Skyfall
Year: 2012
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Javier Bardem, Daniel Craig & Judi Dench
Runtime: 143 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 26/11/21
Director: Sam Mendes
Starring: Javier Bardem, Daniel Craig & Judi Dench
Runtime: 143 mins
BBFC: 12
Published: 26/11/21
I’m not sure what the anticipation for Skyfall was in other areas of the world, but in the UK I’ve never quite seen anything like it for a film. The twenty-third film in the long running 007 franchise was released to coincide with the fiftieth anniversary of the release of the first film in the series, Dr. No. As a result, the country went into Bond fever for several months in the lead up to release with massive advertising campaigns and the title song performed by Adele being played almost nonstop on the radio. It got to the point where I was sick of the film before it even released and for many years I disliked the film out of spite. But casting aside my almost decade long vendetta against the film’s marketing, is Skyfall actually as great as people make out?
Having been missing, presumed dead, for three months following a mission gone wrong, Bond (Daniel Craig) returns to an MI6 under siege from a terrorist threat lead by former 00 operative Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Whilst the destruction of MI6 is on the cards for Silva, his primary objective appears to be to discredit and kill M (Judi Dench). With the aid of Q (Ben Wilshaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and Mallory (Ralph Feinnes), Bond must break every rule in the book to keep M alive long enough to take Silva down.
Having been missing, presumed dead, for three months following a mission gone wrong, Bond (Daniel Craig) returns to an MI6 under siege from a terrorist threat lead by former 00 operative Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Whilst the destruction of MI6 is on the cards for Silva, his primary objective appears to be to discredit and kill M (Judi Dench). With the aid of Q (Ben Wilshaw), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), and Mallory (Ralph Feinnes), Bond must break every rule in the book to keep M alive long enough to take Silva down.
In comparison to Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Skyfall feels considerably more like a traditional Bond film for the majority of its runtime. However, Skyfall does bring in a wealth of character development that has never been present in a Bond film before to allow for a generally meatier story within this framework. There’re also fewer exotic locales in this film compared to the majority of 007 films, with much of the story taking place in London. Skyfall generally feels smaller in scope, but more focused in its delivery of the story.
Whilst this sounds all good on paper, in execution it doesn’t quite play out as smoothly as one would hope. Firstly, the greater focus on character development only goes so far. At the start of the film Bond is a broken man, having been hitting the booze quite hard for the past few months, and this does affect his ability to carry out his mission successfully. M is arguably the main character of the whole film, and we learn a lot about the woman underneath that cold exterior, to which she also reveals a lot about Bond’s past. However, it’s not really enough to be satisfying. There’s a number of times in the film where we begin to learn new information out these characters and then suddenly something happens which takes us away from that conversation, which does become tedious quite quickly.
Secondly the return to a traditional Bond film structure also makes the film a little predictable at times. Casino Royale was so engaging because it was mostly just great dialogue that was entirely captivating; Quantum, for all its faults, leaned very heavily into action. Skyfall returns to that usual ebb and flow of Bond espionage and you do get the distinct feeling of having done all this before.
I also have reservations about Bardem’s performance as Silva. Generally, he’s fantastic, however the more the film progresses the less threatening I find him and the more he turns into a moustache twirling villain from a Saturday morning cartoon. The scenes where he is allowed to monologue are incredible and some of the best in the film, but once he gets into fights Bardem seems to fail in being able to convincingly perform in those moments.
Whilst this sounds all good on paper, in execution it doesn’t quite play out as smoothly as one would hope. Firstly, the greater focus on character development only goes so far. At the start of the film Bond is a broken man, having been hitting the booze quite hard for the past few months, and this does affect his ability to carry out his mission successfully. M is arguably the main character of the whole film, and we learn a lot about the woman underneath that cold exterior, to which she also reveals a lot about Bond’s past. However, it’s not really enough to be satisfying. There’s a number of times in the film where we begin to learn new information out these characters and then suddenly something happens which takes us away from that conversation, which does become tedious quite quickly.
Secondly the return to a traditional Bond film structure also makes the film a little predictable at times. Casino Royale was so engaging because it was mostly just great dialogue that was entirely captivating; Quantum, for all its faults, leaned very heavily into action. Skyfall returns to that usual ebb and flow of Bond espionage and you do get the distinct feeling of having done all this before.
I also have reservations about Bardem’s performance as Silva. Generally, he’s fantastic, however the more the film progresses the less threatening I find him and the more he turns into a moustache twirling villain from a Saturday morning cartoon. The scenes where he is allowed to monologue are incredible and some of the best in the film, but once he gets into fights Bardem seems to fail in being able to convincingly perform in those moments.
Skyfall also seems to have a nostalgia problem. I understand that the film commemorates fifty years of Bond on the big screen, but there are so many throwbacks and nods to previous films that it does become obstructive to the story at hand occasionally. The biggest example of this is Moneypenny, who has no name for the majority of the film and is just some badass agent, but then at the end of the film she gets stuck as a receptionist to M and reveals her surname to be Moneypenny in a nod to the original Sean Connery films. It just totally ruins the character they had going for Naomie Harris and feels extremely forced.
I do love the action sequences though, particularly the chase through the London Underground. Skyfall also has some excellent cinematography thanks to Richard Deakins, and paired with Sam Mendes’ excellent directorial abilities Skyfall looks just as slick as Bond’s famous suits. I’m not a fan of the title song though, maybe that’s just because I’m sick of listening to it.
On the whole I feel like Skyfall is a strong entry in the 007 film franchise, however it’s not as strong as Casino Royale when it comes to Craig’s Era of Bond films. There is a lot to like here but the film also makes a lot of small mistakes which add up into things that just become irritating. With Mendes and Deakins on the job though, there’s clearly a decent amount of mileage left with the Bond films yet.
I do love the action sequences though, particularly the chase through the London Underground. Skyfall also has some excellent cinematography thanks to Richard Deakins, and paired with Sam Mendes’ excellent directorial abilities Skyfall looks just as slick as Bond’s famous suits. I’m not a fan of the title song though, maybe that’s just because I’m sick of listening to it.
On the whole I feel like Skyfall is a strong entry in the 007 film franchise, however it’s not as strong as Casino Royale when it comes to Craig’s Era of Bond films. There is a lot to like here but the film also makes a lot of small mistakes which add up into things that just become irritating. With Mendes and Deakins on the job though, there’s clearly a decent amount of mileage left with the Bond films yet.