I must preface this review by saying that when I was a blossoming pubescent girl I was a huge James Bond fan, like, I had autistic savant levels of knowledge on the 007 franchise, much to the annoyance of everyone whenever I quoted a movie or referenced a fun fact, or whenever anyone mentioned Pierce Brosnan (which still happens today, I'll be honest...)
So when I say that Skyfall is the best modern James Bond film in the canon, I really mean it.
007: Skyfall
The Plot: Daniel Craig is back as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In Skyfall, Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. [Official Website]
The Review (HERE BE SPOILERS - DO NOT READ ON IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO BE SPOILED!):
If you have a gloss over the 'Reception' section of the Wikipedia article you'll get the gist of what I would have said if I wanted to waste a few flattering words stating the obvious/what I've already said. But probably what doesn't come across from those few nice words about the film is that it's not just a great James Bond film, it's a great film all-round (however, I think if you weren't familiar with the characters you might get a bit lost).
The thing that gets it for me is that this movie feels like an encapsulation of all that's come before it, and it pays a spectacular homage to the series as a whole that I think Die Another Day tried to do but failed, and all set in the modern age, too, which adds another dimension to the film. I'll explain what I mean: first, the main antagonist in the film is a cyber-terrorist, who in today's technological, Internet world, is a real threat, someone we can all identify with as being scary, frightening - we're afraid of what cyber-terrorists can do in real life. The throw-back to the films past with Javier Bardem's character, and I don't know if this is was intentional or coincidence, was the resemblance that at least I saw to Christopher Walken's Max Zorin in A View to a Kill (1985, starring Roger Moore for the last time as Bond). Max Zorin, like Silvia in Skyfall, is a blond, slightly off-his-rocker villain who deals with computers, more specifically microchips, and whose grand scheme is to force an earthquake through Silicon Valley so that he can have monopoly over the microchip industry. It appears that I'm not the first to make this connection, as a Google Image search for 'Max Zorin James Bond' returns results for Javier Bardem as Silvia, in dyed blond hair and eyebrows and piercing blue eyes (I mean really, those contacts are very strong and very obvious, given Bardem's natural Spanish complexion). While I was watching the film I thought of Hugo Drax from Moonraker (1979, also with Roger Moore), but I think I had him mistaken for Zorin.
Add to that the home security threat - that the villain is not after world domination in so far as being a political conqueror or a businessman looking to monopolize markets for financial gain, etc., but rather he is on a revenge mission, terrorising not only what I think of as 'home' in the world of 007 but also 'home' in the real world, being MI6, the protector of Britain and Empire, and again I can't help but be reminded of Alec Trevelyan, missing-presumed-dead 006 in Goldeneye (1995, starring Brosnan as Bond, and my first experience... of the Bond franchise). And also, now that I think of it - 006 was a foreign-born agent, similar to Silvia; I did have this thought in the cinema and am only now remembering it, confusing the rules for MI6 agents with the rule for US Presidents, as in they are only eligible if they're born in the UK/US. AND ALSO, while I think of Goldeneye, the damsel-in-distress Bond girl in Skyfall (if you don't count Judi Dench as M), reminded me strikingly of Xenia Onnatop, particularly in her dress at the Macau gambling house, which is not surprising given that the actress Berenice Marlohe drew inspiration from Famke Janssen. And, not to dwell too much on the villains, but Silvia also has a prosthetic set of upper teeth that somehow restores his face to a natural look after it was ravaged by a cyanide pill than didn't kill him - what does prosthetic dentures remind me of...?
There are heaps of other throw-backs to the James Bond canon, both as a film franchise as well as Ian Fleming's novel series, that I won't go into in too much detail because a) it spoils the fun of finding them out for yourself and b) it'll take me all night - suffice it to say that there's many a knowing smirk to be had while watching Skyfall, and the references are done, like I said before, in a much better way than in Die Another Day, which was meant to also be a homage film. There's also a whole heap of new stuff, too: new Q, new Moneypenny, new M (come at me, Ralph Fiennes... though I shed a tear at the departure of Judi Dench, much-beloved), new direction in the wake of blockbuster action movies, particularly the Christopher Nolan Batman series (and again, some on the Internet have already made the comparison between Silvia and Heath Ledger's Joker), and new socio-cultural themes - here, and if you've seen the film already you'll know what I'm talking about. If you haven't, go and see it and find out for yourself!
Finally, Daniel Craig as James Bond - being a fan of the Brosnan Bond, I was a little sceptical of a blond, squat, bulky Bond, physically worlds away from Fleming's image in the novels and what had been played to previously; however, the last two films of the 007 series and in particular this one just show that it's not always about appearances, and Craig's rendition of Bond is probably the closest any of them have come to the real thing in terms of characterisation - the grit of Tim Dalton but with the charm of Brosnan/Connery, and his own physicality, make him a great Bond and perhaps the best for the modern films. I didn't mind Bond (SPOILER ALERT) shedding a tear over M, which some critics have identified as being a bit soppy and not necessary, but I found it a touching reminder that while Bond is a cold-blooded killer, he's not a complete psychopath, and his cold heart is influenced somewhat by his fractured past. Judi Dench's final scenes were poignant and I think overall she played the role well - the criticism levelled at the female M in the last few films I feel are manifest in Skyfall, and she bows out after a fantastic performance in this film.
So in summing up - you just have to see this film for yourself. Storyline's great, not too complicated or sickly, the perfect amount of terrorism, exoticism, 'romance' (as only Bond knows how, although there is some contention over whether Bond's seduction of Severine is an abuse of power over someone sexually abused), return of old stock characters, bidding farewell to a major character in the Bond canon, visually stunning and evocative (especially the scene between Bond and the man who tried to kill him, set in a Shanghai glass skyscraper with Chinese neon ads flashing everywhere). I would certainly see it again and I will definitely purchase it on DVD when it comes out in two weeks' time.
Out of 5:
Five out of Five stars
(it's pretty bloody good!)
