My Favourite Movies: Skyfall

I’ve been a James Bond fan since the very beginning though I seriously doubt I saw Dr No in 1962 when it first came out (being only 2 years old at the time). I do remember seeing Thunderball at the cinema which may have been in 1965 but I’m not sure. Did movies get shown a year or more (or reshown) after their first release back then? I honestly don’t know.

Anyway, suffice it to say that I’m a huge fan of the franchise/series since its earliest days and have seen all of the movies on multiple occasions. My favourite Bond is still Sean Connery (mostly I guess because I grew up with him so to speak) but Daniel Craig definitely comes close – very close – to toppling him of that top ranking. I liked Craig very much in Casino Royal and welcomed the return to Bond as he should be – alone with only a gun and his wits to save the day. No backup to speak of and no ridiculous gadgets that Roger Moore in particular used (and who was, in my opinion the worst Bond by far). Bond should be, as portrayed by Craig so well, a complete bastard – but a loyal British bastard. The less said about Quantum of Solace the better. It had its moments but too few and too far between. Thankfully Skyfall more than made up for any wobbles in Craig’s second outing as Bond.

It all starts with a dramatic chase sequence to recover a stolen laptop hard drive (why such a device would contain the entire list of British agents imbedded within terrorist organisations across the globe – encrypted or not – in beyond me!) in which Bond disappears (I’ll say no more than that). His driver and support is played excellently by Naomie Harris who proves to be more than able to keep up physically, mentally and verbally with Bond. When the hard drive is lost it’s only a matter of time before the information is unencrypted and the blackmail/political embarrassment begins. But it’s more personal than that. This isn’t just a terrorist organisation causing problems – this is a direct attack on MI6 and M (played in outstanding irascible fashion by the brilliant Judy Dench) in particular. To counter that only one man will do – Bond. Back on active duty he needs to find the bad guys and recover the hard-drive before any more agents die. But his opponent (played completely over the top by Javier Bardem) has factored this all in and is constantly one or more steps ahead until Bond changes the rules and location to a more controlled environment – by going home.

Of the many, many things I liked about this movie (acting, action, dialogue) I particularly approved of Sam Mendes’ return to the old Bond by paring things back to the basics and by pitting two individuals against each other using limited resources except for guns (OK sometimes lots of guns) and wits. I really liked the nods to the old films including some nice scenes (and funny comments from M) with a classic Aston-Martin DB5. The dialogue, both between Eve (Moneypenny) and Bond and M and Bond is brilliant – sparkling, funny and a joy to watch/listen to. It was one of the things I most enjoyed about this movie. All in all I thought it was one of the best Bond films and certainly one of, if not the, best post-Connery films. I’m really looking forward to the next instalment at the end of next year.