That's right, I'll say it again in case you misunderstood me - Best. Bond. Ever. I could just quit writing right there,
because it really doesn’t get any simpler than that. Don’t get me wrong – Goldeneye was great.
I still love Thunderball
and Goldfinger. Even Live
and Let Die was pretty good, but if we are to take the word “reboot”
literally, then I have to consider the Daniel Craig era as a separate entity
from the rest of the Bond series, and as such, Skyfall is simply the best of the bunch. One of the
greatest sensations I can hope to experience as a moviegoer is when a movie
lives up to my high hopes for it. This
one most certainly does.
After an intense pursuit of a stolen hard drive
that contains vital information through the streets of Istanbul, Bond is
wounded during a desperate fight atop a moving train, flung to a river below and
left for dead. MI-6 continues on without
him, but when the complex plot of a cyber-terrorist to discredit and disgrace
“M” (Judi Dench) begins to take shape, he reappears from the dead, only to be told that he’s
possibly too old and out-of-shape to continue serving. Not that he or “M” would allow silly things
like physical evaluations and psychological profiles to keep 007 out of action
for long, so rules are bent and superiors are ignored, and Bond then jet-sets halfway
across the globe in pursuit of those who seek to make use of the information on
that stolen hard drive.
That information turns out to be the identities of
every covert operative currently undercover in terrorist organizations all over
the world, and it’s being used by some evil mastermind to wreak havoc on MI-6
in general, and on “M” in particular. The
villain turns out to be a former MI-6 operative named Silva (played by a
wonderously-creepy Javier Bardem, who can do Creepy Bad Guy better than most,
as proved by No Country for Old Men),
whose plans turn out to be much more complex, and much more personal, than mere
cyber-terrorism. His first meeting with
Bond must be the grandest entry of any Bond villain into a film, and his
ensuing conversation with him must also rank as the strangest.
Of course, it’s amazing what an Oscar-winning
director can do for a franchise-formula movie (pay close attention to that
statement, Walt Disney company, when deciding who will helm the next Star Wars flick…). I have wondered what sort of “action movie”
Sam Mendes could make from the moment I heard of his hiring to direct this
film. I mean, let’s face it – American Beauty and Revolutionary Road were wonderful
movies, but they don’t exactly make one think he could just as easily have made
Die Hard or something like
that. That said, I’ve had a gut feeling
all along that he’d pleasantly surprise us and would make Skyfall something special…
and he sure as Hell did.
Mendes has given us the most visually gripping Bond film I can remember. As exotic settings have always been a staple of the Bond series, Mendes makes fantastic use of the nighttime settings of Shanghai and Macau, with a skyscraper’s glass and a city’s neon lights apparently being the new trees and foliage in which snipers ply their trade these days. The gloom of Scotland, the light bulbs of the London underground, and the harsh sunlight of an abandoned island in the South China Sea are all important parts of Mendes’ lovely finished product.
I can’t rave enough about this script, either. Skyfall is certainly the most character-invested film of the entire Bond series. We see Bond have doubt about the world changing around him. We see “M” face her mortality. We see other, younger operatives suffer the consequences for actions demanded of them. We see the people to whom they answer question their very necessity in the modern world and the wars we might fight. We also, for the first time in the fifty-year history of the cinematic version of the character, see that Bond actually did exist before he was granted his Double-O status. Screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan apparently took advantage of the extra two years provided by MGM’s financial problems to hone this script to near-perfection, and given the sorta-flat previous film in this series (that would be Quantum of Solace, which actually began filming without a completed script), it’s easy to forgive being made to wait longer for this movie.
Mendes has given us the most visually gripping Bond film I can remember. As exotic settings have always been a staple of the Bond series, Mendes makes fantastic use of the nighttime settings of Shanghai and Macau, with a skyscraper’s glass and a city’s neon lights apparently being the new trees and foliage in which snipers ply their trade these days. The gloom of Scotland, the light bulbs of the London underground, and the harsh sunlight of an abandoned island in the South China Sea are all important parts of Mendes’ lovely finished product.
I can’t rave enough about this script, either. Skyfall is certainly the most character-invested film of the entire Bond series. We see Bond have doubt about the world changing around him. We see “M” face her mortality. We see other, younger operatives suffer the consequences for actions demanded of them. We see the people to whom they answer question their very necessity in the modern world and the wars we might fight. We also, for the first time in the fifty-year history of the cinematic version of the character, see that Bond actually did exist before he was granted his Double-O status. Screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan apparently took advantage of the extra two years provided by MGM’s financial problems to hone this script to near-perfection, and given the sorta-flat previous film in this series (that would be Quantum of Solace, which actually began filming without a completed script), it’s easy to forgive being made to wait longer for this movie.
We’re even given the pleasure of being reintroduced
to some of the characters and details we used to love about the series that
went away after Casino Royale,
in ways that are entirely appropriate to the new style and tone of the
series. There were just enough winks to
Bond’s past to be appreciated, but none of them so over-the-top as to make
one’s eyes roll at the cheesiness of doing so.
I am so tempted to give away some of these nuggets, but oh, how I don’t
want to deprive you of the pleasure of learning these things for yourself (I
will blab that it’s great to see that Bond made sure the Aston Martin he won
from Demetrios in Casino Royale
got shipped over from the Bahamas after that mission was completed, and that it has a few specs that harken back to other Bond movies…).
If you’ve avoided the movie’s Wikipedia entry so
far (damn those European moviegoers who’ve had an extra two weeks to see it and
spoil the surprises for us over here…), then you’re in for one heck of a time. The pre-title action sequence alone is worth
the price of admission, so consider getting a completely fantastic experience
the rest of the way as a bonus. In other
words, Skyfall kicks ass. Maybe I should’ve just left it at that.
I wanted to see it already but a movie that gets such praise from you simply must be seen.
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