Skyfall (2012)
Certified: PG
Duration: 143 minutes
Directed by: Sam Mendes
Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Albert Finney, Rory Kinnear, Ola Rapace, Ben Whishaw
KRS release
Skyfall is a real shot in the arm for the James Bond franchise. And it is probably the first Bond film to ever rival the likes of the classic Dr No (1962), From Russia With Love (1963) and Goldfinger (1964).
Director Sam Mendes, who has delivered such great movies as American Beauty (1999) and Road to Perdition (2002), takes a deconstructionist approach to the Bond mythos, very much in the same manner as Christopher Nolan approached the Batman figure in the Dark Knight trilogy.
Skyfall shreds away all the layers of James Bond – it goes beyond the gadgets, the iconic tags, the Bond girls – and strips the character to his bones.
This is a Bond that can be hurt, that is not facing world domination but rather something more personal.
The film is thus closer in spirit to the works of Ian Fleming than anything that has been churned out since Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.
The change is evident from the opening credit sequence which has Adele singing the titular track. Instead of the usual sexy girls with guns, visions of crosses, cemeteries and death cascade on screen.
The film opens with a literal bang. James Bond (Daniel Craig) is involved in a breathtaking chase that involves cars, motorcycle rides on rooftops and a train battle. Involved in the action is also a skilled agent (Naomie Harris) who, at M’s orders, gets to pull the trigger.
The result is that Bond is shot and left for dead while the man he was chasing escapes with a list of all of MI6 agents who are working undercover.
A few months later, Silva (Javier Bardem), who had once been an agent in MI6 but has an axe to grind with M (Judi Dench), returns, attacking MI6 with a deadly cyber terrorist attack.
Bond returns but he has to first pass some tests as his time out has turned him into a wreck.
Meanwhile, M is under attack for the way she is heading MI6 and thus she faces off with rival Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) who is crying out for her to update her methods or, even better, simply retire.
Q (Ben Whishaw) is now a young computer whiz kid who will become a lynchpin assistant to Bond in a breathtaking chase sequence in the London underground.
Meanwhile, Bond must travel to Shanghai where he will meet Severine (Bérénice Marlohe) – this Bond’s femme fatale – who will lead himto Silva.
The ensuing mind games share more similarities to Silence of the Lambs than anything else this franchise has ever spawned.
Skyfall has some of the best on-screen character development a Bond movie ever had.
Mendes wears his influences proudly – from the action sequences which are influenced by the Jason Bourne series to the finale on the moor which has a whiff of Straw Dogs (1971). However, what he creates is simply a unique beast.
Craig cements his position as the ideal Bond for our modern times.
Excellent supporting turns are provided by Whishaw as Q, Fiennes as Mallory and Bardem as the really ultimate sadistic villain seemingly inspired by Hannibal Lecter.
The film has glamour aplenty but yet it delivers slight changes to the usual template to really make a difference.
For example, Bond confronts his arch enemy in his headquarters half-way through the film not in the finale as is the norm. The film also delves finely into the characters of M and Bond and the interplay between them is exquisite.
This is not a complicated and convoluted plot. Keeping matters simple is the ace up Mendes’s sleeve. He keeps our focus with an iron grip.
He delivers heart-stopping sequences such as the initial chase by motorbike, train and digger, the Shanghai sniper sequence, the London underground mayhem and Silva’s lair.
By the way, once the original Aston Martin makes its appearance, I am sure you will want to cheer. I sure did. My only suggestion: give Mendes directing duties on the next Bond film, he surely has earned another chance.