Issue 51 - University of Surrey's Student Union

Film Editor: Candice Ritchie | Copy Editor: Sophie Vickery The Stag | Wednesday 14 th November 2012FILM 35Film50 years of Bond: SkyfallBy Ankur Banerjee, Film TeamBond 23 has taken a long time coming to the big screenfollowing the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer’s bankruptcy in2010, but it finally hit theatres last month. Unsurprisingly,there’s an insane amount of Bond-themed merchandise, fromBond-themed watches and cars, to fragrances (“the smell ofa British spy, now available in a bottle near you”), and thenappears Bond-themed Android tablets and phone contracts(“available only on O2”).What you really want to know when reading a film reviewis whether the film is worth watching. Skyfall is undoubtedly athumbs-up according to that criterion. The film opens with ahigh-tempo motorcycle chase weaving through the rooftopsof Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar, straying slightly from the parkourbasedopening sequences favoured by the previous two Bondfilms, and then continues to up the stakes in a chase acrossthe globe that spans Shanghai and Macau. At the same time,the plot is also centred much closer to home, as much of thelater acts in the film are based in central London.I was apprehensive of Sam Mendes being the director forSkyfall. On one hand, Mendes is undoubtedly a good directorwith the pedigree of Revolutionary Road and American Beauty– surely one of the most iconic films of the 90s, but on theother hand he also directed Jarhead, which I personally findto be a needlessly boring and pointless war film. Mendesthankfully played to his strengths and made Skyfall into a filmthat is much more grounded in reality and provides characterdevelopment throughout. One of the key plot points involvesa list of secret identities of NATO agents and a turned agentthreatens to expose these names online: a nod, undoubtedly,to the recent Wikileaks saga. It’s small touches such asthis which make the film more realistic than the almostcartoonishBond villains of old.Yet, the tone has also been heavily influenced by othersfilms such as the Bourne series or Christopher Nolan’s DarkKnight trilogy. There are times when scenes in Skyfall seemlike pastiches of films that have come before it; motorcyclechases (Bourne series), interrogation of the villain in ajumpsuit imprisoned in a glass cage (Silence of the Lambs,X-Men, The Avengers), the villain disguising himself as a policeofficer in attempt to kill an important character (the Jokerin The Dark Knight). Such heavy borrowing distracts the filmfrom standing as a truly great film in its own right.Daniel Craig is one of my favourite Bond avatars becausehe brings a kind of aloofness and suaveness which you wouldexpect from a cold-blooded killer. Craig’s performancecompliments the equally strong screen presence of JavierBardem as Raoul Silva, the villain. Bardem is particularlymasterful in portraying a wounded MI6 agent and themayhem he causes by leaking the identities of secret agents isonly part of a bigger plan to kill M out of personal enmity. Asever, Judi Dench does a fine job as the straight-talking chief ofan intelligence agency in a world that does not understand theimportance of what secret agents stand for. Also introducedin this film are Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory and BenWishaw as Q.Another point where Skyfall departs from tradition isthat it doesn’t have a titular Bond girl. Bérénice Marloheas Sévérine, in gaudy make-up, does provide a ‘bad girl’character, but that sexual attention is also shared withNaomie Harris who plays Eve Moneypenny. There’s somehomoerotic sexual tension between Bond and Silva in somescenes too, especially in one scene with Bond tied down to achair with Silva running his fingers through Bond’s suit andasking “What’s your regulation training for this?”Overall, Skyfall is a worthy addition to the line-up of JamesBond films – now in their fiftieth year – with a lot of emphasison realism, yet every bit an action film that keeps you hooked.