There's a storm coming, Mr. Bond

Rating: 9/10 (25 November 2012)

SKYFALL is the most memorable James Bond film from the Daniel Craig era. I watched other two films on the big screen too; I liked them a lot, but haven't revisit them ever since. I can't recall much about 'em. SKYFALL, on the other hand, is a movie so precise and, for a way to say it, minimalist in terms of plot issues that I will not have any problem to remember it in a near future.
All of that precision only helps in order to have a 143 minutes picture that feels like an hour- and-a-half one. Nothing feels out of place and it's like if Sam Mendes and the team of writers watched Christopher Nolan's THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and said something like "We don't wanna do that with our Bond movie. We don't want plot twists or subplots. We just want a good and simple action picture".
I'm bringing Nolan's Batman to this commentary not just because the actual possibility that Nolan himself directs the next or a future Bond movie. It's because I thought SKYFALL feels at time like that version of Batman – a dark one, with a sort-of hopeless world. Coincidentally, SKYFALL opens with Bond going into exile, after apparently getting killed while doing a little mission.
Bond is having a terrific time, with women and lots of drinks, while London, specifically M and the MI6, are going through hard times, with terrorism and death threats for the agents and M herself. There's a scene in which M tells a speech about the dark times they are living that especially feels out of a Batman movie from Nolan. Hell, there's a "storm is coming" dialog too!
Javier Bardem? Well, everyone is talking about the new enemy of Bond. Maybe I'm wrong but I don't recall much talking about the enemies from CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. SKYFALL has indeed a good villain. You're actually waiting for him, waiting to see by yourself why Bardem's character Silva has been ranked as one of Bond's best ever enemies. He's like the monster in any good old monster movie – I mean, you're waiting to see him but he won't show up for some time.
If anything, I will be eager to see the villain in the possible Bond movie of Nolan. Fact is that he (Nolan) perfectly knows how to create a memorable one and while I don't think Bardem will get an Oscar nomination (like Heath Ledger did with his Joker), he raised the bar pretty high. His hardcore fans, or any BIUTIFUL fan, may not agree with me, but for my money this is his third best and most memorable role ever, only behind his villain Anton Chigurh from NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN (Joel Coen, 2007) and his hilarious one from PERDITA DURANGO (Alex de la Iglesia, 1997).
Sam Mendes was only interested in creating a classic hero vs. villain movie. It's an obvious remark, as the last part of the film is literally that, but that's what I liked the most about SKYFALL. Think in Quentin Tarantino's PULP FICTION, that beautiful part with Bruce Willis choosing which weapon he will use to save that Marsellus Wallace character. He ends, as you can remember dear reader, picking up a classic katana, over a chainsaw.
SKYFALL is a bit like that – Mendes and the writers could have had any kind of crazy location for the most important part of the film (the climax with the big, final confrontation between Craig and Bardem). The crew actually flew from London to Turkey and Shanghai, and they could have easily come up with something there. Instead, we have a setting as minimalist as just a house in the middle of nowhere in Scotland (although they filmed that part in England). Hell, we have old-fashioned shotguns as Bond's weapon!
There's a reason to all of that Scotland thing for sure, a very nice one really, but what I'm just sayin' is that SKYFALL, with all the fancy and great cars and weapons, is still a movie that focuses more in elements like a good rivalry between its two main characters (Bond and Silva of course). And when it comes to showing some fancy cars and stuff, well, the results are bloody fun! Terrific stuff and, by the way, Adele's main theme is great – it's funny as I don't really like her music, and I love (almost) everything Chris Cornell and Jack White, but her song is way better!
*Watched it on 20 November, 2012