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1!Spoilers for the Creator/DanielCraig ''Franchise/JamesBond'' films preceding this one, including ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' will be unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!
2[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/skyfall.jpg]]
3[[caption-width-right:350:''[[Music/{{Adele}} ♫ This is the end\
4Hold your breath and count to ten... ♫]]'']]
5
6->''"We are not now that strength which in old days''\
7''Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;''\
8''One equal temper of heroic hearts,''\
9''Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will''\
10''To strive, to seek, to find. And not to yield."''
11-->-- '''M''', quoting the poem "[[http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Ulysses_(Tennyson) Ulysses]]"
12
13%% The site owner himself has discussed The One With and said they should stay. Please leave them alone.
14[[JustForFun/TheOneWith The one where]] James Bond jokes that he [[EveryoneIsBi swings both ways]].
15%% The site owner himself has discussed The One With and said they should stay. Please leave them alone.
16
17''Skyfall'', the twenty-third film in the Creator/EonProductions ''Film/JamesBond'' franchise, also marks the 50th anniversary of the film series, and is the third film in the series to star Creator/DanielCraig. After a [[SequelGap four-year gap]] following the financial problems of distributor Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer, the Creator/SamMendes-directed film saw release in fall 2012. Music/{{Adele}} performed the TitleThemeTune.
18
19After an operation in Istanbul to recover an [[MacGuffin encrypted hard drive]] containing the identities of every active undercover UsefulNotes/{{NATO}} agent ends in disaster, Bond goes missing. With a top agent presumed dead and the information he sought to save sitting in the wrong hands, UsefulNotes/MI6 [[BigGood section chief]] M (Creator/JudiDench) comes under [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee government review]] for her handling of the situation. But when [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs a terrorist attack targets [=MI6=]'s headquarters]], Bond [[BackFromTheDead returns]] to track down the man responsible: Raoul Silva (Creator/JavierBardem), a dangerous cyberterrorist with a [[ItsPersonal personal grudge]] against M.
20
21It was Creator/AlbertFinney's final film before his death in 2019.
22
23Followed by ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', a {{sequel}} that picks up where this film left off.
24----
25!!''Skyfall'' contains examples of the following tropes:
26
27[[foldercontrol]]
28
29[[folder:A-G]]
30* AccidentalMisnaming: Bond introduces M to Kincade, and Kincade thinks her name is "Emma." She shows a slight hint of annoyance before she decides to just let him think that.
31* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: Quite a few -- more than average for a Bond film. One of these was the scene where Bond meets the new Q, exchange some witty banter with each other before shaking hands and parting in mutual respect. Another is Bond and M [[spoiler: on the run and waiting for Silva to arrive at Skyfall.]]
32* ActionGirl: [=MI6=] field agent Eve. Bonus points for her being [[spoiler:[[SexySecretary Miss Moneypenny]]]].
33* ActionPrologue: The opening chase through Istanbul for the MacGuffin containing the identities of the undercover NATO agents.
34* AdaptationalAttractiveness: Q, no longer the cantankerous old man that Creator/DesmondLlewelyn portrayed, nor Creator/JohnCleese for that matter, but the young and nerdy Creator/BenWhishaw, in the EndearinglyDorky sense.
35* AdaptationAmalgamation: The plot of Bond being presumed dead and M writing his obituary is taken from ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice'', while the shooting contest is taken from ''Literature/TheManWithTheGoldenGun''.
36* AdvertisedExtra: Sévérine appears in the movie just long enough to give her tragic backstory before swiftly sleeping with Bond, getting tied up, and promptly murdered by Silva. Bond barely reacts to her murder and never mentions her again.
37* AgeCut: The opening credits features two shots of Skyfall being ripped away to show Bond's eyes. In the first, it's a boy; in the second, it's Creator/DanielCraig.
38* AgeLift: Turned on its head - one of the main themes of the movie is how Bond (played by the 44-year-old Creator/DanielCraig) is getting too old to keep working in the field.
39* AgentPeacock: Raoul Silva's mannerisms are really flamboyant, and he's also generally one step ahead of Bond and [=MI6=].
40* AgentsDating: Unlike in other Bond movies, here it was narrowly [[AvertedTrope averted]] for a change of pace in ''Skyfall'' with Bond and [[spoiler:Eve Moneypenny]]:
41-->[[spoiler:'''Eve Moneypenny:''']] I'm sure we'll have one or two close shaves.
42* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Silva begs M to shoot himself and her through the head and end both their pain when he finds out she's been mortally wounded.]]
43* TheAlcoholic: Bond, who begins drinking heavily after his HeroicBSOD at the start of the film.
44* AllThereInTheScript: Raoul Silva's first name is never used in the movie itself. Even the credits list him simply as "Silva."
45%%** In the movie itself, you do learn his actual name, which is [[spoiler:Tiago Rodriguez]].
46* AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs: After his agent steals the encrypted hard drive in the prologue, Silva blows up [=MI6=] headquarters remotely to further humiliate M.
47* AmbiguouslyBi:
48** Silva aggressively flirts with both Sévérine and Bond following their capture.
49** Bond flirts with every woman he meets, but also quips to Silva while the villain suggestively touches him. (Although he's almost certainly referring to what Le Chiffre did to him in ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'', so while he hits that tone to taunt Silva he likely doesn't have flirting in mind.)
50--->'''Silva:''' Well, first time for everything – yes?\
51'''Bond:''' What makes you think this is my first time?
52** And later [[spoiler:when Silva forces Bond into a contest to see who can shoot a glass of whiskey off Sévérine's head]], we have this snippet.
53--->'''Silva:'''(cheek to cheek) [[DoubleEntendre Let's see who ends up on top.]]
54* AncestralWeapon:
55** James uses the hunting rifle of his father Andrew Bond to fight off Silva's mooks early on in the climax. He then, quite sensibly, discards it to pick up a modern [=HK416=] assault rifle from one of the Mooks he killed with it.
56** [[MythologyGag In a meta example]], Bond's Aston Martin [=DB5=], which Sean Connery's Bond drove in ''{{Film/Goldfinger}}''. The car, which had been making cameo appearances in the franchise ever since, was very useful in cutting down Mr. Silva's henchmen.
57* AndStarring: The opening cast roll ends "with Creator/AlbertFinney and Creator/JudiDench as M."
58* AndTheAdventureContinues:
59** The film ends with Bond being given a new mission by M.
60--->'''M:''' So, 007, lots to be done. Are you ready to get back to work?\
61'''Bond:''' With pleasure, M. With pleasure.\
62''(BondGunBarrel TitleSequence plays)''
63** In a more meta way, the movie ends with the classic title card: "James Bond Will Return."
64* AnimalMetaphor: Raul Silva uses rats as a metaphor for himself and Bond as spies.
65* AnimalMotifs: Silva compares himself and Bond to a couple of rats. Adding to this, [=MI6=]'s new location is in the sewers below London.
66* AntiHero: As usual for this Bond.
67-->'''Psychologist:''' Murder.\
68'''Bond:''' Employment.
69* ArcWords:
70** "Skyfall" is mentioned early on, and is the only part of the word association test that he doesn't have a witty response to. It turns out to be [[spoiler:his family home, where he lived after his parents died in a freak climbing accident.]]
71** "Think on your sins."
72** "Old dog, new tricks." and "Sometimes, the old ways are the best." This describes the major difference between Bond and Silva: whereas Silva is over-reliant on technology, Bond uses old-fashioned and BoringButPractical weapons to take Silva down.
73** "Boom" becomes an Arc Song Lyric of sorts for Silva. At one point while Silva taunts Bond, he has a popular French song [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=moPbM7Co8CY "Boum"]] by Charles Trenet playing on his loudspeaker. During his final confrontation with Bond and M, Silva's helicopter speakers blare out The Animals' version of [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emMKvBqTkkA Jon Lee Hooker's "Boom Boom."]]
74* ArtisticLicenceBiology: Komodo Dragons are hunters and scavengers, not fighters. They tend to wait until their prey is too weak to fight before they attack [[note]]If you're curious, their mouths are a veritable Petri dish of potentially lethal bacteria (specifically, ''E. coli, Staphylococcus sp., Providencia sp., Proteus morgani'', and ''P. mirabilis)'', and they are known to possess venom glands[[/note]]. They do this to conserve energy, as they are large and cold-blooded. They wouldn't retreat into the shade, as they want to stay in the light (preferably the sun's light) to stay warm.
75* ArtisticLicenceChemistry:
76** Hydrogen cyanide does not dissolve tooth and bone as is depicted. It is a colorless, odorless gas that causes death by cutting off cell respiration. However, it's possible that the cyanide capsule included acid in order to release the poison, and that this particular capsule simply contained too much acid and too little cyanide. This would still make Silva wrong, as he specifically blames the cyanide, but perhaps he is simply not well-versed on the subject, or was just ignoring the technicalities.
77** The capsule would have been designed to be ''swallowed'', not bitten into, and so the acid would quicken the corrosion of the casing itself rather than wait for stomach acids to do it like with your pills. If Silva didn't know how to take his poison, it's unlikely he knows how it works.
78** Another name of hydrogen cyanide is "prussic acid", so this may be the HollywoodAcid trope at work; real prussic acid is nowhere near as corrosive as depicted.
79* ArtisticLicenceMilitary: [[spoiler:M's obituary for Bond sees his name written as "Commander James Bond CMG R.N." Real obituaries for Navy officers - even if they leave before dying - have their name either completely abbreviated (i.e., "Cdr James Bond CMG RN") or completely written out (i.e., "Commander James Bond CMG Royal Navy"), not a mixture of the two. "CMG", being such a long title, is allowed to be abbreviated in either situation.]]
80* ArtisticLicencePhysics: The "depleted uranium" shells used by Patrice sure sound cool -- especially since an actual US Military aircraft, the A-10 Thunderbolt II, is built around a [[GatlingGood massive gun]] that fires such rounds -- but if scaled down to the size of the Glock 18 he's actually seen using, they wouldn't accomplish much. The smallest DU rounds made were in 20mm (the Glock fires 9mm), no small-caliber rounds were ever made as they are extremely dense and armor-piercing; they would ruin any small-caliber barrels very quickly, have horrible accuracy and range and the heavier weight of the projectiles wouldn't be of much practical use; DU rounds require long and high caliber barrels to achieve the needed velocity to pierce armor and would not accomplish that being shot out of a 5-inch 9mm handgun barrel.
81* AsideGlance: When the MP starts prattling on at the hearing, Mallory gives a subtle "Oh, come on" look to her/the camera.
82* AssholeVictim: Bond sees Patrice shoot at least two people before their fight, so we don't feel too bad when he [[DisneyVillainDeath falls to his death]] shortly afterwards.
83* AsYouKnow: Sardonically done by Mallory with M.
84-->'''Mallory:''' Three months ago, you lost the computer drive containing the identity of almost every NATO agent embedded in terrorist organizations across the globe. A list which, in the eyes of our allies, never existed. So if you'll forgive me, I think you know why you're here.
85* AwardBaitSong: The film's main theme, "Skyfall," by the award winning singer Music/{{Adele}}. It topped charts on its first day of release, won the Golden Globe for Best Song, the Grammy for Best Song Written for Visual Media, ''and'' the Academy Award for Best Original Song, becoming the fifth Bond song to be so nominated and the first ever to win.
86* AwesomeButImpractical:
87** Patrice uses armor-piercing depleted uranium rounds, which unsurprisingly are rare enough to allow Bond to track him down easily.
88** Q all but cites this trope when he tells Bond that Q branch doesn't tend to go in for "[[MythologyGag exploding]] [[Film/GoldenEye pens]]" anymore, after giving 007 two practical gadgets: a [[Film/{{Goldfinger}} homing beacon radio]] and a personalized pistol [[Film/LicenceToKill coded so that only he can fire it]].
89** While the elephant gun is obscenely powerful, as soon as Bond empties it twice, he drops it and picks up a much more practical assault rifle from one of his fallen foes. AncestralWeapon or not, he knows which weapon is better in a combat situation.
90* BackFromTheDead: [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]].
91-->'''Bond:''' Everyone needs a hobby.\
92'''Silva:''' So what's yours?\
93'''Bond:''' Resurrection.
94* BadassBureaucrat: Mallory is currently a bureaucrat, but only because he's a RetiredBadass. [[spoiler:He gets into a gunfight against Silva, takes a bullet, and is later tapped as M's replacement after she dies]].
95* TheBadGuyWins: [[spoiler:Silva's plan to humiliate and then kill M succeeds, though he is unable to make M kill the both of them directly as he wanted, or live to see his victory. Bond is only able to save his own life, and possibly restore M's reputation posthumously]].
96* BaitAndSwitchTyrant: Mallory is introduced as an ObstructiveBureaucrat but he has HiddenDepths; he not only proves himself as a useful badass but is also a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who understands the need of [[CowboyCop out-of-the-box plans]]. [[spoiler:Due to these qualities, [[LegacyCharacter he's chosen to become the new M]]]].
97* BanisterSlide: Bond and Silva slide down the separator between escalators in the London Underground during the chase sequence. In reality, there are actually spacers every few feet to prevent people doing exactly this (one of which can be seen detached on the floor at the end, implying it's been temporarily removed for some reason, and more of which Silva and Bond jump over at the top of the separator).
98* BatmanColdOpen: A totally spectacular one, featuring no less than ''three'' chase scenes and a TraintopBattle.
99* BatmanGambit:
100** Silva's EvilPlan exploits various [=MI6=] protocols to further itself. [[spoiler:Silva knows that [=MI6=] will eventually identify and arrest him, so he spends years planning around his inevitable capture; come the day of his escape, he counter-hacks [=MI6=] and abuses M's overconfidence to close in and assassinate her]].
101** Bond convinces Q to leave a hidden trail for Silva, knowing Silva will discover it. Bond then fortifies himself [[spoiler:in his ancestral estate of Skyfall]], where he can eliminate Silva without collateral damage.
102* BeardOfSorrow: Bond gets one when he goes MIA after M gives the order to leave Bond to die.
103* BeautyIsNeverTarnished: Averted. Bond looks like ''hell'' throughout his HeroicBSOD. His return to form symbolizes that he's snapped out of it.
104* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: Quoted word for word by Sévérine in Macau when Bond asks to meet her employer. Turns out her employer is Silva.
105* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: [[spoiler:Five months of torture at the hands of the Chinese literally knocked the hope and sanity out of Silva. The unsuccessful suicide by CyanidePill that left him painfully disfigured merely rubbed more salt into the wound]].
106* BerserkButton:
107** Bond gets ''really'' pissed when Silva and his mooks [[WatchThePaintJob destroy the Aston Martin]].
108** For Silva, anything involving M, but especially when she refuses to use his real name.
109* BewareTheSillyOnes: Silva, who acts like a laid-back goofball, while still being [[FauxAffablyEvil a dangerous psychotic]].
110* {{BFG}}: Bond's AncestralWeapon, a Anderson Wheeler 500 NE Double Rifle chambered for the .500 Nitro Express which is a cartridge designed to kill Cape buffalo, rhinos, and ELEPHANTS.
111* BigBad: Raoul Silva makes all the plots and executes them and even gets hands on with Bond and M.
112* BigFancyHouse: What the titular Skyfall turns out to be, though it really isn't all that fancy.
113* BittersweetEnding: [[spoiler:The film ends with James Bond successfully defeating Raoul Silva and his men at the titular location of the same name, but M dies in Bond's arms and Bond breaks down in tears upon seeing her death. However, Mallory takes over as the new M by the end of the movie and the old gang is all in place for Bond to take on any threat to the world]].
114* TheBladeAlwaysLandsPointyEndIn: [[spoiler:The main villain, Silva]] gets offed when Bond hurls a hunting knife straight into his back.
115* BloodIsSquickerInWater: The title sequence, due to the ActionPrologue ending in Bond's falling into a river, shot.
116* BloodstainedGlassWindows: [[spoiler:The post-final-final-confrontation]] takes place in a Chapel.
117* BlownAcrossTheRoom:
118** Stopping power seems to be a hallmark of the film, with most gunshots physically knocking their targets back, regardless of the gun that fired them. Eve's shot during the prologue is a prime example, [[spoiler:knocking Bond clear off the train]] with a single shot from a [=K23B=] Tactical.[[note]] The [=K23B=] is a shortened AR-15 clone, meaning it technically develops ''less'' muzzle velocity, and therefore less energy on target, than a standard M16 or AR-15, making this especially egregious.[[/note]]
119** In the courtroom shootout, Mallory is shot with a Glock 17, and is sent reeling as if it were a Desert Eagle.
120** Kincade's 12 Gauge is the most prominent example, taking out three men with two shots, and knocking all three off their feet and into a wall.
121--->'''Kincade:''' Welcome to Scotland.
122** And then amusingly averted with the big-game rifle; the two mooks thus shot simply drop where they are.
123* BlueBlood: Bond himself, whose family owned a large, if now dilapidated, Scottish manor surrounded by a massive estate.
124* BondGunBarrel: The classic version of the Bond gun barrel sequence serves as the punchline to TheTag at the end of the movie, marking its first ''real'' appearance since ''Film/DieAnotherDay''.
125* BondOneLiner:
126** Bond, [[TropeNamer of course]], most notably, "Last [[spoiler:rat]] standing."
127*** There's also "[[WesternAnimation/TheLionKing1994 Circle of Life]]" for the henchman left at the mercy of the Komodo dragon pit.
128** Kincade blasting a henchman with a shotgun and saying, "Welcome to Scotland!"
129* BondVillainStupidity: Silva initially toys with Bond instead of killing him because it's all part of his plan to get caught so he can exact revenge on M. Later, however, his failure to take advantage of various opportunities to kill the heroes after said plan has already run its course is best chalked up to PlotArmor and SanityHasAdvantages.
130* BoringButPractical:
131** Bond receives two rather unimpressive-looking gadgets from Q: a Walther PPK/S chambered in .380 ACP that only Bond can fire, and an emergency homing beacon. Both turn out to be lifesavers during his mission in Asia.
132--->'''Bond:''' Latest thing from Q branch. It's called a radio.
133** A recurring theme of the movie, really. Silva specializes in hacking elaborate computer networks, and rigs ''London itself'' into a deathtrap to escape Bond and reach M's hearing; Bond only manages to undermine him with ordinary tools that Silva has no way of manipulating, such as a two-way radio, a beaten-down homestead in the middle of nowhere, and [[spoiler:a completely ordinary hunting knife]].
134** While pursuing Silva through the Tube, Bond calls Q to figure out where they're going. Q does some RapidFireTyping and pulls up a fancy 3-D wireframe of the London Underground in an attempt to plot the route, which takes almost a minute plus, and he's still not finished when Bond looks up at the route map above the window in his car and in two seconds knows Westminster is the next stop.
135* BoringInsult: When Bond is captured by Silva, Silva takes a moment to express the power and freedom he wields with his hacking, showing how he can manipulate stocks and votes with a click of a button. Bond's response? ''"Everyone needs a hobby."'' You can see Silva's playful demeanor just evaporate at that jab.
136* BottomlessMagazines:
137** Averted, which is unusual for a ''Bond'' movie. Characters are regularly seen reloading in shootouts, and running out of ammo is also what leads to Bond getting shot in the shoulder during the ActionPrologue.
138** Played straight in the prologue: Patrice with his fully-automatic Glock 18 is able to lay down near-continuous fire from the roof of the train and is only seen reloading once. Initially handwaved by his using a drum magazine, though he carries on doing so even after he gets rid of it and switches to regular stick magazines. He's also using "hard to get and extremely expensive" depleted uranium shells -- apparently he had a bottomless wallet, as well, since that uranium must cost quite a fortune. (It's possible that he had only one magazine of these, which he loaded in order to shoot Bond through the metal construction vehicle cab.)
139* BreakTheHaughty: Q, courtesy of Silva, while Silva's in [=MI6=] ''custody''.
140-->'''Computer Screen:''' Not such a clever boy.
141* BreakOutTheMuseumPiece: For the film's climax, James uses a classic Aston Martin [=DB5=] because unlike most of [=MI6=]'s other vehicles, it lacks any computerized tracking equipment that Silva could use against him. [[spoiler:Not to mention the very same machine guns it had in ''Goldfinger''.]]
142* BrokenAesop: Everyone in [=MI6=] talks about how they're not too young/old for the job, yet they all fail at everything. Bond fails to get to his partner on time and Moneypenny fails to take the shot at Patrice. Bond fails his test, fails to reach the informant, then misses the shot-glass. Q falls for the honeypot virus and M falls for the false capture. Finally, [[spoiler:Bond fails to protect M]].
143* BrokenBird: Sévérine, an ex-SexSlave controlled by BigBad Silva. Her smile as Bond gets under her veneer is not pleasant.
144* BungledSuicide: Silva's StartOfDarkness happened when M sold him out to the Chinese, who tortured him for months. Silva then used his CyanidePill but it didn't work, horribly disfiguring his jaw and teeth. He then dedicated the rest of his life to getting revenge on M.
145* ButNotTooBi: Silva makes a flirty comment towards Bond while holding him prisoner, saying "There's a first time for everything, yes?" Bond replies, "What makes you think this is my first time?" This is the first time in the entire franchise, books included, that James Bond has ''ever'' hinted at having slept with men.
146* CallBack: The death of Bond's parents and his youth as an orphan, as previously discussed in ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'' and ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and a piece of backstory dating back to Fleming's original novels, is a running plot thread through the film.
147* CameBackWithAVengeance: Silva was once one of M's agents himself, and his entire terrorist plot is really to destroy her life in revenge for leaving him to be tortured in a Chinese prison. He's reinvented himself quite flamboyantly along the way.
148* CanonCharacterAllAlong: [=MI6=] agent Eve reveals her last name at the end: [[spoiler:Moneypenny]].
149* CapturedOnPurpose: Silva is taken captive by Bond and incarcerated in a glass cell. But as [=MI6=] soon discover, this is just so that he can hack into their computers, automatically open his cell, waltz through the London underground and into the middle of a court room to shoot M.
150* CarFu: Silva manages to do this with a train of all things, by blowing out a side tunnel and letting momentum and the London Underground do the rest for him.
151* CartwrightCurse:
152** [[spoiler:Sévérine]], like many of the women who sleep with Bond in a given film, ends up getting a bullet later.
153** Also averted: This is the first Bond movie starring Daniel Craig in which he sleeps with a girl who does ''not'' die: the unnamed woman he sleeps with during the vacation montage. And [[spoiler:possibly Eve as well]].
154* TheCavalryArrivesLate: [[spoiler:In the first half, [=MI6=] arrive at Silva's hideout to apprehend him using the radio signal Q gave to Bond. By then, Bond had already slaughtered Silva's men and Sévérine was already dead.]]
155* CentralTheme: "Does an intelligence agent like James Bond, with his old-fashioned techniques and approaches, still have a place in a modern, digital world?" [[spoiler:Yes, but he has to adapt to the times just like everyone else, and he is no longer as infallible as he once was]].
156* ChainPain: Patrice grabs a chain to fight Bond with during the TraintopBattle in the beginning.
157* ChangingOfTheGuard: By the end of the film, [[spoiler:M has died and is replaced by Mallory. We are introduced to a quartermaster, or Q, for the first time in a Bond movie with Daniel Craig. At the end we learn that the Bond Girl throughout the movie was named "Moneypenny" all along, when she decides to give up being a field agent for a desk job. The more things change, the more they stay the same]].
158* ChekhovsGag:
159** Bond's issued gadgets consist of a mildly tricked out Walther PPK/S and a panic button radio. Q snarks about Bond possibly expecting an exploding pen. The joke first pays off when Bond uses the radio to summon TheCavalry, and again [[spoiler:when he digs up a [[WeaponizedCar weaponized Aston Martin [=DB5=].]]]] "Sometimes the old ways are the best", indeed.
160** Bond complains when he sees M's tacky china bulldog in the makeshift HQ. [[spoiler:Guess what M leaves for 007 in her will?]]
161--->'''Bond:''' The whole office goes up in smoke and that bloody thing survives?"
162* ChekhovsGun:
163** Q gives Bond a pistol with a special palm print sensor in the grip so that only he can fire it. What do you think are the odds that later some mook is gonna pick it up and try to shoot it?
164** One of the notable camera shots in the Macau casino shows decorative giant komodo dragons in an ideal fighting area. ''It doesn't take a screenwriter to figure out that someone is getting eaten in a few minutes.''
165** [[NoticeThis "...And here is a currently irrelevant priest tunnel that lights up when you open it."]]
166** Silva is coming. [[ChekhovsGift Here's the elephant gun and hunting knife]] [[spoiler:your father left you]].
167* ChekhovsGunman: Played with regarding [[spoiler:Mallory. Savvy viewers will be able to work out that he's being set up for something, so it's heavily suggested he's a MoleInCharge to throw us off the scent as to how Silva gets into [=MI6=]'s systems. In fact, he's destined to be the replacement for M]].
168* ChekhovsSkill: Bond's ImprobableAimingSkills, which he has to re-learn after [[GameBreakingInjury a bullet in the shoulder]].
169* ChronicallyCrashedCar: [[spoiler:Just like most of Bond's cars, the Aston Martin doesn't end the movie in one piece]].
170* ClassicVillain: Wrath motivates Rogue Agent Raoul Silva, as he wants revenge against M for selling him out to the Chinese. However, M points out that he brought all the misery he suffered upon himself because he hacked into the Chinese spy agencies without clearing it with his bosses.
171* ColonelBadass: Mallory was formerly commanding officer of the 22nd Regiment out of Hereford - he was [=SAS=] during The Troubles in Ireland.
172* ComplexityAddiction: Silva's plans, befitting a Bond villain, are far more complicated than they need to be, but wouldn't be nearly as fun to watch otherwise. For example, he has a sniper shoot his way to the top of an office building to assassinate a man in the building opposite, even though the target is already ''surrounded'' by Silva's own men. [[spoiler:[[FridgeBrilliance This is actually all part of his plan]]: he ''wants'' to get captured so that he can utterly humiliate M before killing her]].
173* CompositeCharacter: Silva combines elements of Alec Trevelyan (a former [=MI6=] agent), Boris Grishenko (a genius-level hacker) and Elektra King (emotionally damaged after M, whom she views as a quasi-maternal figure, leaves her at the mercy of her captors, and wants to [[spoiler:humiliate and murder M in revenge, using Bond as the tool to reach the older woman]]).
174* CompressedHair: Sévérine's hair looks like it's no longer than a bob cut during the casino sequence. By the time she's on the yacht, it's down around her shoulders, revealing that it was merely pinned up during the previous scene.
175* ConcealmentEqualsCover: Justified due to the thick stone walls of Skyfall; nothing short of a helicopter-mounted heavy machine gun can penetrate them. Inverted for those, though, since in reality it would take cannon fire, shaped charges, or heavy missiles to penetrate walls so thick.
176* ConstructionVehicleRampage: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2DUFYqc27w James Bond takes control of a Caterpillar excavator being shipped on a train and uses it to attack the assassin he is chasing.]] In the process, he crushes several cars being shipped, and rips the back off the rearmost passenger car.
177* ContinuityNod: Just like 40th anniversary Bond film ''Film/DieAnotherDay'', the 50th anniversary ''Skyfall'' makes multiple references to previous films in the series.
178** ''Film/DrNo'':
179*** Bond is given a new Walther PPK pistol by Q Branch.
180*** The painting shown to Patrice's target in Shanghai is [[http://arthistory.about.com/od/lost_and_found/ig/moderne_paris_theft/moderne_theft_0510_04.htm Modigliani's "Woman With a Fan,"]] which was stolen in 2010 (apparently, its appearance here is supposed to imply that Silva was behind the theft). [[Film/DrNo Dr. No's]] lair was adorned with Creator/FranciscoDeGoya's ''Art/PortraitOfTheDukeOfWellington," which was stolen in 1961 and its appearance was also supposed to imply that Dr. No was responsible for the theft.
181*** The scotch Silva uses in his and Bond's WilliamTelling contest is dated 1962, the year ''Film/DrNo'' was released.
182** ''Film/FromRussiaWithLove'':
183*** The ActionPrologue ends on a train travelling out of Istanbul.
184*** Bond references his previous "Rather nasty Christmas present" response to a much more gadget-laden briefcase.
185---->'''Bond:''' Not exactly Christmas, is it?
186** ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'':
187*** The radio tracking device Bond receives is a larger version of an identical device from ''Goldfinger''.
188*** Bond repeats a line from ''Goldfinger'' in his first meeting with Q:
189---->'''Bond:''' You must be joking.
190*** The poor thug who falls into the Komodo dragon pit is made to resemble Oddjob. A physically imposing, well-dressed Asian man with a goatee. All he was missing was the hat.
191*** Bond's Aston Martin [=DB5=] has a red ejector seat button on the gear lever and machine guns behind the headlights.
192---->'''Bond (finger poised over button):''' Are you going to complain the whole way there?\
193'''M:''' Go ahead. Eject me. See if I care.
194** ''Film/YouOnlyLiveTwice'':
195*** Bond is presumed dead, and M writes his obituary.
196** ''Film/LiveAndLetDie'':
197*** After being trapped in an area filled with man-eating komodo dragons, Bond uses one of them as a stepping stone to escape, just like he did with the alligators.
198** ''Film/TheManWithTheGoldenGun'':
199*** Bond's father's old rifle "aims to the left," similar to a rifle crafted by gunsmith Lazar, who made the gun for a mobster lacking a few fingers, meaning it aims some inches lower.
200*** During the climactic battle, Bond and his allies use [[HallOfMirrors mirrors]] to distract their enemies.
201*** Silva's LightIsNotGood outfit is similar to Francisco Scaramanga's.
202*** Sévérine is the SexSlave of the villain, who's Bond's EvilCounterpart and eventually killed by him, much like Andrea Anders. And like Anders, she hates her lover and wants Bond to kill him so as to free her.
203*** Bond goes to a casino in Macau, where he meets the villain's mistress.
204** ''Film/TheSpyWhoLovedMe'' and ''Film/{{Moonraker}}'':
205*** When Silva [[spoiler:reveals the effects of cyanide poisoning]], his features become reminiscent of Creator/RichardKiel, the actor who played the henchman Jaws in both films. Javier Bardem, the actor who plays Silva, had stated in an earlier interview that Jaws was his favourite Bond villain ever. His eyelids also sag down, just like Blofeld's did.
206*** Bond's HighAltitudeInterrogation and execution of Patrice echoes that of Sandor in TSWLM.
207** ''Film/ForYourEyesOnly'':
208*** Bond practically name-drops the film after digging some shrapnel out of his shoulder and asking that it be given to M, "For her eyes only."
209*** Silva is the second BigBad in the franchise to [[spoiler:die by a throwing knife to the back.]]
210*** The scene where [[spoiler:Silva is stabbed in the back]] takes place in a church.
211** ''Film/{{Octopussy}}'':
212*** Bond and Patrice's train top fight is similar to Bond's with Mishka.
213** ''Film/AViewToAKill'':
214*** Both feature Bond taking a ShowerOfLove with the BondGirl.
215** ''Film/TheLivingDaylights'':
216*** Part of Silva's plot is exposing and assassinating [=MI6=] operatives, echoing "''Smiert Spionam''" ("Death to Spies").
217** ''Film/LicenceToKill'':
218*** A "signature gun" that will only fire if Bond is using it.
219** ''Film/{{GoldenEye}}'':
220*** Q jokes about the pen gadget.
221---->'''Q:''' Were you expecting an exploding pen? We don't really go in for that anymore.
222*** Silva's first line, "Hello, James" mirrors Alec Trevelyan's introductory line. And like him, he's an ex-[=MI6=] agent gone rogue. In fact, as noted by the Agony Booth, Silva seems to combine many traits of ''two'' of the film's villains--Trevelyan and Boris Grishenko (expert hacker).
223*** In ''[=GoldenEye=]'', M makes a remark about how unlike the American government, the British government prefers not to get its bad news from CNN. In the North American and British releases, Bond learns of the [=MI6=] bombing via Wolf Blitzer.
224** ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'':
225*** M is seen writing Bond's obituary when he's presumed dead, similar to how Elliot Carver was shown writing Bond's obituary before attempting to kill him.
226** ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'':
227*** The explosion that takes out [=MI6=] is very reminiscent of the one in the other film's opening sequence.
228*** As is Bond adjusting his cufflink in the middle of the ActionPrologue, much like how Bond adjusted his tie.
229*** Likewise, in the ActionPrologue, Bond receives a shoulder injury (a gunshot wound vs. falling onto the Millennium Dome), hampering his ability to perform in the field, and has to undergo a fitness test like in ''TWINE''.
230*** M finds herself once again as the target of an old acquaintance's vengeance.
231*** M asks Bond, "And I'm to be the bait?", which echoes Elektra King's "You used me as bait" when she confronts Bond.
232** ''Film/DieAnotherDay'':
233*** When James returns from his unplanned retirement, M snaps at him with "what did you expect, an apology?" mirroring a similarly cold remark she made in the previous film. Also counts as {{Foreshadowing}} because [[spoiler:when she finally confronts Silva, he comments that he expected "no remorse" from her, which becomes an instance of PrideBeforeAFall; it's implied that had she apologized, he would have given up trying to kill her]].
234*** Q tells 007 to "put your back into it" when the latter fails to open the service door, precisely what Bond said to Miranda Frost.
235*** Bond goes many months missing from [=MI6=], growing a beard in that time that he shaves off when he returns. Also, Bond shaves off his beard while staying in Southeast Asia (Hong Kong in ''Die Another Day'', Macau in ''Skyfall'').
236** ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'':
237*** After deciding to come back, Bond contacts M by breaking into her house, mirroring his break in into her previous home.
238*** Bond tells Eve "don't touch your ear," as he told Agent Carter. Unlike Agent Carter, Eve listens.
239*** James uses a [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caterpillar_Inc Caterpillar]] excavator during the first train chase.
240*** When Silva caresses Bond's thighs, Bond asks 'What makes you think this is my first time?'. While seemingly a throwaway quip, Bond may actually be referring to Le Chiffre stripping him naked, tying him to a chair (that had the seat bottom cut out) and torturing him.
241*** Both films end with a woman dying in Bond's arms.
242*** The music playing as Bond arrives at the casino in Macau sounds like "You Know My Name."
243*** Bond hangs around to watch the casino bartender make his drink. No poisoning this time.
244** ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'':
245*** M again comments that "Regret is unprofessional."
246*** Bond chasing Patrice over Istanbul rooftops, much like he did Quantum's henchman.
247** In general:
248*** Q insisting that Bond return the gun and radio device, "intact." A frequent complaint of the original Q in earlier Bond movies.
249*** Later in Macau, we see the martini James ordered being [[TuxedoAndMartini shaken, not stirred]].
250---->'''Bond:''' Perfect.
251*** "James Bond Will Return" at the end of the credits.
252*** At the end of the film, [=MI6=] moves into the same Universal Exports offices seen in the Connery, Lazenby, Moore and Dalton movies (the padded doorway leading into Mallory!!M's office is a telltale cue).
253*** Silva [[spoiler:worked for [=MI6=] in Hong Kong in the late 80s-mid 90s, the same time period that the Bond franchise stalled. Hong Kong was meant to be the setting for Creator/TimothyDalton's third film before it went into DevelopmentHell]].
254* ContemplativeBoss: M after hearing that Bond has been shot.
255* ContinuityReboot: Tells how Bond came to meet Q, [[spoiler:Moneypenny, and the male M]], as well as how he came to operate out of the Universal Exports' offices.[[note]]None of this has ever actually been depicted in the films before, nor in any of the Fleming novels.[[/note]] To reinforce this, the BondGunBarrel sequence closes the movie instead of opening it.
256* ConvenientlyAnOrphan: Bond. Also invoked by M.
257-->'''M:''' Orphans always make the best recruits.
258* ConvenientlyTimedAttackFromBehind: Bond kills Silva with a throwing knife to the back while the latter is about to kill M and himself.
259* CoolBike: The opening chase scene includes Bond and his quarry riding motorcycles through Istanbul, and even on the rooftops. It's hard to get much {{Rule Of Cool}}er than that.
260* CoolCar: The iconic Aston Martin [=DB5=] returns and still kicks ass despite its very age. Cue iconic musical score.
261* CoolOldGuy: Kincade, who is kind of like [[Franchise/{{Batman}} Alfred Pennyworth]], but packing major heat.
262* CoolOldLady: M gets in on the action, firing guns and wiring up the chandelier in Skyfall into a booby trap for Silva. [[spoiler:By her own admission, she's "a lousy shot", but hey, booby-trapping the chandelier was pretty awesome by itself]].
263* TheCracker: Silva moves forward with a lot of his plans by hacking into a massive amount of networks including [=MI6=].
264* CreateYourOwnVillain: [[spoiler:M sold Silva out to the Chinese, leading to horrific consequences that caused his journey to a FallenHero]].
265* CreatorCameo: Producer Michael G. Wilson, who has received cameos dating back to ''Film/{{Goldfinger}}'', gets two, although his cameo as a pall-bearer was reduced to a blink-and-you'll-miss-it moment in the edit.
266* CuttingTheKnot: [[spoiler:After all his fancy misdirection and techno-tricks fail to kill M, Silva just sends a bunch of men with guns. [[SubvertedTrope Which turn out to be just softening them up for his attack copter]] and more men with guns. Ironically, the first group actually succeeded; she took a mortal wound and just hadn't died yet.]]
267* CyanidePill: Silva attempted to commit suicide using a hydrogen cyanide implant in one of his molars during his capture, torture, and imprisonment by the Chinese after M's betrayal. The suicide attempt failed, horrifically scarring Silva both mentally and physically. It should be noted that's not how hydrogen cyanide works, but the writers may have assumed otherwise from its alternate name: prussic acid.
268* DarkSecret: [[spoiler:M sold former British agent Silva out to the Chinese in exchange for 6 other agents and a peaceful transition in Hong Kong after Silva started disobeying orders and running ops against Chinese intelligence on his own.]]
269* DarkerAndEdgier: ''[[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 Casino Royale]]'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' were already this compared to most of the previous Bond films, but ''Skyfall'' especially stands out. The film has a distinctly sombre and haunting air to it. Even the credit sequence. Normally consisting of the jiggling, gyrating silhouettes of nubile women, now full of numerous scenes of death and destruction, and the song itself is probably the darkest in Bond history.
270* DataDriveMacGuffin: The ActionPrologue has Bond and Eve on a mission to recover an encrypted hard drive containing the identifies of every undercover NATO agent. They ''fail''; the bad guys get away with the data, and Bond ends up missing, presumed dead.
271* ADayInTheLimelight: The film explores M's background and motivations.
272* DeadpanSnarker: Creator/DanielCraig's version of Bond has made dry quips before, but it's worth noting that he really takes it up a notch this time around. [[SnarkToSnarkCombat Half his dialogue with M, Q and Eve consist of sarcasm, and they snark right back.]]
273* ADeathInTheLimelight: [[spoiler:After the film explores M's character, she is killed off]].
274* DeathSeeker: Oh yes, Bond killed Silva, but it's made fairly clear that he would've killed himself after completing his revenge on M.
275-->'''Silva:''' So, I had only one thing left. My cyanide capsule in my back left molar. You remember, right? So, I broke the tooth and bit into the capsule. It... burned all my insides, but I didn't die. Life clung to me like a disease. And then I understood why I had survived. I needed to look in your eyes one last time.
276* DeconReconSwitch:
277** The film questions the effectiveness of Bond and [=MI6=] in the modern age, only to decide that men like Bond will always be needed.
278** The film also deconstructs M herself, demonstrating the consequences of her ruthless, pragmatic dedication to duty, but also ultimately shows that such dedication can also be courageous and honourable.
279--->'''M:''' To hell with dignity. I'll leave when the job is done.
280** After serving as a deconstruction of Bond as a whole, the movie also reconstructs and reintroduces several elements from older Bond movies before Brosnan and Craig took on the role. [[spoiler:Such as [=MI6=] being based out of the Universal Exports offices, a male M and Bond's flirtatious relationship with Moneypenny]].
281* DentedIron: A recurring theme. The effectiveness of the aging Bond, M, Mallory, [=MI6=], Bond's family manor, and [[VestigialEmpire Britain itself]] are all questioned, only for all of them to prove to be considerably tougher than they look. Then there's this {{subtext}}-laden remark about ''Art/TheFightingTemeraire'', a painting in the National Gallery:
282-->'''Q:''' Always makes me feel a bit melancholy; a grand old warship being ignominiously hauled away for scrap. The inevitability of time, don't you think?
283* DepravedBisexual: Silva had a relationship with Sévérine and he also starts hitting on Bond...but in the latter case it isn't clear if he's being genuine or just trying to intimidate Bond (it doesn't work).
284* DepravedHomosexual: Silva menacingly rubs Bond's thighs. The most spectacular part of this scene, however, is Bond's reaction. With typical unruffled Bond demeanour, he says, "What makes you think this is my first time?"
285* DestroyTheProductPlacement: Bond crashes a Volkswagen Beetle in the opening sequence.
286* DidTheyOrDidntThey: Eve gives the towel-clad Bond a sexy shave...and the scene cuts right there. Not even a kiss. Yet a few minutes later, they're roaming about a lavish casino, complimenting each other on how good they look and flirtatiously commenting that "it's amazing what you can do with an extra pair of hands." It's hard to believe that Bond wouldn't have bedded this beautiful woman, but given that Eve turned out to be Moneypenny, it's obvious why it was left ambiguous.
287* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:M dies in Bond's arms after being mortally wounded by one of Silva's men earlier]].
288* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler:M dies with her eyes open, leaving Bond to close them for her]].
289* DirtyCop: "Constable" Silva and a couple of his men shoot up an inquiry board hearing.
290* DisneyVillainDeath: The fight on the top floor of a Shanghai skyscraper ends with Patrice falling to his death after slipping out of Bond's hands.
291* DisposableWoman: [[spoiler:Sévérine appears for all of a half-dozen scenes before Silva shoots her in the head. This shows how disposable Silva considers everyone and everything, a dark mirror to M's pragmatism.]]
292* DoWrongRight: Mallory catches Q and Tanner creating a trail for Silva to follow in his pursuit of M, whom Bond is protecting at the eponymous lodge. Q and Tanner think they are in trouble, but Mallory instead gives them tips on the best path to give Silva to make sure he is taking the bait.
293-->'''Q:''' But, sir, what if the PM finds out?\
294'''Mallory:''' Well, then, we're all buggered, aren't we?
295* DoubleEntendre:
296** Silva slings one at Bond when challenging him to the WilliamTelling shooting contest:
297--->'''Silva:''' Let's see who ends up on top.
298** As well as his line about how "we can eat each other... hmm?" which he says while touching Bond suggestively.
299* DownerBeginning: [[spoiler:The movie begins with the opening chase through Istanbul ending in failure as Patrice gets away with the MacGuffin containing the identities of the undercover NATO agents, and to make matters worse, Bond is presumed dead after being shot by Eve]].
300* DragonLady: Depressingly subverted Sévérine. She looks like an Asian version of TheBaroness, but is actually a terrified non-combatant former SexSlave who tries to get away from Silva and ends up with a bullet hole in the face for her trouble.
301* DragonsUpTheYinYang: A number of scenes take place during the Chinese New Year of 2012, the [[EasternZodiac Year of the Dragon]].
302* DressingAsTheEnemy: A variation. Silva and his men dress as police constables to attack M.
303* DrivenToSuicide: Part of Silva's backstory. It didn't work, obviously.
304* DrivesLikeCrazy: Eve is very aggressive in a car pursuit.
305-->''[A side mirror is knocked off]''\
306'''Bond:''' It's alright. We weren't using it anyway.\
307''[Eve swerves to knock off the other one]''\
308'''Eve:''' Wasn't using that one either.
309* DueToTheDead: The lack of ceremony accorded to dead spies is mentioned several times -- all they get is their real name engraved into a remembrance wall. Similarly, after [[spoiler:M's death]], none of the flags in the area around [=MI6=]'s headquarters are at half mast, and both Eve and Bond comment on the lack of ceremony.
310* DyingToBeReplaced: [[spoiler:M dies and is replaced by Mallory. This works fairly well, mostly because the replacement character gets a reasonable amount of screentime during the movie and an EstablishingCharacterMoment or two to prove that he's not a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute]].
311* DyingTruce: [[spoiler:When Bond finishes off Silva with a thrown knife to the back, neither have any weapons left anyway. But neither of them attempt to fight or finish each other off more quickly, just staring each other down and allowing Bond to give a signature one-liner right before Silva finally keels over.]]
312* EiffelTowerEffect: When the plot takes Bond to Shanghai, we see the standard establishing shot of the Lujiazui skyline reflecting on the Huangpu at night.
313* EjectionSeat: PlayedForLaughs when Bond takes the Aston Martin, complete with gadgets, out of a garage so that he and M can escape London. When M starts exasperating Bond, he flips up the secret panel on the gear-stick, revealing the red button, as if threatening to eject her. M, somewhat at the end of her tether, dares him to do it.
314* ElaborateUndergroundBase: The replacement [=MI6=] offices in underground London, like a British equivalent to ''Series/TwentyFour'''s CTU.
315* EmpathicEnvironment: When M thinks Bond has been killed, she is framed against a window with rain pouring down outside.
316* EmergingFromTheShadows: Bond at the beginning of the film, and later when he encounters M in her flat.
317* EndOfAnAge: The film constantly touches on DentedIron and ends on [[spoiler:the iconic Aston Martin [=DB5=] being destroyed and Judi Dench's M dead.]]
318* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Just prior to Silva's on-camera appearance, Bond's taken to an open-air server network in a dusty, deserted city. Such an environment would make the computers degrade quickly -- essentially, hardware that'd self-dispose about when Silva presumably no longer needs it. Indeed, [[spoiler:Silva's planning to be caught shortly after this encounter, and he is.]]
319* EtTuBrute: M asks for Bond to leave Silva where he was, not only because he had been engaging in unauthorized hacking against the Chinese, but to hand him over to them in exchange for the prisoners held by the Chinese government. No wonder the guy becomes a cyber-terrorist bent on revenge against M.
320* EveryCarIsAPinto: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] when you think about it: The Aston-Martin ''does'' have an ejector seat with its needed fuel and machine guns with its required ammo.
321* EverythingIsOnline: How Silva accomplishes a number of his objectives, including how he obtained his lair and [[spoiler:escapes custody]] late in the film. It is {{lampshaded}} in the film that some of the things he does ''should'' have been impossible.
322* EvilCannotComprehendGood: Having been betrayed by [=MI6=], Silva tries to exploit Bond's own insecurities and talk him into joining him in opposition. But Bond doesn't give in, remaining loyal to the agency against Silva.
323* EvilCounterpart: Raoul Silva and Bond. Both were at a time agents serving [=MI6=] who had a close emotional relationship with the current M, with Silva saying that he was her "old favorite." Their key difference being that Bond remains largely old-school despite using gadgets, whilst Silva tries harder to adapt to the modern world to the point where he becomes too dependent on the use of modern technology, computers in particular. Something that plays a key part in his downfall. Also, Silva is essentially a dark James Bond, as while 007 forgave his adopted "mother" and remains loyal to her, Silva went rogue and is attempting to kill her. Silva's name is also an anagram, "A Rival Soul."
324* EvilGenius: Silva seeing everything, especially people, as disposable if it serves his goal and his brilliance allows him to hatch a very complicated plan [[spoiler:that succeeds]].
325* EvilPlan: Silva's plan seems a little underwhelming. As complex as it is in execution, it's just a personal vendetta against M with no grander ambition. That said, the low stakes make it possible to do a great character study on Bond and M.
326* ExactWords: The shooting contest was to ''knock'' the glass off of Severene's head. [[spoiler:Silva accomplishes that by shooting her in the head, not the glass]].
327* ExactlyWhatIAimedAt: With a bomb and a train.
328-->'''Bond:''' I do hope that wasn't for me.\
329'''Silva:''' *Laughs* No... But that one is.\
330* Cue a Tube train dropping down*
331* EyeTake:
332** Bond, when [[spoiler:Silva hacks the security at [=MI6=] ''indirectly''.]]
333** Mallory, during M's speech at the inquiry. You can ''see'' him being turned from an ObstructiveBureaucrat to a ReasonableAuthorityFigure. Moments later, when Silva attacks, he takes a bullet in the shoulder that Silva's pistol was intending for M, and uses a bailiff's pistol to kill one of Silva's men.
334* FacialHorror: Silva looks pretty normal, until he's captured and confronted by M, who sold him out to the Chinese. He explains how he was tortured for months before attempting to commit suicide via the CyanidePill in his back molar. It didn't work. What it did instead is revealed when he removes a prosthetic from his mouth and the left side of his face just ''sags inwards''.
335* FailureHero:
336** Bond fails at every objective he has during the movie: he loses the [=MI6=] hard drive; allows an assassin to kill a politician; fails to get information from said assassin; fails to protect the mole; [[spoiler:falls into Silva's trap; fails to stop Silva escaping; fails to stop several deaths in Parliament; loses Skyfall Manor; kills Silva instead of bringing him in to face justice; and finally fails to protect M.]] The only positive thing that can be said is that he survives. In a sense, this is exactly the way Creator/IanFleming first conceived of Bond.
337** Ultimately, the end of the movie is a PyrrhicVictory: Bond defeats Silva, but that was his only victory. Everything else went to shit.
338** ''Every'' major character in this film has some sort of major failure in their past, including Silva.
339* FakingTheDead: Done briefly when Bond is presumed KIA and is happy to let everyone think that for a while.
340* FallenHero: [[spoiler:Silva was an ex-[=MI6=] agent]].
341* FatalFlaw: Raoul Silva's intense fear of abandonment, emotional extremes, and an unstable sense of identity.
342* FauxAffablyEvil: Raoul Silva maintains a jovial, childish attitude even when he's torturing captives and offing minions, hacking into [=MI6=]'s servers, or when he invades on Bond's ancestral home in an effort to kill M.
343* FedToTheBeast: In Macau, Bond falls into a pit of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Komodo_dragon Komodo dragons]] with one of Silva's mooks. Said mook tries to kill him with the palmprint gun and fails to do so. He is then dragged into the shadows and eaten by one of the lizards.
344* FoeRomanceSubtext: The film throws "implications" right out the window with Silva's opening scene, where Bond is tied to a chair and Silva unbuttons his shirt to touch a scar on Bond's shoulder, continues to caress his throat, and strokes Bond's thighs. Bond responds to Silva's quiet snark, "Well...first time for everything, yes?" with "What makes you think this is my first time?"
345* {{Foil}}: Silva has elements that make him similar to Bond, Q and even M. He was an [=MI6=] agent who uses multiple gadgets like Bond. He's an expert hacker like Q. He makes very dark decisions and leads his organization like M.
346** Especially with 007, Silva is basically an anti-Bond. He possesses similar skills and tactics, has a similar past, and was also screwed by M. What sets them apart is that Bond forgave his adopted "mother" and remains loyal to her, while Silva became a RogueAgent and attempts to kill her. The nature of Bond's job as a ProfessionalKiller means that he is basically being eaten alive from the inside out by guilt, and he knows that he is basically forfeiting his soul in the name of patriotism, but he can hold himself together, whereas Silva snapped when put to the same test.
347* ForegoneConclusion: It's clear that James doesn't die after being shot by [[spoiler:Miss Moneypenny]] in Turkey, as it happens about 15 minutes into a nearly 2.5-hour long film.
348* ForeignFanservice: Sévérine is a sexy woman of unclear foreign ancestry. Apparently in-universe as well, where her foreign nature is used as a compliment. There's also Bond's unnamed Turkish lover, played by beautiful Greek actress Creator/ToniaSotiropoulou.
349* {{Foreshadowing}}:
350** The opening credits sequence foreshadows multiple elements of Bond's mission to Asia, Bond and Silva's backstories, and the climactic showdown at the titular Skyfall manor at the end of the movie.
351*** The theme song also has a few - the chorus in particular indirectly mentions that there will be a battle ("We will stand tall, face it all together, at Skyfall.")
352*** When Judi Dench's credits appears, [[FreezeFrameBonus if one pauses it before it disappears]], the background behind the text is a [[spoiler:gravestone, like her name is on it]]. Sure enough, [[spoiler:M dies by the film's end]].
353** In the first scene, M orders Bond to leave Ronson behind so he can get the hard drive back, sacrificing one life for the greater good and not having to risk the lives of more agents. She orders Eve to shoot at Patrice for the same reason, even if it means the possibility of hitting Bond. As we learn later, she did the same thing to Silva. It didn't go well.
354** M's line "Oh, to ''hell'' with dignity! I'll leave when the job's done!" foreshadows her final scene at the end of the movie.
355** Bond's line to Sévérine, "Someone usually dies."
356** A very subtle example that overlaps somewhat with a CallBack to ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'': [[spoiler:in the earlier film, Bond tells M "I thought M was a randomly assigned letter, I had no idea it stood for..." clearly implying that M's real name has a letter m in it somewhere. In ''Skyfall'', we're introduced to an authoritative senior figure ([[SpoiledByTheFormat played by a big-time actor]]), named Mallory...]]
357** As they're arming up at Skyfall manor, Kincaid produces a hunting knife and comments that "sometimes the old ways are the best." [[spoiler:Guess how Silva meets his end.]]
358** In addition, Judi Dench's M is referred to as [[spoiler:Emma]] at one point, implying it may be a nickname as well as a codename.
359*** Though it's more likely [[spoiler:Kincade assumed he heard "Em"]] and that it would be nice to be formal. They didn't have the heart, [[YouDidntAsk and didn't see the necessity]], to correct him.
360** During Silva's first meeting with Bond, he mentions the British Empire and [=MI6=] while he tells Bond that he's living in a ruin as well and that he doesn't know it yet. [[spoiler:The next movie, ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' reveals that the old [=MI6=] building is going to be demolished to make way for C/Max Denbigh's Nine Eyes Building, which would make the Double 00 Program obsolete]].
361** Silva occasionally finishes his threats to M by saying "Think on your sins" before signing off. When he is captured just as he'd planned, he finishes his face to face conversation with her by saying "Look upon your work, Mother.", which is different. One may think it's because of her past dealings with him, but it also means to [[spoiler:stop digging too deep into SPECTRE's affairs since the next movie reveals she had information on Marco Sciarra and she feared that Silva was ordered by SPECTRE to [[HeKnowsTooMuch silence her]]]].
362** [[spoiler:M stands at the end of the row of coffins of the agents murdered in the attack, just before the funeral, and says "I'm going to find whoever did this." She does. And then she ends up in a coffin of her own. She even dies in a church. Near the altar, where a coffin would be in a funeral.]]
363* FreezeFrameBonus:
364** When M is looking at the Website/YouTube video [[spoiler:containing the first 5 names]], the suggested video list shows that [[spoiler:Silva has at least put up trailers for the other videos, if he hasn't outright put them up already]].
365** If you look at the dashboard and armrest of the [=DB5=] when Bond is [[spoiler:using the forward-mounted Machine guns]], you can see that the car also contains [[spoiler:the radio tracker from ''Goldfinger'', and the armrest containing all the controls suggests that the car contains ''all'' of the gadgets from that movie]].
366** The gift box containing M's porcelain bull dog has her full name printed on it. It's [[spoiler:Olivia Mansfield]].
367** The "crown" on M's head in the mocking video Silva sends is actually the [=MI6=] building, foreshadowing that he's going to attack it.
368* FreudianExcuse:
369** Silva regularly calls M "mommy," and once "mother," even though they're not related, and insinuates that M sees both himself and Bond as her children.
370** Bond's reaction to [[spoiler:her death suggests he also sees M as a mother figure]].
371** M's comment that orphans make the best agents implies that she sees some utility in this.
372** ContinuityNod to ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', when Bond mentions that part of the reason he's going after Quantum is because they tried to kill a woman close to him. [[BondGirl Camille]] asks, "Your mother?" Bond replies, "She likes to think so."
373** May also be a ShoutOut to ''Series/TheAvengers1960s'', wherein the Head of the Secret Service is codenamed Mother.
374* FruitCart: Quite a few get broken in Istanbul during a chase.
375* GambitRoulette: We are told everything is according to Silva's plan, but many if not most of the steps involve events or actions he could not possibly have known about or predicted beforehand.
376* GayBravado: Silva and Bond ([[AmbiguouslyBi maybe]]). Bond isn't impressed, so Silva goes for something more...[[WilliamTelling psychological.]]
377-->'''Bond:''' What makes you think this is my first time?\
378'''Silva:''' ''(leans back, coyly)'' Oh, Mr. Bond.
379* GadgeteerGenius:
380** Bond's brilliant quartermaster, Q (Creator/BenWhishaw), returns to the franchise and is in many ways a painful subversion. While he is a hacking savant, he belittles field work and the very gadgets his branch has traditionally been in charge of, and acts as though the radio he produced is really a revolutionary design rather than something Q Branch had been doing for quite some time before him. [[spoiler:This is all tragically deconstructed when Silva plays him for a fool and dozens of people wind up dead because of it]].
381** Cyberterrorist [[BigBad Raoul Silva]] as well.
382** M gets to do some [[MacGyvering improvisational boobytrapping]] before the climax, a nice ContinuityNod to ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough''.
383* GambitRoulette: Despite being years in the making, exploiting [=MI6=] protocols, and having a fairly simple end goal, Silva's plan relies heavily on the assumption that no one will just [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim shoot him in the head]] or [[SpannerInTheWorks fail to follow protocol]].
384* GameBreakingInjury: Bond sustains two shots to his chest and shoulder. He loses his iconic aim with the Walther PPK due to these injuries, and he never recovers them by the end of the movie. Also, M is hit with the thug's gunfire in a non-lethal area but due to her age, she dies from the injury due to bleeding out.
385* GayBravado: Silva touches James Bond in a very suggestive manner, asking, "First time for everything, yes?" Bond matter-of-factly responds by asking him, "What makes you think this is my first time?" That's right—''James freaking Bond'', womanizer extraordinaire, just insinuated that he's gotten it on with another man.
386* GhostTown: Silva's island. He faked a chemical leak [[InvokedTrope to make everyone evacuate]].
387** Interestingly, Hashima Island, the island Silva's lair is located on, is a real life ghost town in Japan (not China). It was a coal mining facility from 1887 to 1974, before it was abandoned overnight. The island is notable for its character due to its sea wall and its abandoned, derelict concrete buildings.
388* GilliganCut: A reference is made to [=MI6=]'s enemies existing "in the shadows." Cut to Bond sailing towards Silva's island on a sunlit ocean.
389* GirlOfTheWeek: Eve, Sévérine and an unnamed third girl in Turkey. [[spoiler:By the end of the film, Sévérine is dead, and Eve ''Moneypenny'' becomes the new M's secretary. [[MythologyGag Bond and Eve may or may not have slept together; it's ambiguous]]]].
390* GivenNameReveal: Eve's surname [[spoiler:turns out to be Moneypenny]].
391* GlassyPrison: Raoul Silva is captured by Bond and incarcerated in a glass cell in [=MI6=] headquarters before being interrogated by M.
392* GoBackToTheSource: Bond takes refuge in his childhood manor for his final confrontation against Silva.
393* GoingByTheMatchbook: The sniper has a poker chip that leads Bond to a specific casino.
394* GoodOldWays: The ArcWords are "Sometimes the old ways are best," reflecting both on Bond's settling with his own troubled past and, in a meta sort of way, on the franchise's return to the style of the first films. Not for nothing has Skyfall been heralded as one of the best instalments of the series.
395* GoryDiscretionShot: After Bond struggles with his unsteady hand during the WilliamTelling contest, trying desperately to avoid unneeded casualties, [[YouHaveFailedMe Silva doesn't try]]. '''[[BoomHeadshot At all]]'''. But the only results we're shown is the tumbler of scotch hitting the ground, and later Sévérine's upper body slumped over from where she was tied up.
396* GPSEvidence: Depleted uranium bullets, used by a few mercenaries/assassins as a calling card. Here are their photographs.
397* GrayRainOfDepression: It starts raining in London after Bond is presumed dead, and it only stops when he returns.
398* GunsDoNotWorkThatWay: Patrice assembles a bolt action rifle...which fires several times without manipulating the bolt during his hand-to-hand combat with Bond.
399[[/folder]]
400
401[[folder:H-M]]
402* HackedByAPirate: Silva does this with a stylized skull and "God save the Queen" playing in the message.
403* HallOfMirrors: The opening sequence briefly shows Bond in one, shooting at his own reflections. This foreshadows another character using a mirror to fool a mook so he can be shot.
404* HatsOffToTheDead: [[spoiler: Kincade does this after M takes her last breath in Bond's arms.]]
405* HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee: M is required to testify before a Defense Ministry hearing about [=MI6=]'s effectiveness. It's rendered moot when Silva and his henchmen attack the hearing and M is eventually killed before they come to any decision.
406* HeHadAName: Silva demands that M say his real name, wanting proof that he was more than just some random agent sent out to do her bidding. She refuses and promptly seals her fate.
407* HeWhoFightsMonsters: Silva's grudge on M stems from her selling him out (for admittedly criminal actions he committed). He gets his revenge by doing the same thing to at least five completely innocent secret agents, and planning to do it to many more.
408* HeelFaceDoorSlam: We get a version of this [[spoiler:when Silva has M cornered and his gun in her face, when he realizes she's already mortally wounded and will die no matter what he does. He breaks down, puts the gun in her hand, raises it up to one side of her head while pressing his own head to the other side, and begs her to kill both of them with the same bullet. Then Bond barges in and throws a knife into his back. Silva gets demonstrably annoyed at this before keeling over]].
409* HellishCopter: Silva's gunship is hit by the shock-wave and resulting flying pieces of Skyfall's explosion, prompting it to crash and kill almost all of Silva's remaining men.
410* HeroKiller: Silva seems well on his way to depopulating MI:6's HR rolls by the movie's end.
411* HerosEvilPredecessor: Silva turns out to be a former Double-0 agent who wasn't so different to James Bond — maverick yet loyal to M (until he was betrayed), with an addiction to risk and beautiful women. As per this trope he's more skilled than Bond and is a step ahead of him for most of the movie.
412* HeroicBSoD: Bond has one after he's declared dead after being shot and falling off a bridge during a mission. He debauches himself most thoroughly, but he's clearly depressed.
413* HesBack: Bond, after pretending to be dead for some time, reappears in M's house when she needs him. Also later when, after spending the whole film being held back by his [[HandicappedBadass arm injury]], Bond finally regains his ImprobableAimingSkills.
414* HiddenDisdainReveal: The last thing Bond says as his titular home is blown up?
415-->I always hated this place.
416* HighAltitudeInterrogation: Bond attempts this on Patrice, but gets nothing out of him.
417* HoistByHisOwnPetard: HollywoodHacking genius Q has his own security protocols used against him.
418* HollywoodAcid: Silva reveals that he's missing part of his jaw and palate, the result of biting a defective hydrogen CyanidePill. Hydrogen cyanide doesn't produce that effect, but the writers may have assumed otherwise from its alternate name: prussic acid.
419* HollywoodHacking: Both Q and Silva. Silva can turn on the gas main in [=MI6=] via computer, somehow, though this ''is'' technically possible. [[note]]In real life, the CIA did something similar to a Siberian pipeline in the 1980's albeit with a pre planted "logic bomb." Plus it is theoretically possible to remotely disrupt utility infrastructure by interfering with SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) systems built into the utility pipeline by having someone physically interfere with the offline device and set it to cause the effects required, triggered by remote. But this requires a ''lot'' of work.[[/note]]
420* HollywoodHealing: Averted. Bond's shoulder wound from the opening sequence ''dramatically'' affects his performance, even after he's given several months to recuperate. Granted, "recuperation" consisted of getting wasted and laying women in the middle of nowhere, and the fragments from that bullet remained in his shoulder the entire time, preventing any real healing. Also, Mallory takes a bullet to the shoulder from Silva during the shootout in the boardroom, and wears a sling for the remainder of the movie.
421* HollywoodTactics: Well-averted on the part of Silva's mooks during the final battle.[[note]] They react with proper suppression fire to Bond's opening ambush, take what cover they can as quickly as possible, and move through the manor in a professional fashion.[[/note]] The problem, of course, is that they're still up against James Bond.
422* HomeAloneAntics: Some have made an argument that the climatic battle turns out like this with M setting up explosive traps all around Skyfall Manor for when Silva's men invade the estate. Of course, given the theme of "old methods vs. new methods," it's not a stretch to imagine that old-school spies—who likely got their start as soldiers and commandos—learned this stuff as basic training.
423* HomeFieldAdvantage: Bond retreats to his old family estate and sets up a series of traps in preparation of Silva's inevitable assault. This is effectively the only time in the film where Bond is able to choose where he fights Silva.
424* HonourBeforeReason: At one point, when warned that Silva is on his way to kill her, M refuses to retreat from her meeting on account she won't show them her back.
425* HopeSpot: Bond takes out Silva's mooks with ease, but of course, that was the easy part.
426* HouseFire: The climax of the film burns down Bond's ancestral family manor.
427-->'''Bond:''' [[HiddenDisdainReveal I always hated this place.]]
428* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: M loses her headquarters and her career thanks to Silva [[spoiler:and then bleeds out after being grazed by a bullet fired by one of Silva's henchmen.]]
429* IDidWhatIHadToDo: M also justifies ordering Eve to shoot while Bond was in the line of fire by saying she had to do whatever she could to prevent the encrypted drive from being stolen. [[spoiler:She justifies selling out Silva to the Chinese similarly.]]
430* IdiotBall:
431** Q hooking up Silva's laptop to [=MI6=]'s network. Silva is a known talented hacker, and if Q was really as smart as he claimed, he would've at least isolated the laptop in a virtual sandbox and prevented it from accessing other nodes at the network. If he really wanted to do it right, he could've kept it isolated on a hardware level too, bringing in tools as he needed them.
432** When M is informed that Silva has escaped and is told to seek shelter during her hearing, she refuses to "show her back" and instead continues to defend herself to the ministers for an extended period, resulting in numerous deaths when Silva inevitably bursts in and begins shooting.
433** Patrice's assassination in Shanghai goes off without a hitch because Bond spends several minutes simply ''watching'' him assemble his rifle, cut through glass, and line up a shot. The fight would have been far easier had he attacked a minute or two earlier when Patrice was still assembling his gun.
434* IKEAWeaponry: Patrice takes out a target across the street using a custom rifle he assembles on the fly.
435* ImperialStormtrooperMarksmanshipAcademy: A rare occasion where it's actually the heroes that go through this. Bond suffers from this early on until he gets his edge back. In the climax, M reveals that she was never a particularly good shot either (logical for someone who in their introduction to the series mentioned the view of them as a beancounter). And of course, after Bond shoots the fire extinguishers in the inquiry boardroom in an attempt to throw Silva's aim off, he fires a magazine at the smokescreen and fails to land a single shot.
436* ImpersonatingAnOfficer: Silva and a couple of henchmen dress as Metropolitan Police officers when they try to shoot M at the inquiry hearing.
437* ImpoverishedPatrician: It's implied that Bond's parents may have fallen on hard times before their untimely death, although they retained the manor. That Bond himself became an orphan just adds to it.
438* ImprobableAimingSkills: A point is made that Bond has lost those he used to have, which becomes important a couple of times (expecting him to make a one-handed {{William Telling}} shot with an antique caplock duelling pistol at twenty paces was just ''cruel''). His injury helps him aim his father's rifle properly, though, since said rifle tends to "aim to the left" and Bond's injury has him incline to the right.
439* InHarmsWay: It's repeatedly suggested that despite Bond's substance abuse problems, his true addiction is danger. It's only when he temporarily leaves the AnyoneCanDie world of espionage that [[AddictionDisplacement he seeks solace in pills and alcohol]].
440* InTheBack: Bond throws a knife into Silva's back as he's about to kill M. This is fitting, given the film's theme of whether CloakAndDagger assassins like Bond are obsolete in the modern era, not to mention the general theme of betrayal.
441* IncomingHam: When you want to make an entrance, it's undeniably difficult to beat a helicopter blasting classic rock from loudspeakers.
442* IncurableCoughOfDeath: [[spoiler:M is clipped by a bullet in the torso, and her hand is shown very bloodied. Unsurprisingly, she doesn't last past the finale]].
443* InformedFlaw: The doctor clearly believes Bond is addicted to both alcohol and pills, but after Bond starts working, he's never shown to be drunk, high, or suffering from withdrawal.
444** Then again, he is shown to drink at the beach in Turkey and appears completely hung over, or indeed genuinely drunk in M's flat.
445** Also, everyone's reaction to him during testing--and the results of said tests--indicate that he's grossly out of shape when he looks to be in fine physical condition.
446* InsecureProtagonistArrogantAntagonist: Bond is injured in a mission gone wrong and goes several months missing before returning to active duty, facing international terrorist Raoul Silva, who is also a former [=MI6=] operative and tries to sow seeds of doubt in Bond about his abilities and loyalties.
447* InstantDeathBullet: {{Averted}} [[spoiler:with M's death. M is mortally wounded by gunfire but doesn't die until after Bond manages to kill Silva a considerable length of time later]].
448* InstantHumiliationJustAddYouTube: The way the names and faces of the NATO agents are leaked onto the Internet by Silva. He is posting them online at a rate of five each week. Also, [[SnuffFilm three of the agents were caught and had their executions filmed and put on YouTube]].
449* IntimateHaircut: Eve shaves Bond with a straight-razor, while kneeling at his feet. It's left ambiguous as to whether things progressed further.
450* IronLady: M is the lady in charge of [=MI6=] and makes an early hard call that has consequences for the rest of the film.
451* IronicEcho: Silva turns Bond's radio crack against him.
452* IslandBase: Silva's island used to be inhabited, until he faked a chemical leak, causing the inhabitants to evacuate.
453* ItWorksBetterWithBullets: During the fight with Silva's thugs in the Macau casino one of them gets Bond's gun (which only he can use) away from him and levels it at him. Bond goes, "Good luck with that," and climbs out of the komodo dragon pit as one of them chomps the thug from behind.
454* ItsAllMyFault: [[spoiler:M has some serious regrets about her own actions.]]
455-->[[spoiler:'''M:''' "I fucked this up, didn't I?"]]
456* ItsPersonal:
457** Silva goes out of his way to humiliate [=MI6=] and M especially before trying to eliminate them.
458** In a more amusing example, when Silva is strafing Skyfall in his helicopter, the dramatic music doesn't start until he shoots up Bond's car.
459** Averted with Eve; although Bond enjoys snarking her about accidentally shooting him, he's more angry at M for giving the order.
460* JustAKid: Bond accuses Q of this.
461-->'''Q:''' I'm your new quartermaster.\
462'''Bond:''' You must be joking.\
463'''Q:''' Why, because I'm not wearing a lab coat?\
464'''Bond:''' Because you still have spots.[[note]]For those not up on British slang, change "spots" to "zits."[[/note]]
465* JustTrainWrong: The whole Tube part of the chase that follows Silva's escape.
466** For starters, it takes place on a Jubilee line train of deep-tube [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/24/Au_Morandarte_Flickr_DSC00076_%2810112746033%29.jpg 1996 Stock]] that's dressed to look like a District line train. The District line uses [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b4/Amersham_station_MMB_18_S_Stock.jpg S Stock]] trains (and at the time of filming, [[https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1f/D78_West_Ham.jpg D78 Stock]] trains), which are much wider and larger.
467*** The scenes were shot on the closed Charing Cross platforms and stub branch of the Jubilee line, which along with Aldwych is one of two common filming locations for productions that allow them to shoot without interrupting service.[[note]]The Jubilee line platforms at Charing Cross were closed in November 1999 when it was bypassed in favour of a new modern extension that took the line through Waterloo, Canary Wharf, North Greenwich and ultimately, a new eastern terminus of Stratford.[[/note]] In addition, both Temple and Embankment stations[[note]]for the latter, at least the part Bond uses[[/note]] have both platforms in the same tunnel, rather than in separate tunnels.
468** Anyone who has ever travelled in a deep-level tube train will know how much it rattles when in motion. This one doesn't.
469** When Silva drops a train on Bond, we see that the train cars that drop through the opening are still fully illuminated, when they should be dark as they are not making contact with the third rail.
470* JustYouAndMeAndMyGuards:
471** Silva pulls this to a degree; at first, it seems like Silva is going to come after M and Bond by himself, or at least with a couple of henchmen. He ends up bringing ''dozens'' of his own men to the showdown at Skyfall manor, and even Bond is surprised not to find Silva among the first wave of men before he sees the [[DeathFromAbove helicopter approaching]].
472** Bond engaged in this trope earlier in the film right after the {{WilliamTelling}} contest; he stands alone to face Silva, and we are led to believe that a one-on-one contest will ensue... until [[spoiler:[=MI6=] helicopters appear]].
473* KangarooCourt: The hearing on M's handling of the crisis rapidly turns into this, and Mallory is none too happy about it. It couldn't help that it's because Silva and his men barge in and shoot the place up.
474* KickTheDog:
475** Silva [[spoiler:kills Sévérine]] in front of Bond after deciding he no longer needs her.
476** Out of frustration, Silva pointlessly kills an unarmed civilian in his way out of a failed assault.
477** Finally, he has [[spoiler:Bond's CoolCar]] blown up, even though at this point it posed no threat. [[FridgeBrilliance Although it's very likely he did this to prevent Bond and M using it as a means of escape.]]
478* KnightInSourArmor: Bond continues to live this trope from the last two films, his grim view of his job tempered by his patriotism and loyalty to M, though Silva [[BreakingSpeech is not impressed]].
479* LabcoatOfScienceAndMedicine: Lampshaded when Bond meets the new (and very young) Q.
480-->'''Bond:''' You've got to be joking.\
481'''Q:''' Why, because I'm not wearing a lab coat?
482* LampshadeHanging: Ahem: "[[DevelopmentHell Where the hell have you been?]]"
483* LargeHam: Silva makes many flamboyant gestures and verbal tics when giving speeches and makes sure he comes in in a big way.
484-->'''Bond:''' He loves to make an entrance.
485* LaserGuidedKarma:
486** M betrayed Silva to save several other agents back in Hong Kong. The first phase of Silva's revenge involves betraying the identities of five agents, effectively undoing it. She also sacrificed several agents, denying one immediate medical care from Bond that could have saved him, and [[spoiler:dies from a similar injury herself because she can't get help in time]].
487** At the start of the film, M orders Eve to "take the bloody shot" that downs Bond. [[spoiler:In the finale, when Silva implores her to end both their lives with the same bullet, she is either unwilling or unable to do so]].
488* LeaveHimToMe: Silva orders his men not to kill M, as he wants to deal with her himself. Bond, on the other hand, is fair game.
489* LegacyCharacter:
490** Q, played by Creator/BenWhishaw, the new [=MI6=] quartermaster.
491** [[spoiler:At the end of the film, Ralph Fiennes' character Gareth Mallory becomes the new M]].
492** [[spoiler:Eve reveals her last name to be Moneypenny]].
493* LetThePastBurn: The film has the [[spoiler:eponymous manor burning down during the ending battle]] with, of course, lots of [[StuffBlowingUp explosions]] and such. This is very symbolic, as Bond has linked it throughout the movie with his childhood, and certain... psychological baggage he's carried with him from there.
494* LimpAndLivid: After Bond's manor and his own helicopter blow up practically in his face, Silva loses both his posture and what remains of his sanity. He spends the rest of his screentime stumbling around with only willpower keeping him vertical.
495-->Do you see what comes of all this...running around, Mister Bond? All this jumping and fighting... it's ''exhausting''.
496* LockAndLoadMontage: The trailer features one. This also occurs before the final battle at the titular household of the same name, complete with training with the weapons and setting up booby traps.
497* LogicalWeakness: [[spoiler:Bond uses his old CoolCar with the machine guns in the headlights to ambush Silva's men. Unfortunately, they only fire straight ahead, meaning he only takes down a few of the soldiers. Luckily, they planned for this, and the next stage of the plan ''requires'' the bad guys to retreat into the manse]].
498* LongLastLook: Bond takes one last look at his childhood home before it explodes in flames—and declares, "I always hated this place." Then he does it again two minutes later, WatchingTroyBurn from a little further away and not inside it this time, but on the moor just as Silva catches him.
499* LoopholeAbuse: The ExactWords of the WilliamTelling contest, as set by Silva, are to see "who can be the first to knock the glass from her head." Ain't no rule saying that you can't achieve this by shooting the girl in the face.
500* LostInACrowd: Silva is pursued by Bond in the overcrowded London underground and is disguised as a policeman. Eventually "Constable Silva" stumbles into a lobby full of bobbies on patrol and is amused to realize that his cover is unassailable. Bond is able to follow his trail anyway.
501* LoyalPhlebotinum: Q issues Bond with a Walther PPK/S coded to his palmprint.
502-->'''Q:''' Less of a random killing machine, more of a personal statement.
503* MacGuffin: The stolen hard drive containing the names and faces of every undercover NATO agent.
504* {{MacGyvering}}: In a LockAndLoadMontage, Bond and M rig {{Booby Trap}}s to stop Silva's men in the form of lighting fixture wired nail bombs and floorboard rigged shotgun cartridges.
505* MadeOfExplodium:
506** Gunfire from Silva's helicopter causes the vintage Aston Martin [[EveryCarIsAPinto to burst into very large flames]]. Granted, it ''is'' loaded with ammunition, so it is a case of ammo cooking off.
507** When Silva's helicopter crashes, the entire area explodes. Granted, it is ''also'' loaded with ammunition. (And aviation fuel).
508* MakeSureHesDead: After the titular manor explodes, Silva says this to his henchmen regarding Bond, as he himself is still hell-bent on killing M.
509* MaliciousMonitorLizard: The casino in Macau has a pit with two Komodo Dragons in it. Later on, when Bond fights a bunch of Mooks while attempting to leave the casino, they tackled him into the pit. One of the Komodos comes out to watch them fight, and hauls one remaining Mook away by his ankle once he becomes distracted by trying to shoot Bond with a fingerprint-coded gun.
510* {{Manchild}}: Some of Silva's mannerisms and behavior cause him to come across as childish, though it may just be an act to mess with Bond and M.
511* ManlyTears: [[spoiler:Bond begins tearing up as M dies. To date, he is the only Bond to ever have actual tears coming out of him on-screen]].
512* MadeOfIron: While it [[DentedIron affects his performance for most of the movie]], Bond still survives being shot twice and falling off a bridge. [[TraumaCongaLine Followed by]] [[InevitableWaterfall a waterfall]].
513* MarketBasedTitle: In an odd example, the Latin American marketing of the title turned it into an OperationBlank label (needless to say, such a thing is a ''big time'' NonIndicativeName).
514* MeanBoss: M may not be a cackling mad scientist or terrorist, but make no mistake: she is equally as heartless towards the lives of her subordinates as any snarling Bond Villain. In her case, however, it is for the common good that she has to be that way, and that her assets are considered disposable. If she had fought to keep her subordinates, Silva wouldn't have snapped in the first place.
515* MeaningfulName:
516** "Silva" is the Portuguese equivalent of "[[MrSmith Smith]]", hinting to TheReveal that it's just a code name. His real name [[spoiler:"Tiago" is the Portuguese form of "James."]]
517*** Even better: [[spoiler:his last name "Rodriguez" is Spanish for "son of Roderick", which means "he who is rich in glory."]]
518** Gareth Mallory, twice over. "Mallory" is Old French for "bad luck" or "unlucky," and his introduction has him asking Bond why he would come back when he had the good luck Mallory and others never did. [[spoiler:Once we reach the third act, the mere fact that his last name begins with "M" makes it quite clear what's going to happen.]]
519* MinorCrimeRevealsMajorPlot: Attempt to recover an encrypted hard drive containing the identities of every active undercover NATO agent goes wrong → [=MI6=] comes under intense government scrutiny for the mishap → An attempt a by rogue agent turned cyber-criminal to destroy [=MI6=] and get his revenge against M for selling him out to the Chinese.
520* MissionControl: Q, a [=MI6=] tech genius who serves as the VoiceWithAnInternetConnection for Bond.
521-->'''Q:''' I can do more damage on my laptop in my pyjamas than you can do in a year in the field.
522* MobstacleCourse: Bond chasing Silva through the London Underground during rush hour.
523* MomentOfSilence: As the chase scene in London nears its end.
524* MommasBoy: Silva is a villainous example towards M, he alternates between wanting to destroy M for abandoning him and having a bizarre affection for her, he even outright calls M "Mommy" or "Mother" multiple times. When Silva sees M wounded, his SanitySlippage become worse and he tries to force M to kill herself and him.
525* MoodWhiplash:
526** The WordAssociationTest is somewhat funny (particularly Bond's reaction to hearing "M") up until the psychologist says "Skyfall" and puts Bond on edge.
527** Bond follows Patrice to what looks like a meeting... until Patrice kills the security guard in the lobby.
528* MoreDakka: A notable example is Patrice's Glock 18 during the ActionPrologue. It's loaded with a pistol version of the Beta C-Mag.
529* MortalWoundReveal: It's revealed in the middle of the climax that [[spoiler:M]] is bleeding to death from what seemed to be a near miss, a wound that proves fatal.
530* MrSmith: Silva is the most common surname in the Portuguese speaking world. As soon as he is first called that, he immediately demands to be called by his real name.
531* MundaneSolution: On the Underground, Bond needs to find out where Silva's going. Q engages in RapidFireTyping and brings up a 3D wireframe map of the Tube network. Bond just looks up at the route map on the wall to see what the next stop is.
532* MurderDotCom: The villain gives away the identities of several undercover agents, causing them to be captured, with their executions released on Website/YouTube.
533* MurderousThighs: Bond kills one of Silva's henchmen by choking him with his thighs.
534* MusicalNod: An instrumental version of "You Know My Name" (the theme song from ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'') plays as Bond arrives at the casino in Macau.
535* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Eve is shocked when her shot hits the wrong target.
536-->'''Eve:''' ...Agent down.
537* MyGreatestFailure: M regards her cock-up of the leak and ordering the shot that gets Bond seemingly killed as this.
538[[/folder]]
539
540[[folder:N-S]]
541* TheNameIsBondJamesBond: Bond's iconic introduction returns after being absent in ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'', when he meets Sévérine.
542* TheNamesake: The title initially just seems to have been chosen because it sounds cool, with the only obvious meaning coming from Bond surviving a seemingly fatal fall from a bridge in the first scene. Then, in the last third of the movie, we find out that it's the name of Bond's family estate in Scotland.
543* NewscasterCameo:
544** In the European release, [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] journalist [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huw_Edwards_%28journalist%29 Huw Edwards]] presents a news report about the attack on [=MI6=]'s HQ that prompts Bond to come BackFromTheDead.
545** In the North American and British release, CNN has [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Blitzer Wolf Blitzer]] present it from the Situation Room.
546* NiceJobBreakingItHero:
547** Eve accidentally shoots Bond, allowing Patrice to flee with the hard drive.
548** M gave Silva to the Chinese to save 6 agents, but in the process caused Silva's StartOfDarkness, leading him to kill dozens of [=MI6=] staff later on.
549** Q's attempt to decrypt Silva's computer by plugging it into [=MI6=]'s network ends up releasing a virus that opens every door in [=MI6=]'s new base, allowing Silva to escape.
550** [[spoiler:Bond takes M to Skyfall without the knowledge of [=MI6=] to keep her safe and fight Silva on his own terms. Despite a heroic effort, it doesn't end well]].
551* NoBadassToHisValet: Bond is one of Britain's most skilled agents and assassins. When he tells Kincade, his family's gamekeeper, to get himself out of danger before the climax, Kincade refuses and calls him a "jumped up little shit."
552** PlayedWith. While testing out the guns, he is visibly surprised at James' skill with the gun before asking "What did you say you did for a living again?"; while he does view James like he always has, he seems unaware that James has become one of the most valuable and dangerous agents of Britain.
553* NoCelebritiesWereHarmed: It has been noted that parts of Silva's plan and appearance are taken from real world [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WikiLeaks WikiLeaks]] founder [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julian_Assange Julian Assange]].
554* NoHeroToHisValet: Kincade feels this way about James Bond. He might be one of Britain's best professional killers who has saved the country (if not the world) single-handedly many times, but he's still a "jumped-up little shit" if he thinks he can tell Kincade what to do. However, it's Played with since Kincade is initially unaware that James grew up to be a world-class spy, so he is visibly quite shocked at seeing James' masterful shooting:
555-->What was it that you did again?
556* NoNameGiven: Not until the end of the movie does Eve reveal her full name to Bond.
557-->'''Eve:''' My name is Eve. [[spoiler:Eve Moneypenny]].
558* NoOneCouldSurviveThat: Bond is shot in the chest and falls off a speeding train into water... Bond is labeled as dead by [=MI6=] despite actually being alive and recovering in Turkey. Bond himself lampshades this trope when asked what his hobby is: "Resurrection."
559* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: {{Averted|Trope}} in the opening when Bond has to leave a fellow agent to bleed to death, in favour of pursuing the man who shot him and stole a microchip containing the identities of NATO undercover agents. Silva turns out to be another SIS agent who was abandoned after he went rogue.
560* NonActionBigBad: Played with, though Silva goes toe to toe with Bond, he is annoyed by all the jumping and fighting and finds action unbecoming. Although he is the only BigBad in the Bond reboot continuity to have onscreen kills.
561* NonSpecificallyForeign: Raoul Silva is played by a Spanish actor who applies English "received pronunciation" vowels over his own accent, using a Portuguese name. His real name, Thiago Rodriguez, doesn't narrow the field anymore.
562* NotMyDriver: Bond pulls this on M after the assault on Westminster.
563* NotQuiteSavedEnough: Silva and his mooks arrive at Bond's ancestral home to kill M. After a prolonged firefight from the main house to the chapel across the field, Bond takes them all down ...[[spoiler:but M was mortally wounded in the course of the battle]].
564* NotSoDifferentRemark: Silva points out to Bond that they are both past-their-prime top agents who have been betrayed by M. "Raoul Silva" also happens to be an anagram of "a rival soul"...
565* NotWithTheSafetyOnYouWont: Bond is issued a Walter PPK from Q branch that only fires when he's holding it. So when a mook grabs the gun and is about to fire it, Bond only smiles. And then the mook gets grabbed by a Komodo Dragon from behind.
566-->'''Bond:''' Good luck with that.
567* NowYouTellMe: Bond's eye roll communicates this when Q tells him to board a train at the last possible second.
568* ObligatoryEarpieceTouch: While teaming up with Eve, Bond tells her to stop touching her ear, and she listens before she can draw attention to herself.
569* ObstructiveBureaucrat: Mallory is accused of being a politician, which he denies. He proves to be both a ReasonableAuthorityFigure and a RetiredBadass.
570* OddballInTheSeries: This is the only film in the Creator/DanielCraig pentalogy that doesn't mention Vesper Lynd.
571* OhCrap:
572** Bond's reaction when he spots the giant komodo dragon in the pit. Craig suggested to the director that Bond should actually show fear for once, so this is a first.
573** BigBad Silva has been locked up inside the [=MI6=] HQ and Bond and Q are analysing his laptop. It looks like the good guys are finally one step ahead. Then every door in the base starts opening. Q's reaction is priceless.
574*** Especially when he notices that [[spoiler:he ''himself'' had a part in all this, by plugging the laptop into the [=MI6=] network]].
575** Silva gets a moment of his own when one of the traps Bond sets at the manor causes Silva's helicopter to crash.
576* OlderIsBetter: The underlining conflict in the film is if the old [=MI6=] and the double Os are still relevant in the modern, digital world of new threats. [[spoiler:The climax of the film is Bond using this trope, such as using [[CoolCar the classic Bond car from the 60's]] since it doesn't have a tracking device, a break open rifle, and simple booby traps]].
577* OldRetainer: Kincade, Bond's family's gamekeeper, is at least twice Bond's age and has known Bond since he was a child.
578* OlderThanTheyLook: Bond meets the new Quartermaster for [=MI6=] and is surprised at how young he looks. While it's true that Creator/BenWhishaw's Q is much younger than Creator/DesmondLlewelyn's iconic take on the character in the original film series, Whishaw was still 31 during filming, while Bond talks to him like he's some 23-year-old kid who just finished his engineering degree. Admittedly, Whishaw does have quite the babyface, and Q's actual age is left vague.
579* OnceDoneNeverForgotten: Eve after she accidentally shoots Bond. Bond knows it was an accident and is angrier at M for making the call, however. He [[RunningGag still never misses an opportunity to remind her about it]]. It's often more of a light-hearted jab than anything.
580* OneHitPolykill: {{Invoked}} when Silva holds M's head against his own and puts a gun to his temple, begging her to pull the trigger and finish them both off.
581* TheOner:
582** Silva's account of how he dealt with the rats that overran his family home is given in a single shot as he enters from a descending elevator and slowly meanders towards Bond. The room was specially constructed so it would be just the right length. (It can be seen on this wiki as the trope video... for "TheSocialDarwinist").
583** The end of the silhouetted fight sequence in Shanghai between Bond and Patrice is one uninterrupted shot.
584** The scene where Bond and Eve survey the casino in Macau is also one continuous shot.
585* OnlyAFleshWound: [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-zagged.]] As in RealLife, the effects of a single bullet wound [[BelatedInjuryRealization often take some time to become apparent]].
586** Being shot in the shoulder twice during the opening action sequence. The first doesn't slow Bond down one bit, but the second knocks him off a train and afterwards Bond doesn't receive proper medical attention and has trouble with the arm several times later on.
587** Bond finds a RedShirt alive with a stomach wound and thinks he can patch him up, but is ordered to get on with his mission; without immediate first aid, the man dies.
588** The bullet wound Mallory takes from Silva in the inquiry attack persists until the end of the movie.
589** Near the end of the film, M suffers a bullet wound inflicted by one of Silva's henchmen, but manages to continue to fight and run for quite some time afterwards. [[spoiler:The wound [[TimeDelayedDeath eventually]] ends up killing her]].
590* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Silva's actual grudge is against M, and he tells his men that only he can kill her. He doesn't care who kills Bond. [[spoiler:When he sees that M has already been mortally wounded, he practically breaks down. When Bond shows up and throws a knife into his back (interrupting his MurderSuicide plan), he just looks annoyed]].
591* OrangeBlueContrast: In Shanghai, the lighting keeps ''switching'' between orange and blue. One of the final action scenes also uses the palette.
592* OriginsEpisode: This film could be considered one for the "classic James Bond," as it shows the origins of many well-known elements from the Bond mythos: Moneypenny, her sexually charged banter with Bond, [[spoiler:the male M, his office]], etc. It also delves deeper into the origins of Bond himself than any of the preceding movies.
593* OutOfFocus: This is the one 007 film where the Bond girls, especially Sévérine, get very little focus or screentime. Rather, the central female character of the story is M and her relationship with James Bond is explored more deeply.
594* OutrunTheFireball:
595** Bond has to outrun the explosion of Silva's crashed gunship in the finale.
596** Also {{Subverted}}. Bond seems almost confused that he ''didn't'' have to outrun the initial fireball of [[spoiler:Skyfall's explosion]]. The gunship crash [[ZigZaggedTrope happens moments later]].
597* OutsideGenreFoe: Silva is what happens when an outlandish "Dr. No"-style villain invades what was until then a relatively subdued and mostly-realistic spy thriller. The animation he sends M just comes off as ''deranged'' rather than funny or wacky due to how serious everything else is. (Incidentally, Dr. No was jarringly hospitable back in his heyday, so this could be considered the series returning to form.)
598* ParentalSubstitute:
599** M acts as one to Bond, and in the past acted as one for Silva as well.
600** Kincade was this for Bond in the past.
601* ParentsInDistress: In support of the above entry, a good deal of Bond's motivation is fuelled by the fact that ''M herself'' is under threat this time around.
602* PerfectPoison: {{Averted}}. It was the failure of a cyanide capsule intended as a quick suicide that drives Silva's quest for revenge against [=MI6=] (Also averted is the "quick and painless" part of the poisoning - even though it failed to kill him the cyanide caused severe damage to his face and jawbones and left him in agony).
603* PerilousOldFool: PlayedWith. Bond is left pretty significantly disabled after his "death", in ways that seriously impact his ability to do all the things that make him James Bond. (No, not [[SexTropes that thing]], that's fine.) He's left physically debilitated, unable to shoot straight, and reliant on pills and liquor. But he's still sent back into battle [[spoiler:despite failing all the assessment exams, even the weapons course]] and, being Bond, still ends up kicking the requisite ass, though he does need the assistance of two literal old people to do so.
604-->'''Silva:''' Medical evaluation: fail. Physical evaluation: fail. Psychological evaluation, alcohol and substance addiction indicated. Ooh! Pathological rejection of authority based on unresolved childhood trauma. Subject is not approved for field duty and immediate suspension for service advised. What is this if not betrayal? She sent you off to me, knowing you're not ready, knowing you'll likely die. Mommy was very bad.
605* PietaPlagiarism: [[spoiler:M's death scene]].
606* PlayAlongPrisoner: Bond allows himself to be captured and brought to Silva. He's activated a tracking device that's leading [=MI6=] right to them, and until they arrive, he's content to let Silva explain the hows and whys of his evil plans. Once he's had enough, he quickly kills the guards and takes Silva captive until [=MI6=] arrive. For Silva, meanwhile, getting captured is part of his plan all along.
607* PoisonIsCorrosive: Silva's malfunctioning cyanide suicide capsule somehow [[spoiler:dissolved his teeth and upper jaw but failed to kill him. The result is a sunken left cheek (which he hides by wearing a dental prosthesis), bloodshot eyes, damaged gums and slurred speech]].
608* PosthumousVillainVictory: Despite Bond killing [[BigBad Raoul Silva]] at the end of the film, the latter still succeeds in his main goal of killing [[spoiler:Olivia Mansfield, AKA M]], thanks to one of his men hitting [[spoiler:her]] with a stray bullet in the abdomen. And unlike Bond who is MadeOfIron and trained to handle these sorts of injuries, [[spoiler:M]] is a DeskJockey with no such training, and ultimately bleeds out minutes following the conclusion of the FinalBattle.
609* ThePowerOfHate: Silva suggests this as the explanation for his surviving cyanide poisoning.
610* PracticallyJoker: Silva was confirmed to be inspired by ComicBook/TheJoker, with bleached hair, an unnerving grin that's entirely false, and a love of spreading chaos.
611* PrecisionFStrike: The first use of the F-word in a Bond film comes from M.
612-->'''M:''' I fucked this up, didn't I?
613* ProductPlacement: Tanner and Q both use Sony Vaio computers, Eve comments that she just missed "two VW Beetles" (and Bond pancakes some of those with a prominently-labelled CAT excavator), Bond wears a specially-designed Omega watch and uses a Sony Xperia T smartphone... Not to mention Bond and Tanner both drinking Heineken. (Though Bond's use of Heineken occurs not in the most complimentary of circumstances. And contrary to pre-release publicity suggesting he would forsake his classic drink in favour of beer, he still enjoys a vodka martini at one point.) In addition, one of the shots where Silva runs through a subway station has the camera {{pan}} slightly to its right to show an ad for Swarovski watches. When Bond pursues him, the camera is directly pointed at an ad for Heineken. In both instances, the crowd subtly parts to show most of the posters.
614* ProtectThisHouse: The film is named after the family estate Bond, M and Kincaid must defend in the climax.
615* PsychopathicManchild: Silva. His general demeanor comes off disturbingly juvenile, he giggles girlishly extremely often, his online threats are ridiculous, script-kiddie style animations, and he is variously described as possessive, with a tendency to dispose of anything that no longer amuses him.
616* RaceLift: [[spoiler:Miss Moneypenny, who was previously played by white actresses, is played by the half-Jamaican half-Trinidadian English actress Naomie Harris.]]
617* RageAgainstTheMentor:
618** Bond chews M out for nearly getting him killed at the start of the film.
619** Silva's entire plan is also about making M suffer for her past transgressions.
620--->'''Computer Screen:''' Think on your sins.
621* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Gareth Mallory becomes this after being swayed by M's defence of "the old ways," and helps Q and Tanner with their off-the-books plan to help Bond and M. By the end of the film, he succeeds Judi Dench's character and becomes the new M.
622* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: The Government Minister on the [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee committee M is hauled before]] gives a (mostly off-screen) CharacterFilibuster about how useless and outdated [=MI6=] is. M's response to her (in the form of a Tennyson quotation), fortunately, is ''beautiful'', and it helps that all of M's points are proven correct, like, five seconds later when Silva barges into the courtroom and begins shooting.
623** Mallory even realizes how one-sided the hearing is, and lampshades it.
624--->'''Mallory:''' For the sake of variety, might we actually hear from the witness?
625* {{Reconstruction}}: ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' took the Bond formula down a deconstructive path, with Bond girls as innocent and tragic pawns to both sides and Bond himself treated by M as more of a blunt object and ProfessionalKiller who is slowly becoming obsolete in a more sensitive world of espionage. In addition, a lot of the Bond traditions fell away, such as flirting with [[SassySecretary Moneypenny]], [[NoMrBondIExpectYouToDine dinner with the bad guys]] and getting [[WhereDoesHeGetAllThoseWonderfulToys new toys from Q Branch]]. While many praised the radical changes as modernizing Bond, some felt it had lost a lot of what made Bond so entertaining. ''Skyfall'' begins with the Royale and Solace style and spends the rest of the movie reconciling classic and modern Bond together. M's speech at a committee hearing says it all.
626* RedHerring:
627** [[spoiler:Mallory is a shady, stuck-up ex-soldier, played by the guy who also played [[Film/HarryPotter Voldemort]], [[Film/SchindlersList Amon Goeth]] and [[Film/RedDragon Francis Dolarhyde]], who tries to get M to resign in his first appearance, scorns Bond in his second, and is present at a would-be crime scene in his third. Not a great start for ''the future M''!]]
628** Bond's Aston Martin serves as a BaitAndSwitch ContinuityNod. The scene soon after we're introduced to the car, Bond alludes to its passenger-side EjectionSeat but he doesn't use it. In fact, the ejector seat never gets used; the purpose of this scene is to establish that this is the vintage ''Goldfinger'' car. Thanks to this, the audience has no reason to question the machine guns behind the headlights.
629* RedRightHand: Like many Bond villains, Silva has a hidden deformity: In this case, [[spoiler:half of his face is sunken and his teeth are reduced to rotten nubs]].
630* ReimaginingTheArtifact: Q gets a notable modern update as [=MI6=]'s tech-savvy MissionControl with a talent for computer hacking, as well as being aged down significantly to contrast him with the more traditionalist Bond. Though he does have the obligatory scene where he supplies Bond with a list of new gadgets, his computer skills are his primary talent. As the film is quick to point out, having a tech-savvy spy is ''still'' a huge asset in an age of digital espionage, even if he doesn't build exploding pens.
631* RemovingTheEarpiece: Bond removes his and drops it in Eve's glass before meeting Sévérine.
632* ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated: Bond read his own obituary. He's got one word to describe it: appalling.
633* RetiredBadass: Mallory is a veteran of the British Army (specifically [[spoiler:the SAS]]), and was kept as a hostage at one point by the IRA.
634* {{Retirony}}: {{Invoked|Trope}}. Silva's plan is to force M into retirement by humiliating her, and then kill her before she can actually retire.
635* RevisitingTheRoots: This film accomplishes this for the whole franchise. Besides the reintroduction of Q [[spoiler:by the end of film, [=MI6=] has moved into the Universal Exports offices from the older films, Moneypenny is reintroduced and there's a new (male) M.]]
636* {{Rewrite}}:
637** Here, as in the novels and films before the reboot, Bond is the lone scion of a wealthy noble family. In ''Film/CasinoRoyale2006'' Vesper inferred, and Bond never explicitly denied, that he "[[Main/WorkingClassHero didn't come from money, and your school friends never let you forget it]]."
638** However, ''Spectre'' went on to expand on Bond's backstory further and bridge his family details together more clearly.
639* RippedFromTheHeadlines: The catalyst for the plot is sensitive government information being stolen and then leaked online, mirroring various real world scandals where classified documents were leaked onto the internet in the years surrounding the release.
640* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: Raoul Silva was tortured for five months to the point of breaking his CyanidePill, only to have it fail and disfigure him. He sets out to humiliate and kill M for abandoning him, and it actually works.
641* RockBeatsLaser:
642** During the climax, Bond, M and Kincade are poorly equipped, with only old hunting guns, knives, dynamite, some gas bottles, and the good old Aston Martin [=DB5=] against Silva's mooks, who carry recent assault rifles and grenades and benefit from heavily armed [[DeathFromAbove helicopter]] [[MoreDakka support]].
643** Subverted when Bond drops the hunting rifle after killing a couple of Mooks with it and picks up one of their modern assault rifles.
644* RogueAgent:
645** Raoul Silva, a former [=MI6=] agent out to destroy M after she screwed him over years earlier. While he was still an [=MI6=] agent, he was carrying out unauthorized cyber-attacks on the Chinese.
646** Downplayed with 007. For the final act, he kidnaps M and enlists Q and Tanner to (unofficially and without any authorization at all) help him bait Silva into fighting Bond on his own turf. Illustrated by Tanner having a beer in [=MI6=] headquarters while they go about their work. But Mallory approves of their actions, so it's probably not necessarily a case of "going rogue" so much as "working 'off the books'."
647* RoofHopping: With ''bikes'' over the rooftops of Istanbul.
648* RousingSpeech: M's speech at the inquiry board. Juxtaposing M talking with Silva making his way there, and Bond pursuing Silva, to make the tension and M's points more relevant:
649-->'''M:''' Chairman, ministers. ''[Silva emerges from the tube station, and hops into a police car driven by a couple of his henchmen]'' Today I've repeatedly heard how irrelevant my department has become. Why do we need agents, the -00 section? Isn't it all rather quaint? Well, I suppose I see a different world than you do. And the truth is that what I see frightens me. ''[Silva is riding shotgun in his vehicle, and checking his pistol]'' I'm frightened because our enemies are no longer known to us. They do not exist on the map, they are not nations, they are individuals. ''[Tanner sees messages reading "GET HER TO SAFETY" come up on his computer screen]'' Look around you, who do you fear? Can you see a face, a uniform, a flag? No. ''[Silva and two of his men, all dressed as cops, enter the tribunal building. As they approach the security checkpoint, they raise their pistols and shoot the three guards manning the booth without dropping a beat]''\
650'''M:''' Our world is not more transparent now. It's more opaque. It's in the shadows. That's where we must do battle. So, before you declare us irrelevant, ask yourselves. How safe do ''you'' feel? Just one more thing to say. My late husband was a great lover of poetry. And um...I suppose some of it sunk in, despite my best intentions.\
651''[As M continues to speak, Bond emerges from Westminster tube station, passes arriving emergency workers, and begins running down the road in the middle of traffic]''\
652'''M:''' And here today I remember this. I think, from Tennyson. "We are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven. That which we are, we are. One equal temper of heroic hearts, made weak by time and fate, but strong in will. To strive, to seek, ''[Silva and his men make their way down a corridor inside the building]'' to find, and not to yield.\
653''[The doors at the back of the courtroom open and Silva and his men walk in]''
654* RuleOfSymbolism:
655** Bond and Q's discussion of a painting of "a grand old warship being ignominiously hauled away for scrap," as Bond's fitness for active service is questioned from all sides. At the end of a movie, M's new office [[MeaningfulBackgroundEvent prominently displays]] a triumphant painting of a warship in its prime, along with a portrait of the destroyed Vauxhall Cross HQ.
656** Being killed by a knife InTheBack, given the "old ways" theme. The disreputable art of assassination and espionage was [[CloakAndDagger traditionally described this way]]. Also, betrayal is an important theme in the film.
657** Bond and Patrice fight in a half-finished office space that functions as a hall of mirrors. It's also a metaphor for a situation where the truth is hard to discern, sometimes specifically for the spy business.
658** M's British Bulldog ornament can be seen as representing Bond's patriotism and tenacity. Like Bond, it survives the downfall of the old regime and [[spoiler:remains after M is gone. M leaving it to him is a sign she wants him to carry on]].
659* SawedOffShotgun: Kincaid takes on Silva's men with one - after a memorable scene where he is seen sawing the barrels short and then blasting a hole in a shed wall.
660* SayMyName:
661** While imprisoned by [=MI6=], Silva [[InvokedTrope invokes]] this by demanding M say his real name. M, however, [[DefiedTrope has none of it]].
662--->'''M:''' Your name is on the memorial wall of the very building you attacked. I will have it struck off. Soon, your past will be as non-existent as your future.
663** Of course, a cut later, M turns to Bond and tells him Silva's real name, [[spoiler:Tiago Rodriguez]].
664* ScaryScorpions: After Bond is presumed dead, he participates in a DrinkingContest where he must keep a scorpion on his hand. He promptly empties his glass and then traps the scorpion under it.
665* ScaryTeeth: Silva's dentures hide the fact that his real teeth have been reduced to rotten nubs as a result of a defective CyanidePill.
666* SceneryPorn: As is often the case in films with cinematography by [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Deakins Roger Deakins]].
667** Includes iconic views of the UsefulNotes/{{London}} skyline and her classical architecture by both day and night.
668** The [[UsefulNotes/{{China}} Shanghai]] city skyline.
669** The lantern-lit Huangpu River, complete with giant Chinese Dragons.
670** The abandoned coal mining facility and city on Hashima Island is this and SceneryGorn.
671** The climax in UsefulNotes/{{Scotland}}, including the fog-covered valley of Glencoe.
672** The woods outside Istanbul in the beginning.
673* SecondFaceSmoke: Sévérine does this for a long time during her SmokingIsGlamorous tribute. Bond's response falls into the "stoically putting up with it" category.
674* SexSlave: Sévérine was sold on the prostitution market in Macau.
675* SexySecretary: The film ends up being something of an OriginStory for the character, where it is revealed that she became a secretary because [[spoiler:she felt she wasn't suited to field work, having previously worked alongside Bond]].
676* ShadowArchetype: Silva is basically an anti-Bond. He possesses similar skills and tactics, has a similar past, and was also screwed by M. What sets them apart is that Bond forgave his adopted "mother" and remains loyal to her, while Silva went rogue and is attempting to kill her. The nature of Bond's job as a spy/killer means that he is basically being consumed by guilt, and he knows that he is basically forfeiting his soul in the name of patriotism, but he can hold himself together, whereas Silva snapped when put to the same test. In short, Silva represents what Bond could become if he didn't forgive or trust his superiors for the things they put through on him.
677* SharkPool: While fighting one of the mooks at a Chinese Casino, Bond and the said mook fall into a pit filled with Komodo Dragons. Bond obviously makes it out ok, the henchmen ends up becoming dinner for the lizards.
678* SharpDressedMan: Reflecting Bond's CharacterDevelopment and adjustment into being 007 over the recent films, he seems to be getting into doing his job in nice suits.
679* ShirtlessScene: Bond has several to show off his physique and his wounds.
680* ShoePhone: {{Defied|trope}}. According to the new Q, they "[[ShooOutTheClowns don't go for that sort of thing any more.]]"
681* ShootOutTheLock: Bond opens a jammed door in a Tube tunnel by shooting the lock, just in the nick of time to avoid being flatted by a passing train.
682* ShoutOut:
683** The main theme, "Skyfall", steals a line from the 1966 classic spy song "Secret Agent Man."
684--->'''Adele:''' You may have my number, you can take my name, but you'll never have my heart.
685** The ActionPrologue closes on Bond lying motionless in the water, mirroring the iconic images that open each film in ''Film/TheBourneSeries''.
686** "Think on your sins" is also a memorable line from ''Film/SweeneyToddTheDemonBarberOfFleetStreet''.
687** The Tennyson poem was also quoted at the eulogy for real life diplomat and [=MI6=] controller Daphne Park.
688** [[spoiler:The FreezeFrameBonus that reveals M's name as Olivia Mansfield is a reference to Captain Sir Mansfield Smith-Cumming, AKA C, who was the first Chief of the RealLife [=MI6=]]].
689** James' parents names are Andrew Bond and Monique Delacroix Bond, which is from the novel of ''Literature/YouOnlyLiveTwice''.
690*** However, "Skyfall" is not from Fleming.
691** To ''Film/ApocalypseNow'':
692*** Broken, alcoholic agent comes out of TenMinuteRetirement to hunt down a rogue agent in his remote hideout and finds a sadistic, crazy but familiar soul in him.
693*** A gunship attack made more awesome by the music it is playing to it, leaving Silva acting like ColonelKilgore for a few minutes.
694** Silva calling M [[Series/TheAvengers1960s "Mother."]]
695** The scene near the end where Eve gives Bond the [[spoiler: china Bulldog left to him in M's will]] begins with Bond overlooking London from a rooftop, the collar of his overcoat turned up and his scarf tied in the same manner as Creator/BenedictCumberbatch's Series/{{Sherlock}}.
696** The scenes in the Komodo Dragon fight pit are like the "Dragons of Ashida" episode of ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuest'', a series that took heavy inspiration from ''Film/DrNo'', so ''Skyfall'' comes full circle referencing from ''Quest''.
697* ShowerOfLove: Sévérine and Bond end up having sex in the shower while sailing to Silva's hideout.
698* ShutUpHannibal: During the hearing, a government minister grills M. Mallory is visibly disgusted when it becomes clear that the actual committee hearing is basically nothing more than a KangarooCourt.
699-->'''Mallory:''' For the sake of variety, might we actually hear from the witness?
700* TheSiege: The film climaxes with Bond and two others ([[spoiler:Kinkade, M]]) defending a manor home against more numerous and better-armed villains. Defenders' advantage allows the [=MI6=] contingent to hold out against 10-to-1 odds, but they technically still lose because the BigBad is able to achieve his mission objective ([[spoiler:killing M]])--or, at best, stalemate, since Bond kills ''him'' right after. (Also, the home gets blown up.)
701* SignificantAnagram:
702** Not actually mentioned in the movie -- 'Raoul Silva' becomes 'A Rival Soul' [[ShadowArchetype showing how similar he is to Bond]].
703** 'Think On Your Sins' becomes [[spoiler:'[[WhamLine Your Son]] [[ItsPersonal Isn't in HK]]']].
704* SinisterSilhouettes: Silva's first appearance in the trailers was nothing but a black silhouette walking away from a burning building.
705* SissyVillain: Silva flirts with Bond and has some whimsical mannerisms but is still a dangerous foe.
706* SkeletonMotif: Silva uses skulls as a sort of calling card, especially "Day of the Dead" style sugar skulls, which appear a lot in the taunting online messages he sends [=MI6=]. We later learn his face actually resembles a skull, with slightly melted cheekbones due to a failed suicide attempt with a poison capsule.
707* SlasherSmile: Silva, who is seen smiling regularly to extenuate his madness.
708* SmartGun: Q equips Bond with a version of his trademark Walther PPK semiautomatic that features a biometric trigger lock. It won't fire unless the handprint sensor verifies that Bond is the one holding it. Which as you might expect comes in handy when a mook gets his hand on the weapon.
709-->'''Bond:''' Good luck with that.
710* SmokingIsGlamorous: The gorgeous Sévérine smokes throughout her first scene, where she meets Bond in her club/casino in Macau. This is both a callback to the smoky Bond films of old, and also serves to highlight Sévérine's exotic and dangerous nature.
711* TheSocialDarwinist: Silva is a type 5. Using AnimalMetaphors, he relates a childhood story to a captive 007, describing how he spent time with his grandmother on an island, where she taught him how to rid the island of its rat infestation by capturing them in oil drums. He utilizes the image of the trapped rats turning to cannibalism as a metaphor for what the life of a spy does to its participants - namely himself. He even describes himself and Bond as the "last two rats standing." In the climax, after killing Silva, Bond throws back in his face with "Last rat standing."
712* SoftWater: The opening sequence features Bond being shot twice and knocked off a speeding train as it crosses a bridge, falling at least 100ft into water. They don't even bother to handwave how he survives. Though he does mention later that he broke four ribs and damaged "some of the less vital organs."
713* SoundtrackDissonance:
714** The French song that plays on Silva's island, "Boum!" sung by Charles Trenet prior to UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. It is mostly about nature, love, and thunder. The titular "BOOM" onomatopoeia in the song also refers to cannon fire from the Maginot Line (where he sung for French troops), albeit on a joyful tone.
715** This is recalled again later in the film when Silva broadcasts Music/TheAnimals' cover version of the Music/JohnLeeHooker blues song "Boom Boom" over his helicopter loudspeakers as he approaches Skyfall.
716*** At least the lyrics fit a bit:
717---->''Boom, boom, boom, boom\
718I'm gonna shoot you right down''
719* SpoilerOpening:
720** The opening theme [[spoiler:foreshadows most of the movie's plot, as well as the final battle at Skyfall. It also mentioned that the titular house is burned down during the battle (i.e., "''Let the Skyfall, when it crumbles''").]]
721** The opening credits also foreshadow [[spoiler:M's death]] as Judi Dench's crediting overlaps briefly with a [[spoiler:tombstone]].
722* StalkerWithACrush: WordOfSaintPaul (Javier Bardem) has it that Silva used to be, and perhaps still is, in love with M.
723* StandaloneEpisode: The film is very much self-contained and never refers to the events of either ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' or ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' (save for, maybe, the Aston Martin [=DB5=] since Bond wins one at a poker match in ''Casino Royale'', but it still doesn't explain how it became {{weaponized|Car}}). In fact, it can be watched independently from them without trouble (which isn't the case for ''Quantum of Solace'', ''Film/{{Spectre}}'' and ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', which all pick upon plot threads left from previous films).
724* StealthPrequel: Though ''Film/{{Casino Royale|2006}}'' was initially billed as a prequel, there was very little in it to suggest that it and ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' were about Bond's first missions. This film, in particular, does all that it can to present Bond as a [[ShellShockedVeteran veteran MI6 agent]] who's [[DentedIron finally feeling the effects of his many brushes with death]]. [[spoiler:By the end, though, we unexpectedly learn that it's also the story of Bond's first encounters with Q and Moneypenny, and that it features [[ChangingOfTheGuard a new M]] who very much resembles Bernard Lee's original take on the character (complete with the classic office set).]]
725* StepfordSmiler: Sévérine, who was a child sex slave abused for years and still suffers at the hands of Silva. Bond sees through her veneer, and her smile slowly gets faker and faker as Bond gets under it.
726* StiffUpperLip:
727** The movie serves as a DeconReconSwitch of British resolve, with Silva representing the costs of British determination and Bond its power even in the face of adversity.
728** Bond barely reacts to [[spoiler:Sévérine's death]].
729--->'''Bond:''' "Waste of good Scotch."
730* StoutStrength: One of Silva's henchmen posing as one of Sévérine's "bodyguards" is a rather burly Oddjob-lookalike who puts up a fairly decent fight, although Bond succeeds in landing more blows than he does.
731* AStormIsComing: Bond tells M this once they enter Scotland.
732* SuddenSequelDeathSyndrome: M's husband apparently died between ''Film/QuantumOfSolace'' and this movie, presumably to explain [[DroppedABridgeOnHim why he isn't used as bait for M.]]
733* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
734** M reveals to Bond after he shows up at her house that due to being declared dead [=MI6=] sold his flat and moved his things into storage. As much as it's played for laughs this is very much TruthInTelevision when dealing with deceased people who leave no wills or have any living relatives. "You should have called" indeed.
735** [[spoiler:When Bond decides to take the fight and M to his ancestral home of Skyfall, they arrive to find that the manor's been sold, due to Bond being declared dead. Unfortunately, that means most of the gun collection has also been sold off]].
736** Kincaid is a CoolOldGuy who refuses to let Bond face danger on his own. [[spoiler:He's still not psychologically up to being shot at with automatic weapons, and fumbles his shotgun reload ''badly'' under fire.]]
737** [[spoiler:Both Kincaid and Bond have trouble navigating the dark, uneven Scottish moor. Bond does rather better at it once he, presumably, takes a moment to remember the ground around his childhood home]].
738** [[spoiler:After being grazed by a bullet and not receiving proper medical attention, the elderly M bleeds out and dies soon after]].
739* SympathyForTheDevil: During Silva's confrontation with M where he reveals his backstory, when he says, "You betrayed me," Bond looks away from Silva and gazes intently at M. After Silva has a mini-meltdown where he reveals his cyanide-induced deformity (for which he also blames M), M leaves and Bond turns to follow, but slowly and hesitantly, suggesting he doesn't entirely want to leave Silva alone. After he rejoins M, he stares silently at her until she explains why she "betrayed" Silva. According to Daniel Craig on the DVD special features, under better circumstances Bond would have rather let Silva live and get therapy.
740** M, for her part, is visibly shaken after Silva's big reveal and her explanation is tinged with melancholy. Later in the film, as they are lying in wait for Silva's final attack, she says, "I fucked this up, didn't I?" While Bond assures her she was just doing her job, he doesn't go so far as to tell her she did the right thing.
741[[/folder]]
742
743[[folder:T-Z]]
744* TailorMadePrison: Silva gets imprisoned in one inside [=MI6=]'s temporary headquarters. This does not end well, but only after the power is turned off.
745* TakingTheBullet: During Silva's attack on the inquiry hearing, Mallory does this when Silva fires his pistol at M, intercepting the bullet in his shoulder.
746* TakingUpTheMantle: [[spoiler:After M's funeral, Gareth Mallory becomes the new M, and assigns Bond to a new mission]].
747* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:Near the end of the film, Silva tries to get M to shoot the both of them through the head. Bond intervenes before Silva succeeds by killing him with a throwing knife]].
748* TalentDouble: The film used a talent double for the opening car chase by using specially modified Land Rovers [[http://filmmakeriq.com/2012/12/behind-the-wheel-in-bond-film-skyfall/ with a driving seat out of shot on the roof]], allowing stunt driver Ben Collins (aka second Stig on ''Series/TopGear'') to do the driving while the actors stayed in the car pretending to drive it.
749* TenMinuteRetirement: Bond is "played out", but he comes back to the game because [=MI6=] is under attack and they need him.
750* TelevisionGeography:
751** Bond pursues Silva through two stations in The London Underground - Temple and Embankment, both on the sub-surface District and Circle lines. However, they're depicted as deep-level lines served by Jubilee Line train stock - most likely the shooting locating was the disused Jubilee Line platforms at Charing Cross, which are frequently hired out for filming. And when an exterior shot of "Embankment Station" is shown, that's actually the Northumberland Avenue exit of Charing Cross station - though that's very close to the real Embankment.
752** The A9 road is namedropped as the route Bond and M take to reach the title location, which - going by the scenery - is in Glen Coe, a part of Scotland nowhere near the A9.
753* ThemeMusicPowerUp: The James Bond theme plays when Bond drives out in the Aston Martin [=DB5=].
754* ThemeNaming: If "Silva" is taken to be a pun on "Silver," he would be the third Bond villain in this continuity to have a color-themed name ([[Film/CasinoRoyale2006 Mr. White]], [[Film/QuantumOfSolace Mr. Greene]], etc.)
755* ThisIsGonnaSuck: "Oh good, there's a train coming."
756* ThrillerOnTheExpress: This is likely referred to in the opening sequence, where Bond engages in a battle with Patrice atop a train.
757* ThrowAwayGuns: Bond uses an Anderson Wheeler double rifle for most of the attack on the eponymous estate, but upon running out of ammunition promptly discards the weapon. His contentious relationship with his parents may be part of his reasoning. He also discards his service weapon, a Walther PPK, in the opening scene of the movie, despite having time to reholster it, as seen [[https://youtu.be/mBCN8qf_kMk?t=40 here]]. This is especially irresponsible as the weapon's serial number is most likely registered to him through [=MI6=].
758* TitleDrop: Skyfall is [[spoiler:the name of Bond's family estate.]]
759* TookALevelInBadass: [[spoiler:Miss Eve Moneypenny]] is shown to be a competent field agent.
760* TrainEscape: {{Subverted}}. Bond advances on Patrice in an excavator to shield him from gunfire, so Patrice shoots out the coupling between him and Bond. Bond jams the excavator's bucket into the car ahead to provide a temporary link, then jumps into the car as its rear end gets pulled off to continue the chase.
761* TraintopBattle: In the ActionPrologue.
762* TragicKeepsake: [[spoiler:The little Union Jack bulldog figurine seen on M's desk, which survives the destruction of [=MI6=] headquarters, is later left to Bond in M's will. Given Bond absolutely hated the thing, it was meant as a final joke by M.]]
763* TrashTheSet: [[spoiler:Bond's iconic Aston Martin [=DB5=] gets blown up in the finale, along with the eponymous Skyfall manor]].
764* TragicVillain: Silva, in many ways a profoundly wronged man, turned into a complete psychopath by unfortunate events.
765* TraintopBattle: A particularly elaborate one between Bond and Patrice that ends up trashing much of the train occurs during the pre-titles sequence.
766* TraitorShot: {{Subverted}}. Gareth Mallory is repeatedly shown lurking in shadows, or having the camera linger significantly on his face in scenes where he isn't otherwise important. In the end, he isn't a MoleInCharge, but M's replacement after she's shot.
767* TranquilFury:
768** Bond comments "[[StiffUpperLip Waste of good Scotch]]" after [[spoiler:Silva kills Sévérine]], only to take out all of Silva's men and deliver a vicious kick to Silva himself seconds later.
769** Likewise, he seems to be rather miffed when [[spoiler:Silva destroys the [=DB5=]]]. Cue massive explosion caused by him that takes out half the mooks present.
770* TrialByFriendlyFire: In the opening sequence, Eve is trying to line up a sniper shot on a mook Bond is fighting atop a train about to enter a tunnel. However, Bond is fighting the mook in hand-to-hand combat, so she can't gurantee who she'll hit, and there's no time to realign. Despite Eve's hesitation, M orders the shot be taken, so Eve shoots. Bond is hit, and the mook gets off unscathed, setting off the events of the film. (He somehow survives, of course.)
771* TrojanPrisoner: Part of Silva's gambit to get close to M - he gets himself caught by Bond, gets interrogated, then tricks Q into accidentally disabling the security systems so he can escape.
772* {{Troll}}: Silva loves to mock M and Q with his hacks.
773* TwoFaced: Raoul Silva looks like this with his prosthesis removed. A dodgy CyanidePill left him disfigured instead of actually killing him; without his dentures, his left cheek is sunken and his eyelid droops.
774* TwoLinesNoWaiting: During the first half, Bond's mission is the A plot line while M's plot is the B plot.
775* UnconventionalVehicleChase: Bond uses an excavator to reach the train on which Patrice is fleeing.
776* UnflinchingWalk: The trailer ramps it up by substituting "explosion" with "train car getting ripped open by heavy equipment ''while he's inside it''."
777* {{Unperson}}: M tells Silva she intends to have his real name struck off the [=MI6=] memorial wall, likely the only place his service was ever officially acknowledged. He looks appropriately appalled at the thought.
778* UnusableEnemyEquipment: For most of the film, Bond has a PPK with a custom grip that includes a similar palm-recognition mechanism, so when a mook picks up said gun just as a Komodo dragon approaches, the result is inevitable.
779* ViewerFriendlyInterface: The mainframe computer is incredibly user friendly. As it is being hacked by a software program, a data visualization program maps the code of the software in real time, displaying the code as a moving 3D model. As the hacking software is using "a polymorphic engine to mutate the code", the data visualization software shows the 3D code mutating as if it were a biological organism. While points on the 3D display correspond to hexadecimal code, the code mutating in real time causes the corresponding hexadecimal display to move rapidly. Bond notices the hexadecimal code goes beyond the letter F, as if displaying a new programming standard that includes the letters G, H, N, R and U. When the software recognizes one of the points of code is a "data feed," the 3D code representation turns red and transforms into a 3D representation of a city map. Then, as the building security is being breached, the "System Security Breach" warning pops up.
780* VillainHasAPoint: Whatever else he is, Silva is completely right to call out M for sending Bond back to the field despite Bond flunking out all his tests, and Bond for keeping his faith on M despite her decision to do so. This point is further reinforced when M proceeds with her hearing at the Parliament despite HQ's warning that Silva and his commando crew are on their way there.
781* VillainousBreakdown: Silva, by the end of things. He had kept his cool throughout the whole movie, but once his plans had started to go awry, Silva started to break down considerably.
782* VillainousBSoD: Silva is at last about to fulfill his revenge, as he holds the mortally wounded M in his grasp and puts his gun to her face...before he starts crying and puts the gun in M's own hand, presses his temple against hers, then guides the gun to her other temple, and he begs her to kill them both with the same bullet.
783* VisualPun: Betrayal is the driving theme of this movie. In the end the main villain [[spoiler:is literally stabbed in the back]].
784* TheVoiceless: Patrice doesn't say a word, even when he is asked by Bond who he's working for, he desires not to speak and plummets to his death.
785* WallBangHer: Bond and the nameless girl we see him with during his exile.
786* WatchThePaintJob: Car fans will cringe as Bond casually crushes brand new Volkswagen Beetles on the train with his Caterpillar excavator. [[spoiler:And Silva's men exploding Bond's Aston Martin...]]
787* WeaponizedCar: [[spoiler:Serves as the punchline to a BrickJoke unwittingly set up by Q early in the film]].
788* WeCanRuleTogether: Silva first tries to get Bond to join him.
789-->'''Silva:''' You see, we are the last two rats. We can either eat each other... mmm... or eat everyone else.
790* WeHaveBecomeComplacent: When asked if [=MI6=] is relevant to the modern world, M responds that there should be an even greater focus on espionage to battle increasingly decentralized modern threats.
791* WeHaveReserves: M is a rare "heroic" example of this, casually treating the lives of her subordinates as expendable assets. This, predictably, comes back to bite her in the ass ''big time''. The agent who Bond finds shot when the hard-drive is stolen is revealed to have died simply because Bond was ordered to pursue Patrice. Also, this trope is what drives Silva's retaliation plot.
792* WealthyYachtOwner: Bond is taken to Silva's hideout aboard a sailing yacht, the ''Chimera''.
793* WellDoneSonGuy: Silva is ultimately a rather sad version of this. Even though he still wants M to pay with her life for betraying him, by his [[InsaneTrollLogic twisted logic]] he also to wanted to "make peace" with her by [[spoiler:[[MutualKill dying "peacefully" together.]]]]
794* WhamLine: More for M than for the audience: [[spoiler:"Agent down."]]
795* WhatHappenedToTheMouse:
796** Kincade's dogs aren't seen after the scene where he first appears. We hear them barking as Silva's henchmen approach for the final confrontation.
797** Similarly, there's no mention of Quantum in the film, even though they were the GreaterScopeVillain of the two previous films. Silva has no connection to them. [[spoiler:The next film, ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', reveals that Quantum, and even Silva, were connected to SPECTRE as separate offshoots. Quantum itself was largely disassembled by then, largely ending with Mr. White's radiation poisoning and suicide]].
798** The list of NATO agents is never really brought up again after Silva finally appears on screen. Was it released? Did [=MI6=] recover it when they captured Silva?
799* WhatYouAreInTheDark: After Bond returns to duty after being thought dead, Mallory points out that Bond had what every agent would have wished for: a clean exit from the spy business. He could have just stayed "dead" and lived out the rest of his life in comfortable retirement and relative anonymity, and nobody would ever think otherwise. However, Bond's dedication to Queen and Country motivates him to come back.
800* WhereDoYouThinkYouAre: Used for a BondOneLiner when Kincade uses his shotgun to blast away a henchman.
801-->'''Kincade:''' Welcome to Scotland!
802* WhileYouWereInDiapers: Kincaid gives a nicely understated BadassBoast when they hear the dogs barking, showing a bunch of mooks have just turned up.
803-->'''Bond:''' Are you ready?
804-->'''Kincaid:''' I was ready before you were born, son.
805* WhyWeAreBummedCommunismFell: Discussed. M's [[HauledBeforeASenateSubcommittee Government Inquiry]] [[SoWhatDoWeDoNow questions the need for]] [=MI6=] in a post-UsefulNotes/ColdWar world. M responds that [=MI6=] is needed more than ever to battle far more disperse and elusive modern enemies - as shown by Silva's usage of new tech to hack and harass [=MI6=].
806* WilliamTelling: Silva forces Bond to play a game with him where they have to shoot a glass of whiskey off Sévérine's head using old Percussion Cap pistols. [[spoiler:Bond misses and Silva "wins" by shooting her in the head]].
807* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Silva just wants to die, but after 5 months of torture and a botched suicide attempt, he's so insane that he believes the only way he can is if he destroys M and everything she stands for first.
808* WordAssociationTest: Between Bond and a psychologist after 007's return to duty.
809-->'''Psychologist:''' I'd like to start with some simple word association, so just tell me the first word that pops into your head. For example, I might say "day", and you might say...\
810'''Bond:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Wasted]].\
811'''Psychologist:''' [{{Beat}}] Alright... Gun.\
812'''Bond:''' [[MurderIsTheBestSolution Shot]].\
813'''Psychologist:''' Agent.\
814'''Bond:''' [[SpyFiction Provocateur]].\
815'''Psychologist:''' Woman.\
816'''Bond:''' [[FemmeFatale Provoca]]''[[FemmeFatale trix]]''.\
817'''Psychologist:''' Heart.\
818'''Bond:''' [[HeartbrokenBadass Target]].\
819'''Psychologist:''' [[HistoricalInJoke Bird]].\
820'''Bond:''' Sky.\
821'''Psychologist:''' M.\
822'''Bond:''' [[DeadpanSnarker Bitch]]. ''([[ImStandingRightHere cut to M watching from past a mirror]])''\
823'''Psychologist:''' Sunlight.\
824'''Bond:''' [[MrFanservice Swim]].\
825'''Psychologist:''' Moonlight.\
826'''Bond:''' [[CulturedBadass Dance]].\
827'''Psychologist:''' Murder.\
828'''Bond:''' [[ProfessionalKiller Employment]].\
829'''Psychologist:''' Country.\
830'''Bond:''' [[UsefulNotes/SecretIntelligenceService England]].\
831'''Psychologist:''' [[WhamLine Skyfall]].\
832'''Bond:''' ...\
833'''Psychologist:''' [[TraumaButton Skyfall]].\
834'''Bond:''' ...Done. ''([[ScrewThisImOuttaHere gets up and walks out]])''
835* YoungerAndHipper: Creator/BenWhishaw as Q is much, much younger than Desmond Llewellyn or John Cleese were in their performances as Q.
836* YourFavourite: Silva presents the bottle of scotch to Bond, pours two glasses, and gives one to Bond. Instead of drinking the other himself, he [[spoiler:uses it for the target in the William Tell contest.]]
837* YourPrincessIsInAnotherCastle: The BigBad has been captured and locked in a glass cell in the middle of good guy headquarters before the two-hour mark. He promptly escapes.
838[[/folder]]
839----
840

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