Last Friday, “Skyfall,” the 23rd movie in the James Bond series, was released in theaters to coincide with the 50th anniversary since the first “Bond” film: 1962’s “Dr. No,” which starred Sean Connery. “Skyfall” has enjoyed critical acclaim, with many reviewers praising the acting and allusions to previous movies in the series.
PLOT SUMMARY
A hard drive containing the identities of undercover NATO agents is stolen, and Bond (Daniel Craig) is sent to recover it. In the confusion of combat on top of a moving train, Bond’s colleague Eve (Naomie Harris) accidentally shoots him on order from his boss M (Judi Dench). He falls off the train as it passes over a canyon and is declared missing, presumed dead. Unbeknownst to MI6, the British Secret Service for which he works, he was actually living a life of unemployment on a remote island until he finds out that the MI6 headquarters was bombed and that six agents were killed. He returns to help M, and they realize that these attacks are personally targeted towards her by Silva (Javier Bardem), a former protégé of M’s gone rogue.
ACTING
I know I’m probably the only person in the world to not approve of Daniel Craig as James Bond (I’m still holding out for Michael Fassbender), but I think he stepped up his game here. He looks incredibly aged and tired now for some reason, but I think he finally learned how to act. James Bond isn’t meant to big and bulky, but now that Craig has lost some of the veiny muscles coming out of his neck, he looks the part.
Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men,” “Biutiful”) plays the flamboyant and brilliant hacker-turned-psychopath Silva, who has a slightly more extreme viewpoint towards his maternal relationship with M than Bond. Bardem is the quintessential Bond antagonist. Sure, every film has a villain, but few have truly embodied the pure evil that is inherent to a good adversary of Bond. Silva is up there with Goldfinger and Octopussy or Christoph Waltz’s SS Landa in “Inglorious Basterds.” The villains are always more interesting than the protagonists in a good movie. This has probably already been said before, but it seems that Bardem always has horrible hair every time he’s a murderous, psycho bad guy; it’s become his trademark. Silva is intelligent, sadistic and lethally charming – all necessary for an effective Bond.
Judi Dench (“Best Exotic Marigold Hotel”) plays the dispassionate M, whose relationship with Bond is a major focus in the movie. She wasn’t any different here than in the other Bond films or really any of her other movies. Dame Judi is one of those actresses who plays the same character in every single movie, but it’s always a fantastic performance, so no one seems to mind.
Naomie Harris (“Pirates of the Caribbean 3”) plays the field agent who shoots Bond in the beginning, but is incredibly flirtatious and surprisingly unapologetic when they meet up again later. They want you to think she’s the Bond girl, but they lie. Her identity is not fully revealed until the end, and then only those who have seen the classic Connery and Moore movies would recognize her. Bérénice Lim Marlohe, a beautiful woman Bond encounters in a Macau casino, had the shortest screen time of any woman in the history of Bonds. I’m still not sure to what her contribution to the plot was – other than the shower scene – but she came and went without leaving much of an impact on the film.
WRITING
There were several noticeable plot holes in the film, with several key chunks of the movie left unexplained. Additionally, the plot got a bit confusing towards the end. Silva pulls a total Joker-style move, but then there’s the fact that I didn’t really know what Skyfall was until I went home and looked it up. Maybe I just missed it, but the movie and trailers made it seem like Skyfall was the name of a fail-safe operation or something. *Spoiler/Hint: Skyfall is the name of Bond’s childhood home.*
The only thing that really bothered me was the pacing. It takes half the movie to even bring up the name of Silva and his first appearance was completely anti-climactic. From then on, it was a roller-coaster, but many scenes felt rushed. The iconic Aston Martin didn’t even appear until the last 30 minutes, but it made up for its absence with a joke referring to the gadgets in the classic movies. The opening sequence, typically consisting of twirly visuals and silhouettes of beautiful women, was weak, disappointing and pretty boring. Adele’s song had a jazzy, 60s sound to it, but I didn’t really care much for it.
The big theme of the movie here is that old-fashioned ways are often the best. Much of the plot deals with Bond’s age, with him returning to his boyhood home and failing various tests to rejoin the ranks of MI6. In the end, however, Harris’ character puts it best: “Old dog, new tricks.” There were a lot of nods to the classic movies, including the usage of the original score and the return of characters that haven’t been seen for years.
COMPARISON
Craig’s first Bond role was in “Casino Royale,” which some consider to be one of the best Bond movies of all time. I’d say that “Casino” and “Skyfall” are on about the same level of quality, with “Casino” at a slight advantage. The stories themselves were great in both, but while “Casino” had better writing, “Skyfall” has more of a nostalgic to it. “Skyfall” is also a bit more personal towards James Bond’s life and background. Yes, “Casino Royale” had Vesper and the turmoil following her death, but “Skyfall” has Bond coming to terms with his past and his life as an aging MI6 agent. The film serves as a segue for the series to pick up where left off in 1962. The previous movie, “Quantum of Solace” was horrible; even those who swear eternal loyalty to the Bond franchise reject it.
OVERALL
4/5 stars
“Skyfall” is rated PG-13 and runs for 143 minutes.
