Alright, so I’m not the hugest Bond fan in the world, but I’m pretty damn close. I didn’t get into Bond until my sophomore year of high school when my friend let me borrow Die Another Day. After that, I was hooked. I asked my mom to get me some more movies and she bought me the 4 box sets on DVD. I was ecstatic. Then Casino Royale came out. I was blown away. Daniel Craig is one of my favorite Bonds to date (but he is still no Sean Connery).
Skyfall is the latest outing for James Bond, and unlike that dreadful film Quantum of Solace, it is in no way connected to the previous two films and can be watched without knowing anything about the character. But it doesn’t hurt to know a little about Bond, because there are plenty of references to the older films. Sam Mendes (American Beauty) has found a way to balance the gritty realism that we saw in Casino Royale with some of the goofiness we may have seen in pre-Craig Bond films.
What I really enjoyed about this film were the themes that were presented. Some of them were the cliché revenge/misuse of power/sins of the father sort of thing. Then you have old versus new. In the film, M (Dame Judi Dench) is struggling to deal with the way the spy game used to run and how it is currently run. She proclaims the old way might be a little stranger, but it can be more satisfying. This works well with the way the film was written and presented. The film itself is an experiment in old versus new. Taking old elements and new elements from previous Bond films and throwing them together to create something any audience can enjoy.
The action scenes in this film are leaps and bounds ahead of the action scenes in Quantum of Solace. There is no shaky cam, and thank god for that. If I had to sit through two and a half hours of shaky cam I might have stabbed the screen in the movie theater. The action is fun; it flows and can be quite goofy some times. That is not a slam against the film. Goofy can be good as long as it has some tension to balance things out, which this had loads of! The scenes leave you with a grin on your face, from either laughing or from the pure entertainment that is being put up on the screen.
Daniel Craig pulls off washed up super spy very well. And Judi Dench’s M has never been better. Her performance had me in tears, whether I was laughing or crying. But I think the best performance in the film comes from Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva. From his introductory scene to his final showdown with Bond, his performance never faltered. Bardem was creepy at times downright uncomfortable to watch, Silva will be known as one of the greatest Bond villains of our time. He had some fun quirks in his personality and his appearance at times can be frightening.
Skyfall is has great writing a wonderful director and the most enjoyable action sequences I have ever seen. Adele’s theme song Skyfall, beautifully written and performed, and brings back memories of other great Bond songs. The villain is smart, cunning, funny and terrifying. The actors do not disappoint. Overall this has to be the best Craig Bond film to date.
We give Skyfall 10 out of 10 pocket protectors.
-Coty Keziah
The Nerdicon 