If Casino Royale was Bond's answer to Batman Begins and The Realistic Reboot trend, then Skyfall owes much to The Dark Knight, the Joker's relaxed and unhinged pathos imported to Javier Bardem's baddie. Odd and funny, and not really after money or power, Raoul Silva gives the film real stakes and the funniest and scariest moments. The final showdown's location, Skyfall, could not have been a more unexpected turn. I would have been fine with the usual rooftop time bomb fistfight, if done well. Skyfall switches into a new gear and by the final reel, this movie is in my top slot. I had wanted an adventure Bond, with roughing it and improvisation, and oh man, I got it. Every frame of Skyfall is gorgeous, and every note of the soundtrack is effective for the first time since Thunderball. Bonus Notes: The cast/plot economy of these productions, from the cheapest bottle episode of an old spy show to Skyfall itself, is an enduring and charming parameter. Even plots recycle, there are few new tropes to be found. I Spy has an epsiode (Home to Judgement, season 3) where Cosby and Culp's characters are fleeing bad guys across a field, hide out in a farmhouse, discover the old couple still there, and that the farm was Culp's childhood getaway. They have only his father's hunting rifle (which pulls to the right), so they set up booby traps like dynamite sticks and plastic baggies full of gunpowder wired to lamps. The bad guys show up at night for a battle raid.
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