I completed my reviews of all the James Bond films back when this blog started, in 2011. However, it was inevitable new Bond films would continue to be released and for completeness sake it’s high time to review them. The first twenty three Bond films (including the non-EON production Never Say Never Again) are still here to read. So, with no further delay it’s a pleasure to review the remaining Daniel Craig films, especially as the first one left to review is Skyfall.
The minor problem I had with Skyfall, when it was released in 2012, was that it was apparently so adored from the moment it was released that I felt I needed some time to give it an objective distance. Still, eleven years is maybe a bit too long. Skyfall is, I should start by saying, one of the Bond franchise’s great success stories and in many ways one of its best films. To draw a parallel, if Casino Royale was Daniel Craig’s Dr. No or From Russia with Love, in terms of success and critical standing, then Skyfall is his Goldfinger or Thunderball; a quality blockbuster hit that just chimes with the audience desires of the time. Actually, perhaps SPECTRE is more akin to Thunderball, for reasons I’ll elaborate on in the next review.
Skyfall is by no means a perfect film, should such a thing exist, and there are a few things I don’t like about it. But in my eyes it manages to successfully marry the new more brutal direction taken for Craig’s Bond with many of the much loved and established tropes from the earlier entries , even so far as occasionally resembling the aesthetic of Connery’s era, although there is a specific visual gag that pays homage to Roger Moore’s Live and Let Die (just swap alligators for a komodo dragon).
Quantum of Solace was a bold, clippy entry to the franchise but as I previously argued, it wasn’t a wholly satisfying Bond experience. Skyfall can be seen as a scaled up course correction, perhaps in the same way The Spy Who Loved Me went for broke after the mediocre The Man with the Golden Gun. In Quantum of Solace’s defence, though, Golden Gun wasn’t trying to push any creative boundaries. Like Spy, Skyfall is also the third film for an established Bond actor, which is often seen as a benchmark for everything that makes that particular actor’s era a success; an arguable zenith. That argument certainly rings true if you consider the examples of Goldfinger or The Spy who Loved Me (less so with The World is Not Enough). Brosnon’s third aside, Connery and Moore’s third films helped their portrayal achieve a kind of posterity. Goldfinger, for example, defined the series and is considered to be an evergreen classic; a great film, not just a great Bond film. Skyfall, I would say, reaches for those aspiring heights and at least for a newer generation achieves a similar goal.
Loosely continuing the story began in Casino Royale, Bond is now presented as something of a veteran (who at one point has to be strenuously reassessed and reminded that his job is a “young man’s game”). When a mission goes wrong, Bond is written off as dead, only to return to the secret service when a nefarious face from M’s past returns. The spectre from the past is no other than another secret agent, Silva (Javier Bardem) who is seriously aggrieved at what he sees as M’s betrayal many years before. The personal vendetta against M makes this story unique, although other aspects such as Bond going ‘rouge’ and not being fit for service have now been done a few times too often. Also, the fake obituary and Bond being presumed dead (either genuinely or as a conceit) is an idea that the films had first done back in You Only Live Twice, with Connery, and you could argue that an angry and vengeful Bond was established much earlier with Timothy Dalton’s portrayal, further eroding the originality Skyfall has to offer. But this is all nit picking really as Skyfall manages to supply these ideas in a way that is packaged as a big crowd pleaser. Some things might seem familiar, but that’s why we’re here after all.
Sam Mendes, previously known for American Beauty and The Road to Perdition, takes over as director. Mendes wasn’t an obvious fit for a Bond film, but he delivers a handsome picture with some great set pieces, much aided by Roger Deakin’s atmospheric cinematography. A Bond film helmed by these two was always going to be something a bit special. Sadly, one casualty of employing auteurs is the absence of David Arnold, whose musical talents are swapped for Mendes’ regular collaborator Thomas Newman. I’ve liked Newman since his offbeat contribution to Desperately Seeking Susan in 1985 and he’s come a long way since. His Skyfall score is absolutely fine as it goes, but Arnold was the true successor to John Barry in my view and he is missed here. Conversely the title song by Adele is a triumph, an emotional homage to the Shirley Bassey/John Barry barnstormers of old. Like Bassey, I want to hear Adele supply another Bond theme. She seems to understand what’s expected and absolutely delivers. As good as the song is, we also get a gorgeous title sequence from creatively reliable stalwart Daniel Kleinman, which enhances the music no end.
The established cast bring some of their best performances, with Judi Dench’s M in particular getting more opportunity for character development. Ralph Fiennes’ Mallory is a welcome addition and Craig finally gets his own ‘Q’ and Moneypenny, played by Ben Wishaw and Naomi Harris respectively. Both supply hugely likeable performances, giving us new spins on the old favourites, more in tune with the new era without sacrificing what made us like the characters in the first place. Harris in particular is in turn ballsy and charming, and I wanted to see more of her. The same with Wishaw’s Q, and the more gentle variation on Bond’s relationship with the quartermaster is engagingly droll. But as far as scene stealing is concerned, Javier Bardem’s Silva is no competition. A jarringly effete but seething character, Silva is a quality villain and gives Daniel Craig his first truly larger than life adversary. Hiring such a consummate actor as Bardem certainly raises the game for everyone. As for Craig himself, he puts in an assured performance, to the extent where I could be fooled into thinking this was his sixth film, not his third. As I have mentioned before, there is much about Craig’s appearance and demeanour as Bond which isn’t to my taste, but much of this is aesthetic. By Skyfall, Craig owns the role and is able to do what Dalton never truly managed, which is to deliver a dry, genuinely funny one liner without it seeming forced and insincere. Craig’s Bond is so jaded and sardonic, that he would say these things just to amuse himself. But not once does Craig sacrifice the hard as nails ruthlessness. He doesn’t quite have the charm of Connery, but he is as much of a physical threat and is better at revealing emotional depth than Connery’s Bond (which was likely more down to the writing of the era than the actor). The screenplay is again by Neil Purvis and Robert Wade (with John Logan). If it isn’t broke, why fix it? It’d be a tough call to say which of Wade and Purvis’ Bond scripts are the best, but Skyfall must be a contender.
From its audacious pre-credit sequence, motor cycling over the rooftops of The Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, through to the shootout at Bond’s ancestral home (the titular Skyfall), Skyfall does not disappoint as a top tier action film. There’s a refreshing urgency about Bond’s adventures, that often puts him in real jeopardy (“take the bloody shot!” M tells Moneypenny, who can’t be sure if she will hit Bond or the assailant). Bond is expendable. But it also presents a Bond we can believe in and whatever doubts anyone had about him two films earlier, Craig has become James Bond in a way no other actor ever has, bar Sean Connery. I say that as someone who does not class him as a favourite (I would rank both Connery and Dalton above him, and Lazenby is the only Bond for the particular film he is in), but he brings a quality portrayal to the table and he is one of many reasons Skyfall never fails to entertain. Skyfall combines the best of what made Casino Royale so good, with the addition of much loved tropes from Connery and Moore’s eras, without abandoning the more serious nature of Craig’s tenure. It finally feels like a modern Bond film in love with the franchise’s legacy, which still pushes for something new.
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