007: Skyfall

Originally published on social media on January 17, 2022

My professor requested that my peers and I all watch this film over the weekend on our own before class tomorrow. At first, I was going to ignore the assignment since I have seen this before, but now I am glad I watched it.

To say I paid attention to every second of the film would be a lie. However, the number of action scenes (especially in the beginning) did give me permission to space out for a bit. Once the action slowed down, I was reminded of why this is my favorite Daniel Craig Bond film.

Many people complain that the Bond films do not give any information about James Bond’s past or about him in general. This film begins to satisfy that curiosity. This film gives a lot more back story and has more emotional depth than previous Bond films.

Also, a ton of my personal favorite Bond tropes are introduced during this film including MoneyPenny, the classic Bond car (with ejector seat), the references to upper class taste, and my favorite — Q. Let me clarify this, Q is not my favorite character in the James Bond franchise, but Ben Whishaw is the best actor for playing Q. He adds a sort of nerdier quality to Q than previously seen, he is younger, his character is more developed, and he is a lot more involved throughout the story.

Beyond the classic Bond tropes, I must say that the cinematography of this film is beautiful and has an almost National Geographic quality to it. Adele’s “Skyfall” is also the first good theme song to come out of the Daniel Craig Bond films. The song itself has an air of mystery and seriousness that really sets the tone for the story.

Speaking of the story, I find Javier Bardem’s Silva to be the most plausible villain in the entire franchise. I’m genuinely surprised that previous Bond films and books didn’t give their villains Silva’s motivation: it just makes the most logical sense and is clever.