Skyfall (2012)

Directed By: Sam Mendes

Written By: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan

Players: Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris and Ralph Fiennes

Setup: Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

 

Review: Look, I'm a Bond fanatic and I can't remember a time in my life where I wasn't reading Ian Fleming's stories or watching his famous character come to life on film. So when I say I don't want to be the guy coming out of the theater saying Skyfall is the best Bond film in the fifty year franchise you need to know how serious I am when I say it just might be. I've been mulling it over for about a week and even caught it a second time and have come to the conclusion that Skyfall is damn near perfect.

Director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins have crafted a perfect Bond film that pays all kinds of respect to the rich cinematic history of 007 while creating a damn fine flick in its own right.

I don't want to get bogged down in plot in this review suffice to say that Skyfall kicks off with an amazing pre-title chase sequence that rivals anything that has come before it then leads into one of the most memorable and visually unique title sequences since ... well probably the brilliance of Casino Royale. As a for the Skyfall theme itself Adele has a perfect set of pipes to belt out a truly classic Bond theme and it doesn't disappoint, it truly belongs right up there with Shirley Bassey's Goldfinger. If you have somehow been living under a rock and haven't heard it by now (it's been getting an impressive amount of radio play) take a moment to listen, your ears will thank you.

 

On a whole Skyfall takes it too a whole new level and diverges from the storyline the previous two films have set up leaving behind the specter of Quantum and delving into new territory. In doing so it creates a stand-alone Bond film that will unquestionably belongs among the best in the franchise such as true Bond classics like From Russia With Love, Goldfinger, On Her Majesties Secret Service and The Spy Who Loved Me. Skyfall was the Bond movie I couldn't have dared hope for as a fan and it still hasn't quite sunk in, even after a second screening, how perfectly executed it is.

A lot of people are saying this is the follow-up to Casino Royale we've been waiting for but I'd even go further back ... a lot further back. In fact if I had to draw comparisons between one of those classic films and Skyfall then it would have to be From Russia With Love (coincidentally my personal favorite) as it gives us probably the closest depiction of Fleming literary Bond. But the similarities don't stop there. Hell, Craig is even wearing the same suit that Sean Connery was swagging around in FRWL, the pre-title sequence is set in Instanbul and he's rolling around in the first Bond's iconic ride (while that doesn't come until Goldfinger it's still awesome). The plot is also reminiscent of the serious Cold War code breaking counter-espionage intrigue in FRWL but this time modernized by way of a shadowy techno-terrorist in Silva. Also like FRWL Skyfall doesn't allow itself to get bogged down in the frivolity of gadgets which while fun don't really belong in a serious Bond film like the one director Sam Mendes and Craig have crafted in Skyfall. 

Now, what I have come to enjoy most about Daniel Craig's tenure as 007 so far is how personal and emotionally invested he is as Bond. In Casino Royale I found myself almost rooting for him to have that happy ending that wouldn't come and while many dismiss Quantum of Solace as a rushed to production Jason Bourne rip-off (I could not disagree more) at it's core a is revenge flick on par with Dalton's License to Kill that see's Bond trying to heal a wound that can never truly be healed. Bond as a character is forever wounded and in Skyfall the 007 we see has been through hell; time, physical and emotional abuse have taken their toll. We even get a glimpse (merely a glimpse) at his tragic backstory that all true Bond fanatics know too well but it is more than we've ever seen on screen before and it is something that has been a long time coming. Yes, he's still Bond and you know in your gut he's going to come out on top but looking at a scruffy Craig you are going to wonder how, especially when you see what he's up against ... possibly the greatest Bond villain of all time.

 

In the realm of Bond baddies I'll be the first to admit many are rather forgetable and are usually defined by simply one quirk, financial greed or complete megalomania which makes Javier Bardem's deliciously nefarious Silva so damn refreshing. We hear about him and even begin to dread his power long before we ever see him and when he finally does enter the film it is unquestionably one the greatest Bond villain entrance of all time. Silva is much more similar to Bond than 007 would like to admit and at it doesn't take much to actually sympathize with his backstory. Silva has a history that pits him against Bond at a very personal level, possibly the most personal since Blofeld crashed the honeymoon in On Her Majesties Secret Service (which Ed recently reviewed) and it creates an interesting dynamic of mutual respect and several rather humorous exchanges. Simply put; Bardem just takes it to a whole new level, give this man another damn Oscar.

One of the biggest complaints I've heard about Skyfall is that it is lacking in the Bond Girls department ... which is totally false. There are two actresses that I suppose you could categorize as Bond girls; a somewhat inexperienced MI6 field agent named Eve played by Naomie Harris who effortlessly banters with Bond and a troubled femme fatale portrayed by French actress Bérénice Marlohe in her English speaking debut. Both of them are perfectly cast and provide much more to the story than simple eye-candy (although they are both easy on the eyes anyway). Since Casino Royale Craig's Bond seems to have learned to distance himself emotionally to women or at least try to, which is in itself yet another classic Bond character trait that shows up in Skyfall.

But I think what really sets Skyfall apart from all previous Bonds is how integral the rest of MI6 is to the story, specifically Dame Judi Dench's M. She's been a staple in Bond films since GoldenEye but I don't think we ever truly get to see what she is capable of until this film. Skyfall's story very much centers around her character, in fact I would go as far to state it is her story and everyone else is along for the ride. Then we get a new character Mallory, something of a government bureaucratic that M has to answer to but played by the always welcomed Ralph Fiennes. You just know there's going to be more to Mallory than meets the eye and Fiennes and Dench have a great couple of scenes to chew on together. Ohm and yes, Q is back in a big way but Ben Whishaw's take on the Bond stalwart is both completely unlike late Desmond Llewelyn's Q while remaining completely faithful to it at the same time. People looking for ridiculous exploding pen gadgets of the Brosnan era Bond may be disappointed but Q does have a few tricks up his cardigan sleeves and I can't wait to see what they do with the character down the line.

Skyfall is so much more than a homage to what came before, it can completely stand on its own merits. Craig's other two Bond films were building up to this point and while Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace have classic Bond moments it isn't until Skyfall that we get an uncompromised full Bond film. Skyfall on a whole creates a very unique aesthetic in the blending of old and succeeds in creating something timeless.

Maybe that's the best way to sum up Skyfall on the whole; timeless.

Tidbit: Daniel Craig cried when he heard Adele's Skyfall theme, which he admitted in an interview “I cried ... from the opening bars I knew immediately, then the voice kicked in and it was exactly what I’d wanted from the beginning.”

Drink of Choice: A pretty big deal was made over the fact that Heineken was going to be a Bond sponsor and that Bond would swig from the green beer bottle at some point in Skyfall. Some purists were outraged, to which I say if it's good enough for Bond it's bloody well good enough for you.