"Skyfall” is the James Bond movie I never knew I wanted to see. Every few years, I was content to sit through a ludicrous and, in the case of “Quantum of Solace,” incomprehensible plot to enjoy a serving of Bond-ed grandiosity. I enjoyed watching 007 go up against larger-than-life madmen who were out to kill millions of people, seduce beautiful women and then toss them aside like spent ammo clips, and use preposterous gadgets tailored for the precise life-or-death situations in which he found himself. I never took the series seriously, but was glad to have the guy around.
Then I watched “Skyfall,” and all of that changed.
“Skyfall,” the 23rd film centered on the Queen mum’s famous secret agent, is a movie about leaving the past behind and moving forward. There is a madman, but he’s after one primary target, not scores of innocent civilians. And there are three gadgets, but two of them are a tiny radio and a gun. “You were expecting an exploding pen? We don’t go for that kind of nonsense anymore,” a new Q tells Bond as he hands him his mission gear in a museum, not a high tech lab. There is a woman, to avoid rioting in the streets, and she ranks among the most memorable of the Bond beauties.
There’s also an opening sequence so breathless, you’ll leave nail marks in your chair. A contract killer has stolen a hard drive containing the names of every M16 agent embedded in extremist cells around the world, and Bond and a female agent pursue him through several Turkish markets, over a few miles of rooftops and the top of a train. I’ll leave you to discover the role a large piece of construction equipment plays in all of this.
Strangely, director Sam Mendes (“American Beauty” and “Road to Perdition”) poured all of his creative energy into choreographing this one lengthy scene. Most of the action that follows involves rather conventionally staged gun battles. But the energy the opening sequence produces sustained me for longer than most set pieces.
I never lost interest, though, because the story is THAT good. When you boil down its elements, you’re left with a laser-sharp focus on the paternal relationship M, the head of M16, has with Bond. You read that right: this is a Bond movie about a relationship! The madman is merely the heat that gets turned up under the tense dynamic in which these two characters have always simmered.
I also found Bond to be far more captivating as a character. Gone are Sean Connery’s pithy one-liners and Roger Moore’s cheesy smile. In their place is Daniel Craig’s more sober reading. Craig brings a realistic modern sensibility to Bond and, for the first time in three movies, makes Bond his own. People will argue whether or not Craig is the best Bond ever, but there’s no debating he’s now the most human and accessible Bond.
Bond’s trademark qualities are still on full display. He watches a bartender make a martini shaken, not stirred, and then says “Perfect.” He brings his legendary Aston Martin out of mothballs at a critical moment. And he still relies on the famous Bond music theme to punctuate those moments no other movie character could pull off. My favorite: When he leaps into a ripped open passenger train, nails a nine-out-10 landing and adjusts the cuff on his sleeve as he continues the chase. “Skyfall” respects the past but moves Bond forward.
There’s so much to like here. The direction by Mendes is tight, the dialogue is well-written and Judi Dench’s performance as M alone would be worth the price of admission. But I especially enjoyed the introspective exchanges between Bond and M’s boss about outliving one’s usefulness, the exploration of Bond’s past and the shots of the gorgeous Scottish countryside surrounding Bond’s childhood home.
A few things rubbed me the wrong way. Bond allows certain characters to die to be able to complete his mission, but there’s one he could have, and should have, saved. Also, the third act goes on longer than necessary. And there are times when things get a little slow.
But these are minor quibbles. “Skyfall” is not just one of the best Bond movies to date, but one of the best movies of 2013. Don’t miss it.
Rated PG-13 for violence, sexuality, language and smoking. Three-and-a-half-stars out of four. Email David Laprad at dlaprad@hamiltoncountyherald.com.