Skyfall - review.

Sharp, clever and fast... Daniel Craig takes the lead role in Skyfall.

On the official Skyfall Wikipedia entry, Dame Judi Dench takes the third position in the cast list. In the similar list for Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Eva Green and Olga Kurylenko are second behind Daniel Craig. Dench is the Bond girl of this film. She may be getting into her late seventies (thus the 'girl' title should be withdrawn) but Judi Dench takes the most action out of all females in the movie. Whether its physically, emotionally or mentally, 'M' does it all. Naomie Harris plays the other Bond girl, Eve, a contemporary spy who does part fieldwork. She and Bond have an interesting badinage, usually through earpieces, but this banter doesn't rise above its raillery. Another interesting newcomer is Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory, a former lieutenant colonel in the British Army. Fiennes plays him as a stiff bureaucratic civil servant that we soon grow to like. Bérénice Marlohe is yet another Bond girl, Sévérine, a sexy and seductive, yet frail and vulnerable woman. The character is given nothing substantial and comes out flimsy and boring. 
The main villain of the piece, Javier Bardem gives us the ridiculous Silva. Ridiculous in a way that we like, his character is a bit flamboyant but still sinister in his own way. He is a disgruntled former agent turned cyberterrorist in an attempt to bring 'M' down. His chilling methods in attempting her demise are cunning and dangerous. Silva himself reminds me of the late Heath Ledger's The Joker, a twisted psycho who tries to take the Batman down in public ways. Silva does the exact same to 'M'. He has no time for James Bond, he is just somebody who gets in the road and must be exterminated. 
Skyfall exceeded expectations, purely because of something vital: drama. It slimmed down on the meaty chase scenes and violence, losing some of the mindless chaos and grinding down to the real core. To conclude, Skyfall featured so, so, so many hits and few insubstantial cons. It may not be the best Bond ever but it is certainly the best of the past twenty years.


4/5