Skyfall

We should note that I am, perhaps, somewhat unqualified for this—I have never seen a James Bond movie. The sum total of my Bond experience at present:

•  The climax of Dr. No
•  The laser scene of Goldfinger
• The first half of Die Another Day, twice
• Skyfall

But what, I ask you, is the point of a long-running film series if it is unable to draw in new viewers? Must we expect every potential Skyfall viewer to watch 22 movies before sitting down to this one? And you can blame Adele for this, because the song was so good that I got interested in the film itself, did some research, and eventually sat down to see Skyfall this past Friday at 8:20 PM.

Agent 007 is a legend. The man gets shit done, and has been doing so for God knows how long. There are certain things that you just don’t expect to see happen to him—things like, say, being shot by friendly fire, falling off a moving train, and M writing his obituary. Except that all of these things happen within the first 15 minutes of Skyfall.

In some ways, it is M’s story. In the wake of this disastrously failed operation, M’s leadership is questioned by her superiors, the government, and even Bond himself—it was her command to “take the bloody shot” which hit him rather than the target. Bond takes this personally until he returns to London, confronts M, and remembers that he is a professional.

And that’s what separates him from this film’s villain, Raoul Silva. Played to perfection by Javier Bardem, Silva is equal parts funny, terrifying and spine-chillingly creepy. He has a history with M; a former agent who was given up to the Chinese, after showing signs of going rogue prior to his capture. The entire film is an elaborately structured plan to bring down M in the eyes of the nation. He has plots within plots, and many of his schemes rely on the MI6 agents to carry out their jobs properly.

I suppose the central question of the film could be “Is it time to abandon relics of the past and focus on the modern?” Actually, it could be several. M is forced to look back on her career and question some of her choices; Bond is made to reconsider why he still serves; the British government needs to take a good hard look at how they run their intelligence program.

That said, Skyfall makes a compelling argument that no, we should not abandon the old ways. M gives a brilliant speech to the inquiry committee outlining why we still need spies who work like 007.  Silva is a failed example of the old style, but Bond acquits himself marvelously and proves to be just as sharp as always.

Eventually, the film’s mission to examine Bond’s roots becomes quite literal near the climax. I’m told there’s a popular fan theory that ‘James Bond’ is just an alias given to multiple men, and that’s why different actors can play him. Without giving too much away, I’ll just say Skyfall makes that theory somewhat difficult to uphold.

My dad tells me you could easily divide the old Bond movies into three acts by the progression of the Bond Girls. No such luck with Skyfall; this is a movie determined to tell its story without being distracted by tradition. There is one Bond Girl, and she’s gone by the middle of the film. I will give actress Berenice Marlohe credit, though. Severine has one job, to tell the audience that Silva is a man to be feared, and she’s quite good at it.

Structurally, the film has a very clear beginning, middle and end. The problems come near that end. The third act drags somewhat. We know the climax is coming, we’re all waiting, and there are perhaps one too many shots of Bond and M contemplating the universe. Maybe a few too many instances of “we think we’ve defeated all the bad guys, but oh wait here’s one more for us to fight!”

The supporting cast is superb. I’ve talked about Marlohe and Bardem, but mention must be made of Ben Whishaw’s Q. Serving to further illustrate the divide between Bond and the modern world, Q is a brilliant, nerdy, sweater-clad young man who could take down the world with a laptop. Actually, there are a lot of those in movies these days. One day, we’re all going to get sick of those characters. Until then, Whishaw and Craig make a highly entertaining pair and I’m content to watch Q and Bond banter like there’s no tomorrow.

I could tell there were Bond references flying over my head left and right (something about an exploding pen?). There were times when I knew I was supposed to be emotional about something, but I just didn’t have the same connection with these characters as long-time Bond fans. That’s not to say I was completely detached. Skyfall is an emotional film and very effective.

Look, what I’m trying to say is that Skyfall was really good. Very enjoyable, entertaining, engaging, anything you could want. Now, I did not always completely understand this movie. Yes, I said it. But I don’t have to absorb every nuance to know when a movie is great. Skyfall is perhaps not the best movie to introduce a new 007 fan, but is definitely capable of fulfilling that role. I’ll be hoarding my parents’ Bond box set over Christmas break.

Daniel Craig is a wonderful James Bond. Judi Dench will be missed. Javier Bardem deserves to go down in Bond history. And Skyfall should be seen by everyone who thinks himself a 007 fan, and most people who don’t.