2012, Sam Mendes

So the saying goes, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” This age-old adage is a primary theme running through Skyfall, James Bond’s 23rd official adventure which also comes to mark his 50th anniversary on the big screen, whether it’s a character directly stating the phrase or even a running joke involving a toy dog figurine that Bond boss M keeps on her desk. For his third time sporting the golden gun, Daniel Craig selected Oscar-winning director Sam Mendes (the two had previously worked together on Road to Perdition, which resulted in one of Craig’s finest performances) to assume the enviable position at the helm of the production, and with him Mendes brought a desire to return Bond to the days of old while still keeping him firmly rooted in the modern world. You see, Skyfall is never about trying to teach this old dog any new tricks. Instead, it’s all about teaching a new dog some of the old ones. 

In 2006, the Bond franchise changed in a big way with Casino Royale, Craig’s first outing and a film that served to reinvent the series with a bold new approach, making it darker and more intimate. Grounded in a more modern kind of reality, gone were the invisible cars and ice palaces of Die Another Day and instead came a brutal grit that went straight for the throat. Six years later (with one unfairly criticized Quantum of Solace in between) Skyfall serves to reinvent the series again, albeit not in as sweeping a fashion as Royale did. Working with a script from writing team Neal Purvis, Robert Wade and John Logan, Mendes and Craig bring together the best of all the Bond worlds in Skyfall, with plenty of things for the modern day action fan as well as those who have long been following the franchise and perhaps weren’t quite as accepting of its darker new approach. With the combination of humor and suaveness from the Connery installments, the tongue-in-cheek wit of the Moore days, the exhilarating action of the Brosnan films and that grimness of the last two Craig installments, Skyfall brings in many different facets that have worked before into a film that takes the franchise in a bold new (and yet simultaneously old) direction. 

While returning players Craig and Judi Dench are on top form in their roles, Skyfall marks the welcome addition of what will hopefully be a recurring ensemble of new faces in the MI6 family. Ralph Fiennes, Naomie Harris and Ben Whishaw are all introduced as new, and perhaps also familiar, figures that made me realize the last two films were lacking something I didn’t even know I missed — a sense of family. Adding in some main players to the core MI6 group gives Skyfall an added emotional involvement, which makes it all the more vulnerable to the schemes of the energizing new villain on the scene, the inimitable Javier Bardem’s Raoul Silva. 

“This time it’s personal,” is a longstanding cliche of many a film franchise and while it’s a tired tradition, it certainly holds true that this time it really is personal for Bond and MI6. Bardem’s Silva attacks them right at their core, with a technologically adept scheme that allows him to root straight into the very innovative designs that they thrive on. With the script giving him an extensive history with MI6 and M in particular, Silva is out for blood in a big time personal way and this adds an intimacy to the proceedings that we haven’t seen in a while from a Bond villain. Silva isn’t out for world domination or global destruction, instead he just wants to bring M’s world down around her and watch her fall to shreds, a personal vendetta that is played with strong conviction by both Bardem and Dench while being expertly weaved in by the writing staff. 

Bardem’s Silva is another one of the many parts of Skyfall that recalls the older days of the franchise; an extravagant, larger-than-life villain who chews up the scenery in the most glorious fashion. Bardem once again creates one of the most memorable screen villains of recent years, instantly cementing himself in our memory with a delightful introduction scene that watches him toy with Bond emotionally, physically and sexually. Silva doesn’t appear until halfway into Skyfall, but perhaps the biggest credit to Bardem’s performance is the fact that once he shows up you can’t even imagine the picture existing without him. 

This memorable portrayal goes a big way in making sure that Skyfall doesn’t drag for a moment and one of the film’s most admirable achievements is just how well-paced it all is. Mendes and his writing staff have so many different pieces to fit together in this elaborately staged puzzle, and yet none of it ends up leading to a feeling of things being too cluttered or stuffed. Skyfall shows us an analog Bond in a digital world, brings in heavy personal stakes while also exploring his own personal history (along with M’s), introduces one of the series’ best villains and a crop of new characters all while revitalizing the franchise to head in a proper new direction going forward, yet somehow Mendes is able to fit all of this together in a fluid form that flies by its over two hour duration. A more than noteworthy achievement in action cinema and the franchise at large, Skyfall is a sharply funny, wickedly intense and remarkably smart entry that celebrates Bond’s 50th birthday in grand fashion. 

A-