When I was a kid I went to a boarding school in the mountains of Lebanon and spent my Christmas vacations in Beirut and every couple of years, there would be the latest Bond movie. They would sell out for every showing weeks in advance and forget getting a seat during Christmas week.
This was late 1960s, early 1970s, say "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" followed by "Diamonds Forever". And what made them so popular is that they were so much damn fun. No, really, they always paid off handsomely. Hell, in "Majesty" Bond's wife DIES and it was still fun.
Watching the terrifyingly morbid coming attractions for "Iron Man 3", I couldn't help but wonder, when did action movies stop being fun? There are more thrills in the Switzerland scenes with Blofeld in "Majesty" then in "Quantum Of Solace" and the latest Bond movie "Skyfall" combined.
Look at it this way, "Skyfall" is to "Goldfinger" what Shirley Bassey is to Adele. "Skyfall isn't TERRIBLE. The first hour is very tedious, the last 15 minutes are mournful, but the very end is witty, and the hour inbetween it all is exciting. But the movie is no fun at all. Daniel Craig, the "blunt instrument" of choice , is an ill tempered Dark Knight wannabe, with none of Sean Connery's suave misanthropy. He is too much and he is way too much here.
Bond is out to stop a list of terrorist double agents on the Western payroll from getting in the wrong hands. Those hands would belong to Javier Bardem, as a gay supervillain with a thing for Bond. Meanwhile, M (Judi Dench) is in deep doo doo because her agents keep getting killed and she has to answer to the people for her actions.
If this was being played for laughs it might be alright. But it is being played out like a Shakespearean tragedy. For god's sake, you are running around London's Underground, lighten the hell up and enjoy yourself. Nope, not Dame Dench, not Craig or Ralph Fienes or some nice dolly bird who dies fast. Only Javier seems to be aware IT IS A BOND MOVIE. This is the third Craig movie. the first one worked because the idea, the reboot, was to take him back to the begriming. "Quantum Of Solace" was a disaster because, unlike Connery in "Diamonds Are Forever", they couldn't just knock off the guy who killed his wife and move on with their lives. Craig mourned her for nearly three hours.
But here? Here should be the real beginning, the real reboot. Back to Connery, back to gadgets, sex, thrills. Craig is absolutely the best 007 since Connery. He can act for one thing, and he is a really really tough guy. And he can wear a Tux. But where is the ease, the charm, where is the ability to carry the violence in his holster?
The movie isn't a complete drag though it is a good 45 minutes too long, and it is revoltingly self-important work, but some of the action scenes are pretty good and it is much better than, say, the Avengers. It isn't Bond, not my Bond, not the one that was like a roller coaster ride of
And, for God's sake, why Sam Mendes? Did nobody watch "Road To Perdition" (oh, I guess that's why). the man has no ease about him, he is all brittle. All the action scenes are brittle, where is Guy Hamilton when you need him?
Like I said, it has an exciting hour but it is no fun. Dark Knight this.
Musically, John Lee Hooker's "Bang Bang" playing while Bond drives to his ancestral home is ten times better then the crap Adele song.
Movie: B
Music: C-