"Bore. James Bore."
For a retro-themed 007 caper, Bond himself sure is a joyless wreck. Injured, aging and being edged towards retirement, good ole James must protect good ole England and her representative good ole M (who is also aging, joyless and edging towards retirement) from one of the best villains in franchise history, the charming and deadly-homoerotic Raoul (played by the in effable Javier Bardem). The cinematography is extremely dark and sludgy, the morals and loyalties are only a bit brighter and the fun has been all but drained from the series. Even Dalton had a couple drinks and a shag or two before icing the bad guy with a quip on his lips. Craig's Bond stiff-upper-lips his implied tragic childhood and reaches for a shotgun instead of a leggy blonde; the angst and self pity for the downfall of the British Empire and her subjects drips off the screen. It's all way too smug about how much better (read realistic) it thinks it is than previous franchise entries... for instance Q (now a young hostile nerd instead of a lovable eccentric engineer) sums up the attitudes of Skyfall and what turned me off of it. He mocks previous Qs in 007 films ("What did you expect, an exploding pen?"), makes a big deal about himself, then his character proceeds to flub stupidly and allow the brilliant hacker Raoul access to his network.
Confusingly the film sometimes wants to bury the past; Skyfall itself is James Bond's childhood home and the symbolic root of the character (his orphaning and subsequent recruitment into Mi6) that was created 50 years ago by Fleming. Not only does the old family homestead get taken apart but the classic Connery 1960s Aston Martin gets riddled with bullets and explodes (all by Javier, who really steals the entire show. Without Bardem's cackling manic presence this film would have sunk into the moors of boredom). Those, like me, who have been waiting for this Bond reboot to finally relax a little and sink into a luxury car/hotel/female with a obnoxious name and enjoy his life need not apply. Much like Quantum of Solace Bond simply fires when fired upon like a good soldier and turns in his travel expense reports on time. Bardem comes across as the only genuinely likeable and relatable character (I honestly rooted for him to win).
All ties to the previous 80's, 90's and 00's
Bonds are now viciously now severed. However, if the final scene is any
indication they are not forging a new 2010s Bond. They are just
killing all the dead weight to try to return to the retrocool that Sean
Connery and Ian Fleming created all those years ago. Hopefully
somewhere along the way they can dredge his sense of fun back.
6 MoneyPennys out of 10 (GOOD)
6 MoneyPennys out of 10 (GOOD)
