Skyfall
Let us rejoice at the resurrection – no, double resurrection – of James Bond. In Skyfall he is ‘killed’ by friendly fire in the first reel, which fools nobody. 007 dead before the opening credits? Do me a favour. But the more significant resurrection is down to the film itself, which coming after Quantum Of Solace (possibly the worst of all Bond movies) kicks vigorous life back into what seemed an ailing franchise. Skyfall indeed can lay confident claim to be the best of all Bond movies for a variety of reasons: Daniel Craig is on top form as 007, the redoubtable M (Judi Dench) moves out of her office and on to centre stage and there is a particularly splendid, apparently omnipotent, villain in Javier Bardem, who is intent not on boring old world domination but something far more personal – the destruction of MI6, Nato and most specifically, M herself.
Nor is that all, for at one point someone says, ‘We’re going back to the past – Scotland’ (which won’t please Alec Salmond much) where thanks to Bond’s wrinkled old retainer (Albert Finney) we learn more about our hero and his beginnings than we ever did before.
But that comes later. At the start, with 007 ‘dead’, M is in deep trouble. Somehow she’s lost a hard drive containing the names of every Nato agent embedded in terrorist organisations across the world and Bardem has not only got it but – shades of WikiLeaks – is revealing week on the net, thereby condemning them to death.
Is M past it? Ralph Fiennes, political head of the Secret Service, thinks so. And in this brave new, fast-moving world of the internet is even the now somewhat grizzled Bond past it, too? That’s what the film sets out violently, thrillingly and often very amusingly to discover.
Fiennes, initially glowering like Voldermort, is a great addition to the cast. So is Ben Whishaw as an apparently teenage Q, whose forte is not so much outlandish gadgets as computer wizardry. And then there is the welcome return of formidable Bond girls, not just eye candy and sex toys here but powerful characters in their own right.
Bérénice Marlohe is fine as Bardem’s reluctant squeeze and Naomie Harris even better as the MI6 agent who accidentally shoots Bond.
As Bardem twists and turns to evade capture and carry out his dastardly plan – he’s really got it in for M – suspension of disbelief is urgently required but such is the skilful direction of Sam Mendes that you don’t really think about this until afterwards.
Mendes, who was asked to direct the film by Craig (over the heads of the producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson), does a superb job, although he is greatly helped not only by an especially strong cast but also by an excellent screenplay (mostly by John Logan) and the expert cinematography of Roger Deakins.
One way and another, then, Skyfall is the perfect celebration of the 50th anniversary of cinema’s most successful franchise.
{acepolls 36}