Weekly Review -- Like fine wine...

Skyfall (2012) -- Happy 50th, Mr. Bond! Looking good, having fun and annihilating eccentric bad guys can never get old, as proven by Sam Mendes's melancholy and exquisite entry into the 007 pantheon.

**THIS REVIEW CONTAINS HUGE SPOILERS**

After an attempt on M's (Judi Dench) life, James Bond (Daniel Craig) comes out of early retirement to track down the supposed perpetrator, mysterious hacker Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem). The rather personal attack comes soon after MI6 loses a top secret list of agents to the same man, so Bond journeys across the globe to figure out what Silva's intentions are...

Boasting tight direction and a terrific, eloquent screenplay, Skyfall radiates a tone different from most of the earlier 007 films. Mentally and physically broken after a botched mission, his aim off and his psyche fractured, Bond is not the agent we are familiar with anymore. It seems that the MI6 explosion also took all of the trademark witticisms with it, a development that only peels a thick layer off the principal character, his relationships and our perceptions of them. When Silva playfully asks him what his hobby is, Bond deadpans "Resurrection". Indeed, the story revolves around revelations and new beginnings, choices and lack thereof, living and surviving. Bond is not only revived; he is reborn. 

It is precisely screenwriters Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan's grasp of existence that adds a dimension we do not expect to find in a Bond film, giving Skyfall its thinking man's actioner quality. For some reason, I found some startling parallels between Skyfall and, of all possible works, Blade Runner. There is a wonderful dynamic between Bond, Silva and M, the woman behind that cryptic initial that could very well stand for Maker. Was it M that made these people the men they are or was it survival instinct in general? Was their life their choice? How much longevity is allotted to people like them? Are they even allowed to hope for more or should they count themselves lucky to live another day? In a moving soliloquy, Silva opens up about his own mortality and emptiness, letting us in on a mere glimpse of the shadows that haunt him. He is a relic that wants revenge before he essentially sacrifices himself, not unlike Roy Batty... tears in rain come to mind. I also thought that the showdown in the Scottish highlands was a dead ringer for Deckard and Batty's last encounter, both in its suspense and justice concepts examined. Finally, as an off-topic notion, please raise your hand everyone who could see Craig as the next Blade Runner while he was slinking and sneaking through the Shanghai dreamscape. Make it happen, PTB, make it happen.
 
The only development I found illogical was Silva's much too easy escape from MI6. The organization likely has trackers of all kinds in all places, so is it that unreasonable that they would implant trackers into people they captured? Sure, MI6 had been under attack, so their usual order might take some time to be restored, but one would think that a prisoner of his clout was a priority. Still, this is a minor gripe in the bigger scheme of things, an issue that can certainly be explained by Silva's background and resourcefulness. 

As far as the film's style goes, there are so many outstanding sequences to admire that it is difficult to narrow the choices down. The aforementioned dreamland is the setting for one of the most suspenseful and beautifully shot scenes from any Bond film, almost poetic in its pacing and imagery. Visually and thematically, Skyfall takes place in a desolate world enveloped in the hallucinatory deception of cyber warfare, and its aesthetics suit the context. From the Istanbul car chase kinetics to the Macau casino glitz to the dystopian decay of Silva's lair, the sets are meticulous and the cinematography sleek, making the movie seem like an encounter between the old and the new, one of its storyline's main subjects. The entire film is a stunner, thanks to the work of production designer Dennis Gassner (Road to Perdition, Big Fish) and cinematographer Roger Deakins (Sid and Nancy, The Reader).

The acting is brilliant. Craig is already a Bond for the ages, but the film continuously reminds us that he is not only this character. On the contrary, it reminds us that he is a character actor, relishing 007's new dimension and exploring the smooth agent's deeply buried pain and regret. Naomie Harris is charming and deadly as a fellow operative, while Ralph Fiennes has a fantastic turn as a bureaucrat with a few tricks up his sleeve.

Apart from Craig and the always magnificent Dench, it is two other actors that make the film truly intriguing. With his ghostly visage, platinum mane and smart aleck sneer, Bardem creates one of the most intelligent and interesting Bond villains in the last decade. His Silva could be Bond in another reality, but could also be the reflection that Bond is running away from. He knows the score and knows the boundaries, but he is not going to let a petty thing such as death stop him from avenging what he sees as betrayal. He is a worthy opponent to Bond in every way, rendering every scene between the two characters a battle of wills and skills. On the opposite end of the benevolence spectrum, Ben Whishaw is an utter delight as Q, a computer genius -- why of course -- in his latest incarnation. He takes the gadget master into the cyberpunk, geek chic era, with Q's calm demeanor the facade for the chaos he is capable of engineering with a few strategic clicks. It is too bad that Whishaw and Craig do not have more scenes together, since they share a vivacious and comfortable chemistry, but hopefully Q will return for more squabbles with 007 in the next installment. For all you trivia buffs, this is not the first film in which the two actors have co-starred -- they have both appeared in The Trench, Enduring Love and Layer Cake as well.

Skyfall attempts to take a new approach to cinema's most famous secret agent and succeeds in opening the door to his soul. Exciting and entertaining, it is a new type of 007 film, one that does away with the luster, the bedded beauties and the martinis and lets us see the man underneath, battle scars in full glory. Dig deeper, Mr. Bond. Whatever you find, you are sure to thrill us all over again.

9/10