Krishna
A very different Bond film? I cannot make up my mind about this film because it has its moments but definitely, it is not the typical film. One thing is clear, though: It is not in the nail-biting class of Casino Royale, the first Bond film with Daniel Craig as the Bond.
The movie has some firsts: Bond orders a beer! He does not have a dozen girls falling for him in series and ready to jump into bed with him at short notice. Even his coworker Eve is just that: a coworker. There is also a twist at the end about M, and I do not want to spoil the suspense if you are still waiting to see the movie.
And also, Bond does, by his usual standards, very little. He gets hit repeatedly, keeps losing in encounters. I know that Ian Fleming made this operator vulnerable and all but it is not in line with the cinematic Bond traditions. The book, in fact, implies that Bond is just one of the many operatives that British Intelligence has and is in no way much superior to anyone else: in fact, he is considered somewhat negatively for his rebellious streak!
And then there is the musing about Scotland and Bond’s ancestry that had critics swooning and making much of the new sensitive Bond in this film but I did not see anything special about it. Yes, the fact that he is a Scot is interesting in the backdrop of Scottish government’s plans for a referendum these days (Will Bond be still British if Scotland gains independence as a separate nation?) but apart from his butler, there is not much to muse and enthuse about, for me at least.
The one saving grace of the movie is the main villain: Raoul Silva, played well by Javier Bardem. I know that villains in many Bond films are interesting and still this man creates a twist that is interesting – his mannerisms, the expressions – nice indeed!
But that is not to say that the story is any more credible when he enters the picture. Consider this: He is an ex agent just like James Bond. Right? A very good one “the best one they had” and he turns rogue, OK? So I would expect him to have skills like James Bond, who is now the best of those remaining in the service. Even assuming he is better than Bond, he will have the same skills to a heightened degree. That would be credible. But no: he has totally different and incredible powers. For instance, he can out hack Q, who is the techie Guru that Bond and other agents rely on. (What?) And also, when he has been imprisoned, with armed guards around, he manages to escape. How? I do not know. He is simply missing, his cage is open, and the guards are dead. He is found running away. Come again?
Supposedly the hacking released the gates. OK, even if I buy that, how did he kill two armed guards? I guess in a Bond Movie, I can buy that. Still the techno geek and bond agent combination grates a bit.
I think that Skyfall deserves a 6/10
— Krishna