Skyfall is the twenty-third film in the James Bond franchise, which dates back to 1962. It features Daniel Craig in his third performance as James Bond, and Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the film's bad guy. The film was directed by Sam Mendes. It centres on Bond investigating an attack on Britain's intelligence service MI6; the attack is part of a plot by former MI6 operative Raoul Silva tohumiliate, discredit and kill M as revenge against her for betraying him. Skyfall is the last film of the series for Judi Dench, who played M, a role that she had played in the previous six films. Filming began in November 2011 and primarily took place in the United Kingdom, China and Turkey.
At the box office, Skyfall has earned $1.1 billion worldwide, and is the seventh-highest-grossing film of all time. The movie received generally positive reviews from critics; Rotten Tomatoes sampled 290 reviewers and judged 92% of the reviews to be positive. Kim Newman from 'Empire' concluded, "Skyfall is pretty much all you could want from a 21st Century Bond: cool but not camp, respectful of tradition but up to the moment, serious in its thrills and relatively complex in its characters but with the sense of fun that hasn't always been evident lately". Roger Ebert of the 'Chicago Sun-Times' gave the film 4 out of 4 stars, describing it as, "a full-blooded, joyous, intelligent celebration of a beloved cultural icon".