Skyfall She is all but the co-star of the film, with a lot of screen time, poignant dialogue, and a character who is far more complex and sympathetic than we expect in this series". Jenny McCartney, writing in "The Sunday Telegraph", agreed, describing Dench as "compellingly luminous" in the film, and the one that "the camera caresses most meaningfully and often". McCartney thought Javier Bardem played Silva "with worrisome élan", while Henry K Miller considered his character "the most authentically Bondian Bond villain in decades". A number of critics noted the strength of the supporting cast; Kim Newman found the "warmth
M (James Bond) Marc Forster suggested that Dench's casting gave the character maternal overtones in her relationship with Bond, overtones made overt in "Skyfall", in which Silva repeatedly refers to her as "Mother" and "Mommy". In "Skyfall" she is revealed to be a widow. After the death of Judi Dench's M at the end of "Skyfall", she is succeeded by Gareth Mallory, played by Ralph Fiennes. Mallory had been the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee prior to heading MI6, and is a former in the British Army. He served in Northern Ireland with the "Hereford Regiment" (assumed by many commentators to