Tying in the past

Rating: 6/10 (29 October 2012)

After half a century of secret servicing, James Bond (the awkward, but unequivocally manly Daniel Craig) and MI6 comes against their greatest threat: one of their own with a personal vendetta against M (Judi Dench), the mother hen of the British undercover network. During a Turkish mission a disk with all data regarding Arab world based secret agents gets stolen by a specialist hired hand. During the ensuing chase M makes a gut call, which ends with Bond being shot and presumed dead. With the data lost and the best agent gone, M now has to confront public tirades questioning her competence and suggesting her resignation from office. The full extent of the threat caused by the data loss only becomes apparent, when a cyberterrorist hacks into the MI6 HQ causing a gas explosion, killing many and having M watch the debris. This occurrence however brings back James Bond, an undying patriot, who holed up in a seaside resort, syphoning whiskey, while daring scorpions, was enjoying his post mortem retirement. Meanwhile former agent Silva (Javier Bardem) construes his bloody vengeance with little regard to lives lost...
Honouring the 50 years of James Bond cinema frenzy comes an honest attempt at arguably the most cranially enjoying outing, which also does its utmost to homage the past Bond movies through witty commentary about the passing of time, introducing a modern era Q (Ben Whishaw) ridiculing shooting pens or simply knocking us back to memory lane by borrowing shots, scenes and gimmicks from past outings of the series. Within this happen questions about time, its relevance and a world best suited for the young, but not abandoned by the old, who search their own place in the new reality. Not entirely subtle in its approach, this "No Country for Old Men" counterargument falls rather flat, even at times bordering on hammy. Much further the enjoyment caused by the riveting attempt to close an era, complete a circle, which brings the first Bond instalments back into the frame and thus hitting home how great a legacy this series has left.
Led by a stellar cast with Dench and Bardem especially excelling, the latter delivering another memorable bad guy persona, but one so strikingly different than Anton Chigurh, one enticingly menacing, but simultaneously infantile.
Comparisons have been rife with the Nolan Batman series. And whereas "Skyfall" is vastly superior to the misguided gibberish of "The Dark Knight Rises", it fails to reach the level "The Dark Knight", but at the same time has a worrying tendency to follow too closely the latter's plot line. Just as the Joker allows himself to be captured to forward his grand plan, similarly such is the situation with Silva. The characters of Silva and Joker differ markedly, but unfortunately they overall actions, accompanying goons and certain plot solutions waste away ingenuity implanted elsewhere the Skyfall movie, making it overly repetitive. The plot itself makes little sense, becoming more crude glue interconnecting story lines, dramatic interaction (much more pronounced than in any other Bond movie), chase sequences and big blasts. As the underlying motive behind Silva becomes unhinged with the wanton destruction caused by his actions, the sensibility of his character dissipates, leaving viewers to focus on the drama and the action.
Hence despite enjoying the experience the excitement is short-lived, when grey cells reboot and start decoding the senseless story, filled with admittedly riveting sequences and drama.