Not Skyfall

You may have noticed all the great reviews surrounding the movie Skyfall. That's because it actually is great and should probably even be considered one of the best Bond movies of all time. With classic action sequences, homages to the original films, and acting that can only be defined as superb, this newest chapter for 007 is about as close to perfect as it can get. It is also necessary to mention that the title song is probably the best one that's ever been written. Adele wasn't playing around when she put that sucker together. It's because of facts like this that the following review could not possibly be about such a wonderful movie. Instead it's more important to focus on the disaster that came before it. If you thought Quantum of Solace was bad the first time, watch Skyfall and then check it out again.
To start off Solace has a pretty average James Bond beginning. Aside from the disgustingly awful title song, you don't actually hear or see anything new. Instead you find Bond once again in the middle of some elaborate chase that eventually leads to spectacular stunt work and some pretty impressive car crashes. The problems begin when the breathing room between sequences like this becomes smaller and smaller. In typical fashion the audience gets involved with somewhat of a story to sink their teeth into, but in a matter of minutes the gunfire starts up and and Bond becomes involved in an action sequence even more intense than the last. There is no time to relate to characters and the audience is basically forced to associate Bond with whatever personality he had from the previous film. This was the first movie in the series to actually be considered a sequel so maybe that was the intention but it honestly didn't work.
Then there was the issue of bad special effects. This is something that should not be happening with all of the technology available these days. Some of the action sequences looked like they came right from the 80's, complete with poorly done green screen effects and shoddy computer graphics. There is a plane crash in the middle of this film that probably should have been left out entirely. Mistakes that bad are hard not to notice and instead of excitement in these moments the audience might actually feel a sense of embarrassment for the actors involved. That's pretty depressing especially when the goal is to have audiences on the edge of their seats.
There also happens to be a villain in this movie who's personality can only be described as bland. This guy would find a better home playing the antagonist on a television cop drama where the ability to act and be original are not needed. He has absolutely no redeemable qualities and is completely unworthy of the title “Bond Villan”. It's not his fault though, the character was written that way. He was given no affectations or interesting qualities to set him apart from the rest. There were no cats for him to pet, his eye didn't bleed, his hands weren't robotic, he didn't have diamonds in his face or metal teeth, no third nipples, no scars and he didn't throw a razor sharp hat. He was just simply a guy with an accent. Honestly the villain from Bad Boys 2 could have replaced him with out even trying.
Another thing to mention is the convoluted method that was used to get the story out. It probably looked good on paper but the facts are thrown out in this movie at an unforgiving pace. There are so many characters introduced and so many names dropped it's difficult to keep up. Seriously, the ability to keep a story moving and have interesting plot twists are not necessarily bad qualities for a film, but this one just didn't know how to make it work. They spent more time setting up fight scenes than they did creating environments for the story to unfold. Everything had to be given to the audience in quick speeches from characters who only had a moment to talk before guns were firing and James Bond was off and running again. It really is proof that too much action can get in the way even if the story is good.
When all is said an done the average movie goer might not even notice how bad this film is. It could fall into the everyday action flick category without even trying. The problem is that being average shouldn't be allowed when making a Bond film. There wouldn't be so many parts to this series if the movies were all just sort of okay. People realize this when they see Skyfall not Quantum of Solace. That movie really wanted audiences to appreciate the many great things you experience when watching 007 do his thing. It was teaching a lesson and Quantum of Solace still has so much more learning to do.