The best Bond film (some spoilers)

At least of the Craig era, but I would call this film truly exemplary of the series. This one has everything that makes a Bond film great, including the best one-liner of any Bond film, "WELCOME TO SCOTLAND!" Every Bond movie is great, and there are multiple contenders for "best" Bond film like every Sean Connery film (except for Diamonds are Forever and Never Say Never Again which is OOP anyway), On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Live and Let Die, License to Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World is Not Enough, etc.

But Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace marked a serious decline for the franchise, with Casino Royale being largely boring, having the lamest death of any Bond villain, an unlikable slimy Bond, too few action sequences, convoluted plot, no Bond theme, no Moneypenny, no gun barrel opening and a lamer cliffhanger ending. I was disappointed after all of the fan hype around CR and how it is regarded by some as the best Bond film ever. Goldeneye I also found overrated and that's also considered the best of the Brosnan era for some reason. (For the record, I also hate how they have "rebooted" the character with Craig and have eliminated all the hallmarks of the James Bond series just to slowly reintroduce them over multiple subplots that carry over into the next film and the next, cliffhanger endings, "origin" sequences like the ending of this film, eliminating the gun barrel, etc.) QoS was kinda a return to form and was good but not quite great.

But Skyfall takes the cake. Craig is likable, acts like Bond, awesome one-liners, action is awesome, villain is awesome and fun to root against and does big Bond villain "OMG" stuff like the train scene, Bond girl is cool and treacherous without getting too sentimental like what happened with Vesper Lynd, etc. And the ending is just fantastic. They really brought the action and "OMG" moments back here. This is a film that feels like a James Bond film. You could have slotted in Pierce Brosnan and it would have worked.

My only complaints were the very ending sequences which establish "origins" for certain characters, again leading the audience along a stupid origin subplot that Cubby rightly always said audiences didn't care about and were a waste of time. I really don't care about "how they met" or "what Bond's childhood was like" although they pull that off nicely here. Further, I think it's the wrong decision having a big-name actor like the one they have playing M, who is kinda wrong for the part to me. I also think it's the wrong decision to have a slinky nerdy 25-year-old Q but whatever I guess. John Cleese didn't want to return because of the direction the series was heading and IIRC called the Craig films rip-offs of the Jason Bourne series.