SKYFALL looks forward while also acknowledging the James Bond of the past in the first new James Bond film in four years which was held up due to MGM’s financial problems which held up the production for two years along with the production of THE HOBBIT.   I enjoyed the movie, but sometimes I am also a little ambivalent about how it doesn’t feel enough like the typical James Bond movie.  However, SKYFALL does set itself as a turning point and an introduction to the various things we have loved about previous films.   The climax and bad guy motive seem a little too personal while I rather have James Bond get back to the business of stopping the Bond villain’s plan that effect the world as we know it.  M (Judi Dench) does make a good point that the face of the enemy has changed from nations to faceless groups like terrorists.   SKYFALL is trying to blend the James Bond of the 20^th century with the James Bond of the 21^st century.  

 

Bond fakes being dead after a mission goes wrong to retrieve a hard drive containing a list of all MI-6 agents undercover in terrorist organizations.  Bond is hit by the bullet of another MI-6 agent as she tries to hit the guy Bond is fighting with on a moving train.   When MI-6 is hit by a cyber attack three months later, Bond comes back from the dead to help M find the cyber terrorist Silva (Javier Bardem) who has a personal vendetta against M.  He wants M to pay for her sins as he threatens to release five names form the list of undercover agents each week.

 

SKYFALL does have a solid script, but sometimes I like a James Bond film to blend the best elements of the movies of what came before while trying to add something new.  It is a well cast film with some of the better British actors in it and Javier Bardem being over-the-top and menacing as Silva. I do think the film does feel a little too personal where I want Bond out on a mission in another country by the end of the movie where he ends up at his childhood home.  I do miss David Arnold not providing the music this time around (which frequent Mendes collaborator Thomas Newman got the job and his score is better on a second listen) and you end up with a score that is somewhere between an unusual score like Goldeneye and your usual Bond score (composed by John Barry or David Arnold).   Again, I would see this movie again and it just isn’t in my top five James Bond list.   I do like the title sequence which reminds me of some of the classic title sequences from other James bond films and Adele’s title tune is miles better than the misfire of a song written for QUANTUM OF SOLACE.   James Bond is going strong after 50 years and I hope the next film learns to blend the old and new better even though I did enjoy some parts of SKYFALL better than other.  I hope it doesn’t take another four years or more for another Bond film.

 

SPECIAL FEATURES:

SHOOTING BOND is a series of 14 making-of featurettes:

INTRO, TITLE SEQUENCE (THE DEATH OF BOND), TITLE CREDITS (WORKING THE TITLES), 007 (THE RETURN OF JAMES BOND), Q (BACK TO BASICS), DB5 (BEHIND THE WHEEL)- all about the classic Aston Martin, WOMEN (THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY)- focus on the two out of three women in the movie, VILLAINS (IN THE SHADOWS), ACTION!, LOCATIONS (LICENSE TO TRAVEL), MUSIC (THE SOUND OF BOND), THE END SEQUENCE (THE BEGINNING OF THE END) that focuses on the thriller-like climax, M-  a fetaurette about the character of m and the character’s future that is very spoilerish if you haven’t seen the film, and THE FUTURE (NEW BEGINNINGS) as cast and crew look to the future of the series by what was introduced in SKYFALL.   The featurettes come off as promotional EPK type of material that has interviews with cast and crew in addition to clips from the movie and some snippets of behind-the-scenes footage.

 

Also included on the disc is a promotional spot for the soundtrack, the theatrical trailer, and two audio commentaries with the second being more interesting (the track with Barbara Broccoli, Michael Wilson, and production designer Dennis Gassner) compared to the first track by director Sam Mendes which is more story specific compared to more production specific like the second track.

 

Rounding out the combo pack is the movie on DVD in standard definition and a digital copy of SKYFALL.

 

FINAL ANALYSIS:  SKYFALL is better on a second viewing with a solid script and an ending that feels like the original early films from the Sean Connery James Bonds.  I wish they had more extensive making-of extras which come off more as promotional fluff instead.

 

This review is (c)2-20-2013 David Blackwell and cannot be reprinted without permission.  Send all comments to feedback@enterline-media.com