That was my first thought, but on second thoughts, it was a long time into FRWL before Bond meets Grant and similarly TMWTGG, TSWLM, others too.
We may well see Silva at large long before Bond does.
Yeah, that's true.
According to the IGN report, the London Underground scene happens at around the halfway point.
So, I suppose this scene would probably take place about twenty minutes, or so, before that. So, not all that far into the film, after all.
I really that Bond will meet the main villian really fast in the film..as past film he only meet the villian near the second half or close to the end........meeting him in the 20 minutes in is awesome!
I've had the same impression, but I was curious as to whether it was really true. So I skimmed through the films to see just when the villains have been introduced to the audience and to Bond.
Out of 22 films, fifteen introduced their villain to the audience before the thirty-minute mark. Every villain except Blofeld appeared before the one-hour mark. Fourteen villains are introduced to the audience before Bond has his first encounter with them. In nine films, this gap is more than thirty minutes long, providing the villain with a lengthy independent arc that introduces the character and creates some dramatic distance between Bond and the audience.
DN - Dr No appears (vocally) at 0:40:00. Bond meets him at 1:27:00 (47 minutes later)
FRWL - Grant appears in the PTS. Bond meets him at 1:22:00 (80 minutes later)
GF - Goldfinger appears at 0:10:00.
TB - Largo appears at 0:8:00. Bond meets him at 0:50:00 (38 minutes later)
YOLT - Blofeld appears at 1:39:00.
OHMSS - Blofeld appears at 1:03:00.
DAF - Blofeld appears at 1:14:00.
LALD - Kananga appears in the PTS. Bond meets him (as Kananga) at 1:10:00 (70 minutes later)
TMWTGG - Scaramanga appears in the PTS. Bond meets him at 1:16:00 (75 minutes later)
TSWLM - Stromberg appears at 0:15:00. Bond meets him at 1:05:00 (50 minutes later)
MR - Drax appears at 0:15:00.
FYEO - Kristatos appears at 0:36:00.
OP - Kamal Khan appears at 0:20:00. Bond meets him at 0:30:00. (10 minutes later)
AVTAK - Zorin appears at 0:13:00. Bond meets him at 0:33:00 (20 minutes later)
TLD - Koskov appears at 0:11:00.
LTK - Sanchez appears in the PTS. Bond meets him at 1:08:00 (65 minutes later)
GE - Trevelyan appears in the PTS. He appears as Janus at 1:08:00 (65 minutes later)
TND - Carver appears at 0:20:00. Bond meets him at 0:30:00 (10 minutes later)
TWINE - Renard appears at 0:50:00. Bond meets him at 1:00:00 (10 minutes later)
DAD - Graves appears at 0:50:00. Bond meets him three minutes later.
CR - Le Chiffre appears at 0:08:00. Bond meets him at 1:09:00 (61 minutes later)
QOS - Greene appears at 0:23:00. Bond meets him at 0:59:00 (36 minutes later)
I would expect
Skyfall to follow the usual non-Blofeld pattern. Silva will probably appear before the thirty-minute mark, and the odds are good that his first scene won't include Bond. This was the case in the last two films. The villains showed up pretty early, right on the heels of the PTS, but it was a while before they crossed paths with Bond.