Skyfall (2012)
Dir: Sam Mendes
Mendes Aims a Walther
at Oscar
by
Jay Maronde
by
Jay Maronde
50
years after Dr. No was first
released, and six James Bonds later, the James Bond Franchise is now going
stronger than ever with the release of BOND 23 aka Skyfall. While this film featured an almost interminable wait while
MGM reorganized under Chapter 11, director Sam Mendes, who was signed onto the
project during the filming of Quantum of
Solace, hung on quietly through the corporate bankruptcy process and did
everything possible to make the film more than worth the wait. And it shows
with beautiful colours.
His vision of a big money
blockbuster action movie with a plot and story worthy of a real film was
directly inspired by Christopher Nolan’s exciting work with the new Batman trilogy, and much as the that new
trilogy has delighted audiences worldwide, Mendes work has been just as
successful, managing to stand tall against other epic holiday releases such as
the conclusion of the Twilight saga.
The movie has something for everyone. I’ve seen it three times so it’s easily
worth it for you, dear reader, to see once.
Let me
start with the two biggest features of this film: Dench and Bardem. First off
this is Dame Judi Dench’s 7th appearance as the staunch old grey
lady at the head of Britain’s MI6. This is easily her (or any M’s) biggest role
in the entire James Bond Franchise and she is glorious! Let me say right here,
if nothing else, she deserves an Oscar for this this performance. As the only
woman who Bond can relate to or respect, her role in his life and Bond’s role
in hers is profoundly explored in beautiful twisted ways throughout the film.
Such character development is almost rare in a Bond Movie, but as I’ve already
mentioned this isn’t a movie, this is a film. Mendes directs her so well and explores her
character so deeply and thoroughly it almost brings to mind the levels of
stunning character development within his Oscar-winning American Beauty (of note: Skyfall
is the first Bond ever to be directed by an Academy Award winning Director, and
the Eon Productions staff should stick to hiring very good directors because—in
truth—when you give a very good director a very large budget, there is a
relatively high chance of them producing a film as enjoyable as Skyfall).
While
there had been much speculation that BOND 23 would complete the Craig/Bond
trilogy, and finally have Bond take down the evil organization known as
Quantum, the producers announced during press conferences that in true Bond
fashion the franchise would go new places, leaving this evil organization to be
slain by Bond at a later date. As such there is no reference to Quantum and a
new villain is brought to the silver screen and most certainly the history books
in Raoul Silva.
Mendes had originally spoken with
Kevin Spacey (who I have long thought would make a fantastic Bond villain)
about taking the role of Silva, but after he refused talks turned to Javier
Bardem. Bardem is only the second Oscar winner (having won for No Country For Old Men) ever to play a
Bond villain (the first was Christopher Walken, fresh off of The Deer Hunter, in A View to a Kill ) and if I were part of the Academy I would make
him the first Bond Villain to win an Oscar. He is outrageously good—sickeningly
and scarily good! Bardem had the whole script translated into his native
Spanish so as to be able to better understand the film and he worked
extensively with Mendes on his character’s development. All of this sets the
bar incredibly high for whoever accepts the role as the next Bond villain. I’ve seen all the Bond Films, and there have
been a few weirder villains, but Bardem can easily stand toe-to-toe with the
bests (worsts). I don’t want to give away any spoilers but Silva definitely
made the audience collectively gasp at all of the screenings I attended.
As always this film features certain Bond staples
such as beautiful women. And yes, women,
as Skyfall is the first Bond ever in
which all of the Bond Girls are referred to as Bond Women. First off there is
Bond’s associate Eve (played magically by the inordinately beautiful Naomie
Harris) who provides great assistance to Bond in the opening scene before
things take an ugly turn. She returns later in the film to provide a few gasps
of her own, but her beauty is stunning and her onscreen rapport with Craig is
unmatched. Also of note is Silva’s henchwoman Severine, who is played by the
stunning Berenice Lim Marlohe. I’ve always felt that the Bond franchise has
chosen more “typically Asian” actresses, often to the detriment of the film, but
Marlohe is radiant, effluent, and magical. She has also commented that she was
surprised at Daniel Craig’s modesty when filming their shower scene, and that
she demanded he lose his shorts and that she offered to do ANYTHING to make him
more comfortable. Clearly, being James Bond has some perks even in real life.
Another
Bond staple that returns in this film is Q and the Quartermaster Branch of MI6,
which have both been revamped for the modern era. Instead of an armorer, Q is
more of a super nerd, and is played excellently by the very believable Ben Whishaw,
who I am told by numerous women is easily as “hunk-able” as Daniel Craig. Q
plays one of his larger roles in the Canon, providing much assistance to Bond
throughout the film even while the Franchise eschews more of the sillier Bond
gadgets, in lieu of more realism. Q and Bond’s interactions throughout the film
also always serve to enlighten the audience even more to the dark icy role of
Craig’s (again marvelous performance as) Bond by using Whishaw’s delightful
nerd as the perfect foil.
I
couldn’t write this review without paying at least some mention to the action
in this film. While the Bond Canon has always been known for its stupendous
action sequences, Skyfall takes the
franchise to an entirely new plateau. There are car chases, fist fights,
assassinations, helicopters (which by the way, the helicopter featured in the
film is the same exact helicopter from which Bond and Her Majesty the Queen
jumped to open the 2012 London Olympics) train chases, scorpions, automatic
weapons, motorcycle chases, and even an all-out gun battle in the middle of Parliament.
Again I can’t stress how great of a plan it is to give a really good director a
really big budget. The movies have always been about making “unreality” happen
for the viewer and this Bond is heart-stopping (though hopefully it will not
end your life).
Now
that I’ve raved on for some time about what makes this film so delightful I
would like to take a brief moment and discuss what I did not like, which
luckily is extremely minor and should not detract very much at all from what is a great film.
First off, the Adele theme song sucks. It has done well on the pop charts, and
I know Adele is all the rage and probably the closest that the production staff
could come in finding a new age Shirley Bassey, but the song is boring. It kind
of gets stuck in your head in a way that I don’t like. To be honest, they
should have had Adele record the song, and then let Kanye remix it a-la
“Diamonds Are Forever.” This is obviously minor in the scope of the film, but I
couldn’t let her off unscathed. The other factor I didn’t like about this movie
(which is entirely personal) is that this film is really, really, really,
really long. Like seriously, go to the bathroom before you sit down in the
theater and only get the medium squishy because otherwise you are going to need
a pee break. This is the second longest Bond film ever, only one minute shorter
than Casino Royale and only one
minute longer than On Her Majesty’s
Secret Service. It’s long, I feel like it drags at points, but I doubt most
critics would complain about this fact. Even though this film is long, it is
very good, so as I said initially these two complaints are relatively minor.
Skyfall is an excellent film and Mendes
definitely deserves a pat on the back. I doubt the Academy will even consider
giving the film, Mendes, or Craig a nomination, let alone the prize, as they
have always been notoriously unkind to franchise films. But it will be a crime
against the art if Dench doesn’t at least get a nomination for her exquisite
performance. Bardem also deserves an Oscar for his performance as he is quickly
turning out to be one of the great evil genius actors in a generation or more.
This film is wonderful, and I suggest seeing it more than once just to be able
to appreciate the way the entire audience gasps and applauds at various
moments.
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