, his power over the ladies and the fun...
Movies.comAny James Bond movie worth a damn gives you the entire candy store, the whole pop culture checklist: a breathlessly tense preliminary battle followed by a wavy-hazy-lady opening credits sequence (and title song preferably performed by whichever version...
Slant MagazineJames Bond's 23rd canon outing is burdened with the weight of 50 years of history. And with the addition of a "real" director (depending who you ask), it also carries the charge of being somehow definitive—striking a perfected balance between action...
New York PostLike the Rolling Stones, James Bond movies turn 50 this year, and you can’t blame either for playing their hits. What more do you want from “Start Me Up”? Violins? A hip-hop beat?
The A.V. ClubJames Bond films have always played loose with continuity, but that hasn’t stopped a sense of history from creeping into them. 2006’s Casino Royale was supposed to mark a fresh start, with a new, 21st-century-ready Bond in the form of Daniel Craig...
Flicks.co.nzAfter Casino Royale so stunningly re-set the template, and Quantum Of Solace so sleekly snapped it, new Bond director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) has an unenviable task. How to combine the classy (Oscar-standard actors, Bond's personal demons) with...
Channel24After the dull and rather po-faced Quantum of Solace, it would have been enough for the latest entry in the Bond franchise to be merely above average.
canada.comThey always hit you like a stiff martini, beginning with the mental expectation of a blissful buzz, followed by the warm, forehead-melting sensation of an adrenalin-soaked escape.
MovieXclusive.comHow many franchises do you know that have lasted 50 years? Indeed, for the words ‘Bond, James Bond’ to be heard in a movie today is in itself an achievement, a testament to the enduring popularity of Ian Fleming’s British secret agent.
Shadows on the WallHiring Mendes to direct a James Bond film was a bold move for franchise-holders Broccoli and Wilson, because he keeps the story so deeply personal that it sometimes feels more like an action-drama than a 007 romp. But this also adds a surprisingly...
Dailybhaskar.comJames Bond is dead. You realise this right at the beginning of this film. As it is with all big-ticket, top-class action-packed thrillers, the movie starts with a lengthy montage of stunts that are supposed to jolt you off your cinema seats. By themselves
Koimoi.comBeing ‘Bond’ is a double-edged sword. If you miss a beat, you become one of the forgotten MI6 gun slingers. But if you do make the cut, you make history like Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan. Daniel Craig is almost there.
IBNLiveHard-core franchise loyalists may argue this isn't the Bond they grew up with. But it's only fair that each new filmmaker who takes a stab at 007 be allowed to interpret it his own way. Mendes, for his part, does a bang-up job.
WeLoveMovieClub.com“Skyfall” ยังคงเริ่มต้นเรื่องราวด้วยความขึงขังพร้อมฉากแอคชั่นสุดลุ้นระทึก ก่อนจะตามมาด้วยฉากเปิดเรื่องกับเพลงประจำตอนในชื่อ “Skyfall” (ชื่อเดียวกับหนังตอนนี้) ที่ขับร้องโดยนักร้องสาวเสียงคุณภาพ Adele ซึ่งยอมรับเลยว่าเป็นหนึ่งในฉากเพลงเปิดเรื่องของหนัง...