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| Daniel Craig as James Bond |
The movie opens with Bond on the pursuit of a
document that has a list of MI6 agents. This is an extended chase scene, first
on motorcycles and concluding on a moving train. Bond gets mistakenly shot by
his fellow agent, Eve (Naomie Harris) and is presumed dead.
Silva (Javier Bardem), a former MI6 agent is
determined to ruin MI6 and especially M (Judi Dench). He ends up blowing up the
MI6 building right in front of M. He is so effective in his plans that he
ensures that she is actually present when it happens.
Bond is forced to come out of his self-imposed
exile. Bond fails the fitness exams and is still assigned to work. There is a
new Q (Ben Whishaw) on the block. Q is much younger than Bond and considers
Bond to be too old for active duty.
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The next section of the movie is set in Shanghai
and has been shot beautifully. We meet the requisite femme fatale of the movie,
Severine (Bérénice Marlohe).
The next action scene is set in a nightclub and
has a nice nod to the crocodile jumping scene from Live and Let Die (Roger Moore, 1973).
Bond and Silva meet and Silva shows his admiration
for not only Bond’s intellect but also his brawn. Bond quickly dispatches Silva’s
henchmen and takes him into custody.
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| Naomie Harris as Eve |
Q tries to break into Silva’s laptop and discovers
that it was latter’s plan to get caught all along. Silva escapes after killing a
couple of agents. Bond stops Silva from murdering M, who once again makes good
with his escape.
Bond takes M to his home “Skyfall” to prevent
further collateral damage and to finish Silva once and for all.
Sam Mendes is an exceptional director and is
responsible for two of my all-time favorite movies: American Beauty and Road to
Perdition. It comes as no surprise that Skyfall is one of the best Bond
movies. In addition to the usual gadgets/guns, the iconic Aston Martin DB5 also
makes a comeback.
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| Aston Martin DB5 |
The cinematography by Roger Deakins is spectacular
in the Shanghai sequence and in the final section of the movie set at Bond’s
home.
The movie has already won the Golden Globe award
for Best Original Song (Adele and Paul Epworth) and the BAFTA award for
Original Music (Thomas Newman) and Outstanding British Film. The movie has been
nominated for 5 Oscars as well.
This is Daniel Craig’s third outing as Bond and he
is very good. I have seen Casino Royale
and am yet to watch Quantum of Solace.
I enjoyed his performance in the former and this performance is even better.
Craig is an excellent actor and he brings a lot of
depth to his performance. Craig may not have the dashing looks of Pierce
Brosnan or Roger Moore. To me, Craig is on par with Sean Connery as being the
best Bond.
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| Daniel Craig and Javier Bardem in Skyfall |
Craig’s Bond is the most three-dimensional I have
seen yet. It is a fitting way to celebrate the 50th year of the Bond
movie series.
Javier Bardem oozes pure menace as Silva. He is
aided by some great CGI work, especially in the scene where he explains his
sufferings to M. He is one of the best Bond villains in a long time.
The supporting cast fills out their roles nicely.
Special mention must be made of Ben Whishaw as Q and Albert Finney as Kincade.
Ben makes a good successor to Desmond Llewelyn as
Q. It was fun to watch Q and Bond develop their chemistry over the course of
the movie.
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| Albert Finney as Kincade |
Albert Finney is one of the
best character actors around and makes a good impression as Bond’s mentor.
Craig’s scenes with Ben and
Albert are among the best in the movie and sparkle with great chemistry between
the actors.
Ralph Fiennes, Judi Dench
and Naomi Harris are good in their roles as Gareth Mallory, M and Eve
respectively.
The film does suffer from a
couple of drawbacks:
I felt that the movie was
heavily inspired from Christopher Nolan’s Batman movies. The movie was like a
reverse walkthrough of the trilogy. The scenes where Bond’s age catches up with
him and he fails his tests and is being made fun of by Q reminded me of similar
scenes with Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises. Silva’s
plan to deliberately get caught and then making his escape from the MI6
building was similar to the Joker’s in The Dark Knight. Finally, the scene where
Bond’s home “Skyfall” is burnt to the ground reminded me of the scene in Batman Begins where Bruce Wayne’s manor is destroyed in the fire set off by the
League of Shadows.
----------------- Spoilers
Ahead -------------
If you have not seen the
movie yet, I would recommend that you skip this section.
Bond is at least partly
responsible for M’s death. If M had stayed hidden inside the hidden
tunnel/basement under “Skyfall”, she would most probably have lived through the
day.
----------------- End
of spoilers ----------------
The movie is a must watch
for James Bond fans and readers who enjoy action/thriller movies. Daniel Craig
makes a great Bond and I look forward to the next Bond movie that reportedly
reunites him with Sam Mendes.
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Image Sources: Eon Productions, Danjaq
