Skyfall

Man, these half-finished articles are just piling up. Busy, busy, busy...I've had screen capture issues, deadlines, appointments and a bad cold. How I've managed only half-way, I'll never know...

[size=+1]Skyfall[/size]
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I'll admit this now: I'm probably an awful candidate to review this. I've not seen any of the good, old films when they were still based on the books. When it was about kicking flank then tending to the ladies before jumping out the window, guns blazing. Sadly, I've only seen two Bond films: Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace. Die Another Day was...all right, I suppose. Very cartoony and a little cheesy, nothing to write home about. Quantum of Solace had all the engagement of a wet weekend in a post office. I don't think I've ever been in a cinema and wanted to leave more, with the third Transformers movie being it's only contender. Hoarding and then selling water at an extortionate price is an evil plan that can only be concocted by a penny pinching sit-com stock character. I half expected to see Bubs' Concession Stand somewhere with the 'man' himself cackling next to Ebenezer Scrooge on top of a pile of money.

So, I can't really comment on this as a 'Bond' Film because it's not something I'm well versed in. I might as well talk about football, in Spanish or something. No, no, but! I can talk about it as a film, as someone relatively outside of the fanbase. So, here goes...

Skyfall is fantastic.

What struck me about the film is how beautiful it's made to look. It really stood out to me how much attention appeared to have been given to the photography of the whole show because almost every, single scene and shot of Skyfall appears like a painting. There are moments of silhouettes against cool blues and hot orange glows. Each location feels sculpted, like the entire film takes place in concept art. The placement of lights, especially the use of differently coloured lights against the heavy shadows creates something stylish and modern. It's all very minimalist in how much of the detailing seems absent in most of the film. It's often only a few contrasting colours that dominate the room's look throughout.

Now,Skyfall tells the story of a former agent looking for revenge for being, in his mind, betrayed by MI6. He launches an all out strike on British Intelligence, striking them hard to get even. Bond is the only thing standing in the way.

Now, there's a strong theme running through all of this: the juxtaposition on the old and the new. Bond is getting on at this point, a living relic of the so-called 'Golden Age' of Espionage with the world ever advancing around him. The times, they are a changing as the film seems to settle around the old dogs fighting it out, both James and M coming under fire. In fact, getting older is Bond's largest concern. Lijke Q getting replaced with a twenty-something genius that looks like a fetus next to Daniel Craig. Or the spartan, modernistic new MI6 bunker, with all the computers, lighting and grey walls. The minimalism of this new age does begin to show rather quickly, like in how Bond only gets two gadgets. He gets only a homing beacon and a gun that only he can fire. Interestingly, both manage to come in handy. But the computer becomes one of the most powerful weapon in this film, suiting the side of this era the film wants to interest itself with and it manages to cause plenty of trouble. In fact, rather than a missile silo or a laser pointed at any country you can think of, Skyfall has a super villain with a powerful computer network, that he puts to amazingly devastating use.

In fact, this is a massive improvement over the other two Bond films I've seen in that respect. Silva, the agent seeking revenge, is a fantastically unhinged character. He's clearly gone nuts prior to cooking up his massive scheme, resulting in this arrogant, malicious nutter hell bent on ruining your day. And he does so with a good amount of madness too. Like some sort of blonde haired Joker. I remember thinking, as he manages to launch a London Underground Train at Bond just to allow himself to escape, deciding that I quite liked this guy. And he's memorable. His presence sticks in your mind unlike some other villains I could mention, like the guy with metal in his face. And the water guy, giggling to himself as he adds a line-standing fee.

And that's the thing about this film: some of the old fun and thrills of the older films are coming back in this new, sleek vision of Bond. The modern version wants to entertain you like a pro and appears to have the ability to do so. The action is gripping, drawing you in and managing to make you sit up and notice. The scenes are bathed in colour, made to look like paintings to show a great artistry here. And then there's the one-liners. Bond is looking to be fun again and succeeds. The plot is the struggle about staying relevant in the current world and Skyfall has the good sense to inject a little humour every now and again to stop the whole thing from becoming too dismal with all the meaningful brooding that goes on. However, I never felt that the lines ever detracted from the drama; just a few cherries on the icing to show that it's humans with more than one or two emotions under the surface. They even have time to nod back to the past, with the biggest being a cameo by the Aston Martin DBS. Machine guns and all.

In fact, the larger picture of this seems to be the whole Bond franchise try and place itself within the present. It's got Borne and Tom Cruse breathing down its neck, looking to take the crown with their realistic worlds that still struggle with their goofier elements. To me, it felt like I was expected to feel attached to Borne because he's who the cameras follow, not because he's been given much of a character. To me, he was about as interesting as any one I play or shoot in COD. Borne seems to have set out to prove that espionage is dangerous, often-bleak, bureaucratic business but seemed to want to keep all the silliness of super soldiers and shady companies. As a result, the film doesn't engage me while it struggles to mask it's sillier bits with action scenes. But Bond has shown that he's the better showman. Skyfall gripped me while The Borne Identity bored me. Bond shows a little bit growth, swagger and character throughout. It might still have silliness, but it capitalises on it to raise the spirits of the whole show. Bond is becomes the entertainer Borne seems to shun in order to remain serious and 'edgy'. It always strikes me as somewhat false to me.

And I think that's the highest praise I can give it, I think. I enjoyed it greatly. It's cunningly crafted to feel exciting and keep the action fun and gripping while making sure to keep the fusion of 2012 and the 1960's continuously conjuring new deviations on the story. It creates an interesting symbolism, I think, that permeates the whole film. I quite liked it for that by the end. If they can continue to create Bond films like this, I'll have to go track down the rest of them.