Originally published on my old blog, "The Angry Fix", November 25, 2012
Grade: A-
Fast cars, beautiful women, exotic locations, with plenty of kills and a few vodka martinis along the way.
These are the elements of the James Bond franchise that are often given credit for its unprecedented success since Ian Fleming introduced the world to Agent 007 in the 1952 novel Casino Royale. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series, along with it the release of Skyfall, a near-perfect Bond film that reveals a keen understanding of what really attests to the endurance of not only the franchise, but the character at its core.
Skyfall opens with another classic Bond action sequence, but the mission at hand goes awry, sending 007 into hiding after being presumed dead, only to return to MI6 after a cyber-terrorist attack threatens the security of the entire British secret service while stirring up a buried past for MI6 boss M (played for the seventh consecutive time by Judi Dench). As Bond’s investigations send him to Shanghai, he comes up against a strange and formidable enemy in former MI6 agent Silva, now a cyber-terrorist who tests Bond’s loyalty to M, as well as his ability to execute the mission at all costs as usual.
Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) first became attached to Skyfall over a few drinks with Daniel Craig, who offered him the job to direct the next Bond film in an inebriated state, woke up the next morning, realized the job wasn’t his to offer, and immediately went to longtime Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to chalk it up with them. Mendes ended up getting the job after all, marking perhaps the best director pick that Wilson and Broccoli have made since they took over the franchise with 1995’s Goldeneye. This isn’t the first time that a Bond film has been helmed by a director with mostly drama work under his belt, but never before has the payoff manifested itself so visibly on screen.
What Mendes achieves with Skyfall is an immaculate balance between paying brilliant homage to Bond’s 50-year past and maintaining the success of his dark, gritty present as ushered in by Daniel Craig’s first two Bond outings. Together with Director of Photography Roger Deakins (recent collaborator with Mendes and frequent collaborator with the Coen Brothers), the look, tone, and ambience Mendes creates in the film is brilliantly moody, often aided by a welcome dark humor that hearkens back to the Sean Connery era, as well as the campiness found in the pages of Fleming.
And when it comes to Bond villains, Javier Bardem is about as campy and mesmerizing as they come. Just as Heath Ledger’s Joker elevated the character beyond the confines of comic book villainy, Bardem gives a truly memorable performance that may very well win him another Oscar nomination (or should at the very least). In combining the fantastic elements of the character with the striking believability of his acting chops, Bardem often carries the film’s most prominent underlying theme—the tension between the old fashioned and the ever-increasing modernity of the world it struggles to maintain relevance within.
Representing the old-fashioned is Daniel Craig in his strongest performance as 007 yet. Bond is aging rapidly this time around, increasingly dependent on alcohol and pharmaceuticals to keep drudging through the soul-erosion of killing for a living, no matter how glamorous it has looked to his audience for the past 50 years.
Though Skyfall's plot may be underwhelmingly obvious for some fans, it's a character driven piece, relying successfully on the exploration of the central character. And what Craig’s Bond embodies is the true reason for his endurance in the collective movie-going consciousness. At his core, Bond is an anti-hero, a deeply troubled and conflicted human being who dulls the pain of his existence with the glamorous trappings of his job that have brought fans back to see him for decades and, as Skyfall triumphantly suggests, years still to come.
Fast cars, beautiful women, exotic locations, with plenty of kills and a few vodka martinis along the way.
These are the elements of the James Bond franchise that are often given credit for its unprecedented success since Ian Fleming introduced the world to Agent 007 in the 1952 novel Casino Royale. 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of the James Bond film series, along with it the release of Skyfall, a near-perfect Bond film that reveals a keen understanding of what really attests to the endurance of not only the franchise, but the character at its core.
Skyfall opens with another classic Bond action sequence, but the mission at hand goes awry, sending 007 into hiding after being presumed dead, only to return to MI6 after a cyber-terrorist attack threatens the security of the entire British secret service while stirring up a buried past for MI6 boss M (played for the seventh consecutive time by Judi Dench). As Bond’s investigations send him to Shanghai, he comes up against a strange and formidable enemy in former MI6 agent Silva, now a cyber-terrorist who tests Bond’s loyalty to M, as well as his ability to execute the mission at all costs as usual.
Director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Road to Perdition) first became attached to Skyfall over a few drinks with Daniel Craig, who offered him the job to direct the next Bond film in an inebriated state, woke up the next morning, realized the job wasn’t his to offer, and immediately went to longtime Bond producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli to chalk it up with them. Mendes ended up getting the job after all, marking perhaps the best director pick that Wilson and Broccoli have made since they took over the franchise with 1995’s Goldeneye. This isn’t the first time that a Bond film has been helmed by a director with mostly drama work under his belt, but never before has the payoff manifested itself so visibly on screen.
What Mendes achieves with Skyfall is an immaculate balance between paying brilliant homage to Bond’s 50-year past and maintaining the success of his dark, gritty present as ushered in by Daniel Craig’s first two Bond outings. Together with Director of Photography Roger Deakins (recent collaborator with Mendes and frequent collaborator with the Coen Brothers), the look, tone, and ambience Mendes creates in the film is brilliantly moody, often aided by a welcome dark humor that hearkens back to the Sean Connery era, as well as the campiness found in the pages of Fleming.
And when it comes to Bond villains, Javier Bardem is about as campy and mesmerizing as they come. Just as Heath Ledger’s Joker elevated the character beyond the confines of comic book villainy, Bardem gives a truly memorable performance that may very well win him another Oscar nomination (or should at the very least). In combining the fantastic elements of the character with the striking believability of his acting chops, Bardem often carries the film’s most prominent underlying theme—the tension between the old fashioned and the ever-increasing modernity of the world it struggles to maintain relevance within.Representing the old-fashioned is Daniel Craig in his strongest performance as 007 yet. Bond is aging rapidly this time around, increasingly dependent on alcohol and pharmaceuticals to keep drudging through the soul-erosion of killing for a living, no matter how glamorous it has looked to his audience for the past 50 years.
Though Skyfall's plot may be underwhelmingly obvious for some fans, it's a character driven piece, relying successfully on the exploration of the central character. And what Craig’s Bond embodies is the true reason for his endurance in the collective movie-going consciousness. At his core, Bond is an anti-hero, a deeply troubled and conflicted human being who dulls the pain of his existence with the glamorous trappings of his job that have brought fans back to see him for decades and, as Skyfall triumphantly suggests, years still to come.
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