Finally we get the James Bond we need, the James Bond we deserve, in
SKYFALL, wherein Bond must go head to head against a former MI6 agent out for revenge.
This is the Bond movie I have been waiting for. Just gonna lead right off with the call that this is absolutely my favorite Daniel Craig Bond movie so far, and easily one of my top two or three in the whole series. This film is SO excellent, start to finish.
First off, what a great cold open that has some great elements but also - very importantly - is just exceptionally well paced. Judging pacing/editing is very much just an intuitive/by-feel process for me - but just as the opening car chase cold open of Quantum of Solace was too frenetic, too insane, the open here has a style and pacing where after 10 minutes I simply knew I was going to enjoy how this movie was put together. I'll give props to Sam Mendes here for direction, and the whole team (whomever might be responsible for the choices that click for me) - but here at last I find the perfect merging of what makes me enjoy a Bond Movie with the new 21st century gritty-realistic Bond feel that equals an absolute winner.
Craig not only finds his footing more each time he plays Bond, but he just has better material here. Bond being left for dead, then resurrecting himself out of retirement, is a nice new mini-arc, and drunk/unsteady/unshaven Bond is a side of the character that Craig gets to put his teeth into and bring the first real believable humanity to Bond that I've seen yet. This whole Bond coming back to face a new threat takes up all of Act 1 of the movie (and it took a while) - but I loved every minute of it.
Then we get into a little more of the familiar rhythm of a Bond film, but even so we're firing on all cylinders. We get a (brief) casino scene, we get some good chases and fights (the extended shot of the silhouetted hand-to-hand combat fight scene between Bond and Patrice was one of those real "wow" moments of cinematography for me). We get a new Q with totally new Q energy and yet some familiar prickly vibes. I'm a Ben Whishaw fan so - even though we're still very gadget-lite, his presence on screen makes me happy. I really enjoy him in the latter half of the movie as well when he's providing not just gadgetry, but being a general computer/tech wizard for Bond. This is a great, great role for the character to graduate in to, and even though it took them a couple movies to decide what to do with Q, it was worth the wait.
Javier Bardem is a great actor, and a great villain. He brings terrific characterization here, and his plot/story/reasoning is excellent, plain and simple revenge on MI6 with a focus on M. One of the downsides to Trevalyn from GoldenEye was a lack of focus along with the totally unnecessary extra plan to make a lot of money and EMP London back to the stone age (just to give Bond a Big Scary McGuffin Weapon to take down). There's no McGuffin here, and we see that when well focused, written, and acted, a villain doesn't actually need one.
Finally we get the payoff we've been building as well for a couple movies with this more personal relationship between Bond and M. They've been playing at it, but I wasn't sure if they were going to do anything with it. It's a great arc and a great payoff here. Remember how I said it was great a few movies ago when they gave Judi Dench more to do but wished she could have gotten even more action? Here it is. Here is the fulfillment of that wish. She is wonderful in this role and this part and the end of her journey feels totally validated once we get there, never rushed or forced. This movie made me care more about some of these key characters than anything else in the last 20+ movies has, and they have only earned that right after so long.
Skyfall made me realize this - a Bond movie is good when it's being CONFIDENT in whatever elements it's using to tell its story - not just when it uses any of the Bond Narrative Linchpins as crutches to fill in the Mad Libs plot/script. Skyfall is confident, and that is key.
I could go on, but I won't. A marvelous movie. Also 2 bonks with 2 girls so - 62 with 50.
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