Blonde Bond is back in a classic action movie that definitely holds its own in the Bond catalogue. Skyfall is in many ways an old-fashioned movie and in other ways a thoroughly modern movie. Old fashioned comes in the form of the early action scenes being mainly based around hand to hand combat and also there is lot of battles fought with words. Modern is the villain, Silva, who chooses to use the internet to bring about his particular brand of chaos.
The film opens with Bond and an unnamed field agent (played by Naomie Harris) pursuing a bad guy through the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul and eventually onto a train, where the agent has to take a shot before the train disappears into a tunnel. She hits Bond by mistake, who falls into the water, presumed dead. Meanwhile, back in London, M is taking heat from the British Government, particularly Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes in a small but key role) the head of foreign affairs. It seems the hard drive the bad guy got away with in Istanbul contained a complete list of all MI:6 agents undercover in the field, endangering hundreds of lives and the agency's top assets. When the first agent's name is leaked on the internet, it seems there is a link between M and the perpetrator, who seems to want M to think about some past sins. The link only adds to the Government's concern about M's ability to do the job, especially as she is 'getting on'. The pressure is on to retire, but M is determined not to leave the agency in a big mess. Luckily Bond resurfaces (no great spoiler there, wouldn't be much of a movie if he died in the first 10 minutes) and agrees to take on the mission.
All the talk about a lack of globetrotting in this Bond entry is a bit misleading, as there are still plenty of different locations to visit to solve the puzzle and contain the villain, Silva (played in a very strange but compelling way by Javier Bardem who is almost as unsettling here as he was in 'No Country for Old Men'). The Bond girls have been overhyped as well, as I felt that they didn't really have much to offer in this story. The focus is squarely on M and her relationship with Bond and Silva.
What is a plus for this film are the fight scenes, with one done in silhouette in a Shanghai skyscraper window being particularly memorable, and the inevitable chases and gun battles. All executed in classic style where you can understand the action, none of this ridiculous fast cutting that seems so popular these days. The performances by Daniel Craig and Judi Dench are superb, both being very sypathetic characters as the film doesn't shy away from the age of these characters, asking the question 'can they still do what is necessary?'. There are a few touches of humour in their interplay as well which is needed to lighten the otherwise very serious mood.
I'm not a huge fan of the Bond character and films - I haven't seen more than maybe a third of them. I have seen all three of the Daniel Craig entries and I think this has been my favourite of those. I did however walk out of this very impressed, it was a well-put together movie with very few weak or slow moments and some memorable action. Definitely one to see for action fans.
Post-script: I forgot to say that the new Adele song 'Skyfall' must be the best Bond theme ever and I'm not even an Adele fan. Beautiful. And Ben Whishaw as the new version of Q the gadget man is very spunky.
No comments:
Post a Comment