It has been quite a while since last episode of 007 movies. Skyfall came with high publicity and high expectations. I was eager to watch it first hand and so I did it on the first weekend since its release.
First impression: It is big production. The file was shot at at least four different locations, namely Istanbul, Shanghai, Macau and London, and probably Scotland, which will make it 5 locations.
For people who also watched TAKEN 2 before watching SKYFALL, they may have a bit of disorientation as whether they are watching TAKEN 2 or SKYFALL actually. The first scene was shot at the rooftops of the Grand Bazaar of Istanbul with the beautiful blue mosque as the background, which is almost identical to TAKEN 2, and people chasing after each other on the same roof top!
The scene of Macau I guess is totally fictitious, as I have never known of such a location in modern Macau, even though I can't say I know Macau in every single detail. Never mind, it is a movie, it is supposed to bring fantasy to life.
The plot is interesting, but it is not organized or linked organically. The scene in Shanghai looks like rather irrelevant, other than artificially adding some Chinese element to the taste hopefully to entice its Chinese viewers.
One of the key features of every Bond movie is from the Q section of MI6. Mr Q will always come up with some new and fancy gadgets that will save Mr Bond's life in a hilarious way. Mr Q used to be an old and fragile gentleman. In this episode, Mr Q has a new successor, a modern age young techie, supposed to be a computer genius. However, the 'new' gadgets are not really new, and their usefulness is very much in doubt.
Another observation is why modern people think a think layer of glass and electronic locks are strong enough to lock up criminals?
There are many surprises in the plot, there are many flaws in the plot. There are plenty of actions in the movie, although this episode doesn't offer too many beauties to please the viewers' eyes.
Overall rating: 7/10