TMIX 38: END OF THE WORLD 2012

Pop Journal: Skyfall (2012)

Skyfall (Movie / 2012)

This is the most "Bond" of the 007 films that has stared Daniel Craig. Whereas I thought Casino Royale was a great reboot of the franchise that delivered a much more visceral installment and Quantum was a completely serviceable action film, Skyfall felt like a James Bond movie.

There are nods throughout the film to it's earlier years (perhaps too many in the third act) including the introduction of the new Moneypenny and Q. We are even introduced to an all new M with a somewhat muddled exit of the previous incarnation. There's a bad guy in here too that delivers a really great monologue about rats and that's about it.

You see, this is a movie that is really all about M and her hubris in dealing with MI6. The villain is someone she traded away like an old baseball card years ago and he is out for revenge. To do this he is captured on purpose in one of the most convoluted escape scenes in recent memory. The movie tells us that this genius planned on getting caught so he could escape and get close to M and kill her. The truth is he goes through and elaborate escape and chase scene so he can get on the streets of London and get in a car to drive to where M is. So what he really accomplished is something any Londoner on that street could have done.

Where this movie shines is when it focuses on Bond and his grappling with the onslaught of time. He's shaky, he's uncertain and he has to overcome a lot of inner turmoil to succeed. And does he? That's a strange thing because the finale is about protecting M and she dies while no one seems to feel to awful about it. Even with all of the uneven moments and plot holes I didn't mind because it was James bond and that's not the point. What is the point? A great action movie that had me enjoying it one from the opening song to the credits.