SKYFALL

Skyfall (2012)
Grade: B+
Starring: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Ben Whishaw, Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris, Albert Finney and Berenice Marlohe
Premise: James Bond fights to stop a sadistic cyber-terrorist from destroying MI6.

Rated PG-13 for strong violence and blood, disturbing images, and two brief sexual scenarios

The best thing I can say about Skyfall, the 23rd movie in the 50-year-old James Bond canon, is that even if you've seen some or most or all of the previous 22 entries, you still won't know what's coming. Characters live and die, alliances are made and broken, an unbreakable titular hero is hurt and nearly killed, and surprises leap out of the woodwork. Director Sam Mendes (an Academy Award winner for American Beauty) channels the recent Dark Knight series by proving unafraid to put a popular character in an unusual setting, substitute some brawn for brains, fleshen out the characters and the drama, and create a real movie, with a real plot. Most James Bond movies have been pretty straightforward--guns, girls, gadgets, cars, "Bond, James Bond", saving the world, and a few shaken martinis--but by the end of Skyfall, there has been fear, pain, pleasure, shock and sadness, and you may have forgotten you're watching a James Bond movie at all. And that's quite an accomplishment.

Plot: After suffering a near-fatal injury during a fracas with a terrorist named Patrice, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is hardly ready for duty. But when a cyberterrorist hacks into and then blows up the headquarters to his agency, MI6, 007 hustles back into action. As the world reels in alarm, Bond's superiors, M (Judi Dench) and Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) inform him that a very important piece of information has been stolen, namely, a hard drive containing the names of NATO agents undercover all around the world. Patrice appears to have been the middleman, but the real culprit is clearly someone with disturbingly intimate knowledge of computerized weaponry, London, and MI6. With the help of fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) and new MI6 tech-wizard Q (Ben Whishaw), Bond tracks Patrice in the hope that he will lead him to the criminal mastermind. The strategy works--though, as Bond discovers, the mastermind is not someone to be trifled with, a super-smart someone (Javier Bardem) with an arsenal of weapons, a small army, and decades-old plans to seek deadly revenge against his old boss, M.

What Works?
Unlike many recent Bond movies (like the four late-90s, early-2000s chapters starring Pierce Brosnan), Skyfall does not overdose on action, gadgets, overacted villainy or wan attempts at romance. The usual Bond bits are in place--the martini, the car, the gun, the gadget, etc...--but Skyfall never feels like a cookie-cutter creation. The story and acting nuances are all too good for that. Mendes was out to make a real film, and he has.

Heading a very good and memorable cast, Daniel Craig continues to prove tough, amusingly gruff, and delightfully dogged as Bond, here putting his serious acting chops to work as the character battles old age, injury, drunkenness, and some of the shadows of his past. Though fierce, he's immensely likeable, and it's getting harder and harder to remember that this same role was once played by Pierce Brosnan (or Sean Connery). Possibly the biggest bonus Skyfall has in its favor is a fleshed-out role for M. Instead of simply standing on the sidelines or sitting in an office barking orders, Judi Dench gets to get her hands dirty, making household explosives and defending MI6 against court prosecutors while suffering from guilt and showing both her age and her secret fears. Other major characters (who you might hear from again, *hint hint*) are well-played by Naomie Harris, Ralph Fiennes and Ben Whishaw (whose young, confident, energetic Q is one of this movie's real treats).

However, what really makes Skyfall work is its primary villain--that cyberterrorist, Silva, played to deranged and frighteningly unpredictable perfection by Javier Bardem. Coming on the scene at about Skyfall's midpoint (right as it's beginning to feel a little long and slow), the actor gives the proceedings an immediate boost of adrenaline with a performance that reminded me of both his own previous portrayal of a merciless, debased hit man (in No Country For Old Men) and Heath Ledger and Jack Nicholson's crazy-sadistic portrayals of The Joker. Silva is a man who's suffered both physical and emotional pain, and he's all the scarier for his desire to stop at nothing to make sure the right people pay. While one doubts Silva could hold his own in a fistfight with Craig's Bond, Bardem all but steals the show with his scary-memorable performance, by turns fey, flamboyant, and terrifying.

Also, the typical Bond movie theme song--Adele's "Skyfall"--is terrific, and it's set to blazingly-colorful opening credits.

What Doesn't Work?
Skyfall's main weakness is that it gets too long for its own good, albeit right in the middle. Bond's meeting with this installment's resident "Bond girl" (Berenice Marlohe) and then a skirmish with some hard-faced Asian baddies barely raises the pulse. At least one other major development is kind of glossed over, an unfortunate detail seeing as this particular plot point strains credulity. However, Skyfall's second half--essentially one long chase sequence--redeems its sometimes-plodding first, giving us breathtaking action as well as looks into the hearts and souls of Bond, M, and Silva (in this movie, you learn more about Bond's past than in all 22 previous parts combined). My only other complaint would be that Marlohe's performance, while decent, is unnecessary--the only time Skyfall feels like other, lesser James Bond movies is by trying to force the "Bond girl" storyline on us.

Content
The sex scenes are brief, and the cussing is minimal, but Skyfall is a hard PG-13 because of its level of intense action and its dark, unrelenting content. Silva may be odd, but he's an unpredictable nut case who will kill anyone who gets in his way. He also sports a gruesome disfigurement people will remember long after the movie. Skyfall probably isn't a very good film for kids.

Bottom Line (I Promise):
Not quite as good as the now-classic Casino Royale, Daniel Craig's first go-round from back in 2006, Skyfall is nonetheless an impressive, engaging Bond movie that, between its featured standout performances (by Craig, Dench, Bardem, and others) and its promise of other great things to come, makes you really look forward to the next one. Mission Accomplished.

Skyfall (2012)
Directed by Sam Mendes
Screenplay written by Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan; based on characters created by Ian Fleming
Rated PG-13
Length: 143 minutes