Pickup up the mantle after Pierce Brosnan bid farewell to the franchise with Die Another Day in 2002, Daniel Craig's first outing as Casino Royale in 2006. Craig's debut 007 movie marked a new era for the franchise, one defined by more gritty action and a lack of over-the-top gadgets. Casino Royale was a hit both critically and commercially, earning glowing reviews and grossing $606 million worldwide.

Craig starred in a total of five bond movies, departing in 2021 with No Time To Die. Though his final outing earned positive reviews and was a box office success, it wasn't his highest-grossing entry in the franchise. In addition to being one of his highest-rated critically, it was his 2012 outing as 007 that remains his top performer in of worldwide box office, grossing a staggering total of $1.1 billion.

Skyfall Earns Mixed Accuracy Scores From Counterterrorism Expert

Raoul Silva Is Surpringly Realistic As A Villain

A former CIA officer rates scenes from Skyfall for their realism, praising one villain moment but taking issue with another. Directed by Sam Mendes, Craig's third Bond movie after the disappointing reception to Quantum of Solace (2008) sees the British spy attempting to take down terrorist Raul Silva, played by Javier Bardem. Skyfall was a major hit, earning praise for its action and style, including a tense sequence in London in which Bond attempts to stop Silva from killing M (Judi Dench) during a hearing.

In a recent video for Insider, counterterrorism expert and former CIA officer John Kiriakou analyzes elements of Skyfall's tube and parliament scenes, taking issue with just how over-the-top the courtroom shootout is. While this part of the sequence earns a dismal accuracy grade, Kiriakou points out that the explosion in the tube and Raoul himself are elements that are actually true to life in many ways. Check out Kiriakou's analysis and scores for the movie out of ten below:

Literally none of that is true to life but that's that's what makes you love James Bond. First of all, I'll say almost no officers carry weapons. You have to be in a post that is rated as high or critical threat for terrorism. The only posts where I ever carried a gun were Athens and Pakistan. Otherwise I was I was always unarmed. And you're not going to walk into Parliament just opening fire it's just it's just not real life.

Love it. That as part of this film was absolutely believable. In this James Bond movie Raoul is considered to be what's called a lone wolf terrorist, somebody who's not a member of an organized group. He acts alone. Those are more prevalent than you might think and the person who comes to mind most immediately is Carlos The Jackal. This is a guy who successfully kidnapped, all at once, every single oil minister in OPEC, but for all intents and purposes, Carlos was a lone wolf.

Attacking public transport is quite easy. Transportation is probably the weak link in our infrastructure. In Tokyo there was an attack some years ago by Aum Shinrikyo terrorist group – it was more of a cult really –that adopted terrorism as a policy where they they spread poison gas through the ventilation system and killed a whole bunch of people. So although we've not seen something like this happen, it is possible that it could.

So shooting up Parliament? No, sorry, one. But the threat to transportation, while it's not you know crazy action-packed like we saw with Raoul blows a hole in the the ceiling, that's not going to happen, but that threat is real so I'd say seven or eight.

What Skyfall's Accuracy Score Means For The Movie's Legacy

Is It Daniel Craig's Best Bond Movie?

Generally speaking, both Quantum of Solace and Spectre (2015) are considered lesser entries in Craig's 007 tenure. Though Casino Royale scored higher on Rotten Tomatoes, as seen in the chart below, Skyfall still stands as a favorite for many as it mixes the gritty action of Casino Royale with more of the suave Bond-ness of classic entries in the franchise.

Ultimately, the Bond franchise isn't appealing to audiences for its realism, and entertainment value is really where the movies need to succeed. Still, it remains an interesting exercise to see where the film is right and wrong, and how Bond's experience as an MI6 agent compares to a real counterterrorism officer's time in the field. Though Skyfall may fall short on realism, it remains a standout Bond movie, and one of Craig's best.

Source: Insider