Cast: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fienes, Naomie Harris, Albert Finney, Ben Winshaw
MPAA Rating: Rated PG13 for intense violence sequences throughout, some sexuality, language, and smoking
Bond's loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.
Oh what an intruging road you've thrown us Mr. Bond, from the game changing "Casino Ryale" to the lackluster "Quantum of Solace', to the studio going under making us believe we would never see a Bond film again, to four years later an "Skyfall" finally coming out an ole what a wait it was worth. Right off the bat, I am not a Bond fan. I am not a fan of that goofy cartoonish humor that they are known for and I believe that's why I resonate with the more mordern day Daniel Craig bond films. I liked the concept of turning something like Bond and giving it the Batman Begins feel making him more of a character to resonate with and more grounded. There are negatives with that like "Quantum of Solace" did but with the right person at helm the bond films can be really good and that's what Sam Mendes did here. The story of this film is much different from most Bond films, most of the Bond films over time have been formulaic in having an over-the-top villain with some dasterdly plan of world domination and Bond has to stop them while he has sex with the latest Bond girl. This film went in a different direction, with Daniel Craig being 44 people are beginning to feel he is too old for the role and they hit that nail over the head in this film. We are featured a more aged Bond whose been out of the game for a while and lost a step. The film features him battling off against Javier Bardem whose Joker-esque in a way as he wants to turn the whole MI6, CIA system on its head and show how messed up it really is. It's definitely not the average Bond film and a breath of fresh air into a franchise thats at its 23rd film. The interesting thing they did with the story is showed how much Bond and Javier Bardem's character are similar adding layers to Bond's character whose past doesn't usually play a major role in the films. M (Judi Dench) also plays an invital part of the story as her past is the key thing that sets off the film. It was good to see her character also move up to the main part as Judi Dench is a great actress and is perfect as M. That's what the film does best, every character from Bond, M, his partner, Q, Javier Bardem, every single one of them had a purpose in this film. Most films usually will stick side characters into pointless subplots to just show they were there but every character added something to this film and made it that much better to watch. The film is directed by Sam Mendes (American Beauty) who was always an interesting choice definitely different from the people who usually direct action films and I think he added something different to this film. Dealing a lot with inner-personal dramas, Mendes gave us more depth to characters usual seen as one dimensional. Through just looks are facial expressions you can undetstand completely what a character is going through in a film. Like how Christopher Nolan reinovated the Batman film series, Mendes has found a way to turn a formulaic film series into something completely new. Mendes was also surprisingly well at shooting action scenes. The train fight scene at the beginning and the hotel fight scene were both right on par with the stairwell fight in "Casino Royale."Him being a Bond fan himself, I can appreciate the callbacks he did to the original Bond films ontop of his new take on the film. I think more director like Mendes should make the leap from dramas to action films as it would be a good change of pace to see new directors doing action films.
There is also a group of people who don't like Daniel Craig as Bond but I believe he is the best part of the film. Daniel Craig is a really versatile actor, he can play Bond as a broken down shell of his former self to being a ladies man in the next scene. He is basically what I imagine a modern day James Bond would truly be like. The supporting cast features many good actors, too many to name, but basically everyone did great and was in the film just enough especially Javier Bardem whose villain role was one of the best villains portrayed in a while, while not as good as Heath Ledger's The Joker it reminded me a lot of that character.
The Bond Girl, she was cool just didn't added anything to the film
Their are some story problems I had with the film, one was at the beginning (NO SPOILERS) that something pretty big happens that's suppose to be a big part in the film. As sound as it happens we go straight to the theme song and by the time the song ends its already been concluded. It seemed like a pointless thing to throw in their if they weren't going to give it a lot of focus. The action in the film is also few and far in between. The big showdown especially is delved from any real sort of pay-off. Javier Bardem and Bond were suppose to be equals and I would have liked to see more of that. Also Javier Bardem was suppose to have the power to control anything and we don't get to see that plot point to its fullest extent. Its an interesting concept that had really great story potential, but I guess there was just too much to put into the film. Overall, "Skyfall" is another breath of fresh air just as "Casino Royale" was in 2006 to the Bond franchise. Sam Mendes has found a way to combine both the original bond and the modern day bond to make a more relatable an well-rounded character and film. Alongside, a few underdeveloped story elements, I believe with nothing really good coming out on the action side for a while that "Skyfall" should definitely be seen in theaters and will be a treat for Bond fans and fans of film in general.
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