Ah the newest James Bond movie, Skyfall, starring the newest Bond, portrayed by Daniel Craig. Since Casino Royal, we've only had one previous movie to get to know this bond, but there are a few key notes we've come to learn. For starters, this Bond relies a lot less on gizmos and gadgets, instead opting for brute force. Also he has a mild habit of killing all his sources of information before he can actually get any information from them. I remember back in the beginning of Casino Royal where we see James Bond chasing after a suspect whom was able to do crazy acrobatic moves to escape Bond over a ventilation shaft, only to have Bond smash his way through the wall, running full speed.
Getting to Skyfall, we're exposed to another chase scene, this time bond chasing a culprit who apparently stole a top secret hard drive containing the identities of undercover agents. The chase goes from bad to worse, with it ending up on a train, with Bond tearing apart the train with a construction vehicle that was conveniently on board. He's shot and injured ,but continues on without issue, coming into hand to hand struggle with the culprit. All the while M is observing the situation while in contact with another agent, Eve, a sniper. With time running out before the agent loses the two in a tunnel, M gives the order to shoot. Eve protests at first as she could only get Bond in her sights, but concedes and takes the shot.
Agent Down.
This isn't spoilers as this takes the course of the first 10 minutes of the movie before the title crawl, and any trailer would of told far more. As I'm hoping ot keep this free, lets just sum up my views on the characters and plot.
MI6 is bombed, and M is being framed, so it's Bond's job to protect her, find who's responsible, and neutralize the threat. All the while, he meets a girl named Severine who works as a double agent for the mysterious Silva. Bond, through a scene that involves him being thrown into a pit with beasts that're trying to take a bite out of him, riding a boat, and getting 'interrogated' by Silva himself.
Meeting the new Q, or Quarter Master, we only get two gadgets, a mini distress radio to alert MI6 to jobs position upon activation, and a gun coded to only work to his palm print. Using the mobile radio, he alerts MI6 who come to his rescue.
During this movie, we're told that Silva is basically a god thanks to being a super elite hacker. He triggers the explosion in MI6's headquarters through hacking! An ongoing theme with modern movies, where hacking can pretty much do anything, along with it being super action intense and interesting. While this was bothersome, you could look pass it thanks to good story telling.
One thing that didn't sit well with me though was the constant griping throughout the movie that Bond was getting old, washed up, and should retire young before crashing and burning. We only just got to know Daniel Craig, this being the 3rd movie we're seeing him in, in a timeline that back in Casino Royal we saw being rebooted with him freshly made into 007. Maybe another movie or two, or a better job at conveying a time gap and many more jobs since the last movie might of helped, but as it was, it came off awkward.
Now before anyone mentions it, I know it was the 50th.
The characters were actually alluding to the Franchise itself rather than James Bond the character. 50 years of James Bond, and this movie was a worthy addition to the series. At last we have a villain that's recognizable, something we've been lacking, at least in my opinion, since Goldeneye.
With the recent Daniel Craig movies, many fans seem to feel its been becoming less and less of a James Bond movie with each new addition, a issue that Skyfall fixed. Crammed in the two hour time frame is reference after reference to classic Bond, all the way back from the Connery days.
Characters: 9/10
In this movie we meet another agent of MI6, Eve, who has earned herself an memorable roll. She has a flirtatious relationship with Bond, but unlike many of the past Bond girls, never does anything more than just that. M is played straight. We learn a lot about her, giving depth to the character never seen before, without ever having her break down or give us exposition of her passed. We learn from her actions, despite still leaving knowing little of her. Silva in particular earns his place firmly in one of the few Bond villains that was truly memorable. He starts off odd and rich looking, but the more we learn, the more demented and disturbed we come to realize he is.
Plot: 9/10
Not much I can really say that I haven't already, without providing spoilers. The movie does what it wants, and conveys the points it wants very well. While practically thinking about it, you can find plot holes and impossibilities, but never does the movie hypocrite anything it establishes, a accomplishment few movies are capable of achieving.
Fun Factor: 9/10
This movie was very fun. Great action scenes, great dialogue, fun characters and some comedic relief moments that do not deter the story or mood. I never felt the time drag on while watching this beast of a movie. While you can knit pick this movie's less extravagant in its scenes, and make fun of it ending on a farm, this movie never dragged on.
Directing & Casting: 10/10
All the actors performed their roles in this movie exceptionally, nothing more needs to be said. At no point did a character, actor, pacing or angle in this movie ever aggravate me.
Overall: 10/10
Bonds finest hour in my opinion, or damn close to it. For the longest time, Goldeneye held its place as my favorite Bond movie, but Skyfall has proved to be a worthy adversary to that title. Only time will tell which will become thee Bond movie to watch during a quiet boring night, someday in the future.
If you enjoyed that review, you can Click Here to see what else I've written about!
