By Ben Rowe
We have been watching James Bond on the big screen for 50 years. Bond’s adventures began in print, authored by Ian Fleming, nine years earlier. Rooted in the Cold War and modernist ideals of the ’50s and ’60s, the Bond films defined the culture of those decades but have unfortunately struggled with relevancy for years. Where Bond once was the undisputed leader of spy films, for the last few decades he has been a follower of trends set by others. Until now, that is.
With Skyfall, James Bond returns to what he was always meant to be: escapist adventure entertainment for adults. In modern cinema, adults wishing for fun and excitement have had to contend with films intended for teenagers and children for years. But Skyfall manages to deliver the action, the fun and the style we expect from a Bond film, while infusing it with a dramatic, character-driven core and relevant themes, resulting in a film that entertains without condescending.
Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson seem to have learned a lesson from the rebirth of Batman on the big screen. The fingerprints of Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight films are all over Skyfall. But perhaps that’s to be expected — Nolan has said he was a Bond fan. Either way, director Sam Mendes and brilliant cinematographer Roger Deakins have restored James Bond to his former glory by giving him back a few crucial elements, the most significant being his sense of style. This is the best-looking Bond film since 1971. Deakins eschews the contemporary action cinema crutches of shaky cameras and fast-cut editing — elements that made Quantum of Solace nearly impossible to watch — and instead focus on sweeping long shots, gorgeous lighting and beautiful production design.
But it is not all style over substance. Skyfall comes packed with one of the best stories in recent Bond history. Drawing on elements from Fleming’s later novels, it weaves a tale that examines Bond’s role in modern society, attacks those characters most often held sacrosanct and delves into his past and his character in a way not done since 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Fittingly, for a film celebrating a character often deemed behind the times, its message is that sometimes the old ways are best.
Daniel Craig and Dame Judi Dench return, of course, as Bond and his superior, “M.” The cast is rounded out by newcomers Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, Naomie Harris and Bérénice Marlohe, who plays a classically gorgeous Bond girl. Javier Bardem is the standout performance and, as the villain Raoul Silva, he creates a character who is unnerving and evil in a way not seen on screen since Heath Ledger’s Joker. He’ll make your skin crawl — and that’s a good thing. The producers seem to have realized that Bond is at his best while facing extraordinary megalomaniacs, and have given us the best Bond villain since Sean Bean in Goldeneye.
The film’s climax may surprise some — there is no over-the-top assault on the villain’s fantastic secret lair. While the film gives us many spectacular locales and action sequences, its third act is more insular and dramatic, and thus quieter than many may want from a Bond film. But if you let go of your preconceptions, then you will realize that these final sequences are what make Skyfall a unique and memorable Bond experience.
However, it’s not a perfect movie. Some of the 50th anniversary homages feel a little shoehorned in and, while it’s nice to see Craig finally adopting some of the wit and levity of earlier Bonds, occasionally the shifts in tone from dramatic to comedic can be jarring. However, the final scenes of the film will certainly put smiles on the faces of Bond fans who have been patiently waiting for things to get back to normal.
This is the best Bond since the ’60s and, although that speaks more to the series’ declining quality in the ensuing decades than anything else, the fact remains that Skyfall puts Bond back on top. Unusual though it may be, it gives a deeper, more fully-rounded experience than any Bond film in years, which alone makes it worth the price of admission.