It’s not usual for any franchise to celebrate an anniversary with a product of quality, but aiming to redeem itself after a poor last mission, super spy James Bond is back. With 2012 being his 50th year of service, is there life still in the old loyal dog or is it time to him to collect his pension?
After a botched mission in Istanbul leaves him missing and presumed dead, British secret agent James Bond (Daniel Craig, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) sinks into a bout of drink and depression in a quiet retirement. However, cyber attacks on former employers MI6, and boss M (Judi Dench, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel), prompts Bond to make a return to service, despite being clearly unfit for duty. Under the watchful eye of the disapproving intelligence liaison to the Prime Minister, Mallory (Ralph Fiennes, Harry Potter), Bond discovers ex-agent Silva (Javier Bardem, No Country For Old Men) is behind the attacks and brings him back to England but could it all be part of a personal revenge plot Bond and MI6 have walked into?
The plot brings a faint whiff of the recent The Dark Knight Rises and the Batman comics which inspired it (with an ageing Bond and MI6 coming to terms with a changing spy/anti-terrorism climate), and Skyfall is probably the most personal Bond ever, with him defending his beloved England from Silva’s masterplan. Seeing sights in London getting bombed is emotive of the London bombings a few years ago, and the choice to tone down locales for a cheaper budget has worked so much better than expected in creating realism and showing how Britain is always at threat from terrorism.
Craig is still brilliant as Bond and improves on the rejuvenated character he started in Casino Royale. This time, in a depressed drunken stupor, we feel the pain this ageing, loyal, servant dog to Queen and Country has gone through when he sees nothing is being done for his fallen brothers in arms; it’s not something we see enough of from Bond – character and emotion. We are far and away from the classic archetype, bordering on parody we had in Pierce Brosnan’s outings, yet we still have the same old dry humour, and seen it all attitude, which makes Bond work. Craig looks like someone with the ageing crisis Bond is going through, but still carries off the womanising and boozing fantasy lifestyle everyone wants to be involved in.
Dench is reliable as the female M whose gruff exterior buckles for some decent acting when she doubts herself and is put on trial over MI6’s dealings. Fiennes is alright for his minor but memorable role as an ex-agent turned pencil pusher who looks to play an important part in the next few Bond outings, as is Naomie Harris (28 Days Later) as a newbie field agent, but the most interesting and brilliant casting performance easily comes from Bardem.
Bardem’s Silva is simply the best and most memorable Bond villain in recent history; he is a justifiable character who believes in the revenge he’s seeking from MI6 and M (particularly after being left on a mission and tortured), yet despite being a cruel monster of a man Silva only targets the ones who deserve his revenge, and it’s great to see a villain who’s righteous in his actions for once; his intelligence as a computer cyber terrorist is heightened by his genuinely distinctly odd look; a massively tall build with bleach blonde hair, capped off with his disgusting post-failed cyanide suicide disfigurement, has to put him into anyone’s top 5 Bond villains list already.
After the horribly disappointing Quantum Of Solace, renowned creative director Sam Mendes (American Beauty) is given the not too difficult task of getting the franchise back on track but he takes a decent plot and a quality cast and turns it into not just an essential Bond film, but a truly essential film; Skyfall oozes style and coolness when it should do, as well as exploring the dark side and nastiness of the spy game when needed; the personal side of Bond is handled masterfully, and we’re even treated to the sympathetic orphan Bond, something we’re not that used to seeing, but something which is not only nice to see, but gives us something to care about aside from the usual trap of just bumping off whichever love interest Bond has during his latest mission.
There are also amazing bits of cinematography (such as when Bond fights an assassin, in silhouette, against a luminous sign) which give Mendes his own creative imprint on an existing franchise. While the last two films may have seen the annoying technique begin to creep in, we’re thankfully far and away from the annoying Bourne fluster-vision this time out, and see the action harken back to the classic action setpieces; with the massive digger on a train chase being the highlight from the opening 13 minutes.
As it’s the 50th anniversary of Bond, there are suitable nods to all previous aspects of the film series’ rich history; a lot are script references, where the more ludicrous spy aspects are made fun of, there’s plenty of the dry humour Roger Moore was famed for and reminders of not only Sean Connery’s beginnings, but the Timothy Dalton and Pierce Brosnan outings, as well as the George Lazenby one-off; bringing something for everyone who has ever watched a Bond film, as well as one or two surprises, marvellous and ridiculous action setpieces, personal tragedy, and above all tremendous fun.
In fact, there’s hardly anything negative to say about this film; you could argue that the end is just a deck resetting exercise to harken back to the earlier Bonds, but it’s wrapped up with a modern day attitude of business as usual, old characters have been reinvented here masterfully, and even if there are one or two complaints about Silva’s villainous motivations, it makes sense with the brilliant way he’s brought to life by Bardem (as he wants personal, delicious, revenge for himself). Actually, there is one valid complaint; aside from a large plot point about a lost hard drive being essentially forgotten after Silva’s introduction, the Adele theme song is rather shit.
Easily the best Bond since Goldeneye (even beating the rather good Casino Royale), it could have easily fallen into a “Best of” trap like earlier films, but a pulling back of the curtain on Bond’s childhood, and a top notch plot and Grade A performances easily puts Skyfall onto the top of your must see list. With a dream duo of Mendes and Craig, style and substance triumph hand-in-hand. Skyfall is everything a James Bond outing should be about, so here’s to another 50 years of James!
Terry Lewis – @thatterrylewis.
