This is the most dramatic Bond film as it goes personal in tracing the roots of 007, giving depth to the character the way Christopher Nolan did to Batman in “Dark Knight”. Skyfall turns out to be the name of the old manor house in the Scottish Highlands where Bond was born and raised with the grizzled Kincade (Albert Finney) as the realiable caretaker. The reason of the villain for wreaking havoc is also personal vendetta against Judy Dench as M.
Personally, we like it, very intelligently done, and those who've seen all the Bond movies will see that the director, Sam Mendez, is slyly paying homage to old Bond movies since they're celebrating 50 years of James Bond as a movie icon (take note of the old Aston Martin from “Goldfinger” and the familiar 007 theme), but also introduces new elements in the franchise. The new M will now be played by Ralph Fiennes as Mallory. The new Q is also reinvented as a geeky much younger guy (Ben Whishaw) who arms Bond only with a small gun and a tiny tracking device to twit the gimmicky devices of old. There's also a new Miss Moneypenny and she's a black girl this time. Mendez may be known for drama (“American Beauty”, “Road to Perdition”) but here, he shows he also know how to do action films, with the spectacular underground destruction of a train and the demolition of an old house with a helicopter crashing through it in the climax.
Bond (Daniel Craig) is after a hard drive that contains the names of NATO operatives that was stolen to discredit M at a time when the British government is questioning if her department is still relevant in present times. A standout in this film is the impressive cinematography of Roger Deakins, delivering truly stunning visuals starting with the surreal credit titles while the sensational Adele sings the title song that she also wrote.
Of all the Bond films, this is the one that uses authentic British locations in London and, in the climax, in foggy Scotland. Shanghai and Macau are also beautifully captured on screen. Bond is believed to have died after the title credits then gets resurrected as an over the hill agent who cannot even shoot straight.
Having the usual sexy girls is mandatory in Bond films and we have here English actress Naomie Harris (“28 Days Later”, “Pirates of the Carribean”) as the sniper who mistakenly shoots Bond (there’s a neat twist in her character in the end) and French actress Berenice Lim Marlohe as Severine, the mysterious woman in the casino. But make no mistake since the real Bond girl here is the 78-year old Judi Dench herself as M, who’s being pressured to retire but takes a valiant last stand. Dench started playing M in “Golden Eye” (1995, the first Bond film with Pierce Brosnan), then “Tomorrow Never Dies” (97), “World is Not Enough” (99), “Die Another Day” (2001), “Casino Royale” (06, with Daniel Craig taking over as Bond) and “Quantum of Solace” (2008), but it is only in ‘Skyfall” that she plays the female lead and she does it with so much dignity.
Javier Bardem as the villain, Tiago Rodriguez, gives another creepy performance that echoes his Oscar-winning role in “No Country for Old Men”. His introduction is classic. It’s a “tuhog” scene with him shown so small in the background and, while delivering a story about rats in a barrel, he slowly walks toward the camera then questions Bond’s dependency on booze and drugs, ending with him caressing Craig’s chest, face and thighs, making jokes about his sexual orientation. We doubt if Roger Moore, Pierce Brosnan or even Sean Connery can handle this scene with a straight face.
