James Bond will be back.
That’s been the promise moviegoers have been given over the
past 50 years at the end of every Bond film dating back to the early days of
Sean Connery. The world’s most famous
spy is back on the big screen for the 23rd time in Skyfall as MGM studios has finally navigated
its way out of a financial abyss. Daniel
Craig reprises the role of the British MI6 agent for the third time. His first sip of the Martini came in 2006,
when the series was re-booted and left the audience happily shaken and stirred
for the future of the franchise.
The
producers wisely tapped into the original and realistic Ian Fleming source
material. Gone was the fanciful turn that
was beginning to embody the Brosnan films.
The studio scored a major box office hit with Casino Royale and continued in 2008 with the somewhat disappointing
Quantum of Solace.
Let’s just say, the four year wait was
more than worth it.
In Skyfall we see
a Bond, especially since he earned his double-o status in Royale, far more polished if not a bit weary from the realities of
the job. He’s teamed with a fellow
agent, Eve, who are both in pursuit of a terrorist(s) who has acquired a hard
drive containing the names of MI6 operatives inbedded in terrorist organizations
globally. This may not be an entirely
original premise as I’m sure Tom Cruises’ Ethan Hunt would raise an eyebrow to
this, however it works for Skyfall and
leads into one of the best opening Bond scenes to date.
Sam Mendes, who directed Craig in Road to Perdition, has created not just a stand-alone Bond film
with Skyfall but a Bond film that
pays proper homage to the 50 year history of the franchise with many alluding references to previous themes of redemption to the joy that is the Bond Aston Martin. In fact I would consider Casino Royale as the much needed re-boot of Bond with Quantum of Solace transitioning him past
the personal loss of Vesper Lynd with Skyfall
bringing him back full circle to the roots of his character – both
figuratively and literally as Skyfall just
so happens to be Bond’s childhood home.
One of the reasons for EON’s reboot of the franchise was the
fact that they felt it was headed into a more unrealistic slightly video
game-esque genre. And with Pierce
Brosnan getting up in age and no longer under contract, producers Barbara
Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson decided to go in a different direction casting a
younger Bond and stripping the character of its previous fanciful turns, i.e.
no more crazy Q gadgets and an almost complete lack of humor.
In both cases the producers took it too far
and in Quantum of Solace you would be
hard pressed not to assume you were watching a Jason Bourne film and not
Bond. Mendes and the producers finally
realized this and while they have remained true to re-booting Bond, Skyfall does put a smile on the faces of
long time Bond fans.
Once again Q branch is resurrected and this time around Q is
played by Ben Whishaw. He’s incredibly
young, cocky and the perfect Yin to Bond’s Yang. No pun intended there, really. The sly and comedic repertoire between he and
Bond are part of what made these films so fun and to see it back in the
franchise and done this way was enjoyable.
Judi Dench returns for the seventh time as the head of MI6,
M. Beyond bringing obvious gravitas and
weight to the film, Dench’s’ M, referred to by her aides and agents as ‘Mum’,
is about as close to a mother Bond has had.
And without giving away too many spoilers let’s just say at the end of Skyfall, that feeling is more than shown
and appreciated by Bond.
Ralph Fiennes joins the cast as Gareth Mallory, a minister
in the PM’s cabinet who’s essentially M’s boss, and with the loss of the hard
drive, is intent on seeing M sent out to pasture. Again without giving too much away, it’s safe
to assume we’ll be seeing Mr. Mallory again in future Bond films.
It’s not really a spoiler to mention that Javier Bardem
plays the baddie – Silva. There’s
something about Bond villains that either puts them in the forgettable category
or the infamous category.
Bardem’s
acting chops clearly put him in the latter.
You can see that Bardem really relished this role and while there were
times he came awfully close to camping it up, he kept it just creepy enough to
keep it in check. The scene where he
meets Bond for the first time turns into the most uncomfortable yet amusing
seduction scene ever in a Bond film.
Yes, a seduction scene.
Skyfall centers on
the relationships between Bond, M and Sliva and how they all interconnect with
each other. Silva is looking to kill M
for some past indiscretion and Bond acknowledges the ‘Mum’ relationship that he
has with her and takes it upon himself to protect her. The writers and Mendes do a remarkable job at
giving the audience a view into Bond’s history unlike any we’ve seen in
previous films.
The ending will leave
you shaken and stirred that the future of Bond is now firmly re-booted and re-set properly
and fully. Bond once again can laugh at
himself and the audience can once again feel the future for this iconic
character is set to go, even when the ending credits come and tell us, he’ll be
back.
