Movie Review - Skyfall

Skyfall (2012)

Starring Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Albert Finney, and Ben Whishaw

Directed by Sam Mendes

After seeing my first James Bond flick in Casino Royale a month ago, I finally got around to checking out Skyfall and am pleased to report that it's a return to glory for 007 after the disappointment of Quantum of Solace.  Thankfully ditching the director of Quantum whose camerawork made that film's action scenes nearly incoherent, Academy Award-winner Sam Mendes takes the helm here and, with the help of his screenwriters, guides a surprisingly low key and much less frenetic Bond film to success.

I was perhaps most amazed by the fact that the action scenes that I've come to associate with Bond films after my initial viewings take a backseat to character development in Skyfall.  After a fantastic and adrenaline-pumping opening sequence involving the unsuccessful capture of a criminal who has confiscated a hard drive with all of the true identities of MI6's undercover agents, we watch James Bond (Daniel Craig) seemingly plunge to his death from atop a huge fall off of a train.  Cut to London and M (Judi Dench) is now preparing an obituary for 007 and also needing to face the fact that her MI6 is in serious trouble since that hard drive was not recovered.  After a meeting with Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), the Chairman of the British Intelligence and Security Committee, M finds herself under intense pressure to resign which she refuses to do, insisting that she will bring MI6 back from its current dark place.  However, upon returning from her meeting with Mallory, MI6's headquarters are attacked and six agents are killed thanks to someone hacking into M's personal computer systems.  Mr. Bond, who happened to survive his steep fall and had taken the opportunity to retire and secretly slip away from duty, hears about the London attack on a news broadcast and decides to return to England to help out M who made him a success.

But who is the culprit seeking revenge on MI-6 and why is he focusing solely on taunting M?  While I won't spoil any motives, I will say that Javier Bardem plays supervillain Raoul Silva with slimy gusto.  Honing in and capitalizing on the uncomfortable humor that sometimes comes hand in hand with a great villain, Bardem reinvigorates the film once he first appears about ninety minutes in.

Not that the film necessarily needed a jolt to reinvigorate it, but Skyfall is definitely a more character-driven piece than I was expecting.  This film is as much about the emotional roller coaster of being an undercover agent (or running an agency responsible for those agents) as it is about the action sequences.  Rather brilliantly, the movie is able to successfully balance both disparate spectrums thanks to Sam Mendes.  His action-oriented scenes are taut and exciting -- the opening fifteen minutes are just stellar -- and his more intimate moments carry more weight than most dramas out there today.

Mr. Mendes is of course aided by Judi Dench whose M takes on a much more significant role here than in the other Bond films I've seen.  She brings a weathered intelligence to every scene and she gives Daniel Craig's Bond a real emotional and deep attachment to care for rather than the Bond Girls he leaves after one romp in the sack.  Supporting turns from Ralph Fiennes, Ben Whishaw, and a ravishing Naomie Harris definitely showcase the promise of future Bond movies for sure.

I'm over 24 hours removed from watching Skyfall and I'm still finding myself thoroughly enjoying its thrills and somewhat ballsy dramatic turns.  The James Bond franchise was certainly not one that I eagerly looked forward to every three years or so when a new movie would be released, but I'm happy to say that I'm onboard the bandwagon and look forward to more in the future.

The RyMickey Rating:  A-