“In ancient Roman religion and mythology,
Janus (Latin: Ianus) is the god
of beginnings and transitions, thence also
of gates, doors, doorways,
endings and time. He is usually a two-faced god since he looks to the future
and the past. The month of January was named in honor of Janus by the Romans.”
While
it may be odd to invoke Roman mythology in a film review (especially a
definition weaned from Wikipedia), it seems aptly appropriate to me given that,
after fifty years of film and sixty plus in print, the Bond phenomenon has
become a mythology of its own. Skyfall,
the 23rd entry in the James Bond franchise (not counting the David
Niven Casino Royale or Sean Connery’s
Never Say Never Again), is a curious
entry in the series for it carries its own themes of duality both within the
story and metatextually; a film of contrasts and oppositions.
Admittedly,
after 50 years it’s hard not to retread the same material. Many of the film’s plot points revisit
familiar ground as previously seen in entries such as You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, License to Kill, Goldeneye and The
World Is Not Enough, especially. Ostensibly the plot finds James Bond
(Daniel Craig) trying to prevent a list of operatives who are operating
covertly in terrorist organizations worldwide. However, this plot is a
MacGuffin as the plot really centers around M (Judi Dench) and an ex-MI-6 operative
named Silva (Javier Bardem, who is just as unsettling here as he was in the
superlative No Country for Old Men) who, in echoes of The World Is
Not Enough, is out for revenge against her and, in further echoes of Goldeneye,
is Bond’s ersatz brother-in-arms and his opposite number.
The
film is replete with themes of duality and obsolescence: New versus old;
Desired youth versus grizzled experience. Yet it’s not only within the story
but the film as a whole. There are times it embraces and eschews Bond’s legacy
all at once, in some cases, nodding to the past while at the same time
disparaging it and, in at least one instance, destroying it. This whole sense
of duality is epitomized in Craig’s Bond. I must admit from the get-go that I
have always found Craig to be more suited as a Bond villain henchman than Bond
himself (my tastes run more towards Connery, Brosnan and Dalton) however, his
subsequent performances in films like The
Girl With the Dragon Tattoo and Cowboys
and Aliens have allowed me to give him more leeway to accept Craig as Bond,
if not my Bond. In this film, Bond is broken and much is made of the character’s
(and actor’s) age. The Brits call Craig the “Grumpy Bond” for a reason (as his
interpretation of Bond is among the most intense, matching that of Timothy
Dalton). However, Craig’s Bond finally shows some of the lighter, playful
touches of the character, reminiscent of Moore’s and Brosnan’s turns, when
paired with a fellow MI-6 agent (Naomi Harris,M ission Impossible II, Pirates
of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest/At World’s End); an agent whose identity
is, for those who know their Bond history, immediately telegraphed within the
first few seconds of their witty, flirtatious banter. For once, it looks like
Craig is actually having fun the role of Bond. It is a welcome change.
The
thing is, I’ve seen this film earlier before. It was called The Dark Knight
Rises. The hero is presented as broken and past his prime, one who must
rise up against a force greater than he that was shaped by the very
organization that shaped him, and both motivated to some degree by a strong
female presence in their lives (in this case, “M”). There are many more
parallels to be found between the two films but you get the gist. And, as the
opening sequence shows, the influence the Bourne series has had on these
films since the advent of Casino Royale shows no signs of diminishing.
Where Bond as a franchise had once
led the way in terms of how to make an action film work, it is now instead
following the trends; instead being more of an action piece for product
placement (and trust me, there is plenty of that) instead of being innovative.
This
is not to say that Skyfall is an
excellent movie. Of Craig’s three films thus far, Skyfall is second only to Royale
(the less said of the mishmash that was Quantum
of Solace the better). If the first film was the apex and the second the
nadir, Skyfall falls somewhere in the
middle. The film never bores, even in its slow spots. It is also a weighty film
with the themes it deals with, but also with the characters themselves. Never
before have the characters of Bond and M have been as fleshed out as they are
here. In fact, this is the closest we’ll get to a real Bond origin story, I
imagine. Even in the film’s fantastical circumstances, these characters feel
real. Yet, Bond films were always fun , escapist entertainment, a far cry from the novels
that spawned many of them (with perhpas the exception of "Moonraker"), the idea of same no less reflected in main producer Cubby Broccoli
almost casting of Adam West (!) and Burt Reynolds (!!) as Bond (But then,
“off-model” is certainly the current trend. Robert Downey, Jr. is anything but
the Sherlock Holmes as conceived by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, yet audiences
accept such. If the trend continues, it’s possible that the below could be
coming to a theatre near you:
Ah,
well…a man may not fly, but perhaps he can dream…but I digress…).
The
supporting players are nothing to sneeze at.
Ralph Finnes is enigmatic as Gareth Malleroy, an intelligence agent who
may or may not have it in for “M”. Young Ben Whishlaw makes for an interesting
re-imagination of the armorer, “Q”. With nods to the past and an eye towards
the future, this is a “Q” for a new generation of Bond. Bérénice Marlohe plays
Bond girl Severine, who is somewhat (intentionally) reminiscent of Xenia
Onnatop from Goldeneye and equally
captivating to look at for what time she is actually on screen. Albert Finney
enjoys what amounts to an extended cameo suspiciously intended for Sean Connery
(especially given the setting wherein the character is introduced). Yet for all
that this is a Bond film, the main
character is almost a guest star in his own film, as the real focus is “M”
(Judi Dench) who is front and center in this film and is fleshed out in a way
never before shown for in any of its iterations. Dench proves why she’s one of
Britain’s superlative actresses, conveying steel drive with a hint of
vulnerability. Ironic that such a cold character (since the reboot) proves to
be the heart and soul of the film. And as Silva, Bardem is Bond’s “Joker” and “Bane”
all in one: as flamboyant as the former, as dangerous as the latter, and makes
for a dangerous combination. The last time Bond was given a villain who was his
equal or superior was Sean Bean’s “006”, and Bardem outshines that. It’s the
mark of a film villain when his presence is felt even when he’s not on screen,
and from the point of his introduction, that presence is palpable.
They
cinematography is nothing but superb. It has been decades, yes decades, since
Bond has felt this exotic and, yes, even epic in scope. Before the age of
Internet and affordable travel, the Bond films were the best way for movie
goers to be immersed in an exotic world. Skyfall
is the first film in the franchise in decades to evoke that response. Sam
Mendes’ musical partner in crime, Thomas Newman, is a refreshing change from
David Arnold’s repetitively indistinguishable stylings (though not completely
devoid of them, as some hints of the Casino Royale score are evident here). The score is strongly influenced by the works of the late John Barry,
and the film is stronger for it (and an interesting bit of trivia which adds
weight to the musical Barry homage…”M”s flat in the film was actually Barry’s
home).
All
in all, Skyfall is an interesting mix
of heaviness and lightheartedness. But by the end of film, the “Bond Begins”
experiment begun in Casino Royale is
completed in Skyfall. At the end, everything
old is new again and a truism is reasserted before the credits, and the
familiar gun barrel sequence, begins to roll:
James
Bond will return.
