“I don’t have a good chance… I’m aiming for Bond,” Moneypenny exclaims. “Take the bloody shot!” demands M, seconds before Agent Moneypenny unceremoniously takes out her partner. As Dench’s M, with a look of complete loss, looks out over the London skyline, her prized possession plunges into the Bosphorus River in Istanbul, wounded and eventually presumed dead. Motionless, James Bond‘s body is greeted by the soft, velvety tones of Adele’s powerful angelic voice, while her raspy rendition of the Bond song “Skyfall” reaches swirling ranges as 007 plunges into the abyss – “This is the end…hold your breath in, and count to ten.”
Of course, audiences are safe in the knowledge that this is far from the end, and just the very beginning of a compelling Bond epic. Daniel Craig’s shredded, cold-blooded and brilliantly mysterious debut in Casino royalewas followed by a downright uninspired show in the flop that was Quantum of Solace. Still, with skyfall, the highly anticipated 50th anniversary edition of Ian Fleming’s birth child hit the screen with renewed hope, with Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes at the helm, and Grammy Award-winning Adele hooked up to the recording studio.
Ten years after its cinematic release, skyfall also translates, if not better, than in 2012. Because it went down in history as an all-time Bond classic; the 23rd issue of the famous franchise wrapped in historical sentiment, while simultaneously transforming 007 into this modern man. Since then it has been banded around skyfall is arguably Craig’s best performance in a black tuxedo, and one of the best Bond films of all time. This is why.
Skyfall has the ultimate Bond villain
Bond villains have always played a vital role in any golden age Bond film, they need to have the right level of threat that doesn’t undermine their villain skills nor present them as a non-threatening caricature. Many have tried, many have failed, but the ones that have stood the test of time are the ones who have managed to pose a truly intimidating, unpredictable and calculated threat to the protagonist; for how can one kill a man who is immortal?
Still, in skyfall, this foreseeable story is reimagined. Bond is usually this impenetrable, impenetrable and bulletproof man, more Robocop than human. In Mendes’ version of James Bond, we see a hero who creaks at the hinges and breaks at the seams. A sense of realism is restored – a man who has typically danced with the devil and escaped relatively unscathed finally pays the price, both physically and mentally. Bond is vulnerable.
To make matters worse, the Etonian spy faces his most underhanded opponent yet, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). Silva is a former double-O who targets both Bond and the film’s matriarch, M. With his sly smile, unpredictable demeanor and fearless approach that make him an infernal client for everyone at MI6. Bardem’s performance is simply hypnotic, a cunning lone wolf with a score to settle.
In the scene where he and Bond come face to face for the first time, as Silva makes the long walk from the door to a tied-up Bond as they verbally joust with each other, the tension is palpable, and it’s one of the few times that Bond’s illustrious history may have you questioning, is this Craig’s movie or Bardem’s? Bardem’s portrait of this cross-border homoerotic nihilist is equally emphatic every time you look heaven, while there is always an inevitability surrounding the fate of any particular villain, you simply cannot fathom the demise of a man of such cunning genius.
Bringing the 20th Century to the 21st
skyfall ingeniously integrates the new with the old, the tradition of sentiment with the unstoppable advance of modernism. Before launching the franchise into the 21st century, there were calls to restructure the film’s themes, undergoing a process of modernization that would see the misogyny, questionable xenophobia, and archaic notions of the titular role (and the Fleming novels). are updated to match the generosity and equality of the current worldview. Even Craig had nothing nice to say about old Bond.
But as the implementation of these changes matures in heaven, the sentimentality and traditionalism of the books are never far away, with iconographic nods to the past – from the 1965 Aston Martin DB5 taking Bond to Scotland and the Walther PPK gifting the now openly gay Q (Ben Whishaw) to Bond on the National Art Gallery, for the reference to ‘obsolete’ exploding ‘pens’ and the subtle play on the opening scene of the ‘hall of mirrors’ from Roger Moore’s The man with the golden gun.
skyfall is a film that respects the past, but looks towards the future. Dame Judi Dench’s M is central to the film, an unprecedented first for the franchise to care as much about someone as it is about Bond herself, with someone being a powerful woman in charge and launching the highest quality operations at Britain’s best intelligence.
Craig, Daniel Craig…
Bond is perhaps the best example of a stiff-headed Brit. A man who embodies stoicism is emotionally detached, mentally and physically resilient and inflexible in the face of evil. A supposedly ‘real’ man who drinks whiskey and martinis, treats women like disposable items, drives fast cars and has this cold-blooded shooting luck. Traditionally, it includes all the qualities that made masculinity toxic.
Craig’s portrayal of Bond has been revived; while at first glance he still maintains this iron-clad determination and brave exterior, beneath the bravado lurks a vulnerability, a vulnerability never seen before until Daniel Craig. His Bond is a violent brute, but his brutality is countered by a caring, loving nature, and these qualities are at the forefront in Heaven fall. His flaws are stripped and exposed, his physical abilities as a competent spy are questioned, and his psychological state is examined, a man with an alcohol and substance problem deemed unfit for public service.
Inept as his character is, this is Craig’s defining performance as the British spy, arguably the most diverse Bond portrayal ever, as he transitions effortlessly from the smooth-talking 007 to the wisecracking hostage and the dutiful adoptive son of M. It’s almost certain. the best Bond movie starring Craig, and arguably one of the best Bond movies of all time.