#did i mention i saw it in imax recently for the second time? breathtaking

[slamsams-blog]

Skyfall - #24WeeksofBond

We are officially past the halfway mark, and what a way to kick off the second half of 24 Weeks of Bond then with “Skyfall”?  It’s hard to place “Skyfall” when it comes to comparisons between all the other Bond films because it is just so unique.  Looking at the entire film collection up to this point you could place these movies in two different sub-catagories, Action Bond & Comedy Bond.  Skyfall falls under its own sub-catagory - Thriller Bond.  This visually stunning masterpiece has a hair raising plot with eerie characters, brooding cinematography and it is topped off with a dusting of humor.  Not only is it incredible to look at, but the writing and directing make you connect with the characters of Bond more so than any other film.  Plus, it’s the film that ties all the classics in together to give us the cast of characters we had been missing prior.  M, Moneypenny, & Q are now all established and everything is right in the world of 007.

Back in 2006 when Daniel Craig first came on, Barbara Broccolli and Michael G. Wilson, the main producers of the Bond series, had decided to essentially hit the reset button, and bring us back to give us the journey of how Bond came to be Bond, James Bond: License to Kill 007. These first three Daniel Craig films are building blocks for the continuation of the world of James Bond that we all know and love.  But that meant 3 Bond movies that didn’t have cool gadgets delivered to Bond by a snarky head of Q-Branch, didn’t have a sassy, flirtaious Moneypenny at the desk of M, and worst of all, had no gun barrel sequences.  That was probably what made me more frustrated than anything, the first three movies with Daniel Craig, and not one gun barrel sequence to open up the film...it’s just not Bond without it!

But by the time you had left the theatre after seeing Skyfall in IMAX, you felt a sense that everything was back to normal.  They even threw a gun barrel sequence in at the end, which didn’t appease me, but when I went to go see “Spectre” in theatres, I was literally PRAYING that they would put the bun barrel sequence in the beginning.  Once I saw that white circle in the middle of the screen, I literally yelled out loud with excitement.

But that is the end of the film, let’s keep with the theme of the film, and go back in time to the beginning of the film.

This is the story of M, and the coldness and callous thats required to do her job, and it’s also the story of how that affects those that fight for her and their country.  Never before has M been so deeply entrenched in the plot to the point where M is the main character.  Her decision making about her operatives who are in the field is quickly highlighted in the pre-title sequence of the film where everyone is out looking for a stolen data base of all NATO agents who are undercover - putting them all in danger of being exposed.  Bond comes across another field agent Ronson who appears to have been shot.  Bond tries to save him, but M directs Bond to “just leave him”.  Then later, after Bond has caught up to the man we will know as Patrice (after a classic scene where Bond jumps to a disconnected moving train car and shoots his cuffs), Bond and Patrice are struggling on top of the train where M directs Moneypenny to take a shot at Patrice - even though M was told it wasn’t a clean shot and that she might hit Bond.  Well, she does hit Bond and Bond dies...(but not really of course).

You will start to notice a pattern with the Daniel Craig movies...he always finds a way to lose his job.  He is either resigning, getting stripped of his license, getting suspended, or dying.  I hear he retires in “No Time To Die”.  lol.

This would be the first out of two movies to be directed by Sam Mendes who wasn’t really known for making action movies.  Sam Mendes is a storyteller and a visual artist and he makes that known here.  Everything about the cinematography in this film is just absolutely stunning.  The shots in Shanghai where Bond is swimming and later catches up with Patrice in a high rise office made of glass (one of my favorite fight scenes).  The shots in the Macou casino, the breathtaking views of the hills of Scotland and firelit shots of Skyfall Manor after it had been blown to smithereens.  All these scenes are just a feast for the eyes, and gives the film a sort of suspenseful energy making this film to be classified as a thriller.

On top of that, we have Raoul Silva who is played by the incredible Javier Bardem.  There was a lot of hype surrounding this casting choice as he was pretty fresh off of “No Country for Old Men” fame.  People waiting on pins and needles to watch his performance...unfortunately we don’t get to see him until halfway through the movie.  But when we do see him, we are introduced with one continuous shot of Silva walking towards Bond and delivering a long monologue about rats and coconuts.  As a former actor myself, that is not easy to do.  Bardem gives Silva a nightmarish psychotic coat of paint, but can also make you laugh with just the slightest look accompanied with a bit of sass.

The story is that Raoul Silva had worked as an MI6 agent who was apparently M’s favorite.  But Silva had gotten caught along the way, and was tortured, but never gave M up. He tried to kill himself with cyanid, to make sure he wouldn’t break and protect MI6 - but the cyanid didn’t kill him.  This left his face scarred for life and left him broken and vengeful that M had given him up so easily.  Now Silva has concocted a master plan to get captured, only to escape because of his forward thinking ability to hack someone who is trying to hack him, and get M into a position where he can get a clean shot to kill her.  Pretty straight forward plot, but to say “This time, it’s personal!” may be putting it mildly here. 

Inserted into this plot, is a slightly confusing run in with a women named Severine, who is ultimately Bond’s gateway to get to Silva.  The reason I say it is confusing is because I don’t know what her directives are for the scene where she gets a drink with Bond. Severine is being controlled by Silva so her job is to be at the casino for Patrice when he comes and cashes in the chip that he had - but it ends up being Bond cashing in the chip. So, was the plan to have a drink with Patrice and kill him too?  Or were they trying to get Bond to let his guard down so that they could kill him easier?  And why were they going to kill him?  So they didn’t have to pay up?  Was Severine still a sex slave or was she merely Silva’s mistress?  Not much is known about her, but she is clearly afraid of Silva and adds to Silva’s build up nicely.

Toward the end of the film, after some cat and mouse between Bond and Silva, Bond kidnaps M, uses her as bait (how does it feel, M?), and lures Silva to Skyfall Manor, which is the house Bond grew up in as a kid.  Bond picks Skyfall because he knows of the gun room they had there, but Kincade, who had been the gamekeeper there since Bond was a boy, tells him that they had sold the guns to someone in Idaho.  So now Bond, M, and Kincade have to get creative and “Home Alone” this house with booby traps.  Any kid who grew up watching Home Alone would have been reminded of that movie right away after watching this.  However, we see M getting shot in her side during the scuffle with the baddies and that will lead us to Silva’s killing, and M gasping her last breath in Bond’s arms.  It sure was bittersweet to see Judi Dench leave the role.  In my opinion, she is the best M of them all merely because of all she got to do with it.  Not Bernard Lee’s fault, he just wasn’t given the depth of character that Dench got.

Between Sam Mendes’ commitment to directing the film, Adele gifting us with her incredible voice for the theme song, Javier Bardem playing the villain, and the 4 years it took to get this film into the theatres, this was one of the most anticipated Bond films ever - and it lived up to, or exceeded, everyone’s expectations.  Skyfall is a beautiful and nerve-wracking action thriller that is just on another level as far as Bond films go.  My only gripes with the film is how it slows down towards the end of an already long film, and all the mentions of Bond getting old...why mention his age when we are always going to have Bond movies?  

But so many fun moments, like Q asking Bond if he was expecting an exploding pen (Goldeneye shout out), and bringing back the famous Aston Martin car from Goldfinger - that got an audible pop from the audience when I saw it in the Theatres.  Skyfall is definitely Craig’s peak as Bond, but of course he has one more left.  Only time will tell if he ends on a high note with “No Time to Die”, or if “Skyfall” was the high note of Daniel Craig’s Bond tenure.  I’m sure there is more to say about this film, but I can’t think of them right now, so I will say goodnight!

What did you think?  Let me hear you!

Reviews from Friends:

Andrew Albertsen

I read that Judi Dench has more screen time in this movie alone than Desmond Llewelyn has in 17 films as Q. I also read that there was talk of Sean Connery playing Kincade. God that would’ve been stupid.

My Mom

This was a fantastic movie. mark recently talked me into surround sound. I now have to look at little black speakers all over my living room. As I sat enjoying this film on my couch my heart was skipping a beat thinking intruders were sneaking up behind me. Turns out to be Daniel Craig and crew ambushing me with sounds of footsteps and guns. Terrifying.

Jake Benrud

Loved this movie. This is one of my favorites. Always a good Bond flick when there's a turned 00 agent.

24 Weeks of Bond Will Return Next Monday With - 

Die Another Day