And I’m glad I did, as ‘Skyfall’ is one of the best films I’ve seen this year.
The first thing you have to get over when seeing the film is how much of an industry the Bond series has become. Sure, product placement has always been common in the films to help finance all the car chases, explosions and drinks but I’ve never noticed that many of them in the films itself, but ahead of the 143-minute long movie were more adverts featuring Daniel Craig or Bond look-a-likes selling spin-off merchandise for cars, perfume and mobile phones than you would believe, so much so that my friends and I expected Craig to appear in every other advert not themed around the film, like a tuxedo-wearing Samuel L Jackson coming to recruit more customers to the Avengers Initiative of flogging 007 tat or the Blues Brothers telling the cinema audience ‘we’re getting the brand back together – here, buy some stuff’. They did spare us any less high end products like the James Bond oven mit or the 007 wok (“for when you want your Chinese food shaken and stir-fried”) but we could drive like Bond, smell like Bond and even drink bottled beer like Bond, something he avoids in the commercial but does in the film. What next in the franchise? Bond downs some WKD and gets a male vajazzle?
Anyway, forgetting the adverts and we get into the film itself. Opening with a moody blurred shot of Bond in silhouette – a camera technique used throughout the film with lots of battles happening Matrix-esque in silhouette, representing the shadowy forces at work in this film – we see him on the hunt for a missing laptop hard drive containing all the locations of UN agents undercover, naturally something MI6 doesn’t want going walkabouts. What we get is a high-adrenaline pre-credits sequence that really starts the film off well, with an on-form Craig chasing on foot, in a van, on bike and then on a train, with lots of small, inventive sections that really build up the pace, supported by his as-yet un-named assistant and M, played again by Judi Dench, over intercom back in London. The chase is gruelling and Bond proves himself not to be immune from mistakes, but it’s a spectacle to watch especially when it involves a train and a JCB and then a junior assistant who makes a bad mistake and sends Bond to what we assume is a watery grave. Assume, that is, if we thought the film would be over now with the lead man dead.
The opening credits sequence is back to the brilliance of the Casino Royale style opening with elements of Monty Python animation thrown in, fitting Adele’s soundtrack song perfectly and slipping in Bond conventions old and new into the piece with lots of hints of what to come.
I’m going to leave describing the plot there as I don’t want to spoil it for you but, if you’ve seen the trailer you’ll know what key plot points are. ‘Skyfall’ focusses much more on an invisible threat and covers cyberterrorism, two terrorist attacks in London and M’s past coming back to haunt her, with passing references to internet culture. I’m going to say now that you should see the film and if you want to go into the film clean then don’t read any more here as I may cover some mild spoilers.
Still with me? Then let’s look at the keys points of the film. The plot is very involving with many exciting set pieces. It feels, at times, more like M’s film that Bond’s, and she gets a well employed arc through the film. The attack on the MI6 building is short but impacting and Bond’s life away from MI6 summed up neatly, and there is a constant downbeat feel that keeps coming back, how Britain is no longer the power and force it was. There are lots of elements to ‘Skyfall’ and each brings something else to the table and move about so much there is no opportunity to get bored. We get a court-room-esque scene analysing M’s reputation and decision making; Bond’s inability to get back into shape and the effect this has on his role; a casino-based deviation; a thrilling chase sequence through the London Underground, even if the denouement of this is a little abrupt and lacking in impact considering what happens – just let’s say it involves a subway train and I half expected Ken Barlow to appear and go ‘Oh, not again’; and a new underground base for MI6.
There are also plenty of nods to previous instalments in celebrating of the fifty years, including the return of two long-standing characters played by new actors, one of which is Ben Whishaw’s Q, a marvellous interpretation and a character who adds a new element to the Bond formula and plays a key part in the plot, and proves not to be totally infallible. Played a little like a more conventional Sherlock Holmes, he’s a good balance against the brawn of Bond. Plus he has a great tea mug. We also get a retro Bond car, the return of a couple of gadgets (plus a witty line from Q about them) and a return to the one-liners that the series is known for, but they’re not too cheesy as in previous ones. In fact, this film does feel more Bond than the previous Bourne-inspired entries, and they seem to have got the balance right this time.
As the plot progresses the action shifts up to Scotland to the Skyfall estate for the final third of the film, which is quite a tonal shift for a Bond movie and doesn’t quite fit in with the feel, but offers something a little different, leading to a very dark and threatening ending as Bond aims to protect himself and M from the oncoming threat.
One character I haven’t mentioned yet is Javier Bardem as Silva, the main villain of the piece. An expert in cybercrime and a blast from M’s past, his appearance in the film is actually quite late, about half way through, and is a mixed bag. There are moments in the film where his part is played to perfection, in particular the chase through the underground and the reveal of what M’s actions did to him physically in what is quite a gruesome reveal, and he certainly has the menace of Heath Ledger’s Joker, especially in the final third, but he seemed at the start too comical even for a Bond villain, coming across as a mix between Sacha Baron Cohen and Pascale Sauvage from the first ‘Johnny English’ film and knocked back the realism of the film for me a little.
The cast was supported by great turns from Albert Finney as Skyfall gamekeeper Kincade and Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory and as an overall piece was very enjoyable to watch and didn’t feel its lengthy two-and-a-half hours. The plot unfolded well, the new characters – especially Q and Naomie Harris’ Eve – were essential parts to the story and Craig felt much more comfortable in the skin of Bond. The set-pieces, in particular the opening train sequence, the Underground part and the siege of Skyfall, were as epic as we expect from a Bond film and there is an emotional climax, but one that I expected from seeing the trailer. The one thing the film doesn’t have is many surprises. The ending is obvious from the trailer and the outcome seems a waste considering everything they went through in the film, and the wake short and rushed, even if it is punctuated with a neat joke and a couple of revelations.
With its mix of exotic locales and international missions, but with a much larger focus on home soil which makes the threat much closer, and a more realistic threat with computers replacing nuclear warheads and other clichéd Bond villain territory, a theme covered both inside and outside MI6, the shift in locale ticks the box and, like The Joker from the Dark Knight, the threat seems more real for being more grounded.
Overall, ‘Skyfall’ is the best Bond film I’ve seen for sheer adventure, set-pieces and tension and rounds off fifty years of Bond, James Bond, perfectly.
(8.5/10)
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