Daniel Craig is back as James Bond 007 in SKYFALL, the 23rd installment of the longest-running film franchise in history. In SKYFALL, Bond’s loyalty to M (JUDI DENCH) is tested as her past returns to haunt her. 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost. The film is from Albert R. Broccoli’s EON Productions, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios, and Sony Pictures Entertainment.
When Bond’s latest assignment goes gravely wrong and several undercover agents around the world are exposed, MI6 is attacked, forcing M to relocate the agency. These events cause her authority and position to be challenged by Mallory (RALPH FIENNES), the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee.
With MI6 now compromised from both inside and out, M is left with one ally she can trust: Bond. 007 takes to the shadows – aided only by field agent, Eve (NAOMIE HARRIS) – following a trail to the mysterious Silva (JAVIER BARDEM), whose lethal and hidden motives have yet to reveal themselves.
I most certainly say that if the rule of three stands then this, Craig’s third go round as Bond stands above all others! For the fiftieth anniversary of James Bond they pulled out all the stops to say the least and really went to work on this installment! The film starts out with Bond coming into an apartment where an agent has been shot and a hard drive is missing from a computer. Yes; standard fair for a spy flick I know. However what isn’t standard is the chase that ensues.
We go from a pretty sizable car chase through Istanbul to a motorcycle chase where Bond crashes his bike into the side of an overpass in order to hurl himself onto the moving train the bad guy is on, he uses a crane to crack open one of the train cars and he jumps inside to continue pursuing the villain, which leads them back onto the top of the train where Bond continues to get his ass handed to him.
The highly stylized and epic scene ends when Eve (Harris) is forced by M (Judi Dench) to shoot Bond causing him to hurl seemingly to his death off of a huge bridge. And that’s all before opening credits!
Barbara Broccoli, Michael G. Wilson who are producers and Oscar winning director Sam Mendes do a phenominal job of making Bond vastly more realistic than we’d seen him in a very long time. Skyfall is almost a throwback to Sean Connery’s Bond in the sense that it’s less about fancy gadgets and more about the human element and limitations.
A great scene takes place in a museum when Bond first meets Q and he in obvious disdain proclaims that Q “Still has spots”. To which Q responds that he can do more from his computer while still in his pajamas than Bond can do in the field for a year. There’s great banter between the two characters and as the film progresses you see a mutual respect growing between the two.
And of course after handing Bond his modified Walther PPK and a tracking device in a nod to the previous Bond films Q asks Bond to return the equipment back in working order. Yeah; like that’s ever going to happen. Javier Bardem who plays the bad guy Silva is possibly the absolute best bad guy since Christopher Walken in “A view to a kill”. In his psychotic way Silva is a little melodramatic, funny without trying to be, and in a very creepy way scary, in what I will say was a historic performance.
The bulk of the story was surrounding Bond’s relationship with “M” and the well; bond they share. “M” having often been accused of showing preferential treatment toward Bond yet she’s very ruthless toward him as well. There is a really clever scene in the 1963 Aston Martin DB5. We also see a more emotional Bond this time out and learn a lot more about Bond’s back story is all I can say for the moment without giving it away! For sure you’re going to want to catch this one in the theaters because it is certainly worth it no doubt.
The film also stars Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Bérénice Marlohe, Ben Whishaw, with Albert Finney and Judi Dench as ‘M.’ Directed by Sam Mendes. Produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli. Written by Neal Purvis & Robert Wade and John Logan. Executive Producer is Callum McDougall. Director of Photography is Roger Deakins, ASC BSC. Production Designer is Dennis Gassner. Editor is Stuart Baird, A. C. E. Costume Designer is Jany Temime. Music by Thomas Newman. Co-Producers are Andrew Noakes and David Pope. Featuring “Skyfall” performed by Adele.
In approaching Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond adventure, the filmmakers were very attuned to the fact that 2012 marks the 50th anniversary of James Bond on film. They were determined that this entry in the longest-running film franchise in history would deliver everything that has made Bond, Bond: heart-stopping action, scene-stealing villains, beautiful Bond women, exotic locations, a killer theme, the Aston Martin DB5… and, of course, 007 himself, played by Daniel Craig.
But a Bond film is not a collection of puzzle pieces; these elements combine – like gin and vermouth, shaken, not stirred – to serve the story. For Skyfall, bringing it all together is Academy Award®-winner Sam Mendes. “I knew that Sam would put everything behind it,” says Craig, who marks his third film as Bond in Skyfall. “He would put all of his knowledge of movie making behind it, but also his knowledge and love of Fleming and Bond.”
While Mendes might be best known for directing a different kind of movie, he says that high entertainment and artistic integrity are not mutually exclusive. “I have my own, personal relationship with Bond, which began when I was 9 or 10 years old – when Live and Let Die came out,” he says. “We happen to be living in a time when it’s possible to make a big, entertaining, glamorous, escapist movie that also says something about the world we live in. With Daniel’s performances in Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, James Bond feels like a real man in a real situation again. It reminded me of the way I felt when I watched the Sean Connery movies.”
For the producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, the anniversary brings with it added expectations. “It’s our 50th anniversary and 23rd film so the pressure’s on to make the best Bond ever. We have an extraordinary cast, an incredibly talented creative team and an emotionally charged script,” says Wilson.
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