Directed by Sam Mendes
Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan
Starring Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem and Judi Dench
Dum diddy-dum-dum dumdumdum
Dum diddy-dum-dum dumdumdum
Dum diddy-dum-dum dumdumdum
Dum diddy-dum-dum dumdumdum
DA-DAAAAAAH DA-DA-DAAAAAAAAAAHH!
If you’ve had that music lodged firmly in your head these last few months then like most decent people you’ve been waiting with baited breath and bristling, tingling spoiler-senses for word of Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond film, and the third in the rebooted, some might say revitalised franchise. The wait is almost over and I’m here to tell you that it has not been for nothing.
Skyfall is sublime.
This review won’t discuss the story as it’s best to go in cold if you can but you know the drill. Bad people are doing bad things and James Bond has to put a stop to them. What the bad people, led by a frightening and sinister Javier Bardem as Silva, are after is something different from the usual. Something that will hit very close to home for Bond as well as his legions of loyal fans.
Visually this is as good as a Bond movie has ever looked. Traditionally director Sam Mendes is associated with smaller movies (American Beauty, Away We Go) and it’s probably no coincidence that this is also one of the most character-driven stories in the Bond series. However Mendes has thrown himself bodily into the creation of visuals that are by turn epic and intimate, creating stunning, kinetic action sequences and lush cityscapes that complement the atmospheric moments of quiet character drama. If cinematographer Roger Deakins (Shawshank Redemption, No Country For Old Men) doesn’t get another Oscar nomination for his work here (it would be his tenth) then you can officially stop caring about the Oscars for good. Ah, I see some of you have already started.
One of the best things about the rebooted, Daniel Craig-starring Bond movies has been following the slow drip-feeding of the various Bond motifs into this new modern milieu. We got to see Bond earn his 00 status, witness the (probable) origin of his inability to trust women, we even get – near the end of Quantum Of Solace – his first pre-kill quip. Skyfall continues this building of the Bond world with the introduction of Q, MI6’s quartermaster and tech provider, now reimagined not as the slightly dizzy old man of the original franchise but as a young nerdy type, al big glasses and gangliness. Ben Whishaw has big shoes to fill and fills them well. This iteration of Q could have gone in a horrible Big Bang Theory direction of parodying an already-outdated paradigm of nerdiness but instead is a believable and even charming addition. If anything the change makes the fact that Bond’s tech expert has traditionally been a confused old man seem rather an odd choice.
Judi Dench also returns as M of course, this time around receiving more screen time than any of her previous turns as Bond’s boss, giving us sides to the character previously unimagined.
Skyfall is without a doubt the best of the Daniel Craig Bond cycle so far and probably the best Bond since Goldfinger.
No, that’s not an exaggeration.
See it immediately.
