Skyfall

Welcome to another episode of Lights....Camera....Popcorn!

Today's review is Skyfall.

Directed by Sam Mendes.

Written by Neil Purvis, Robert Wade & John Logan

Based on the "James Bond" character created by Ian Fleming.

Review #189

MPAA Rating: PG-13 for intense violent sequences throughout, some sexuality, language and smoking.

Run Time: 143 min

Cast

Daniel Craig...James Bond

Judi Dench...M

Javier Bardem...Silva

Ralph Fiennes...Gareth Mallory

Naomie Harris...Eve

Bérénice Marlohe...Sévérine (as Bérénice Lim Marlohe)

Albert Finney...Kincade

Ben Whishaw...Q

Rory Kinnear...Tanner

Ola Rapace...Patrice

The Bond franchise has gone through countless changes. Whether it's the actors who play the super spy. Or the directors who make the films, the franchise has seen it's ups and downs. The Bond universe is currently enjoying a very nice up swing and there's no surprise why. The powers that be have realized that audiences today are a bit more sophisticated and while the laser equipped necktie and Aston Martin loaded with missiles and machine guns are fun. It doesn't play today as well as it used to back in Bond's hey day. So what did they do? In my opinion, they took a page from Christopher Nolan's Batman series.

They didn't just take a page. They plagiarized the whole book.

Plot

Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. 

The last three Bond films have a lot in common with Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. The first being the actors who play the main characters. Daniel Craig and Christian Bale are phenomenal talents who are not known for comedic roles. They have played action heroes and dramatic figures. They have also played two of pop culture's most iconic characters. I don't care who you are, everyone has heard of James Bond and Batman.

Secondly, the choice of these actors to play these roles signified something very important. That being the overall tone of the films. We all know the campy nature of the Bond films and while at first Tim Burton gave us a darker version of the caped crusader. The character in the last two films morphed more into a toy making tool than completing a series of feature films. The last two Batman films were so horrendous that rebooting the franchise was not just a good idea.

It was necessary.

Nolan stripped away the cheese and started from scratch. The end result is his Batman trilogy is regarded as the only Batman series worth talking about in the annals of Tinseltown. The producers of the Bond films followed Nolan's lead and did the same thing. After Pierce Brosnan's departure, The character was taken apart and rebuilt from the ground up with fresh faces. The only holdover being Judi Dench as M. It was a bold move because there was a risk of alienating fans of the campy, silly Bond films.

The move paid off.

Casino Royale gave Bond fans of all types what they wanted. The story and villain Le Chiffre was typical of Bond's usual rogue's gallery. Only both he and his plot was modernized and grounded. This appealed to fans on both sides of the coin. That's what made it work for me. It didn't help that Craig despite his non Bond appearance played the part perfectly. He wasn't supposed to be the dashing master of espionage. He was the newly minted 007 who was still adjusting to his freshly granted license to kill. It was a great approach to the character. Craig played Bond with a lot more reckless abandon which is exactly what the franchise and the character needed. They also took Bond to a territory that hasn't been seen in a long time if ever.

Bond fell in love.

That was a major breakthrough for the character. Up until the day he met Vesper Lynd. Bond was the prototypical ladies man. No attachments to women of any kind other than pleasure. His job had a lot to do with that but he never had legitimate feelings for some one of that scale. Remember, he quit MI6 after Le Chiffre was killed and the money was returned. It was only finding out that Vesper betrayed him that he went back to work. Then in Quantum of Solace his entire motivation was finding and destroying the organization that had a hand in his girl's death. These were major changes to Bond's persona that made him more human than super human. It set things up for a promising sequel.

But then....

Quantum of Solace was not as well received as Casino Royale. I personally loved it but I do see why fans felt it was a poor sequel. Once again the suits rolled the dice and went with a sequel that maintained a form of continuity. Quantum of Solace literally begins right after Casino Royale and continues the story. It was a great idea. It just wasn't executed to it's fullest potential. So when Skyfall was announced I was wondering if they were still going to follow the thread of the first two films and blend the principal story together. They didn't.

What they did do was far more BRILLIANT!

The plot of Skyfall does something that I haven't seen from other Bond films. They took bits and pieces from other films and crafted the main story around the scraps. Here are the films that I came up with that Skyfall has elements of.

The Dark Knight
Mission Impossible
The Bourne Identity
Goldeneye

Normally I would be killing the film makers for cheating and not being original but I'm not this time for two reasons.

1) The blending of those films worked very well.

2) The original parts of Skyfall was so DAMN GOOD that it didn't matter the rest of the film was full of recycled material.

Skyfall deals specifically with M and Bond and the biggest factor that every person in the espionage business has to deal with.

Age.

This Bond film actually has the balls to suggest that the greatest spy in the entire galaxy is getting old. It's a concept that never crossed your mind before but Skyfall makes Bond, M and you come to grips with the fact that sooner or later the game will come to an end. Just like Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Bond remains defiant in the face of adversity. No matter who or what is causing it. This time though, M is also part of the equation because the motives of the villain revolve completely around her.

This is where Skyfall begins to establish the plot points that we've seen before. The motivation of the characters are plain as day but again, somehow they inexplicably work. The film begins to drag these been there done that themes for a while when suddenly it takes another surprising and fresh turn. I won't say exactly what.

Let's just say Bond goes home.

This was a great addition to the history and mystery of the character. It gave you a different perspective of what Bond goes through. What motivates him. Why is he so detached. Why he's always the perfect man for the job.

Of course no James Bond will would be complete without action set pieces. Skyfall doesn't disappoint in that area either. The opening sequence while bordered on the absurd (what else would you expect from a Bond film) was awesome to watch. Rest assured I'm never riding a train that I know has a bulldozer attached to it. The best part about the action was that it maintained the underlying theme of the film. Bond seemed to be a bit slow in certain parts of the fights and chases. This was a tell tale sign that the old man was losing a step.

Again another ballsy move. Nobody wants to see our heroes falling from grace. Nolan did the same thing with The Dark Knight Rises. He knew his Batman saga was going to end. So short of killing him he did the next logical thing. He made him vulnerable. That doesn't completely happen here but the signs are there. Another bold move was the "resignation" of a prime character. If you pay attention you can see it coming but it still felt original. This was the only way to go with the story and all the events around it so I applaud Mendes for taking the shot.

Finally, Skyfall introduces some classic characters to the series that we didn't see in the previous Craig starred films. This obviously guarantees a few more sequels on the way. In fact it was reported recently that John Logan who had his hand with this film will write the next two Bond scripts. It will be interesting to see what he comes up with. He's already said that the next two will be one story. A tricky concept but we'll see what happens.

All told. Skyfall was a treat to watch and the best Bond film of the Daniel Craig era. Some critics have labeled this the best Bond film ever. That's just nuts in my opinion. This new set of films have been terrific but Goldfinger is still the undisputed champion. If this direction continues, Daniel Craig might (and I say this very very carefully) supplant Sean Connery as the true James Bond.

He's got a long way to go but the future is very bright for the franchise.

On the 5 star scale. Skyfall gets 4.5 stars. With a "Worth Every Penny!" recommendation.

That's a wrap for today. Up next is Flight.

Until Next Episode...."I'll Save You A Seat!"

"D"