Skyfall

  Slowing down? So is James Bond...after this film he might be joining you in a retirement home while Ben Whinshaw takes out all the badies from his apartment in his pajamas.  

Directed: Sam Mendes
Released:  2012
Staring: Daniel Craig, Dame Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Javier Bardem, & Ben Whinshaw.
Rating: PG-13
Times Viewed: 2

  It's Saturday night, February 23rd, 2013 and as my friend and I walk towards Coffman Memorial Student Center in the University of Minnesota campus I'm preparing myself of a night of historical, emotion drama catered by Stephen Spielsbergs Lincoln. I have yet to see the film which stars one of my favorite, as well as best actors of all time, Daniel Day-Lewis. As we enter the building and our third friend greets us she informs us that it's not Lincoln that is showing tonight but Skyfall. At first of course I was quite disappointed; I had been looking forward to crossing it off my "Need to Watch" Oscar Best Picture Nominee list. Not to be discouraged though, when my friends asked if we should stay or go back to the dorm I replied we should stay. We were already there and even though we all had seen the movie before we all enjoyed it and greatly appreciated Daniel Craig.

This is NOT Lincoln. And yes, more people did show up

  Skyfall, directed by Sam Mendes, is without a doubt my favorite Bond film. I've truly enjoyed watching the resurrection of the Bond franchise these past few years. The Bond films (to me) should be classy, suave, attractive, and just a little bit risky, just like 007 himself. The films staring Pierce Brosnan were anything but classy, suave, or attractive. They were big, loud, and dumb. Brosana himself was not bad. He was a fabulous choice for Bond, but the movies alone were almost too action packed with plots so ridiculous they were never to be believed and teetered on the edge of sci-fi. That all changed in 2006 with Casino Royale. We had a new (BLONDE) Bond who many didn't feel had the same commercial appeal that the other's had possessed. This feeling of unease among many 007 fans was quickly diminished when the viewed the movie. This was the Bond film that brought back the suave smoothness of the classic Bonds. The car chases were there, the femme fatales were there, the fights were there, and the explosions were there, but done in  a way to bring the realism of these stories to the audience. As in film all things must be exaggerated, but the new series of Bond films still read true to the clever movie goer. Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, and Skyfall rely more on story, character development, and style rather than smoke and fire to make the film appealing to views. Not saying that the new franchise doesn't have it's fair share of excitement and impressive effects.

  I'm going to put it out there and say that Skyfall is probably the most beautiful action movie to be filmed in the past ten years. This movie is GORGEOUS. Cinematographer Roger Deakins is master of manipulation when it comes to illumincent light versus dark. He works in shadow and  silhouettes, acknowledging the script were both our hero Bond and villain Silva are said to have "come from the shadows, a place you don't believe exists." The first shot in the entire film is 007 walking through a darkened corridor and pausing for a moment to assess the situation while allowing the narrowest beam of light to pass across his brilliantly blue eyes.

Another dazzling scene featured in the first trailer is a silhouetted fight with Bond and a darkened opponent in an office building with a massive LED screen projecting a the fluid blue curvatures of a jelly fish. Beautiful and well choreographed scene. As you can tell from the teaser trailer there is a considerable amount of Back Lighting and Low Key lighting.We just talked about editing and lighting in my film class so I was ALL OVER THIS! When Deakins is not show casing his talent for shadow play, he produces stunning wide shots of London, Singapore, and the moors of Scotland.

So much...

...gorgeous...

Back Lighting!

  To bring attention some of Deakins other work, he was director of photography on True Grit, The Reader, Doubt, The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, No Country for Old Men, The Village, O' Brother Where Art Thou? and The Shawshank Redemption...just to name a FEW. Deakins is the Kate Winslet of Cinematography. This man has 10, I REAPEAT 10 Academy Award nominations without a SINGLE WIN! How? Just how? Deakins is up agains some heavy competition this year from films Life of Pie, Anna Karenina,  Django Unchained, and Lincoln. I would honestly love for Roger Deakins to finally win, but this is serious competition, I guess we'll find out come tomorrow night!

Roger Deakins on the set of Skyall. Cinematographer extraordinaire.

  Now I'd like to talk about the story for a bit. As I said, the most recent Bond films move the story along through character progression rather than a ludicrous plot to take over the world via sharks with laser beams on their freakin' heads. Every action scene is fueled by intension. The established relationship between characters 007 and M is, according the the villain, a reflection of the relationship Silva had with the head of MI6. The revenge is generated by a very warped motivation. There is reason to care about Bond, there is a reason to care about M. During his psych analysis, Bond relates "M" with bitch and honestly this may be true for many movie goers. Although we see how close Bond and his boss have become over the years we still see her as that nagging boss every one hates for being that nagging boss. This script effectively generates sympathy for M by bringing the British government into play, blaming M for many recent security breeches and agent deaths and forcing her to step down from her beloved post. By creating this side plot, when the viewer discovers who the villain is and the motivation for his actions, we aren't left thinking "Well why should we care? She's a BITCH!"

Judi Dench as M, Ralph Fiennes as Gregor Mallory and that one guy as that one guy...?

  Much of this story deals with age and experience. Wether it was her decision or not, Dame Judi Dench is not a young lady and it was written that Skyfall would be her last adventure with Bond. Dench's own retirement from the character is used in the plot by the British Government forcing her to step down, most likely in order to replace her with some younger blood. When 007 meets his new Quarter Master he is shocked to find a young pup who "still has spots." that clever spotted young man is Ben Whinshaw who's character Q, while quite the technological genius still has much to learn about a career is espionage. Still, the banter between Q and Bond does make one think how different the franchise might be if a youthful, less traditional man was to play the role of 007. Are the producers/writers setting us up for something? Judi Dench is being replaced (quite to my excitement) by Ralph Fiennes character Gareth Mallory, so does this mean we could be expecting the attractive young Ben Whinshaw to take the reins from Craig? I don't believe Whinshaw himself would be put in the role, but I do think we can expect a considerably younger Bond when Daniel Craig decides to leave the franchise.

Could Ben Whinshaw's Q be replacing Daniel Craig as the next 007?

  Bond deals with doubts about his age and physical state throughout the whole film proving to all that even 007 get's old. After an extended "holiday" aka playing dead, Bond has taken to drinking and pills, both affect his return to MI6. After numerous test Bond is returned to the program but not truly is the best of shape. Doubts from M, Mallory, and himself creep into his subconscious as well as problems from his childhood. These are mentioned and then resurface in the form of Skyfall, the home on the moors of Scotland where James Bond grew up. Now I do believe they mention in Casino Royale that this Bond is an orphan, but it was nice to have that revisited, and even play a large role in this film. We see that this persona of Bond has taken over this man's life and turned him into someone completely different. There's a moment near the end where Silva looks apon the grave of Bond's parents that read Arthur Bond and Monique Alexander Bond. Silva almost laughs to himself. As we learned earlier in the film, Silva, a former MI6 agent, is not the true name of our villain. If this can be said of Bond the fact that his parents graves bare false names is very intriguing. At one point, Bond is handed his father's old hunting rifle that bares the engraved letters AB...A coincident that his real sir name started with a B.   When one becomes 007 just how much of their past must be changed to keep their true identities safe?

  Dabbling into the casting of new comers.
      No 007 film would be complete without it's circle of sexy women for Bond to playing with or by played by. Resident Bond Girls for Skyfall are the Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny, and Bérénice Marlohe as Severine. Harris is phenomenal. Not only is she gorgeous, but as a member of MI6 she's clever, able to kick some serious ass, and holds her own against Bond. That being said, her character is truly conflicted when ordered to take a shot even if it means killing Bond. When she does believe that she'd killed him she shows an acceptable amount of remorse to Bond before rebounded and turing the situation into an on going joke that adds some great chemistry between the characters. This character is without a doubt on the same playing level as Bond and knows it; she is in control 100% of the time. She flirts with Bond but never allows him to one up her. This is was a good supporting Bond Girl should do; be hot as well as use some of that heat to lash back.

Naomie Harris as Eve Moneypenny look hot and kicking ass.

  While the character of Eve Moneypenny is the perfect mix of charisma, sexiness, and badass, the femme fatale character of Severine is nothing but a plot device. She is honestly is only in the film to move Bond from point A to point B and she knows it the entire time. And the film doesn't try to make her into something more. That being said actress Bérénice Marlohe plays this well; fist cool, collected apparently in control...until Bond calls her out. Then like a beautiful porcelain vase she cracks, shaking hands and wondering eyes we learn that all the body guards that trail her aren't there for her protection, they're there to control her.

"I've only been waiting for you to figure out that poker chip message for 2 weeks. I'm too drunk now to NOT tell you everything...let's have sex."

  As for the boys, I mentioned Ben Whinshaw a bit so I'll stick to Ralph Fiennes and Gareth Mallory and Javier Bardem as Silva. If there was any British actor I should think would be apart of the James Bond series is Ralph Fiennes. Perhaps it's because he played a similar agent type in the atrocity that was 1998's The Avengers (No, not Mavels Avengers...different...bad....British Avengers) Suave, dashingly handsome and a bit dangerous. Is voice is smooth and rich like red wine and his profile is the most beautiful of any man his age. With all these attractive characteristics I always found it odd that Fiennes was never cast as Bond himself or even a villain...ugh he plays a bloody fantasmic villain. When I read that Fiennes would be staring is Skyfall I automatically assumed he'd be taking on the role of the villain, which would have been spectaular, but not the case. Fiennes character is almost better than the villain; working for the government we see that Fiennes, as well as his character, is the embodiment of Great Britain. Along with Judy Dench's character, he evolves throughout the film from a suspicious outsider to someone I was cheering for quite a bit. I can't tell you how thrilled I am that Fiennes is now officially a concrete part of this new Bond franchise.

WHY. Why did it take so long to get Fiennes involved in the Bond movies...He IS Bond to me.

Ralph Fiennes is secretly judging you... 

   When is Javier Bardem not good? I cannot name anything he does wrong. Bardem is one of those actors that spout such a distinct look and voice that you can't help but notice when they're featured in a film. In all of his movies when his character first arrives my mind says "Javier Bardem" but as the scene progresses I don't even remember it's him. THAT is what ACTING is. Truly becoming a completely different person; and when an actor has the face that Bardem has it can be very, very difficult. As he did in Vicky, Christina, Barcelona, Bardem turns up the charm the moment he appears on screen. His character Silva is complete in every way down to his walk, gestures, even the way he throws a hand grenade; these are specific to that character and the physiological movement of the character. Silva is a true love to hate character. The audience knows just enough but not enough about his back story to piece him together. He's a box of cats one mouse away from bursting off the top and wreaking total havoc on society. Chaos through composure...that is what Bardem brings to the table with Silva and it's with that he will become a memorable Bond villain.

Javier Bardem as disgruntled former MI6 agent Silva.
Who can do a lot...perhaps too much with his computer...and lucky timing.

The ladies aren't the only ones eager to undress Bond in this film...

Remember to ALWAYS put your psychopath in a glass prison.