Skyfall
James Bond is a brand, like Holiday Inn or Taco Bell. Like those establishments, when you step into one, whether it is in Kentucky or Timbuktu, you know what to expect. Skyfall is no different. The film has the requisite chases, exotic locales (Istanbul, Shanghai, Macao, and Scotland), a femme fatale, a preening, arrogant villain, and gadgets that are shown in the first half and then used in the second (although, as part of the joke, the gadgets are much more low-tech this go-round). It also has a bizarre death, this time by Komodo dragon.
But this Bond is also different--it has a fascinating subtext. Judi Dench, who has played the MI6 director M in seven films (this is her last) has become a more and more important character. When Bernard Lee played the part in the Sean Connery days, he appeared at the beginning, displayed wearisome eye rolls at Bond's cheek, and then was gone. In Skyfall, Dench has almost as much screen time as Craig, and her role, as a kind of Margaret Thatcher on testosterone, makes for a drama right out of Oedipus.
The film opens with Craig and his partner (Naomie Harris, who will be revealed to have a familiar last name in the film's closing moments) are chasing a bad guy through Istanbul. There will be motorcycles across rooftops, and then Craig will operate a front-loader on a moving train. But Harris accidentally shoots Craig, and he is presumed dead--kind of a nod to Arthur Conan Doyle trying to kill off Sherlock Holmes. After an idyllic period on an island, Bond returns, concerned about a threat that seems to be carried out by someone inside the organization.
That threat will be Silva, played by Javier Bardem, who seems to have read the manual on how to play a Bond villain. Bardem, who won an Oscar while wearing a bad haircut in No Country for Old Men, is forced to go blond here, and looks like the host at a gay nightclub. He is brilliant and arrogant and hams it up like nobody's business.
Bardem has a grudge against Dench, and is determined to kill her, even trying during a hearing on her effectiveness in Parliament. It all ends at a lonely manor in Scotland, which kind of shoehorns a back story for Bond (he's an orphan, you see, and they make the best recruits). Albert Finney pops up as the Bond's gamekeeper, and I wonder if this role was intended for Sean Connery, and if so, Connery rightly declined it, even though the crowds would have loved it.
Skyfall is full of winks like that to past Bond films. If Skyfall were the first Bond film a person had seen they might wonder at their neighbor laughing at the appearance of an Aston Martin, the scene with Q, the serving of a shaken martini, or that last name of Harris'. It just goes to show that even though this film is directed by an A-list director, Sam Mendes, and is lovingly shot by Roger Deakins, it's not really possible to deviate from what has made this series last. There are all sorts of lapses of reason in this film, but trying to find logic in a Bond movie is a fool's errand. Physics, biology, and even gravity is ignored, and it's best to just go with it.
But this film is notable for the relationship between Craig and Dench. She hardly has a kind word for him, and it was she who ordered Harris to take the shot that sent him into exile. But she is also sentimental towards him (as recognized by her supervising minister, Ralph Fiennes). As the role plays out, with Craig taking her to Scotland for her protection, it's almost a combination of lover/mother. It really gets uncomfortable at times, as Dench consistently treats him like dirt (she won't even let him stay at her palatial home), but he keeps coming back for more. Maybe Bond, who lost his mother at an early age, just wants to be a mama's boy.
Skyfall is not as good as any of the Connery films, but better than any of the Brosnans or Moores. It delivers exactly what you expect it to, along with dollops of psychology.
My grade for Skyfall: B.
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