If only two movies ago, we have the new 007 chasing the money and finding a shadowy organization that the world intelligence agencies are barely aware of, I was somewhat surprised to see a presentation of the resurrected Bond as getting old and out of touch. If the first two were tightly woven, one story leading into the other, we can only assume there have been a number of unseen years between two and three. Bond has become the seasoned veteran, the jaded hitman who is only too happy to fade into alcohol and brown in the sun, after his death. But it is his bond (forgive that) with the also aging M (who, since The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, I finally see as getting old) that returns him to London, to MI6 and eventually... home, where he struggles against obsolescence.
But redemption is in tow. Skyfall is a story about washing out the old establishment and embracing the new. As viewers, we are still accepting Craig as the new but Dench was around pre-Craig and MI6 itself has left the Cold War behind and is seeking new enemies, new villains. We saw the greatest threat to Intelligence rise in the real world, as a "hacker" who revealed our governments' secrets through Wikileaks. And the "OMG look what he can do with a computer" fear is dragged along into this movie as a click that can blow stuff up a continent away and nobody, nothing staying hidden ever again. But circumstances prove they need the old methods, the veteran agent, to defeat the "new" enemy. In the end we see MI6 embrace its heritage as Bond visits the new offices which mirror the first office a Bond (Sean Connery in Dr. No) ever walked into. Old is new and whether new is old, is yet to be determined.
Bonus Paragraph: I take exception in introducing a character named Moneypenny. Moneypenny the role was already filled by Vesper in the first movie, as revealed by the short dialogue:
Vesper Lynd: [introducing herself to Bond] I'm the money.
James Bond: Every penny of it.
Kent's view.
Vesper Lynd was Treasury Dept. and a pawn of the SPECTRE conspiracy, not an MI6 agent or officer. The money/penny from Casino Royale was a gentle tip of the hat (which Bond no longer wears) to the filmography, of which Skyfall was nearly bursting with. I did not and would not now interpret such script as canon, unless the same director was at the helm then as now.
ReplyDeleteContinuity has always been tricky as 007 'himself' - all 6 of him - so many overlaps, M, Q, Moneypenny, while the lead actor changed. Look at Felix Leiter alone, for a stellar example of inconsistency (or transformation, via the code names each character bears).
One thing I took away from Skyfall is that really there was next to no Bond canon, only a filmography with so many different chefs it's impressive we still call it a feast. Mendes is both hammering a message on the temple/cinema door - reformation - and crying out the resurrection, even as the churches explode - which happens _twice_ in this film*.
That Bond ages backward - both in behaviour and appearance - as he recovers from rebirth, the mariner returned and revived (nautical themes are appropriate, as they would be in keeping with all Bond histories). LOVED the painting by Turner as part of Bond's return to duty, coupled with Mallory's discussion with M, or better yet, the painting that hangs in (new) M's office in the final scene, the ship "Victory" beset at the Battle of Trafalgar.
While the supertext of Bond is an argument for state secrecy, covert actions combatting pathological villain and evil schemes, the subtext of Bond as human vehicle of an immortal role - hero - and the price this exacts on the individual, becomes foreground several times in Skyfall. The Villain, M, Monnypenny and Bond all experience disillusion with their stations and their ability to serve/perform, in ways we have not quite witnessed anywhere in the filmography. Mortality is the vein tapped, and it is a precious metal to alloy the best cast the genre has ever seen.
I would argue that there is a bar set for intelligence, insight and wisdom on display in Mendes' Bond film that should daunt all but his equals to take up the next project; but this one densely-packed film also clears the table for a lighter meal, and I won't bet on anything being impossible now.
*MI6 and Skyfall Manor - I suppose they could be church and manger, if you take the resurrection thing too far.
There can never be any assumption of canon in this series thus I generally base all opinions on the current run. i just didn't appreciate the tip of the hat and then a blatant creation of the character to fill the spot outside M's door.
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