Thank God they got rid of the silly gadgets. Bond rides the subway and follows the “casual Fridays” to work. What’s next? A shot of a bottle of Viagra?
Somehow Bond gets back to London using a fake passport when he hears that MI6 has been the target of a terrorist attack. His country and “M” needs him. “M” is the one with ice running through her veins and with not a whit of grudging favoritism. She is the mother you can never please.
Bond is mad at “M” for directing another operative, Eve (Naomie Harrris) to take the shot at the fighting duo on the top of the train. Told it will not be a clean shot, “M” says, “Take the shot!”
Has 007 forgotten he is a disposable tool of MI6?
Bond takes his shirt off, wears a tux once in a Macau casino (unlike the casinos here in Las Vegas where everyone wears flip-flops), has a flirty encounter with a mysterious beautiful woman, Sévérine (Bérénice Marlohe), and has no interest in $4 million euros in a briefcase.
As we all recall the now iconic tête-à-tête between Bond and Vesper on a train, Bond and Silva have their own memorable private moment. Silva just might rival Dr. No in the Bond pageantry of villains. The homoerotic suggestion by Silva is perfect. Especially since Bond boldly questions why Silva would think it would be his first time. Huh?
Silva knows everything about Mr. Bond down to what he had for breakfast. He would certainly know about his childhood and would not need intentionally-misdirected clues to find Skyfall, the Bond family mansion.
Reminding us that this re-worked Bond is no longer a gadget-laden dinosaur, he has a new quartermaster, “Q” (Ben Whishaw), a twenty-year-old computer genius. For his high school junior science project, “Q” built a space shuttle in his parent’s garage.
Why must we see “M” firing a gun and making Molotov cocktails?
Did director Sam Mendes appease Dench with a shoot-out instead of a sex scene with James?
Everyone seems tired of the legendary James Bond, so he is re-invented as a more complex character. The sexual ruthlessness that was the true subliminal appeal of 007 is muted.
Bardem nearly steps over Craig. He gives Silva a tint of gayness, or is he just trying to elicit homosexual panic in Bond? As a true sociopath, he can’t help slipping into crazy-speak. And his seeking “M’s” approval is another psychological trait he shares with Bond.
Mendes clearly adores Craig and regardless of not pandering to the sex symbol motif, there are a few setups where the pronounced gifts of Mr. Bond are cannily suggested.
The action scenes are brilliant and SKYFALL gives fans a huge amount of pleasure. It is rumored that SKYFALL’s third credited screenwriter John Logan (following Neal Purvis and Robert Wade) is already working solo on Bond 24.
Victoria Alexander is a member of the Broadcast Film Critics Association: www.bfca.org/ and the Las Vegas Film Critics Society: www.lvfcs.org/. Victoria’s weekly column, “The Devil’s Hammer,” is posted every Monday. http://www.fromthebalcony.com/editorials.php.
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