In his previous outings as James Bond, Daniel Craig was criticised as a poor choice. Some of that criticism was based more on the fact that the new Bond movies were a departure from the traditional Bond format, something which disappointed many fans, but many saw Craig as a poor choice for the role and were far from shy in telling the world just how poor a choice he was.
His next outing saw a little more acceptance as the new Bond slowly began to evolve into a grittier but still not "traditional" 007 and left fans divided as to whether the franchise could continue to be as popular as it had been in its heyday. Craig, it seemed, was Bond marmite, you either loved him or hated him.
Skyfall has, surprisingly, split opinion still further with many lauding it as a welcome return to form while others have decried it as mindless slow paced drivel punctuated by a few loud set piece action sequences but can it really be that bad....or good?
Director Sam Mendes gives us a refreshing take on the story which works well, though which initially seems at odds with the idea of a suave secret agent in his prime. Here Bond is more mature, having been shot and officially dead for some time he is a little out of shape and finding it hard to be the strong care free hero that Bond has been for the better part of fifty years.
Mendes sets 007 against a villain (Silva, played well by Javier Bardem) that, for once, manages to be highly intelligent without revealing his plans (as previous Bond villains were prone to do). He has some very effective over the top moments (including using a train as a makeshift bullet, and a slightly cheesey yet fun entrance using a helicopter gunship) but ultimately toward the end drifts into being a somewhat less intelligent and more blunt opponent.
Does Craig ooze charisma and charm, does he finally make the character his own?
Well yes, and no.
Craig doesn't ooze charisma, or charm, but then he isn't meant to. This Bond is out of shape and more a blunt knife than the delicate blade of a surgeon we're used to. He isn't graceful or dropping funny one liners every few minutes (though there are of course one liners scattered throughout the film) but this works well, Bond has evolved into something similar yet also different to what you might expect.
Craig had, before the success of Skyfall, wanted to step down and let someone else take over as James Bond however having been convinced to sign up for two more outings as the super secret agent, and with the movie having already taken in much more than its $200 million budget, the future is looking good for the franchise.
Skyfall breaks a few Bond "rules", not least of which is that it doesn't end with Bond foiling a psychotic villains plan at the last minute and getting the girl, it also has a surprise toward the end that will have some fans doing a double take to see if what they think happened in the church really did and sets up a couple of characters which long time fans of the films should appreciate.
So we've got a film that sets up some key 'new' characters, delves a little into their histories and that of Bond himself and sees 007 evolve into something a little different. What next?
Well, contrary to popular reports there are not plans for a two part Bond outing with one plot spread over two movies, this rumour came about because screen writer John Logan is to write the next two Bond films and once pitched a two part Bond story however star Daniel Craig has denied that this will be the case.
However there will be at least two more James Bond movies both written by Skyfall co-writer John Logan and starring Daniel Craig, possibly with the same villain appearing in both ( it would not be a two parter but could, as has happened with past films, feature a recurring character) and undoubtedly (thanks to the success of Skyfall) with an even bigger budget.
Love him or loathe him, Bond is most definitely back.
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Note: if you have an ios or Android powered phone or tablet and prefer reading offline check out the google currents magazine version of the blog here.
