By DiG
Well, it’s taken four years and a fair amount of financial woes to get here but we finally have our latest entry in the James Bond Saga, Skyfall.
Quantum of Solace finished the story arc that started with Casino Royale and thus, we now go into a new chapter of Bond’s career.
We open with the traditional action sequence as Bond and fellow MI6 Field Agent (Naomie Harris) are in Turkey, trying to prevent a list of undercover Agents from various Terrorist Groups falling into the wrong hands. It’s a blisteringly fast chase through the streets, rooftops and finally a traintop. The mission ultimately fails and Bond descends into a period of drinking and remorse (so no real change there then).
Back in London, M (Judi Dench) is under increasing pressure from Government higher-ups (represented by Ralph Fiennes’ Mallory) after her failure to obtain the previously mentioned list. She seems reluctant to completely adapt to the Computer-driven world we inhabit and attached to an espionage style that has worked for her in the past, as she puts it “in the shadows”. This is a counter-balance to a Terrorist attack on MI6 Headquarters which is done entirely by an anonymous perpetrator hacking her own ciomputer.
This chain of events leads Bond to come staggering back to dear old Blighty and has seemingly lost his mojo due to injury, alcohol and general disillusion with the previous mission. He is put through his paces and is given the task of tracking down the Hacker responsible for the MI6 attack but not before meeting up his new QuarterMaster (Ben Whishaw) and being kitted up for his mission.
The pursuit leads Bond through the usual exotic locations and finally leads him to Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a man who seems to know quite a bit about technology, MI6 and M in particular. He doesn’t want to wipe out humanity and create a new culture with him as God, he just wants to cause as much trouble for the Ministry of Defence as he can by exploiting his superiority in the digital age.
The film’s final act is where you’d expect all the big bangs to happen and it certainly delivers that and more. It’s a finale unique to Bond films and that is its main strength. One of the biggest criticisms aimed at Quantum of Solace was that the editing style was too fast, trying to turn Bond into James Bourne. Here, although the action is very fast, it never breaks the speed limit, allowing you to enjoy a punch without cutting a millisecond later to another shot.
With Bond celebrating fifty years, it would have been easy to follow the established rules of a Bond film, but here they re-invent it whilst giving us a few loving nods to the classic Bond tropes. The re-introduction of Q is welcome and it manages to give us a new Q for this generation and still appeal to those of us who grew up with Desmond Llewellyn.
Another criticism aimed at Quantum of Solace was the lack of a classic Bond villain. Raoul Silva rectifies this by ticking all the boxes : Insane, witty, ruthless and Bardem plays it as it would have been played in the classic Bonds of yesteryear.
Judi Dench is as good as usual and we also get Albert Finney turning up. They spared no expense in getting Acting talent and it pays off. Bringing in Roger Deakins as CInematographer was inspired as his work with the Coen Brothers and previous Sam Mendes films cemented him as one of the very best at his trade in the world. Sam Mendes is more known for his character-centric films and he brings that to the Direction here but also manages to craft some breath-taking action sequences that effortlessly bypass the CGI-driven bangs and blasts on display in some other blockbusters.
Above all of this, Skyfall is a James Bond film and Daniel Craig continues to cement his reputation as possibly the best Bond ever. He brings intensity to the action scenes, charm to the romantic scenes and emotion to the dramatic scenes.
Opinions vary but in my elite category of Bond films, you will find On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger and Casino Royale. Skyfall is now added to that list.