Skyfall

Reviewed by Danny the Demented
Updated Nov 29 2012

6 James Bonds, 23 movies, and 50 years later,  the franchise has evolved into something that resembles very little of Bond. For someone who bought the ticket to see him, it is the first time I hoped evolution is a myth. 

Skyfall, the latest film of the legendary Bond series,  tells the story of a battle of both wits and strength between James Bond (Daniel Craig)  and a former MI6 agent turned super villain named Raoul Silva  (Javier Bardem). The film begins with Bond and another filed agent called Eve Moneypenny (Naomie Harris) chasing an assassin who has stolen a disc containing vital information. During the chaos Moneypenny shoots Bond by mistake and the film would've ended right then and there BUT WAIT! Bond survives the shot and is now on the quest of finding out who the mastermind is behind the disc heist. Emerges Silva, the former operative of MI6 seeking revenge after being abandoned in a mission-gone-wrong by M (Judi Dench), the head of MI6. With great intellect and a ruthless will, Silva pushes both M and Bond to the brink and the survival of Britain's Secret Intelligence Service is threatened like never before. Your garden-variety doomsday scenario, fun fun. 

The problem with Skyfall isn't about the quality of the film. Sure the chase sequence is not on par with the Bourne franchise (what is?) ,  the plot is no more exciting than Haywire, and Judi Dench's M is even less interesting than Jeffrey Tambor's Tom Manning (Hellboy 2004). But all in all the film still works as an action thriller. The structure of the story is sound, several shots are breathtakingly beautiful (the building nightlight fight between Bond and the French assassin in particular, poetry without words that was), and the direction of Sam Mendes holds everything afloat. Also, having Javier Bardem playing your villain is almost like cheating, the man is that good.

So what went wrong? the answer to that riddle lies in the essence of the movie. Skyfall, while an above-average action film, really isn't a James Bond film. In the most classic Bond movies, the franchise indulged the audiences with cool cars, fancy tux, beautiful women (plural), smooth dialogues, and mysterious characters. These elements may not be necessities in most movies, but they are unquestionably vital to any Bond movie. James Bond is supposed to be cool, he is supposed to be graceful, he is supposed to drive cars that make you go daaammmmmmmmn, date women you'd never dream of approaching and speak in ways that make people want to remove their pants, regardless of their gender.  Almost none of these were met. The Skyfall Bond is less interesting than the antagonist Silva, much less. When Bond speaks it's usually reactionary which makes his words less charismatic. He did not get to drive any cool vehicles (save for a super vintage Aston Martin) nor did he get to use any interesting gadgets (save for a palm-print handgun). His only real "love-interest" was Severine (Berenice Marlohe) and she holds as much intrigue as a glass of water does to the Honey Boo Boo child (or common sense does to Ann Coulter). Above all, Bond felt more like a supporting character to M, as Silva cares only about M, not at all Bond. When the villain doesn't give 2 hoots about Bond, why should the audience? If James Bond isn't the driving force of the film, then why should I pay to see a James Bond movie? The franchise is selling you a character, not a story.  And in the absence of the character, the movie inevitably fails. 

A fine action movie but not a Bond movie.  Perhaps the biggest crime was that Bond didn't get to be Bond, and that was one threat not even James Bond could've rescued us from. My name is Danny and I endorse this message.