After Quantum of Solace in 2008 suffered poor reviews and was generally reckoned the worst Bond film of all, whatever MGM did next would be make or break for the franchise. They started work on the next movie in 2010, only for filming to be suspended due to money troubles, but in January 2011 they were rescued from bankruptcy and over a year later, on Friday 26 October 2012, the world got to see the 23rd James Bond film and the main event of its 50th anniversary – Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, famous for such films as American Beauty, Road To Perdition and more recently 1917.
It stars with a pre-title sequence set in Istanbul with Bond (Daniel Craig) and another agent known as Eve (Naomie Harris) on a mission to retrieve a stolen hard drive containing the names of undercover agents. In a shocking twist of events (that really should have been kept out of the trailers) Eve takes a chance to shoot the target but hits Bond instead, and then the target is gone along with the hard drive, and Bond is presumed dead.
Things get worse for MI6 with M (Judi Dench) – who for once has a prominent presence in a Bond film – having to meet with the chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee of Parliament played by Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes). He pressures her into retiring and if that weren’t bad enough MI6 itself is hacked and explodes in front of M’s eyes. After all that, it’s revealed that Bond is alive (of course), he finds out what’s been happening and just like that is back in London and taking tests to determine if he is ready to go back into the field. Eventually he comes face to face with the latest villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). While I’m on the subject of newcomers, Ben Wishaw debuts as Q and Naomie Harris is the new Moneypenny.
Once again Daniel Craig turns in an impressive performance. This is his third outing and by now he should have figured a way to bring something different to the character. He does tend to stick to what he does best; he has charm and can deliver the one-liners, but also manages to demonstrate an idea of how an older Bond would act in certain situations. For example, holding onto the bottom of an ascending lift makes him break into a sweat – in Casino Royale I think he would have done it without turning a hair. Then again, James Bond (and M) are getting to an age where they maybe shouldn’t be in this kind of life any more; or maybe they just don’t blend in with a world where espionage is seemingly dominated by technology.
Skyfall (2hrs 24m) really takes its time in setting things up – it’s not one action sequence after another and in fact it can be a slow burn at times. But the key aspect that the scriptwriters have learned is that all they need to do is keep the film interesting enough to keep watching. They also keep the reveal of the villain back for as long as they can and when it comes, it’s very memorable. When we finally see Silva, he’s walking closer and closer to the camera, monologuing – no music or sound at all – and there’s something unusually compelling about him. That goes for his performance in general – he can do anything from charming psychopath to ranting about horrific details in his past and do both equally convincingly. He works very well with Craig, and his character certainly knows how to put Boom, Boom by The Animals to good use when making an entrance.
Following Silva’s arrival into the film there are some more chase and action sequences, set in a train station and an inquiry room where Silva moves with admirable but unsettling efficiency before things go in a somewhat unexpected direction with Bond and M going to his childhood home in Scotland which provides the title of the film. There they intend to fight Silva to the death, with the help of an elderly gamekeeper called Kincaid (Albert Finney) who has apparently been there since Bond was a child. From there the film starts to look like a grittier version of Home Alone, but with actual guns and dynamite and the apparent destruction of the Aston Martin DB5, still with the famous ejector seat button.
Mendes directs competently and another highly-regarded name in his field is cinematographer Roger Deakins. In locations such as Istanbul, London, Shanghai and Macau, he does what he can but it’s nothing ground-breaking.
I didn’t think there was much to say about Thomas Newman’s score but since I’m on the subject of music, I may as well mention the title song by Adele. It’s fine, she’s capable at what she does, and it does go well with the title sequence at the start.
In the end, Silva is no more, but there is another detail that I will keep out of this review for the few people who have yet to see the film.In the end Skyfall was a film worthy of the franchise and was a great way to help people to get over the disappointment of Quantum of Solace and celebrate the anniversary. It’s also not a bad film for someone to see if it’s their first Bond… trust me, I know.
