There has been some good television and one
good film in that I went to see the new James Bond Skyfall in this year
celebrating fifty years of the films all of which are available on Sky!
I have experienced all the bond film, the
majority in Theatre over those fifty years commencing in 1962 with Dr No when I
was 23, followed by From Russia with Love in 1963, Goldfinger in 1964 and
Thunderball 1965 and then in 1967
when Connery appeared to end his role as
Bond in You only live Twice. George Lasenby was only OK in On Her Majesty’s
Secret Service to be followed by Shaun Again in Diamonds are Forever in 1971,
Live and Let Die in 1973 and the Man with the Golden Gun 1974 when the mantle
was taken over by the avuncular tongue in cheek Roger Moore who I regarded as
along with Lasenby and Dalton as not a success. Moore
The series had become a formula which a great
action opening, sometimes which appear to have little relation to the rest of
the film, a good and sometimes great
song. gimmick devices some which were ground breaking, beautiful women some who
were killed, some were part of the villainy and action sequences with thrills
and spills. There are those like me who feel the series reached the bottom with
Timothy Dalton’s The Living Daylights in 87 and Licence to kill two years
later.
I thought Pierce Brosnan saved the series
after a break with Golden Eye 95 Tomorrow never Dies 97. The World is not
Enough 99 Die Another Day 2002, and Casino Royale in 2006. I was
uncertain about Quantum of Solace in 2008 with Daniel Craig but very
satisfied with his role and performance in Skyfall which like Dr Who
entered a new reality phase appropriate for the era.
The plot of SkyFall is not complicated, Bond
is sent to Turkey
Bond survives, naturally, as goes on one of
his disappearances with win women and song and is involved in a dangerous drink
and gamble with a scorpion in his write reminding of that similar Russian
roulette episode in a USA
Previously the person who had stolen the info
or to whom the info had been passed had managed to get into the MI6 computer
system and post the names of the first five agents saying that he would post
more. Several of these agents were killed before they could be removed from
their undercover locations.
M is at a meeting with Chairman of the
National Security Committee Ralph Fiennes (Mallory) when she is summoned back
to HQ only to be stopped before the explosion.
The deaths of six agents prompts Bond to
reappear at her home and request reinstatement which is agreed subject to
completion of successful physical and mental assessment, He fails badly in all
respects and walks out of the psychological testing when Skyfall is mentioned,
However M fixes the result so he is
reinstated and sent to Shanghai with the agent who shot him Eve ( who we only
later learn is called Moneypenny
suggesting the daughter of unmarried
Miss Moneypenny of the original books and film series.... (His
daughter???!!!!!)).
They are following a lead which has
identified the man with whom he fought on top of the train after a great chase
through a city. He is followed to the top of a building where he shoots someone
in a building across the way and when Bonds attempts to engage and find out the
location of the missing info and who is behind the outrages, the man falls to
his death after a struggle. After searching the assassin’s gun case he finds a
gambling chip for a Casino which he attends with Moneypenny to find it brings
him a case with several million pounds and contact with an alluring eastern
woman Sévérine who appears to be charge. However he works out from a mark on wrist that she was taken as an
adolescent to be used in the sex trade and is therefore only a junior,
expendable as it transpires.
Bond joins her on a boat heading for the
island where her boss is located and which turns out to be a disused factory
where the boss Raoul Silva played by Javier Bardem has created his
communication password and security systems cracking monster computer system.
He executes Sévérine for having slept with Bond and bringing him to the island.
Bond who had been captured not only breaks free but with the help of the UK
airborne forces but captures and returns Siva to the UK where he is held in a
temporary secure MI6 in one of the many
underground buildings related to World War 2.
This brings us to what is the third main part
of the film when Silva escapes and makes his way in disguise to the Houses of
Parliament where M is facing a hard grilling before a Committee about the
effectiveness and methods of the service and whether she should stand down.
There is a great shoot out in which Fiennes distinguishes himself and rescues M
while Bond gives chase among the tunnels and Underground lines before the man escapes.
Bond and M decides that the best thing to do
is to use her as bait as it is evident that the purpose of all that Silva has
done has been to kill M. Bond chooses to take her to the isolated family seat
in Scotland which he has not visited since his parents died when he was a young
boy. They are met by the former gamekeeper and watchman played by Albert Finney
in heavy make up and the trio plan a defence for the expected arrival of Silva.
He does not disappoint with two contingents
of mercenaries the first on the ground and the second airborne. There is much shooting and huge explosions
with almost all the mercenaries killed.
Finney escapes with M to an equally isolated church followed by Bond who
has another life threatening exchange.
Silva and M die.
During the film it emerged that Silva was not
just a first rate former agent who had gone over to the other side, so to speak
but what the son of M who she had ordered terminated after he had gone rogue
and endangered the rest of the service. The film ends with Eve taking up the
former role of Moneypenny and Fiennes becoming the new M.
The film is the most serious and darker of the Bonds and with the
absence of any serious love/sex interest on the part of Bond. There is a great
Theme song written and sung by Adele and all in all a good two hours worth. I
could have done without the over long adverts which seemed to
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