For someone who hasn’t read Ian Fleming, for whom the first Bond film was The World is not Enough (when he was a baccha
by all means), for whom Casino Royale was a brilliant film and Quantum
of Solace a disaster, the latest instalment has come as nothing less
than a powerful surprise!
SKYFALL , ladies and gentlemen, is a movie which never lets you rest for a continuum of two and a half hours. Thrill has a new definition, entertainment has a new mirror, style (well it always had this icon) has a re-invention and James Bond has a new director! Sam Mendes, take a thousand bows! Thank you, Sir for a new hero (new to this HP fan), grown up hero for the grown up me.
We have seen countless good-guy-chasing-the-evil-one scenes but what knocks you out is not when two superfast bikes race each other on rooftops of Turkey but how that chase ends. You’ll know what I mean if you have been a follower of the series for ten years. You know you are in for a treat as Adele gets deep into your head with the soundtrack after one of the best ever opening sequences.
The movie took its time. Well after the nonsense of Quantum of Solace, this is how one expects the Bond franchise to respond! Once Bond was all about sexy girls and sexier gadgets. Then arrived Casino Royale which interchanged sexy and sexier. Now we have Skyfall. Thankfully it’s not about Bond girl or gadget, it’s about Bond, James Bond. It’s about the lady without whom Bond has always been incomplete. It is about the Bond-baddie, the best the best the best Bond Challenger!
Javier Bardem (Silva). One and only! Who can praise his acting? He doesn’t act. He reacts! If one was awed in No Country for Old Men, SKYFALL is right up there. “Want to know what cyanide does to you?” I may be wrong here but his escape scene to me was a tribute to The Silence of the Lambs by the director and who better than this man could have pulled it off with such ferocity, such calm, such silence.
Daniel Craig. The man knows how to raise the bar! Casino Royale, The Girl with the Dragon tattoo and now, SKYFALL, he is a gift to movie lovers all around. In democracies where people say “It’s a young man’s game”, the answer has been slapped on the screen!( I really hope my last line pisses a lot of idiots and I hope the idiots catch the drift!)
Judy Dench. M. Period.
The movie would never have had this effect if it was not for the background score. Be it a scene when 007 lands on a deserted island or when Silva breaks into MI-6 cyber intelligence Digital Fortress-style or when Bond chases Silva through the tunnels of the “greatest” imperial capital, the music is there- to keep you on the edge, to provide you with your money’s worth! But what shows you the actual genius is when Silva’s helicopter reaches SKYFALL. Watch out, keep your ears open (your eyes anyway will be!)
Finally, the cinematography! If sky ever had to fall, it had to be SKYFALL. If you have watched it already, then do it again and if you haven’t, go to the theatre, look at the sky when you hear “a storm’s coming”. You’ll anyway be glued to the screen henceforth!
I have a new hero to look up to. I am meeting him again for sure. If you haven’t till now, let me quote the most stunning dialogue from the most graceful Bond girl( yes! It of course is always about the lady)
“Take the bloody shot!”
SKYFALL , ladies and gentlemen, is a movie which never lets you rest for a continuum of two and a half hours. Thrill has a new definition, entertainment has a new mirror, style (well it always had this icon) has a re-invention and James Bond has a new director! Sam Mendes, take a thousand bows! Thank you, Sir for a new hero (new to this HP fan), grown up hero for the grown up me.
We have seen countless good-guy-chasing-the-evil-one scenes but what knocks you out is not when two superfast bikes race each other on rooftops of Turkey but how that chase ends. You’ll know what I mean if you have been a follower of the series for ten years. You know you are in for a treat as Adele gets deep into your head with the soundtrack after one of the best ever opening sequences.
The movie took its time. Well after the nonsense of Quantum of Solace, this is how one expects the Bond franchise to respond! Once Bond was all about sexy girls and sexier gadgets. Then arrived Casino Royale which interchanged sexy and sexier. Now we have Skyfall. Thankfully it’s not about Bond girl or gadget, it’s about Bond, James Bond. It’s about the lady without whom Bond has always been incomplete. It is about the Bond-baddie, the best the best the best Bond Challenger!
Javier Bardem (Silva). One and only! Who can praise his acting? He doesn’t act. He reacts! If one was awed in No Country for Old Men, SKYFALL is right up there. “Want to know what cyanide does to you?” I may be wrong here but his escape scene to me was a tribute to The Silence of the Lambs by the director and who better than this man could have pulled it off with such ferocity, such calm, such silence.
Daniel Craig. The man knows how to raise the bar! Casino Royale, The Girl with the Dragon tattoo and now, SKYFALL, he is a gift to movie lovers all around. In democracies where people say “It’s a young man’s game”, the answer has been slapped on the screen!( I really hope my last line pisses a lot of idiots and I hope the idiots catch the drift!)
Judy Dench. M. Period.
The movie would never have had this effect if it was not for the background score. Be it a scene when 007 lands on a deserted island or when Silva breaks into MI-6 cyber intelligence Digital Fortress-style or when Bond chases Silva through the tunnels of the “greatest” imperial capital, the music is there- to keep you on the edge, to provide you with your money’s worth! But what shows you the actual genius is when Silva’s helicopter reaches SKYFALL. Watch out, keep your ears open (your eyes anyway will be!)
Finally, the cinematography! If sky ever had to fall, it had to be SKYFALL. If you have watched it already, then do it again and if you haven’t, go to the theatre, look at the sky when you hear “a storm’s coming”. You’ll anyway be glued to the screen henceforth!
I have a new hero to look up to. I am meeting him again for sure. If you haven’t till now, let me quote the most stunning dialogue from the most graceful Bond girl( yes! It of course is always about the lady)
“Take the bloody shot!”
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