+ Best Action Movie of the Year
+ Best Blockbuster of the Year
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| An icy-looking Daniel Craig on the poster for Sam Mendes' Skyfall |
It's going bad for Great Britain's MI6, - really bad: Their #1 agent, James Bond, has been shot; their building in London is terror-bombed; and information on their agents has been leaked on the Internet. It all points back to an embittered ex-agent with an unhealthy mother-fixation on M.
Skyfall is rightly celebrated, because in the Bond plethora, it certainly stands out and in a good way: It is the most modern and unconventional film in the franchise ever. Its production design, by Dennis Gassner (Road to Perdition (2002)), is fantastic, grand in a different way than the classic Ken Adam designs, and so is the inspired, Oscar-nominated photography by Roger Deakins (Fargo (1996)), which includes an intense fight scene in Shanghai in almost total dark. The story feels more real than Bond stories usually do, - with the franchise elements, such as Q and the deformity of the villain, working as exciting, familiar pixie-dust at times.
Skyfall, a clear improvement after Marc Forster's dull Quantum of Solace (2008) has an intense, exciting opening action section in Istanbul, a resplendent title sequence to Adele's great, Oscar-winning title theme, written by her and Paul Epworth, truly one of the great Bond themes.
The most exciting thing about the film is that it's more of an actors film than so many previous Bond movies: For the first time, Judi Dench's (Notes on a Scandal (2006)) character M really gets something to do, other than act as a wry commentator house-mouse to Bond. Dench is spectacular as the tough old bird, sprinkling lots of dry, British humor on the proceedings, and Javier Bardem (Vicky Christina Barcelona (2008)) is equally fantastic as one of the best villains in the Bond universe in a very long time, Silva. Daniel Craig (Munich (2005)) himself gets into the film looking like an alcoholic, which is what Bond had become (or Craig?), but as it turns out (surprise), - he still has it.
The unusual solemnity and minimalism of the visual concepts culminate in the ending of the film, which takes place in a gloomy countryside Scotland and is a standout in all ways in the Bond world. Not only is the setting almost completely uninhabited (save for Albert Finney (Simpatico (1999)) who resides there and adds his unique brand of stout backbone to the section), it has nothing to do with the villain, is not sexy or technological in any way, and doesn't even have much in the way of arms. The kick-ass finale works terrifically as the bold, tough awakening upon the financial crisis, which Skyfall cleverly rides the tail of. Among the developments in the film of perhaps a bit lesser interest is the significant heating of Bond's relation to Moneypenny, (suggesting sex between them!), now in the guise of sexy Naomie Harris (Spectre (2015)), and a scene between Silva, another slimy homosexual in the franchise's villain gallery, which already features quite a few of those, and Bond, in which the latter suggests that he has had gay experiences himself.
The film is written by Neal Purvis and Robert Wade (Die Another Day (2002), both) and directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty (1999)), who enters the director's chair in the world's #1 franchise with impressive assertiveness.
Related posts:
The Bond franchise: A View to a Kill (1985) or, Once a Gentleman, Always a Gentleman!
Sam Mendes: Top 10: Best franchise movies
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED V]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED IV]
2012 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
Away We Go (2009) or, Where Do We Start This Family?
American Beauty (1999) or, Escape by Death
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| Javier Bardem in Sam Mendes' Skyfall |
Budget: Est. 200 mil. $
Box office: 1,108.6 mil. $
= Huge hit, first Bond to cross 1 billion $, 7th highest grossing movie of all time, highest grossing film in the UK ever
What do you think of Skyfall?
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