Subscribe to our newsletter

Film Review: Sam Mendes’ Skyfall w/Daniel Craig as James Bond 007

The romance of James Bond, I have seen each of the 23 multiple times, is that the Bond life was determined and driven by dangerous escapades, bespoke clothes, beautiful exotic women and beautiful exotic locations, not the case in Skyfall.

Note: this is the first time I have seen James Bond in a daytime suit that does not fit, and he seems not to care, but put him back in his Tuxedo and we have a glimpse of 007′s sartorial splendor we admire.

“Skyfall” is different, and it works, but I do not believe we will see another Skyfall like film until it is time for the new M to “retire” 30 odd years from now.

In Skyfall James Bond’s life is the pits, he is looks tired, forlorn, bored, hammered with a bad haircut.

JB has a drinking problem, a physical wreck, though still muscled and trim.

M, for Mother, played again and for the last time by Judi Dench, is failing and headed to Spy Master Grasslands.

In the beginning, for this 007 outing Bond goes unshaven, and the gray/blond stubble is not the fashionable shadow at all, he is looking old, which seems unfair, remember Daniel Craig is just 44 anni, a year younger than Roger Moore was when he made his 1st Bond movie. James Bond does not smile in Skyfall, he looks older than we would have thought him in the film, because he has nothing to smile about. This film is a serious drama about serious stuff.

In past debuts there has been humor, fun, lovely Bond Girls, and adventure attached to 007′s spy craft. There are no mysterious, exotic beautiful women who put JB in danger here.

In Skyfall there a just one Bond woman in “Skyfall’ her name is Dame Judi Dench, “M” the “Bossmum” of MI 6.

Ok, there are two other women in the film, I do not see either as romantic interests.

Naomie Harris plays a colleague with whom JB has a bit of fun, there in Berenice Marlohe, who looks a bit like Eva Green, smokes like Eva Green and is French like Eva Green, her part is pretty cool, and pretty small, and she is killed off early. 007 is not smitten by her, though he is curious and lets us know it in his imitable way, though he knows instinctively she is doomed, and so no romance.

Dame Judy Dench hold the central mark in this film’s structure and in 007′s affections, and in so doing she replaces the highly charged sexual relationship with a Mother-Son type relationship, no fun or fantasy here. Next, it forces a broken, battered worse for wear James Bond into a place of duty and submission. James Bond changes from the Bad Boy we know and love in to the Good Son. Thus, putting the emphasis on M, who in the past was fine in small bits, but here in Skyfall she is cold, harsh and ungiving Mother figure, sort of like the Head Mistress of a elite British School for Iconoclasts and Misfits is imagined.

As an action film standing alone, “Skyfall” is fast-moving and really entertaining, with all of the Key sequences we expect; car chase, a shootout, a motorcycle chase and a duel to the death on top of a train – all before the opening credits.

Director Sam Mendes and his cinematographer Roger Deakins give Skyfall elegance and polish.

Javier Bardem, Raul Silva, is a major player in this film, he embodies brilliant Bad Guy, excited, and as happy as JB is unhappy.

Bardem captures each and every scene he is in, he has no grievance against 007, the confrontations are strictly evolutionary, they are the last two Rats in the trees. Silva’s grievance is against “M” it actually makes 007 somewhat of a spectator, not the right place for Daniel Craig’s James Bond, perhaps the best Bond ever behind Roger Moore.

So let’s hope that we do not see this dark character blocking out the light of the 007 mythology again anytime soon. I remember Roger Moore’s 007, he was radiant, and lots of fun.

Daniel Craig needs to put Eva Green’s death in the scrapbook, find a new hot Bird and cheer up. In the closing scene there is a hint of going back to the franchises roots, Moneypenny is back, and M, Ralph Fiennes is the new M, Col. Gordon Mallory

Still Four Stars from me.

The 23rd 007 James Bond Action Drama. Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench and Javier Bardem. Directed by Sam Mendes. PG-13. 143 mins. Playing Worldwide.