Could it be? Has Bond finally been killed in action??? Well, what do you think? Yeah, exactly. MI6 secret agent 007 James Bond returns in the 23rd official film in the series based on the Ian Fleming novels. Though Skyfall comes to us without an original novel attached, instead with an original screenplay from Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan.
MI6 is under attack. On mission in Turkey, Bond (Daniel Craig) and fellow secret agent Eve (Naomie Harris) fail to retrieve a valuable hard drive, compromising MI6’s intelligence. As head of MI6, M’s (Judi Dench) position is placed in political jeopardy, while evil villain Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) wrecks havoc upon London and the vulnerable secret service.
As we’ve come to expect from the Daniel Craig Bond films, secret agent 007 is a flawed hero. Sam Mendes continues to explore the dark side of Bond, to a degree that one may easily confuse the character with a superhero archetype. After three films, Craig’s Bond is a far cry from the suave and mentally able portrayals from Sean Connery, Roger Moore and Pierce Brosnan.
Skyfall presents some topical points amidst the action, with particular references to local terrorism and Internet hacking scandals (remember Wikileaks and News of the World?) This however, is rather unexplored, with sequences focusing on gadgets, explosions, car chases and just gameplay style action.
That said, Skyfall is a blast and easily the most enjoyable and thrilling Bond film since GoldenEye. The story is strong and affords more time to Judi Dench as M, instead of the usual love interest(s). With the two Bond “women” (remember when they used to be girls…) Harris and Berenice Lim Marlohe taking the back seat, Dench’s is strong as the fearless leader, unafraid to stand up to the antagonist that comes in the form of a villain, and the government.
Javier Bardem appears with another weird hairdo, and is once again magnetic. His performance is one part terrifying, one part hysterical and one part camp. Whenever Bardem appears, the audience is thankful, as not only mayhem ensues, but also that sense of anarchic comedy, usually coming from a superhero antagonist.
More experienced with kitchen sink dramas (with a couple of exceptions), Sam Mendes tackles the fast-moving, action packed scenes with plenty of skill. Roger Deakins cinematography is at its most beautiful while large objects are ablaze for extended periods of time. Like Mendes, frequent collaborator/composer Thomas Newman also shines in a genre a little out of his usual scale.
Celebrating the 50th anniversary since Dr. No, the first film in the series, Skyfall is a welcome return to the more traditional and exciting Bond films that have evaded our screens for a long time.
Skyfall is in Australian cinemas from Thursday 22 November through Sony Pictures.
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