Skyfall. (12A.)
Directed by Sam Mendes.
Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Albert Finney. 143 mins
The 50th anniversary Bond movie gives us a 007 that isn’t huffing and puffing along trying to keep up with the shadow of Bourne or any other passing action movie fad. Skyfall is pure Bond, and yet not like other Bond film. It is an enormous, perhaps indulgent, celebration of 007, both the figure and its current performer.
For Daniel Craig’s Bond it is a case of You Only Launch Twice. After the dead end of A Quantum of Solace, Sam Mendes’s take on Bond is another let’s-start-over effort and is as bold and skilful as Casino Royale. Mendes' take on Bond is a bit like Nolan's version of the Batman – it's the one you've been waiting for, but it's not what you expected. It's beautifully shot by Roger Deakins and is so assured of the appeal of its central figure that it doesn't feel the need to impress us with too much globetrotting or showy action sequences.
In this age of austerity this is Bond film that is top heavy with bureaucrats. Alongside Dench as M, there’s Ben Whishaw as a new Q, Fiennes, Harris and a returning Rory Kinnear. There’s so much MI6 in the film it doesn’t leave much room for anything else. The amount of globetrotting and action has been reduced. The Istanbul pre-credit sequence starts by making better use of locations from Taken 2 before graduating to a train sequence that is joyously inventive. It opens up the audience to the prospect of Skyfall being a gleeful fusing of Roger Moore era preposterousness with the current era’s dour seriousness, but this is not the direction it takes.
After a trip to the far east, Bond stays home for most of this one. This is fine in theory but all the MI6 suits take up so much space that precious little is left for anything else. The middle hour seems to meander around and gets bogged down in its (particularly nonsensical) plot. The baddie is a camp, peroxide computer hacker, played by Bardem with more than his fair share of mince. We are told repeatedly prior to his arrival how terrible and evil he is but the reality is underwhelming and, thanks to the storyline he is given, he comes across as a bit of a sap, much in the way Robert Carlyle's villain did in The World Is Not Enough, and not worthy of the attentions of Craig's Bond.
Previously Craig had been a something of a Partial Bond, magnificent in some aspect but not the complete package. This is his best performance as Bond, and one of the best by anyone. Here he is the consummate Bond, he can even do Roger Moore's jokey bits of ludicrous self assurance perfectly. He makes it work, even when it shouldn't. He's perfect for a film that has a confidence and a relaxed swagger not seen since the days when Connery was running around in the role, Ken Adam was knocking up the sets and John Barry was doing the tunes.
Directed by Sam Mendes.
Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Albert Finney. 143 mins
The 50th anniversary Bond movie gives us a 007 that isn’t huffing and puffing along trying to keep up with the shadow of Bourne or any other passing action movie fad. Skyfall is pure Bond, and yet not like other Bond film. It is an enormous, perhaps indulgent, celebration of 007, both the figure and its current performer.
For Daniel Craig’s Bond it is a case of You Only Launch Twice. After the dead end of A Quantum of Solace, Sam Mendes’s take on Bond is another let’s-start-over effort and is as bold and skilful as Casino Royale. Mendes' take on Bond is a bit like Nolan's version of the Batman – it's the one you've been waiting for, but it's not what you expected. It's beautifully shot by Roger Deakins and is so assured of the appeal of its central figure that it doesn't feel the need to impress us with too much globetrotting or showy action sequences.
In this age of austerity this is Bond film that is top heavy with bureaucrats. Alongside Dench as M, there’s Ben Whishaw as a new Q, Fiennes, Harris and a returning Rory Kinnear. There’s so much MI6 in the film it doesn’t leave much room for anything else. The amount of globetrotting and action has been reduced. The Istanbul pre-credit sequence starts by making better use of locations from Taken 2 before graduating to a train sequence that is joyously inventive. It opens up the audience to the prospect of Skyfall being a gleeful fusing of Roger Moore era preposterousness with the current era’s dour seriousness, but this is not the direction it takes.
After a trip to the far east, Bond stays home for most of this one. This is fine in theory but all the MI6 suits take up so much space that precious little is left for anything else. The middle hour seems to meander around and gets bogged down in its (particularly nonsensical) plot. The baddie is a camp, peroxide computer hacker, played by Bardem with more than his fair share of mince. We are told repeatedly prior to his arrival how terrible and evil he is but the reality is underwhelming and, thanks to the storyline he is given, he comes across as a bit of a sap, much in the way Robert Carlyle's villain did in The World Is Not Enough, and not worthy of the attentions of Craig's Bond.
Previously Craig had been a something of a Partial Bond, magnificent in some aspect but not the complete package. This is his best performance as Bond, and one of the best by anyone. Here he is the consummate Bond, he can even do Roger Moore's jokey bits of ludicrous self assurance perfectly. He makes it work, even when it shouldn't. He's perfect for a film that has a confidence and a relaxed swagger not seen since the days when Connery was running around in the role, Ken Adam was knocking up the sets and John Barry was doing the tunes.
