Skyfall, theatre release review
Skyfall marks the twenty third Bond movie to grace the big screen and the fifty year anniversary, which would make Fleming’s Bond 90 years old. Thankfully instead of putting a pensioner behind the wheel of an Aston Martin Daniel Craig returns to fill the expensive leather shoes and well-tailored suit of the most famous British spy in history.
Believe it or not Quantum of Solace was released four years ago leaving a relatively large gap between that and the release of Skyfall. This void was due to recurring financial issues with producers thus causing temporary suspensions on production. Fortunately Skyfall made it out on October 26th and since has taken over £20 million in its opening weekend alone, even breaking the British Saturday Attendance record in the process.
Skyfall’s opening sequence faces the audience with a swift and uneventful car chase that ends with a clearly inept agent accidentally gunning down Bond, after which the opening credits and Adele’s dreary yet upsettingly catchy soundtrack kicks in. Not on par with the free running sequence of Casino Royale but manages to maintain interest when a large digger and a train is involved. Wunderbar.
The film’s main focus is the development and highlighting of the role of M who, until now, has remained an omnipresent authoritarian figure for 007. A previous agent stands as the main villain who, like Bond, had a special connection with M but blames her for his capture and subsequent torture he endured during service. Because of this he appears hell bent on revenge throughout and executes it in a rather sadistic manner, often referring to M as “Mother” or “Mummy”.
Bonds encounters with this Villain, Mr Silver, start off with some light homosexual humor but progress throughout the film to be emotive exchanges, similar to jealous older and younger siblings resulting in some exciting scenes. One such scene is the spectacular Tube crash which, filmed at Pinewood studios, contains no CGI’s (Computer Generated Images) in the typical Bond realism fashion.
Gadgets on the whole are disappointingly absent however Q makes a triumphant return in the form of the quirky yet brilliant Ben Whishaw. He supplies our hero of espionage with a single yet imaginative print recognition pistol which is pleasingly described as a “personal statement rather than a weapon”. This gadget has a short role but when coupled with the map decode scene and his classic scrabble mug (Pictured below) it helps successfully establish Ben as the new head of Q branch for later 007 installments.
In terms of action Skyfall maintains the crucial realism aspect that has become a trademark of the Bond movies, this is mainly through less fight sequences and more blowing up of stuff such as M’s office in MI6. The lacking of fight sequences is due to the fact that Bond is considered unfit for duty in Skyfall after his disastrous experience of friendly fire at the opening of the film. Many moments are dedicated to displaying Bond as less able bodied such as a lift scene where he nearly slips whilst attempting to hold on to the base as it ascends a Shanghai skyscraper.
Thankfully Bond appears to make a full recovery by the closing of the film and happily goes back to pounding bad guys in his usual fashion, the most aggressive of which seems to be brought on by the destruction of his beloved Aston Martin DB5, which meets its fiery demise only minutes after making a triumphant return to the Bond franchise. The classic theme of guitar strums is also played at the debut of the return of the DB5 causing an overload of nostalgia for any Bond fan, especially those who admire Goldfinger.
Criticisms however start at the actors apparent bullet immunity. As an audience we generally accept that bad guys are atrocious shots and will regularly miss our hero (Just look at the Stormtroopers from Star Wars!) however in Skyfall many actually score a direct hit. In fact at the opening we’re faced with a wounded agent who’s been shot in the chest but doesn’t seem all that bothered, Bond is shot in the shoulder, which he also doesn’t seem too fazed about. Even M is shot in the leg and doesn’t complain about it which leaves audiences feeling a little skeptical, not normally a feeling present when viewing Bond films.
As such, in terms of being as classic Bond movie, Skyfall fails in most ways. It has barely any gadgets, limited amount of memorable action sequences and the villain lacks an aspect of trademark behavior that predecessors such as Goldfinger or Dr No did have. However in terms of plot Skyfall excels brilliantly, shedding light on Bonds past and his relationship with M which both work well together to develop Daniel Craig as potentially the best Bond yet. Even Sir Roger Moore hailed Skyfall as the biggest step yet to pushing Craig above Connery and THE James Bond. A matter of both personal taste and perspective however.
Summary 4/5
This isn’t the best Bond film of all time, by any stretch of the imagination. It is, however, most certainly the best action film of 2012 and will leave Bond fans satisfied; with a warm glow and a lust to own a DB5. Unfortunately it’s a very different story for newcomers to the Bond franchise who would do very well to watch the previous two Daniel Craig films before this one to get the full joy of the development of Bond. Unless you just want to watch a gritty roller coaster ride of emotion, fire, blood and bullets, in which case, book your tickets now and enjoy.
✌✎ 
