Skyfall was a movie I just couldn't make my mind up about. I figured I was done with the franchise after I'd found Daniel Craig's Bond movies so disappointing - Casino Royale was a great action movie, but it felt so serious and gritty that it no longer felt like Bond, more like Bourne. And the less said about Quantum of Solace the better.
But then I found out Sam Mendes, one of my favourite directors (Road to Perdition still stands on my Top 10 list), was signed on to direct. I couldn't help but take an interest. And as we neared its release date, there were more and more signs that this would be a return to form - the return of Q, the new cast members (Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardiem) to name a few. Yet even as I sat in the theatre itself, I still had my doubts. I'd been burned before, so I proceeded with caution.
Ten minutes in, all was forgotten. I was drawn in immediately by a thrilling, high-octane chase in the streets of Istanbul. One of the first things I noticed about Skyfall during these opening moments was how different it was to the previous two Bond movies. The style, humour and charm of the franchise is, thank God, back. Bond is back as the suave, effortlessly cool secret agent with the dry, witty sense of humour that defined the earlier films. His one-liners are back, and the banter between him and his colleagues is on sparkling form.
This is what I wanted. James Bond is finally fun again. As much as I appreciated Casino Royale, it was just so serious. The set pieces were great, the acting was great, but did I enjoy it? Not so much. Although I did appreciate the need for a reboot after the stupidity of Die Another Day (so camp it might as well have been a pantomime).
Perhaps the smartest decision here was to let Sam Mendes direct. His fanboy-like obsession with Ian Fleming is evident here, as this movie is clearly the work of someone writing a love letter to the franchise. But don't think for a second that this stands in the way of a highly original plot - it twists and develops in deceptively clever ways, and many of the surprises he sent my way caught me off guard completely. In fact, the script itself is very strong, and has real depth (as opposed to Quantum's style over substance approach).
The movie's strongest suit, though, is its characters. The new cast members all range from good to brilliant - Ralph Fiennes is a highlight as an M16 bigwig (who plays an important role in events), as is Naomie Harris as a fellow agent. However, the greatest addition to the cast is (as you may have guessed) Javier Bardiem's villain. The theory that a Bond movie is only as good as its villain proves to be true here, as Bardiem proves to be as menacing as ever (at times he reaches No Country for Old Men levels of evil) but also - surprisingly - the movie's funniest character in a sick way - the first scene between him and Bond was the funniest in the movie.
Yet this is Bond's film, and, to some extent, M's. There's a subplot involving their relationship which, while I can't spoil anything, proves to be the movie's most moving element. We see the characters as real people again, and we learn more about James' character than in the rest of the franchise combined. This was what has been sorely lacking in many of the Bond movies - humanity.
I say without exaggeration that Mendes has made one of the greatest Bond movies in 15 years, perhaps 25 years, perhaps of all time. It is an astonishing piece of film-making, that captures everything that makes the Bond movies so great, with an original storyline to boot. On no account should you miss this.
★★★★★
