It's been a rocky road for the Daniel Craig-era of James
Bond. After the critically reviled Die Another
Day, the 007 franchise was rebooted for a post-9/11, post-Jason Bourne
world. Gone were the corny double entendres, goofy gadgets, and tongue-in-cheek
tone. In their place was a Bond who would rather shank someone with a steak
knife than kill them with an exploding pen. Casino
Royale was one of the best Bond films since the early Roger Moore flicks The Spy Who Loved Me and Live and Let Die. Only Goldeneye, Pierce Brosnan's first outing
as the iconic spy, comes close. However, the series almost fizzled out before
it really got going with Quantum of
Solace. The sequel suffered from script problems and a director with only a
loose grasp of action sequences. Marc Forster was an experienced hand at
smaller dramatic fare like Monster's Ball
and Finding Neverland, but was
clearly overwhelmed while directing his first blockbuster. It seems he's had
similar problems with the troubled production of World War Z.
Skyfall rights the
ship immediately with a thrilling chase through the streets of Istanbul. Bond
is after a stolen hard drive containing the identities of undercover NATO
agents embedded within terrorist organizations. Within the prologue, we get
shootouts, a motorcycle race across the rooftops, vehicles blowing through a
crowded bazaar, and Bond ripping through a train car with an excavator. A
fistfight on top of a speeding train leads to Bond being accidentally shot by
fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris). He plummets into the river below and is
presumed dead.
Bond returns months later following an explosion at MI6
headquarters. Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a malevolent figure from M's (Judi
Dench) past has returned to wreak havoc for previous betrayal. Bond must also
contend with another dangerous adversary: old age. Has 007 lost a step,
especially when he's faced with a brilliant enemy who can kill with a simple
keystroke?
Skyfall boasts one
of the strongest pedigrees of any Bond film with Sam Mendes as director and
Roger Deakins as cinematographer. It's wider in scope than anything Mendes has
directed before, but he has a firm handle on intimate character moments as well
as exciting action scenes. Mendes embarks on a globe-trotting adventure that
traverses a floating casino in Macau, the London underground (where Silva tries
to kill Bond with a subway train), and the bleak moors of Scotland. The most
impressive sequence takes place in a gleaming skyscraper in Shanghai. There,
Bond confronts a sniper on a floor with walls of glass where everything is shot
in silhouette and bathed in a blue light from a digital billboard across the
street. Mendes also gives Silva the grand entrance befitting such a flamboyant
villain. The camera is kept static for one long take as Silva enters from the
background and strides towards a captive Bond while giving a creepy monologue
about rats fighting for survival. It gets stranger when Silva caresses Bond's
thighs in an effort to unnerve the masculine secret agent.
Bardem's performance rivals his chilling turn as Anton
Chigurh in No Country for Old Men.
Silva is flamboyant cut from the same cloth as Heath Ledger's Joker. Indeed, The Dark Knight served as an inspiration
for Skyfall, which is ironic since
the Bond movies partly inspired Christopher Nolan's take on Batman. Silva is a
villain for the 21st century who isn't out to conquer the world or
steal its wealth. He has a vendetta against M, making his assault far more
personal than Quantum, the clandestine organization that previously antagonized
Bond. In stereotypical fashion, Silva has his secret headquarters on an
abandoned island in the midst of a ruined city.
As a result, Skyfall
reexamines the mythos of James Bond by making him more vulnerable and exploring
his damaged psyche. Following the botched mission, Bond retires to paradise and
drowns his sorrow with booze and meaningless sex. To paraphrase Sean Bean in Goldeneye, he silences the screams of
the men he's killed with vodka martinis and finds forgiveness in the arms of
willing women for the one she failed to protect. When he has returned, Bond
faces his own mortality and the fact that he's a few steps off. There are even
allusions to Bond's troubled childhood. Thankfully, the filmmakers avoid
simplifying the complexities of Bond. They've expanded the character beyond
just a dapper secret agent armed with a few quips and a Walther-PPK.
A recurring theme in Skyfall
is the idea that the "old ways are best" with an undercurrent on the
relevancy of the Bond franchise in the 21st century. Silva's crusade
has pulled MI6 out of the shadows and into the light where they face two other
fearsome foes: public scrutiny and bureaucracy. Q (Ben Whishaw) is
re-introduced to the series as a tech savvy youngster in the vein of Jesse
Eisenberg. Although Q has an embankment of supercomputers, he prefers to equip
Bond with a radio transmitter and the trademark Walther-PPK though it does use
a biometric grip. There are jokes about the aforementioned exploding pen and
ejector seats as a playful homage to the Bond of the past. The same goes for
the opening credit song, "Skyfall" by Adele, whose soulful vocals are
a throwback to the classics sung by Shirley Bassey.
The one weakness of Skyfall
is its treatment of women who've always had it rough in the Bond series. It's
almost tradition to have one tagalong Bond girl and one disposable Bond girl. The
sidekick here is Eve who is revealed to be Miss Moneypenny. Rather than
portraying her as a formidable agent, she's given a reverse character arc where
she's taken from the field and put behind a desk. Hopefully, future films will
not stick her in the tired role of secretary. To her credit, Naomie Harris is a
great verbal sparring partner for Daniel Craig. The disposable Bond girl is
French actress Bérénice Marlohe as the sultry Severine whose death is quickly
disregarded.
Skyfall is a fitting
way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of James Bond. This is one of
the best Bond films in decades and one of the best films of 2012.
Rating: **** (*****)
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