“Skyfall” is a revenge story wherein Javier Bardem is an ex-00 agent wanting to kill M (Judy Dench), whom he blames for the months of torture he had to endure after being captured. Explosions ensue.
Directed by Sam Mendes, the film was beautifully shot. Some of the lighting and composition of the camera work are beyond excellent, especially a scene where two people are fighting under a frozen lake.
The performances were spot on, but Bardem was underused in this film, which is a shame. I couldn’t help feeling that I wanted him to win. He could have been the Heath Ledger’s Joker to this James Bond’s “Dark Knight,” but he just didn’t get enough screen time.
However …
From where I’m standing, Bond is losing its ability to entertain. Having grown up with the previous Bond films and having read a few of the novels by Ian Fleming, I am no stranger to the character. But, Bond is falling dangerously close to becoming completely irrelevant to the modern spy or action genre. Every movie is more of the same, with minor variations.
This may have been a knee jerk reaction. Maybe my tastes have changed over the years. Maybe I’m jaded.
But, both the action and spy genres of film have advanced far beyond the point where the current iteration of Bond is capable of reaching. So the question is, are we content with being underwhelmed with the same old tropes of the Bond films, or are we willing to take a chance on a film that could possibly push its (and our) limits of the character?
Bond is never in trouble. He is, in a sense of the action on screen, but we as an audience know that James Bond will survive. He always does. This blunts the tension and suspense, which is the currency of an action or espionage film.
The James Bond franchise has been around for 50 years. Some people find the predictability of the Bond films comfortable. For these people, James Bond is cool because he is James Bond, and not because the film is good.
Let’s face it, with modern eyes, the old James Bond films wouldn’t be considered “good” in an artistic film sense, but hey, I still love them.
But, “Star Wars,” “Star Trek” and “Doctor Who” are all long-lived franchises in their own right. Sherlock Holmes has been reimagined, and those forays have been, by and large, successful. These efforts may have helped to keep them around longer, and some are really quite good. Yet Bond remains Bond.
If Bond is to continue to have a life into the future, people have to be courageous enough to try something new with him for a change.
Final grade: C