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Review: Skyfall


Director: Sam Mendes

Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw

Writers: Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, John Logan

Running Time: 143 minutes

Rating: M

We’ve come a long way from the days of craignotbond.com and Daniel Craig’s appointment as Ian Fleming’s 007 for Casino Royale (2006). Now three films into his stint as Bond, Craig seems to have the Bond fans split into two very separate groups - those who like Craig’s portrayal of Bond and those who despise it, longing for the ‘old days’ of Connery, Moore or even Brosnan. Sam Mendes’ Skyfall is likely to polarise these groups even further.

The film follows an attack on MI6, which leads Bond (Craig) on a trail of destruction in order to protect both M (Dench) and the city of London from the sinister plans of the elusive Silva (Bardem). With the help of a new, much younger Q (Whishaw) and under the watchful eye of government official Mallory (Fiennes) Bond delves into his own past as well as M’s, in an attempt to bring order back to MI6.

The key question here is ‘Has Mendes given us the perfect Bond film?’ The answer is simple: no, he hasn’t. However, it’s not for a lack of trying - he went big, bold and wasn’t afraid to shake up the franchise in an attempt to deliver a more modern take on Bond. It is certainly the most visually stunning Bond ever with brilliant use of colour and shadows from cinematographer Roger Deakins. The credit sequence, accompanied by Adele’s brilliant song, is both visually rich and mesmerising. The acting is also some of the best that has featured in Bond films with Craig excellent as a battered and weary Bond, and Dench is solid again in her seventh and most prolific role as M. Bardem steals the show with his flamboyant and sinister Silva, who harks back to the days of the camp super-villains from the sixties Bond films. The supporting cast of Harris and Fiennes are also well developed, along with Whishaw a standout as the new quartermaster.

Mendes and his writers drag the Bond franchise kicking and screaming into the 21st century, and it’s not a bad thing. Fans of the older Bond films may miss the gadgets and some of the older elements, but it would be hard not to appreciate the attempt to keep Bond relevant in an increasingly modern world. There are still nods to the past Bond films that fans can appreciate and there are still witty retorts between Bond, his colleagues and his enemies. The cinematic world has just been updated to reflect the world that we currently live in.

Perhaps the main problem with the film is the issue with the timeline of the film in comparison to the other ‘rebooted’ entries in the series. Whilst both Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace took place before all previous Bond films, Skyfall appears to have jumped to an experienced, post-Die Another Day Bond, making some of the references to older missions a bit mixed up and out of place.

007 and the new Q meet for the first time.

So, perhaps once craignotbond.com is long forgotten and Craig has passed the position of Britain’s greatest agent onto another, he will be remembered fondly as providing an era of Bond films that were bold, refreshing and unforgiving, and most importantly different from the preceding Bond films.

The Final Word

Mendes delivers a Bond film that is cool, modern and fun - without being overly camp, silly or dull. It is an excellent way to celebrate the 50th Year of Bond, showing that new Bond films can respect tradition but also be relevant in the future. Here’s to the next 50 years.

7.5/10

fuckyeahdirectors: “I like to make films because I like to go into another world. I like to get lost in another world. And film to me is a magical medium that makes you dream…allows you to dream in the dark. It’s just a fantastic thing, to get lost inside the world of film.” - David Lynch

fuckyeahdirectors:

“I like to make films because I like to go into another world. I like to get lost in another world. And film to me is a magical medium that makes you dream…allows you to dream in the dark. It’s just a fantastic thing, to get lost inside the world of film.” - David Lynch

(Source: mrsalabamaworley)

Two things so awesome should be easy to study for :( (Taken with Instagram)

Two things so awesome should be easy to study for :( (Taken with Instagram)

suicideblonde: INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Fits Perfectly into Quentin Tarantino’s Movie Universe and Influences the Entire Filmography By now, most Quentin Tarantino fans are aware of the connections interlaced throughout all of his films. John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Michael Madsen’s Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White worked with Alabama from True Romance, the plot basis for Kill Bill is described as the synopsis for a TV series in Pulp Fiction, etc. Now the epiphany that Eli Roth’s character of Donny Donowitz aka “The Bear Jew” in Inglourious Basterds is the father of the movie producer Lee Donowitz in True Romance has inspired a truly mind-blowing theory that the rest of the films (chronologically speaking) in Tarantino’s filmography take place in a world where [Inglorious Basterds spoiler] World War II came to an end when Adolf Hitler was brutally murdered in a movie theater by the Basterds. This initial connection was brought up in an article on Cracked, but a poster on Reddit (via David Chen’s Twitter) has more eloquently summed up what this means for Tarantino’s movieverse: As it turns out, Donny Donowitz, ‘The Bear Jew’, is the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz from True Romance – which means that, in Tarantino’s universe, everybody grew up learning about how a bunch of commando Jews machine gunned Hitler to death in a burning movie theater, as opposed to quietly killing himself in a bunker. Because World War 2 ended in a movie theater, everybody lends greater significance to pop culture, hence why seemingly everybody has Abed-level knowledge of movies and TV. Likewise, because America won World War 2 in one concentrated act of hyperviolent slaughter, Americans as a whole are more desensitized to that sort of thing. Hence why Butch is unfazed by killing two people, Mr. White and Mr. Pink take a pragmatic approach to killing in their line of work, Esmerelda the cab driver is obsessed with death, etc. You can extrapolate this further when you realize that Tarantino’s movies are technically two universes – he’s gone on record as saying that Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn take place in a ‘movie movie universe’; that is, they’re movies that characters from the Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, and Death Proof universe would go to see in theaters. (Kill Bill, after all, is basically Fox Force Five, right on down to Mia Wallace playing the title role.) What immediately springs to mind about Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn? That they’re crazy violent, even by Tarantino standards. These are the movies produced in a world where America’s crowning victory was locking a bunch of people in a movie theater and blowing it to bits – and keep in mind, Lee Donowitz, son of one of the people on the suicide mission to kill Hitler, is a very successful movie producer. Basically, it turns every Tarantino movie into alternate reality sci fi. I love it so hard.

suicideblonde:

INGLOURIOUS BASTERDS Fits Perfectly into Quentin Tarantino’s Movie Universe and Influences the Entire Filmography

By now, most Quentin Tarantino fans are aware of the connections interlaced throughout all of his films. John Travolta’s Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction is the brother of Michael Madsen’s Vic Vega in Reservoir Dogs, Harvey Keitel’s Mr. White worked with Alabama from True Romance, the plot basis for Kill Bill is described as the synopsis for a TV series in Pulp Fiction, etc.

Now the epiphany that Eli Roth’s character of Donny Donowitz aka “The Bear Jew” in Inglourious Basterds is the father of the movie producer Lee Donowitz in True Romance has inspired a truly mind-blowing theory that the rest of the films (chronologically speaking) in Tarantino’s filmography take place in a world where [Inglorious Basterds spoiler] World War II came to an end when Adolf Hitler was brutally murdered in a movie theater by the Basterds.

This initial connection was brought up in an article on Cracked, but a poster on Reddit (via David Chen’s Twitter) has more eloquently summed up what this means for Tarantino’s movieverse:

As it turns out, Donny Donowitz, ‘The Bear Jew’, is the father of movie producer Lee Donowitz from True Romance – which means that, in Tarantino’s universe, everybody grew up learning about how a bunch of commando Jews machine gunned Hitler to death in a burning movie theater, as opposed to quietly killing himself in a bunker. Because World War 2 ended in a movie theater, everybody lends greater significance to pop culture, hence why seemingly everybody has Abed-level knowledge of movies and TV. Likewise, because America won World War 2 in one concentrated act of hyperviolent slaughter, Americans as a whole are more desensitized to that sort of thing. Hence why Butch is unfazed by killing two people, Mr. White and Mr. Pink take a pragmatic approach to killing in their line of work, Esmerelda the cab driver is obsessed with death, etc. You can extrapolate this further when you realize that Tarantino’s movies are technically two universes – he’s gone on record as saying that Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn take place in a ‘movie movie universe’; that is, they’re movies that characters from the Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, True Romance, and Death Proof universe would go to see in theaters. (Kill Bill, after all, is basically Fox Force Five, right on down to Mia Wallace playing the title role.) What immediately springs to mind about Kill Bill and From Dusk ‘Til Dawn? That they’re crazy violent, even by Tarantino standards. These are the movies produced in a world where America’s crowning victory was locking a bunch of people in a movie theater and blowing it to bits – and keep in mind, Lee Donowitz, son of one of the people on the suicide mission to kill Hitler, is a very successful movie producer. Basically, it turns every Tarantino movie into alternate reality sci fi. I love it so hard.