Obviously
this blog will contain spoilers from the film so if you don't want to know
what happens i'd stop reading now.
After Daniel Craig's first two
films I was seriously worried about Skyfall. Casino Royal and Quantum of Solace
were fairly big let downs to say the least with the writers seeming pulling
away from the original charm of Bond. Instead of a swarve, sophisticated
secret agent, the James Bond character appeared to have become a ruthless
hitman, like in one of those American Gangster films. Luckily in
Skyfall things began to change.
The film opens with Bond
in pursuit of a killer who seems to be working for the people who have
stolen an hard drive from MI6. The hard drive contains information on
undercover NATO agents in terrorist organisations (Although you don't
know that at this point). The chase ends with Eve (An MI6 agent helping Bond)
shooting at the killer on the orders of M, however she misses and hits Bond in
the shoulder and knocks him off the train, into the water deep below, he is
presumed dead.
Of course we know better than that
and Bond was alive but not all well, he is living near where he fell and seems
to have developed a drinking problem. Back in London, M is being
pressured to retire by new Intelligence and Security Committee
chairman, Gareth Mallory ( He will be important later). As M travels back to
headquarters there is an explosion at MI6, killing some employees,
this was after someone had hacked into M's computer.
There was no messing around with
this start, we got straight into seriousness from the get go which
was intriguing. It was also good to see a lot of focus on M throughout the
film as she is a fantastic character, played brilliantly by Dame Judi Dench who
had good chemistry with Daniel Craig.
Following the attack on
headquarters, 007 returns to London as he knows that his country needs him
(more on that later). Once back in action, Bond heads to Shanghai where he
tracks down a man called Patrice (the man he fought at the start), He kills
Patrice without finding out his employer but finds a gambling chip
with his things and heads to the casino.
There he meets a woman called Sévérine
who supposedly works for the man behind the attacks (It turns out she is a
prisoner), after fighting off three henchmen 007 voluntarily gets
imprisoned so he can meet the employer. The man behind everything turns out to
be Raoul Silver, a former MI6 agent under M who she gave to China in exchange
for some of her agents, in China Silva was imprisoned. Silva kills Sévérine but soon after Bond
calls for backup with his gun from the new Q and captures Silva.
The new Q is a bit mixed for me (played by Ben Whishaw), although he seems to
have good chemistry with Daniel Craig, there was definitely a
lack of imaginative gadgets which is obviously the writer's fault and
not the actor's.
It turned out that being captured was part of Silva's plan as he managed to
hack Q's computer whilst escaping. He headed to the venue of where M's public
enquiry was being held, 007 was in hot pursuit but was trailing with Silva
now dressed as a policeman. Silva entered the enquiry room with two other man
and began firing, Bond arrived shortly after and helped Mallory and Eve bring M
to safety. Once out the building, Bond drove M away to his childhood home
in.......Scotland!.
Now you may be wondering about the exclamation mark, well James Bond is known
for his love of England, it is mentioned in many films. Now unless he
moved to England at a young age I can't understand this logic as I can't think
of many Scots that actually like England, nevermind love it.
Anyway we get a nice bit of nostalgia as Bond uses the Aston Martin DB5, the
car that first appeared in Goldfinger which was nice to see for a fan of all
the films. Once at Skyfall (His childhood home), Bond, M and old gamekeeper
Kincade, set up ready for Silva and co to arrive. Soon enough they do and all
hell breaks loose with an injured M and Kincade seeking refuge in the nearby
chapel.
Silva sees Kincade's torch light and follows with Bond again in pursuit (seems
to be the occurring theme of the film). Silva seems ready to shoot
and kill M and himself until Bond throws a knife into his back killing Silva,
at this point Bond says the words: 'Last rat standing' referring to what
Silva had talked about earlier in the film.
To end the film M dies of her injuries in the arms of Bond, she is replaced as
M by Mallory and Eve turns out to be Moneypenny, so she takes the secretary
job. To finish Bond gets the dog ornament from old M's will which persuades him
to carry on in the field, this was a nice sentimental moment I felt after their
seemingly distant relationship.
Overall I think it was a decent film, much better than expected and by far the
best Bond film that Daniel Craig has starred in. It showed a lot more emotion
this time and gave a few nods to the good old days. The new set up is different
to the classic Bond films, however I suppose they have to move with the times
and this is was certainly an
improvement on Craig's other films. On a final note though, I know a lot of
women have raved about this film and an hour in I could see why, in
nearly every scene Craig had his top off, if I wanted to see a man with his top
off all the time, I would have brought an issue of Playgirl, So hopefully
for the next film the wardrobe department could spend more money on getting
shirts and t-shirts.
