As a Bond film, Skyfall is superb. The plot is simple and direct, the bad guy is a normal person motivated by revenge, there are grandiose set piece action sequences and a plethora of nods to the last 50 years of Bond. Purely as a film though, Skyfall does have problems, but no criticisms that couldn't also be directed at the 22 preceding films. The story is simple: while on a mission to Turkey to recover a computer containing the names of undercover NATO agents, Bond - played superbly by Daniel Craig - is accidentally shot and presumed dead. He resurfaces only when MI6 comes under attack and it becomes clear that someone with ties to M - the ever-excellent Judi Dench - is pulling the strings and responsible for realising the information Bond was trying to recover.
Bond here is Bond as I always hope it will be. No gadgets, cheesy lines and raised eyebrows; no invisible cars, double-taking pigeons or "I think he might be attempting re-entry" lines. What we have is Bond as the hard-as-nails loner, the drinking womaniser who does whatever job his superior tells him to without remorse and kills without pity. This is a character who should hardly be capable of feeling anything given the number of people he has killed and the betrayal he suffered in Casino Royale; in Skyfall this is the case. When presumed dead we see Bond living a dead-end existence drinking and screwing around without passion. The only thing that can re-ignite any semblance of feeling inside him happens when MI6 - and M specifically - are under threat. And it's this that really makes the story and film, since it's a story about Bond, M and their relationship. It's a Bond film that's also a character drama, with the drama being about this central relationship. As much as M tries to behave dispassionately around Bond, it's clear that she sees him as something of a son. And the same applies to Bond as he tries to convince himself and others that he hates M - whereas she's probably the closest thing he's still has to a friend.
I said the film has a few problems, and I'll briefly cover them here. There are a couple of plot holes and things that are a little too convenient. At one point our bad guy Silva - Javier Bardem - uses a train crash to try to kill Bond. Though this is no doubt a great special effect, it relies on Bond being in exactly the right place at the right time. For something that must have taken ages for Silva to set up it is far too convoluted a way to kill Bond - even for a Bond villain. Plus there are no passengers on the train. I suppose you could argue that it's simply a train running without passengers, but this happens in the middle of the rush hour and so is hardly likely. The real reason is that in order to retain a 12A certificate the film has to shy away from showing the ramifications of the violence it portrays. This happens earlier in the film when someone is shot in the head by a sniper - and no blood can be seen anywhere. I understand that the BBFC rules are in place because people don't want children to see blood and people being killed in a train crash, but isn't it more dangerous to bring up a generation of children who are being conditioned think that such violent acts don't have violent consequences? It's a debate for another time I suspect, and Skyfall is hardly the only action film to be edited in this way, but sugar-coating some elements of realism in a film like this undermines a lot of the other realism that they're clearly trying to create.
The occasional film goer will enjoy Skyfall - the Bond aficionado will likely love it. There are probably more nods to Bond lore than I was able to pick up, but the obvious ones included homage to 'Live and Let Die' (escaping off a reptile's back), Q's disparaging remarks about exploding pens and the big one - the Aston Martin. I suppose it doesn't take a genius to write this stuff, but it takes a lot of care and skill to do it with such aplomb. The film holds back on using the classic Bond guitar theme music until the moment that Bond reveals the very same Aston Martin that appeared in Goldfinger - including ejector seat and machine guns. It's a simple moment that's perhaps a little hammed up, but it was the moment when I gave into any nagging doubts and embraced the film.
It's not as good as Casino Royale, but then I'm not sure any Bond films will ever be able to surpass those heights. Skyfall is an exceptionally good Bond film, a good film (it just passes the Bechdel test - and given that Bond films are traditionally a byword for misogyny that's good progress) and just great fun. I'm glad it has opened so well in UK cinemas and hope it does equally well when it opens in the US next month.
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