SKYFALL REVIEW

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Four years after the mixed package that was Quantum of Solace was released have British and World Wide Fans alike awaited the return of the next Bond film. Four years we have waited and after such a long time, waiting for the atmosphere at another Bond Adventure to rise in our midst the Sky falls, crumbling away to satisfy our thirst and excitement once again.

Bond, James Bond is back, this time with Director Sam Mendez at the helm to deliver what is possibly the most personal Bond story to date and what is at this point the final nail in the coffin of the Bond Origin that Casino Royale began back in 2006.

This Film truly ends the humane journey of Bond as a character and finally sets up all the much needed mythologies to get the ball rolling in getting Bond back the way people have craved for many years now. But this comes with a heavy price to those who appreciated the more realistic and darker manner in which Bond had been portrayed for the last two films.

Gone is the subtle and somewhat cold humour, gone are the quick and intense action sequences, gone are the larger to earth conspiracies that Casino Royale started and Quantum continued. Gone is the Rebooted Bond that was meant to be more grounded in reality the way Ian Fleming had wrote him.

Instead Skyfall returns to a more traditional respect of the character that older fans are more in twine with. And while that may upset the established aspects from its rebooted predecessors the film as a whole itself tries its best in maintaining some of those aspects while mixing in the elements of a more classical Bond.

Skyfall begins with Bond, played brilliantly yet again by Daniel Craiq who finds the hard-drive containing data on all their fellow agents infiltrated in terrorist organizations missing, having been stolen by silent Henchman Patrice (Ola Rapace). Giving chase along with fellow agent Eve (Naomi Harris) the two follow in a car chase in the middle of Istanbul before switching for a motorcycle and finally having a fist fight on top of a train with the would be French Man. 

But with risks high and pressure been put on M (Judi Dench) she orders fellow agent Eve to sniper the target. With no choice but to do as told Eve takes ‘The Bloody Shot’ and it ends with Bond falling off the speeding train and to his eventful waterfall death. 

And thus the first 15 minutes of none-stop action ends with ADELE’S SKYFALL Intro playing and it has to be said that this is the first time a Title Sequence and Song have matched perfectly, delivering the themes the film is playing on, along with some major foreshadowing of what is in store for the rest of the narrative. 
 

A great opening, a great song and intro to what would be otherwise a great film but sadly that is not the case because the next few minutes of drama and exposure absolutely do nothing to add to the narrative or characters and the weakness of the writing shines through, exposing itself like the blood flowing out a wound.

3 Months pass and M comes under pressure to retire from the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Gareth Mallory, played by Voldermort aka Ralph Fiennes who many people may be surprised to discover he is much more than he appears to be. 

Heading back to office, a hack occurs that results in the MI6 building been blown up a second time. Lucky only a few people get killed that no one gives a toss about and the next few scenes are of Bond doing what any man shot in the shoulder, chest and is declared dead would do. Shag, drink and a hangover on a remote location somewhere before seeing the news of the attack on his precious HQ and deciding to return back home and ‘Rising’ from the darkness.

30 minutes into the film and already Bond has returned from the dead making the entire death subplot just pointless filler. While the rest of the film uses it to have us see Bond train and get back into shape and throw in a mention of the film’s title that will come into play later on, the overall progression and how its done was not needed at all.

The aim of it was to humanize Bond and make him look and feel weak but the previous films already accomplished those acts through the use of the natural flow of the narrative, showcasing his killer instincts and psychotic attitude along with his obvious human weaknesses and thirst for revenge and killing because of having lost a loved one and a possible chance at a normal life. Adding in a death subplot that is resolved in a matter of minutes in a few quick scenes later is just a waste of time for both plot and audiences and just spells this entire segment as a means to just get from point A to point B of the story.
 

We get that Bond is human and can feel but to also add in some kind of ploy that he is getting older and should quit is an insult to the myth and character of Bond. 23 Films now and it has been well established that Bond can never grow old or die. He has been immortalized throughout the years of history and while these films may be a reboot of those legends of past it should still aim to follow suit with those myths and legends. 

The Theme that does work and that the film does take a chance to explore is whether or not agents or people like Bond in general are still relevant in today’s world of cyber-terrorism and unknown shadowed enemies. Gone are the days of the cold war and now each villain crawling out the woodwork is a by-product of today’s society and whether the right course of action is to stick with old methods of sending in people to kill each other or simply use technical tactics to get the job done. It’s almost an argument of keeping in with the old and down with the new and that sometimes the old fashioned way is always the best approach to take in certain situations.

This form of argument is ever present between the characters of M and Mallory including the first meeting and relationship between the older Bond and younger Q (Ben Whishaw). 

The relationship is that of both been experienced and good at what they do but only one of them truly is capable of the harder tasks at hand and Q while as intelligence as he is does one point fail at not noticing a certain danger. Even Eve who wishes to be a field agent doesn’t quite live up to the experiences and work Bond has gone through and in the end it all comes down to Bond knowing how to approach these obstacles more than the new generation of spies do. 

However the main plot progression resolves around the relationship between Bond, M and the film’s villain Sliva who in this film is mix of Goldeneye Rogue Agent Sean Bean and Die Hard 4’s Cyber Terrorist Timothy Olyphant’s characters.

Javier Bardem possibly gives one of the best Bond Villain performances seen yet. By the time his character is introduced at the halfway point the plot of the film really starts and that sadly just demonstrates the lack of risk taken with the script and the constant filler that is the first half of the movie. But once Javier makes his Long-Take Introduction it becomes a plot of sibling rivalry between a Mother’s love and betrayal. 

And that is pretty much the film in a nutshell with Sliva wanting revenge on M for betraying him years ago and Bond going out of his way to protect her and while that is a narrative seen many times in differently done scenarios the plot here while interesting is simply to lacklustre with the first half delivering on the amazing cinematography and action but failing to really tell a interesting story until the last half when things really go wild.

And while Javier’s gives a exceptional performance his character doesn’t really do much and fails miserably in achieving his goals considering the amount of hype that is established on him within the plot and skills he processes, but nothing remotely great is done with those skills besides a few basic hats of tricks that isn’t nearly as exciting then what other film Villains have brought to the table.

It is as uninteresting as the entire last half of the movie where the plot really picks up but fails to showcase any form of originality as it strives to copy its own version of “villain having planned to be captured and escaping ” to ending it with a stand off at Bond’s place of origin in where it suddenly fills like we’re watching a more tamed modern version of Home Alone/Straw Dogs but with explosions and a helicopter included.

While entertaining and visually spectacular thanks to Roger Deakins’ Cinematography which’s makes it one of the most beautifully shot films to date and the combination of the action with the stylised look that almost resembles certain aspects of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the overall progression and reality of the story is a insult to the intelligence of the mind. It being the 50 Anniversary of the entire series doesn’t help matters either when the film pays homage’s to the classic tales by forcing down constant jokes, quips and other unexplained ‘Classic Bond Moments’.
 

On one hand the action and adventure elements familiar with Bond films is there but on the other, the over use of trying to stuff the film with plot points like the stolen Agent List and Bond’s weak aiming skills are all dropped at a moments notice in order to serve the plot and thus a development of these essential plot devices is never fully completed and become nothing more than pointless filler and a waste of just so the entire story can get to the ending twist that is surprising but not unexpected and closes of Bond’s 007 Origin story for good and sets him for what will possibly be a return back to basics.

That said however it manages to still be an entertaining thrill-ride with the Cinematography really setting apart each scene and location with it’s own unique look and style. And while the script is weak and unoriginal it is the performance of the actors that sets each character apart, giving them each moments to showcase their individual talents of humour, emotion and fear that set it apart from previous Bond Film’s altogether with Action that is both fun, unexpected at times and full of tension and drama, making it a worth-while watch despite all its obvious flaws. 
 

With Pleasure, I give it an Overall Score of…(8/10)

Likes:

·       Roger Deakins’ Cinematography

·       ADELE’S SKYFALL Song and Intro

·       Javier Bardem as Sliva

·       Daniel Craiq as Bond

·       Ben Whishaw as Q

Hates:

·       Plot Devices that are dropped and never mentioned again. What actually did happen to the stolen List? And when did Bond suddenly get good at shooting again?

·       Bond’s Death. If you’re gonna kill off the main hero only to bring him back to the world minutes after without perhaps maybe pulling some undercover or lost memory bullshit, don’t bother next time.

·       The lack of a proper final confrontation with Hero and Villain. You pick Javier Bardem of all people to play the main Villain and the man never throws a single punch. I’m insulted.

·       Berenice Marlohe gives off an attracting presence but isn’t given much to work with sadly and her final scene is tasteless, unforgiving, sexist and insulting.