Skyfall

Me and James Bond films in the past have always had a very sordid affair. They are movies that I have always wanted to love but for one reason or another they just keep pushing me away. The very first Bond film I ever saw was the incredibly silly "Die Another Day". A film that gave Moonraker a run for it's money in terms of how over the top cartoonish it was. I was ten and even then I felt like I was watching a cartoon instead of what I thought was supposed to be a more grown up spy adventure film. I liked it for a time but I have grown to hate it for it's horrible CGI, lame attempts at trying to make Bond cool, the god awful torture that is Madonna's theme song, the ludicrous plot and again the OTT cartoonish aspect of it all (I made a giant Ice palace, you know cause I could). After I saw it I felt this is what James Bond was and I never really got his appeal to most people, until I saw "Casino Royal". A very suave, very sophisticated movie that I had first expected out of  "Die Another Day". I loved it, I loved the look and feel of it, I loved the characters, I loved the story and I loved that this was basically Bond before he became James Bond. I loved it and the fact that it was pretty much guaranteed to have a sequel left me wanting more, and I got more, I got Quantum of Solace. While not a horrible movie, Quantum failed to live up to the hype left by Casino Royal in that it had lost almost all sense that this was a Bond film and had become a straight up Jason Borne movie. Quantum left me cold and after that I could care less about the next Bond movie coming out if this is what it was going to be. Little did I know that it would take Bond 5 years to make it back onto the big screen and after so long a time I was genuinely interested to see how James Bond would fair in his newest outing. I don't believe the hype for a new James Bond sequel has been this big since "Casino Royal" was released And the question on every one's mind is "Can it live up to the hype"? And I am very pleased to report that it not only lives up to that hype, but shoots past it to become one of the best Bond films ever made.

STORY

After a botched mission in Turkey results in a hard drive being stolen that contains the Identities of MI6 agents and James Bond (Daniel Craig) presumably being shot and killed, things are not looking good for the head of MI6 M (Judi Dench). Aside from being politically pressured to retire thanks to this incident, MI6 has now been targeted by an unknown terrorist when it is hacked and bombed in London. Bond mean while has used his supposed death to retire until he sees news of the bombing on the news and returns to London. While he has lost some of his edge over the intervening 3 months, he is never the less set out to track down the mysterious Silva (Javier Bardem) , a man who seemingly has past connections to M. Bond must track him down, protect M and stop him from destroying MI6.

The story for "Skyfall" is probably the most personal James Bond movie I've seen, probably even more so then Casino Royal. It focuses mostly on the relationships between James Bond and M, a relationship that's never really been looked at too much for the most part, and has mostly been determined by how they bounce their lines off of each other. But in this movie we really get to see these two interact and see that Maternal bond (pun completely intended) that the two share blossom open so that we can really examine it. It's a very fascinating chemistry that I honestly never really thought about too much until this movie.

But there is something that is even more fascinating then even Bond and M's relationship, and that's how M connects to the villain of the film Silva. This is a character that could have easily been one note, a laughing cackling villain that's just out to ruin MI6 and M. But really by the end of the film, you really do feel bad for him and see how much pain he's had to go through because of her. 

The script for the most part is very well paced. The only spot where I really felt it drag is the beginning after the title sequence. It's interesting but it's pretty slow to really get going and catch up to the pace the pre title sequence had. Another thing is that the movie takes alot of cues from Christopher Nolan's "Dark Knight" films, even down to a few of the plot points mirroring them. This never really bothered me, but I can see a number of people finding that hard to over look. 

The bottom line is that this is one of the best Bond stories I've seen. I always love a good Bond movie where the espionage, the woman the gadgets and the big bad guy are main focus but I equally love a good Bond movie that's willing to forgo all those things and take a risk in what kind of story it wants to tell.

PRODUCTION

Bond movies have been known for alot of things and one of those things is it's exotic locations. Now while there really is not much globe hoping in this movie is good but nothing too special. While there are some very beautiful shots of London, Shanghai and Scotland. Nothing is really gonna leave you with your jaw on the floor. 

The Acting in this film is superb, ninety percent of the time. Daniel Craig as Bond is at his best in this movie. It's amazing how well Craig fits the tux now and makes it feel as if he's never left for a moment. He has a very cool and suave aspect to him but he also has a hint of something grittier in him that really gives off a presence on screen. He seems like a mix of Sean Connery's Bond and Timothy Dalton's Bond and makes for probably one of my favorite Bonds. Another very strong performance comes from Judi Dench as M. This is Dench's 7th time playing the character and it's a performance that reminds us of why she was given the part in the first place. She has a very authoritative, stern and commanding presence to her which also comes through in the way she speaks and acts. But you can also see a very human side to her, you see how much Silva is hurting her and how he's cracking away at her tough outer shell little by little. She also does a great job at giving off a maternal feeling through out the movie in the way her and Bond interact with each other and it never feels awkward or forced in. It all feels very natural.

But for me the scene stealer of the movie has to be Javier Bardem as the films villain Raul Silva. Villains in the rebooted Bond films have not really lived up to the series ability to craft great villains for Bond. Lechiffe in "Casino Royal" was okay but he was not really a bad guy, more of a lackey with power behind him. And Quantum's Dominic Green was very forgettable. But here Javier Bardem really puts in a powerful and yet very creepy performance as Silva. The minuet you see him and hear him talk, he gives off this very childlike but sophisticated presence as if his mind is just on the border between genius and psychopath. He's pretty much made out to be the bad guy version of James Bond and just like Craig is able to portray a sense of suave and intelligence through his acting, Bardem is able to portray a sense the same thing but also adds a layer of brilliant insanity to it as well. One of the best Bond villains I've see in a long time.

Sadly I can not really talk about the rest of the cast without giving away a good number of spoilers concerning where those characters are taken in this movie. I do however want to give some praise to Ben Whishaw as the new Q. He does a very good job making it his own but at the same time invoking the spirit of the longest running Q Desmond Llewelyn (he even sounds the same as Llewelyn at points.)

The only downside to this cast is one of the most important Bond staples, the Bond girls. Naomie Harris and Beranice Lim Marlohe just don't have chemistry with Daniel Craig. Most of the time when they interact it feels like how two actors pretending to have chemistry would act. There's alot of smiling and back and forth dialogue but none of it feels very believable. This is especially sad when you find out where they take one of the characters in this movie but again I will not spoil it for you.

Lastly I have to talk about the action sequences. Director Sam Mendes has never really given off the sense that he was the go to man to direct an action movie before. Sure some of his movies have action elements to them (Jarhead, Road to Perdition) but they are not action movies. But this movie really shows how well Mendes knows how to film an action scene and where to put them in the film. The first 15 chase scene through the streets of Turkey is incredibly well done and very thrilling to watch (maybe a little bit too good as it could be seen as the movies high point). The action scenes also do a very good job of diversifying themselves. It's not just a series of chases through out the movie. There's an action scene done with silhouettes, one done in the middle of a crowded casino and the climax of the film is like nothing a Bond film has ever really tried before. 

The Production on this movie really stands out in terms of recent James Bond films. Unlike Quantum of Solace this movie feels like a James Bond movie. It steps back from the manic camera and poor fight direction approach of Quantum of Solace and lets the movie and audience breath for a few seconds. It knows just what it's trying to do and how it's going to do it, and really feels like the follow up to Casino Royal that Quantum of Solace failed to be.

CONCLUSION

One of the questions raised in Skyfall is " Is there a need for a man like James Bond?" Why send out a secret agent when you can easily hack into someones PC and have enough dirt on them to ruin them forever. So, Is there a need for James Bond? The answer in the end is yes. James Bond is back in a big way with Skyfall. The film is exactly what Bond needed to remain relevant in today's age. It manages to make the Bond feels fresh again without having to pander or pretend to be something it's not (Die Another Day I'm looking at you). This film acts as something of a transition to introducing alot more of the Bond staples we are familiar with.  I haven't even gotten to all the nods to the previous bond films it has. And how it manages to introduce them without having them feel forced or unnecessary. The movie shows that it was clearly made by people who love James Bond and want to celebrate him in the best way they can, by making a damn good James Bond movie. And to that I say mission accomplished. Happy 50th Birthday Mr. Bond.

RANDOM THOUGHTS DURING THE MOVIE!

* What my brain said after the pre title sequence and the title sequence: "Now that was a James Bond opening."

* During the Silhouette battle:" Round one: FIGHT!"

*After the henchman is killed in the Casino Fight: "Oh come on James no one liner? I can come up with one right now. "Thanks for Dragon him off".

* When Bond is tied to a chair being interrogated "Oh would you two just make out already"

*During the Climax of the Film "Welcome to the James Bond equivalent of Horde mode"

*Further on in the Climax "You can kill other agents and threaten my boss but once you blow up my car, that's when it's personal."