Skyfall Review

A grizzled Bond waiting for the kill in Skyfall

Skyfall

A+

  

A review by Frederick Cholowski

Welcome back Mr. Bond.

After the dismal Quantum of Solace, MGM going bankrupt, and a script rewrite or two, the most recognizable spy in modern Western culture returns just in time for his fiftieth anniversary on the big screen. Skyfall represents as close to the perfect Bond film as possible, with throwbacks to the old while keeping the staples of the new. If it weren’t for my personal favorite Bond film Casino Royale, it wouldn’t be hard to proclaim this the best Bond film since the 1960’s. Even so Skyfall is easily amongst the absolute best of Bond, and the best pure action film of the year.

Skyfall opens with what may be the most intriguing set up for any Bond film ever, the near death of 007. Bond (played again by Daniel Craig) is shot by fellow agent Eve (Naomie Harris) while attempting to take down a terrorist who steals a hard drive containing the names of all the MI6 agents who are undercover around the world. Cue the bombastic opening credits (more on them later) and resurrection. Bond returns out of shape and mentally destroyed to an M (Judi Dench) who is under distress after a series of physical and virtual attacks by a crazed former agent of MI6 known as Silva (Javier Bardem). Bond, while dealing with his own issues, must track and take down Silva while at the same time protecting M and all of MI6 from collapsing.

Skyfall may be the most emotionally driven Bond film to date, potentially even more so than On Her Majesty’s Secret Service or Casino Royale. This time it’s a different type of relationship that is being tested, the relationship between boss and agent, or to a certain extent mother and son. It’s a dynamic that hasn’t been tested before in a Bond film as M and Bond usually remain far enough removed from each other that these situations never seem to arise. In this film one is absolutely quintessential to the other’s existence, M is required so that Bond has an outlet that allows him to not eat away at himself, and M needs Bond for a sense of protection and security.

Things get even more interesting when Javier Bardem’s Silva get’s thrown into play. Bardem’s Silva is a different kind of Bond villain, Silva doesn’t meddle with world domination or anything silly like that, just pure, clean, revenge for what M has supposedly made him into. Bardem plays Silva with pure perfection; Silva is Antoine Chugar (one of my favorite screen villain ever) meats Joker, both of which blend together to sheer perfection. Silva may be the best villain in Bond’s 50 year screen history, or at least the best since good old Goldfinger from the 1960’s.

Then there is Daniel Craig who continues to be the best Bond since Connery. Craig’s Bond still gets hurt and damaged, and is never invulnerable in any way. In Skyfall, as with Casino Royale, Craig’s Bond is the most human a Bond has ever been. Bond cannot survive on his own and has a set of personal problems that threaten, at times, to destroy him. He’s still the cool, suave agent as he always is but now he’s got a human side as well, something that was always missing in past Bonds.

On top of all this Judy Dench get’s something substantial to do which is always a good thing. Dench gets to show off her Oscar winning acting talent here as the role M plays in this film has been massively increased. The rest of the supporting cast is also fantastic with a few notable standouts. Q is back and this time is played by a younger face, Ben Whishaw. Q adds flavor to the film and paves way for a new Q without leaving behind the grumpiness of old (Q even has time to acknowledge that exploding pens are no longer part of protocol). The main Bond girl this time around, played by Naomie Harris, get’s to play the flirt game with Bond in some of the most entertaining sequences in the film. Finally there is Albert Finney who plays a role that, while he is fantastic in, is not hard to visualize Sean Connery playing.

After the dismal failure in the department of direction four years ago, the producers learned their lessons this time and hired an experienced director in the brilliant Sam Mendes. This is clearly a labor of love for the American Beauty director and the brilliant cinematographer Roger Deakins as every shot is absolutely gorgeous and every action sequence awe inspiring. This may be the best camera work in a Bond film period, and that’s not an exaggeration. Action sequences are very well staged and easy to follow, thanks to the use of longer shots and slower cuts. The sequences still maintain the visceral feel of new Bond while allowing for the flair for the dramatic of old Bond. The film also doesn’t feel that it needs to top itself at the end, climaxing with a sequence that relies more on tension and menace than a large, overblown set piece. It’s refreshing to see the ideas of the 1960’s return to Bond again isn’t it!

Then there is the score; Skyfall opens with the best Bond song in a very long time with Adele at the helm of “Skyfall” the song. The big, dramatic, and brassy tune brings back the best of the Shirley Bassey era with a little bit of Paul McCartney thrown in as well. It’s hard to imagine a better song for this film and is one of the ways that the old is new again. The rest of the score is also fantastic; Thomas Newton throws in lots of the “James Bond” theme into a mix of acoustic themes and electric meddling. It works extraordinarily well and the score is used expertly to convey the many different emotions contained within the film.

Skyfall represents a return to greatness in the Daniel Craig era of Bond. It’s a beautify crafted masterwork of the action movie genre that brings the best of the best of Bond, both old and new. It’s the best present that a Bond fan, or cinema lover in general, could possibly get for the fiftieth anniversary of the great British spy. Add another film to the ever growing A+ class of 2012.

Welcome back Mr. Bond.

Countdown to Skyfall: Bottom 5 Bond Films

Every Bond Save for one falls on this list... Guess Which one doesn't!

Bond recently turned 50 years old on the screen and it’s time to look back at the ultimate secret agent leading up to the 23^rd film in the Bond franchise Skyfall. We move now to the worst of the worst James Bond films. There are some really awful ones so let’s get right into the worst of the worst of Bond James Bond.

5. Quantum of Solace

If Casino Royale is a great gritty reboot that doesn’t lose the essence of Bond than Quantum of Solace is its terrible little brother that is gritty but looses the essence of Bond. Shaky cam in a Bond movie? Really? You’re kidding right? Shaky cam made the action sequences so awful that most were close to unwatchable. Pair this with a generic plot with a terrible villain and any lack of “Bond moments” and you’ve got yourself a really bad non Bond, Bond movie.

4. Diamonds are Forever

The end of the Connery era ended on an absolute dud. After the fantastic On her Majesty’s Secret Service (which PS is a rule now that after any great film in which Bond falls in love a terrible revenge film must follow see the above entry and now this one) Diamonds are Forever fell flat on every level including the rushed revenge plot that got rushed at the beginning of the film. Throw in the generic Bond plot and the beginning of the silliness of the Roger Moore era and we have one unappealing film, despite the Goldfinger crew being behind it.

3. Live and Let Die

Out of the many horrid Roger Moore films that could have gone on this list (like Man with the Golden Gun and Moonraker and The Spy who Loved Me (although I haven’t, nor do I want to see Octopussy)) Live and Let Die ultimately wins because of its overall deadness. There is no energy in this film at all and it goes on forever and ever and ever and ever. It’s only saving grace, Paul McCartney’s opening song which is the only thing that should be remembered from this dud.

2. Die Another Day

I hate this film. Let’s get that out of the way right now. The worst CGI I have ever seen in a movie ever and this one is chalked full of it. Add the stupid plot, a film that goes on for way to long, a dreadful villain, a script that could make a puppy cry, and Madonna and you have Die Another Day. Yuck!

1.  The Living Daylights

The film that almost singlehandedly killed the Bond franchise, this spot can only be reserved for Timothy Dalton’s first film as Bond, The Living Daylights. Dalton is a good actor, but being a good actor doesn’t make you a good bond by a long shot. Generic, poorly scripted, cold, and flat out boring, there are many reasons why no one went to watch The Living Daylights and why James Bond didn’t return for many years after the two Dalton films.

Wreck-It Ralph Review

Ralph with the "Bad Guys" in Wreck-It Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph

B

A Review by Frederick Cholowski

After many years in obscurity Disney Animated Studios has begin to find its stride again. From Princess and the Frog to Bolt the studio seems to be on the climb back to relevancy. Wreck-It Ralph is another solid film in the resurgence that, despite being fairly conventional, manages to have enough charm and video game references to make it the best animated film of the year so far.

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is a “bad guy” in the oldest game in the arcade Fix-It Felix Jr. In the game Felix (Jack McBrayer) gets all the credit as he is the “good guy” of the story while Ralph lives alone in the dump ashamed of whom he is. So Ralph decides to attempt to do something about it by abandoning his game and trying to get a medal from the first person shooter “Hero’s Duty”. After dealing with Hero’s Duty and its tortured leader Calhoun (Jane Lynch) Ralph crash lands into Sugar Land where a young glitch Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) steals Ralph’s medal to enter a race in her own game. Ralph must attempt to get his medal back while learning something about himself in the process.

The main problem with Wreck-It Ralph is that the story of the film has been done before in the past. Every plot point can be predicted from miles away and those who have seen an animated film can predict the ending about 10 minutes into the film. That being said the film manages to have enough charm to keep the film interesting and enjoyable. Most of this comes from the many videogame references from the late 80’s to the mid 90’s. The film has many great moments where videogame characters and themes have time to shine, whether subtlety or not so. Each reference is small enough that they don’t dominate the film, but frequent enough that it allows for the generic animated movie plot to remain interesting through most of the film.

Wreck-It Ralph also has enough of a vision that it doesn’t seem like a cash grab. Director Rich Moore, and the writers, who have worked on the Simpsons and Futurama, manage to keep the writing witty enough to sustain a steady stream of humor throughout the film. Sure through the middle of the film it has trouble sustaining a constant momentum but for the most part the humor has enough punch to it to keep the story afloat for most of the film.

On the voice over side of things John C. Reilly is great as usual. Reilly has played many lost souls over his career so this seems like a good fit for the actor. McBrayer gets to have fun as the kind of lame and over celebrated Fix-It Felix. Jane Lynch does solid work here as the tough woman programmed with the hard back-story and Sarah Silverman keeps the energy of the film up throughout the middle of the film.

The animation here is close to perfect within the context of the film. Bright colors and flashy animation is present here while still keeping the “video game feel” that makes the film special.  Characters move and talk like they are from their respective video games in a naturalistic fashion. Nothing here feels strange or out of place and the attention to detail is stunning. There is some great nods to video games in the score and what is original works well within the context of the film.

The short before the movie is again an example of the short before a Disney film that almost outshines the actual film itself. The short is entitled Paperman and follows a man with a monotonous job who attempts to reunite with the girl of his dreams that he encountered at a train station. The black and white film is magical and while not as good as say Pixar’s La Luna, still manages to capture many emotions during its brief running time. It’s fantastic that between Disney’s animated studios that the tradition of creative shorts before big movies continues.

Wreck-It Ralph is a solid animated effort and a good addition to Disney Animated Studios’ comeback lineup. While the film’s story is fairly uninspired and “been there done that” the film still manages to charm through the usage of references and witty writing. The film doesn’t feel cheap or like a cash grab and for this year of week animated films that’s good enough to make it the best in animated films this year.