Somebody (British Intelligence) has left a list of every single secret agent in the Western world on a laptop in a block of flats in Istanbul. Somebody else breaks in and pinches the hard disc. Could happen to anybody.
Enter 007 who assesses the situation and bursts into action. Now here’s a thought – if you or I drove through Oxford at 19 mph nibbling on a Mars Bar, we’d be pulled over by a policeman on a bike. James Bond can do 120 mph through the back streets of Istanbul firing an automatic pistol with half the Turkish constabulary in hot pursuit and he doesn’t get so much as a verbal warning.
The car chase gives way to a spectacular motorbike chase over the roof of the Grand Bazaar, which gives way to a chase along the roof of a moving train which is carrying diggers – really big diggers. And then there’s a fist fight and then our hero gets shot and takes a spectacular dive to the bottom of a deep lake and …then the opening titles roll.
Skyfall is fast moving, glossy, glamorous, vaguely reminiscent of every action film you’ve ever seen and packed to the gunnels with cars, guns, girls, helicopters and other blokish stuff. The photography’s astounding, Daniel and Judi act their socks off and the whole thing is the most amazing fun. This is what cinema was invented for.