This whole reboot concept for the James Bond franchise is a
little strange. The whole idea behind it was to strip Bond of all the trappings
that have plagued the character for the past 50 years; no banging every chick
that crosses his path, the goofy gadgets were to be eliminated, the
over-the-top opening credit sequences were to be toned down and the
self-defacing humor was removed. These were to be serious action films in the
vein of the popular Bourne Identity
series. It was a good decision… when the producers stuck to their guns.
In my opinion Casino
Royale was a revelation. After seeing the overblown travesty that was Die Another Day I was ready for the
series to just go away. There was just so much ridiculous crap going on in that
flick, from invisible cars to a hotel made out of ice that I found it mind
bogglingly stupefying. I enjoyed parts of it on some basic level (the opening
titles finally were a part of the storyline and the sword fights were fun) but
for the most part I could not stand it. Casino
Royale threw all that crazy shit away and brought Bond into the modern age
in a dark and entertaining way. No longer was he the debonair secret agent with
the magic shlong and witty one-liner on the tip of his tongue, he was a “blunt
instrument” that was rough around the edges and psychologically flawed. It was
brilliant, and Daniel Craig’s take on the character was amazingly refreshing.
Then came Quantum of
Solace which pretty much cancelled out everything Casino Royale did right. The one night stands returned regardless
that Bond was still recovering from the loss of his one true love. The villain
and his plan were silly and non-threatening. The whole movie felt rushed and
incomplete, evident in its truncated run time (it’s the shortest movie in the
entire franchise). The action scenes were shot in such a way that they are
indecipherable and the introduction to QUANTUM (aka SPECTRE) was an epic fail.
I absolutely hated every minute of it. HATED!
So when Skyfall
was announced it had a lot to make up for in my eyes. The announcement that Sam
Mendes was directing was a good sign, as is the addition of John Logan as one
of the screenwriters. The casting of Javier Bardem as the villain was a
masterstroke, and once I saw that Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Albert Finney
and Ben Whishaw had signed on I was hopeful that we’d get another great Bond
flick. I am happy to say that my worries were for naught. This ended up being a
phenomenal entry in the franchise.
Once the main plot came about I was taken aback that it
wasn’t about some ultra rich nutjob with plans to rule the world. The villain
wants to kill one person, and one person only, M. Sure he will go to extreme
lengths to do it, like blowing open a subway tunnel so the train spills out
into a sewer to hopefully slow down his pursuers, but essentially the whole
movie revolves around one person. I loved that aspect of the film since it
basically meant this would be an intimate affair when the shit goes down, which
is the polar opposite of 95% of all the Bond movies.
Another bright spot is that we finally get some back story
on Bond himself. I won’t ruin anything here, but when we see where Bond came
from and how he was raised it gives his character a whole new dimension that is
not only interesting but highly emotional.
The performances are also greatly improved upon. Craig was
great in Casino Royale, but looked
bored/confused in Quantum of Solace.
He goes full force here, giving it his all in every scene. He’s still not all
that great with some of the comedy aspects, like his goofy jabs with co-worker
Eve (Naomie Harris). He shows different facets of the character we haven’t
really seen before and pulls them off nicely.
Javier Bardem… where to begin? There have been articles
calling him the best Bond villain ever. I have to agree. Like I said before,
his character isn’t trying to nuke the world or extort billions from the
government. His quest for revenge has basically driven this highly intelligent
trained killer insane, but Bardem plays his craziness off as playfulness and
even an awkward type of hyper-sexuality. When the time comes for him to go into
full-on batshit deranged mode he manages to never eat the scenery, which is as
unlike a Bond villain as they come. And at the same time he manages to make his
character mildly sympathetic, aided in part by some extremely creepy CGI
enhancements. He’s an interesting baddie to say the least.
What can be said about Judi Dench that hasn’t already? She’s
an amazing actor and I’ve enjoyed each and every character I’ve seen her
portray, from Mrs. Brown to Aereon in
The Chronicles of Riddick. She’s
played M 7 times now and each time she gives the part something a little
different, from being overly sassy in one installment (Goldeneye) to strangely motherly (Skyfall). I think I enjoyed her character the most in this film out
of them all due to the twists and turns the writers put her part through.
Whishaw’s Q is geekily charming. Ralph Fiennes’ character
starts off being a prick, but comes around to be more than a little awesome at
one point. So much so that I felt like standing up and cheering. I saw the
revelation about Naomie Harris’ Eve coming a mile away, but it was welcome and
I think she will make an excellent addition to the cast in future installments.
Albert Finney had a nothing part, but managed to pull magic out of his hat and
made it work on several emotional levels in regards to a certain main
character.
The writing is solid the entire length and there are no dull
spots as far as I was concerned. The themes of “transition” and “accepting your
past mistakes” is prevalent for much of the film and keeps the plot intriguing
instead of just being mindless spectacle like Die Another Day. Director Sam Mendes makes this a very entertaining
and surprisingly thoughtful Bond film. When I watch one of these movies I
usually get into the “turn your brain off” mode since some of the happenings
are beyond ludicrous (parasailing on a tsunami wave, anyone?), but this one,
like Casino Royale before it, made me pay attention because the character
moments are just as exciting as the action scenes. The writers and director
have begun to focus Bond into a human being we can all rally behind and relate
to in a couple of ways.
If I were to point out any flaws it was that some of the
humor fell flat, a few of the references to past Bond movies (which this reboot
series is supposed to be erasing) were either lame or really vague and some of
the events were a mite predictable. But these are all minor quibbles. They
didn’t really affect my enjoyment of the flick in the slightest.
Skyfall now sits
at #2 on my list of favorite Bond movies, just barely trailing Casino Royale and a long way in front of
Goldfinger, Moonraker, Goldeneye and The Spy Who Loved Me. I can’t wait to
see it again!
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