Plot
After yet another near-death experience, an aged and grizzled Bond (Daniel Craig) must go on the hunt for an ultra sensitive NATO database which poses danger both to the lives of his colleagues and the reputation of series matriarch M (Judi Dench). Jetting across the world from London to Macau, he combats dangers ranging from – numerous – speeding trains, to the plotting of elusive Big-Bad Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), to the hazards of own age in an increasingly youthful MI6.
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| Tailoring is whole different ball game in Spain. |
Review
Starting with the formula-subverting Casino Royale (goodbye to Roger Moore’s astonishing eyebrows, hello to Daniel Craig’s bleeding grittiness) before moving on to the stupendously underwhelming Quantum of Solace, the new Bond dynasty was one firmly fixed in critical limbo. Not anymore.
From the very first musical beat and silhouette to the closing line of dialogue, Skyfallis the epitome of all that is Bond: the culmination of this year’s 50thanniversary celebrations. Everything is here and accounted for: for series’ fans there’s the eye-gorging set pieces, lightning dialogue with witty quips galore and sharp characters in even sharper suits; for new fans…well, there’s eye-gorging set pieces, lightning dialogue with witty quips galore and sharp characters in even sharper suits. Bottom line: Skyfall is not only an exemplary Bond film; it is an outstanding candidate for the spectacle and entertainment of cinema in general.
Smartly dropping all of the shady Machiavellian ‘Quantum’ based villainy, Skyfall is set as the most recent outing in the Bond chronology (for all of the vague, airy guidance that offers). Far removed from the gung-ho freshly christened 007 of Casino Royale, Skyfall catches up with Bond as a veteran of MI6, ‘a distinguished agent’ within an increasingly youthful system. And there’s no turning back from there for the new Bond. Bloodshot eyes and stubble, shaky hands and psychological trauma: Bond isn’t the invincible spy extraordinaire anymore, he’s a shaken man out of time, short on friends and overloaded with demons, the most threatening of which comes equipped with dodgy blonde haircut in the form of Javier Bardem’s electric baddy’s-baddy Silva.
Whereas Quantum put all its eggs in the explodey action basket, Skyfall mixes its more frenetic moments with periods of peace, dialogue and, y’know, that important narrative thing. Its in these sections that Skyfall’s most prominent trump card is thrown triumphantly upon the table: its characters. Following on from Casino Royale’s more realistic Bond (he bleeds, good God!) Craig is back doing what he does best: darkly refined, effortlessly charming, and this time with a garnish of psychological iffery. It can’t be easy recovering from a couple of shots to the chest and for the first time there’s a fear for Bond. A fear that fits in nicely with Skyfall’s somewhat unique insistence on humanizing her majesty’s secret weapon: not only does Bond have a weakness, he has a past. Such a change of direction will no doubt fall foul with people who want to see Bond as nothing more than a shagtastic super-hero, but in the era of brooding and orphaned heroes (Batman, Spiderman, Superman and all that merry crew) it’s a narrative choice that works well, helping to craft a story several leagues stronger than previous Bond iterations.
On top of this there is Bardem’s simply glorious, homoerotically charged villain, Ben Whishaw’s excellently subverted Q (‘what were you expecting, an exploding pen?’) and Ralph Feinnes just-about-okay understated mystery man Mallory. The Bond girls – or should that be: the sexable Bond girls – Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlhowe are disappointing however, far too vapid and fleeting to be particularly engaging. But really this doesn’t matter; the true Bond girl of Skyfallis Judi Dench, here once again reprising her icy-cool, bitingly intelligent M.
In many ways SkyfallI isn’t even a Bond film but an M film. The story is born from her character’s shady past and even those all important theme things are embodied within her sheepy self: age, dwindling power and the inevitability of the past. M is the life and soul of Skyfalland the film knows it, with so many scenes focusing on the delicious banter between herself and her colleagues and many more about her when she isn’t even there. One particular stand-out scene has M narrating over a montage of Silva’s villainy, quoting poetry and generally being a verbal bad-ass as she really drives home what this film is about: she (and Bond) may be old, but they will never be kept down.
Verdict
Despite a slightly plodding second act and disappointing lack of characterisation of the eye-candy, Skyfall is a seminal production. On top of being potentially the best Bond film of all time (except Goldeneye obviously) it is a plainly brilliant film in general filled with everything that cinema should be about: thrills, spills and excitement with a dash of intelligence. A bloody good time.
5/5
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