After the disappointment which was Quantum of Solace people found themselves asking questions about
the Bond series: Would it ever be able to again balance out realism with
action, if Daniel Craig was still the right person for the role and if the next
film would display more of the eccentric gadgetry? Skyfall is a resounding yes to all and shows how the franchise has decades
of life in it yet.
Taking place an undetermined amount of time after the war
against Quantum, and with little to no continuity with that plot, Skyfall concerns a major security leak
in MI6. An encoded list containing names of every deep cover agent has been
taken by an unknown force and Bond has been shot in the line of duty, on M’s
orders no less. Having taken this as an opportunity to fall off the radar he
goes missing, at least until the list is decoded, MI6 itself is bombed and
people start dying. Bond returns to duty but the question hangs over the film
if he’s too old to do his work and if he can truly trust anyone.
Unlike Quantum of
Solace this film is effectively a big back to basics effort on the part of
the franchise. Far more tonally consistent than the preceding film, Skyfall doesn’t make the same mistake of
trying to copy the nihilistic realism of Casino
Royale entirely, instead introducing elements of the older films. It’s not
completely fantasy, there’s no underwater evil villain lairs or men with metal
teeth but it does feature things like a fight in a komodo dragon pit in a
casino. This makes it much easier to accept the occasional plot contrivance and
the explosion driven storyline. Speaking of which despite having only an almost
non-existent record of filming action sequences Sam Mendes holds his own
extremely well. Each punch up, gunshot and high speed collision is delivered
with the competence of a veteran and very few times do you sense he’s failing
to deliver the goods so much as putting his own signature style on things.
Moving onto the cast, they’re as high calibre as you’d
expect to see in as big a title as a Bond instalment. Along with the
aforementioned Daniel Craig, Dame Judie Dench makes her return as M with
recognisable faces Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Albert Finney all take up
supporting roles. Stand-out even amongst them is Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva
as the villain, who while hamming it up in a few scenes handles the role with
an effective balance of psychosis and genius. While no Anton Chigurh, Silva is
definitely one of the best villains the franchise has seen in years, believably
commanding much more power than Dominic Greene and Mads Mikkelsen and having
the personal skills to back it up.
While the acting, direction and plot are all exceptionally
strong there are a few niggling issues within the production. Of note is the
fact there’s no sense of escalation. Many action films from the Avengers to Mission Impossible succeed because each sequence is built upon in
terms of scale and intensity. While the stakes might be higher in later on and
it certainly becomes more inventive, Skyfall
really blows its load in the introduction. While certainly entertaining what
follows just seems to either be moving in a different direction or consistently
failing to surpass what came before it.
To top this off while the film might have a great bunch of
actors to work with, it at times doesn’t feel like it knows how to use them.
There are very long gaps in Skyfall
in which they are either not present or go completely unmentioned as if the
writer wasn’t quite sure what he wanted to do with them. That actually goes
with a lot of the film, rather than feeling like it’s constantly changing
things to keep events fresh settings, objects and noteworthy elements just seem
to keep being passed up. It never quite feels like its spending long enough in
anywhere outside the UK to make real use of what was on hand or the opportunities
which could have been had.
Still, at the end of the day this definitely a resounding
success. If it had to be summed up in one sentence Skyfall would be: “A Bond film in the spirit of the 70s era but
with a layer of gritty realism.” For the most part it knows when and where to
use things and the few failures present in the story don’t detract from your
full enjoyment. If you’ve liked anything from past films, from Connery to Brosnan,
you’ll be leaving the cinema with a broad grin on your face by the end.
Definitely go see it on the big screen while you can.
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Skyfall and all related characters and media are owned by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.
Skyfall is streets ahead of Quantum of Solace, probably not as good as Casino Royale, but is a decent addition to the series. Well worth seeing....
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