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| SIS (MI6) Building, radim99, 2007 |
Everyone is aware by now that Casino Royale was a reboot of the character, though it should not be forgotten that Brosnan's first outing, Goldeneye, was effectively a contextual reboot. Obviously there were still the exact gadgets for a scene later in the film everyone could see coming, the larger than life plots of a highly romanticised perception of espionage, and the big bad whose defeat will protect constitutional monarchy for another day; but recall Judy Dench's line perfectly diagnosing the problems the series faced entering the 90s: "I think you're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War". They faced those problems and incorporated them into the story. I enjoy Goldeneye, whereas I thought Tomorrow Never Dies had too much super-villainy - though Sheryl Crow's theme is a favourite blending the Bond electric guitar orchestration with a modern pop song. The World is Not Enough was my first Bond film and I can remember back in my pre-internet days seeing a pixelated sub-240p preview of the opening boat chase, so this was also the first I can remember the marketing blitz. I've always enjoyed TWINE safe in the knowledge that, yes, it is ridiculous; but at least they did something interesting by making the villain the bond girl and even giving her a valid motivation for her actions. Of course Denise Richards is woeful and even if Renard can't feel pain surely picking up hot rocks should still burn his flesh to the point his hand is destroyed, but it had Zhukovsky! I've seen people declare TWINE the worst Brosnan film, or even the worst Bond film. No it is not. The worst is the one I saw for my sixteenth birthday - Dire Another Day. Oh, sorry, I accidentally spelt it wrong.
Die Another Day had the dishonour of essentially killing the Bond film in its then form. But frankly, after Austin Powers sent up the series, just how much of the elements of a Bond film could be taken seriously by then? Genetically engineering a North Korean soldier into a Caucasian Brit in a mecha battle suit? Fucking hell. Invisible car? Words fail me. Remember Vin Deisel's zZz? (I don't). Die Another Day was the worst case of cinematic cargo-cultism since Moonraker sent Roger Moore's eyebrows into space simply because Star Wars was a surprise hit. I really do dislike (hate is such a strong word) Moore's self-parody borderline comedies and I don't watch them (though had I not made an exception for A View to a Kill I might not have heard Duran Duran's excellent and avant garde theme), but I'll give him his due when even he says Die Another Day is a mess. Hence the necessity of a complete break from the past in Casino Royale, rebuilding the series around a less fantastical Bond. You might say I'm a hypocrite for blaming the disaster that was Brosnan's last outing on a crappy extreme-sports action film when the reboot owes a lot to the Jason Bourne trilogy.
Well, let's go back to Moonraker - it was terrible, but Star Wars also revived Star Trek and eventually yielded The Wrath of Khan. I haven't got a problem with liberally appropriating elements from other films if it's done right. That statement is quite apt. After my mixed feelings about Skyfall and deciding to write a review, I thought I should go back a revisit Quantum of Solace. It's universally acknowledged that the opening chase in QoS is nigh incomprehensible, and it's testament to what happens when you seize upon an element of a popular competitor - in this case Bourne's action scene editing quirk - and run it into the ground. I've read justifications for such rapid cutting as a stylistic device for conveying Bond's mental state in the immediate aftermath of the previous film which stabilises with longer cuts as the film progresses. It's an interesting attempt to clue us into his emotional state, but it's so close to the limit of the eye's reaction time that anything quicker would genuinely make each shot subliminal and it ultimately hinders our ability to see the thing we came to watch. Still, if you want to see great car chases Ronin is available in all good stores.
Quantum of Solace was capable of doing right, however, and continued to downplay the villainy and eschew super-villainy. Le Chiffre was a money man, and although they retained a minor disfigurement as was traditional, he wasn't manipulating things behind the scenes in some grand scheme for world domination nor was he even particularly important. QoS was brave in that Bond's nemesis was simply a businessman. What characterises Dominic Greene is his slipperiness. His persona is that of a particularly oily politician. There are no outward signs that this man will install rapists and murderers into power if it can make him more money and he will spin plenty of bullshit about protecting the environment while simultaneously destroying it. Greene is further up the apparent chain within Quantum, the organisation that is everywhere and no-one, and has one of the best lines:
You should know something about me and the people I work with. We deal with the left and the right, dictators or liberators. If the current president had been more agreeable, I wouldn't be talking to you. So if you decide not to sign, you'll wake up with your balls in your mouth and your willing replacement standing over you [...]The banality of evil, if you will, remains my favourite aspect of QoS and having gotten over the editing and admittedly rushed script (but not the short screen presence of Gemma Arterton as a redhead dressed like an exhibitionist), I thought more strongly of the film in hindsight. And so finally I can deliver my opinion on Skyfall.
««Spoilers below for Skyfall»»
Skyfall, which really doesn't sound any less nonsensical the more you say it, is a mixed bag. I was hoping for a continuation of the story from Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace in which we see Bond finally harden and pursue Mr White and the more powerful players in Quantum. Whilst we did get more insight into Bond's past and even had major character development for a secondary character via M's relationship with her agent (which will hopefully have an impact in the next instalment as with Vesper's death), I was particularly disappointed that we ditched the omnipresent threat of the previous two films with, basically, a supervillain. It's been noted the Silva character, a blonde über-hacker, is a paper-thin dramatisation of Julian Assange. All the more amusing since I've pointed out in more serious work that Assange is the Achilles' heel (or rather, face) of anonymity. There's a scene in which M defends her organisation in a Parliamentary committee saying that they are relevant in the post-Cold War world as the modern enemy is unknown and the front line is digital. Um, no. The enemy is the tall blonde guy with the accent who is about to burst into the room. Quantum was unknown.
Note that the Bond-Silva dynamic appears quite blatantly in debt to The Dark Knight in that Silva is Bond's dark twin. He seems to be a step ahead until caught (like the Joker), but it then turns out he planned to be caught and he escapes (like the Joker), and he has a never ending supply of anonymous henchmen (like the Joker). And we're back to the villain with the deformity and near omnipotence (being able to hack seemingly anything). It seemed Skyfall was falling back on old tropes and the established elements (eg, the reintroduction of Moneypenny and Q), presumably because this was the 50th anniversary, and I hope the next film doesn't fall back into old habits like that. Bearing in mind how the 40th anniversary went down with all the forced callbacks in Die Another Day, at least the ejector seat joke made me laugh. Although the film screeches to a halt in the final act for what has been called the Home Alone sequence, and we finally find out what a skyfall is, it's not an atrocious film nor is it a masterpiece. It's alright. It's good and has it's moments. At least it wasn't bloody Prometheus.
Here's a piece of dialogue from Quantum of Solace that stood out and made me wonder if they actually foreshadowed Skyfall:
[Camille] So, what's your interest in Greene?
[Bond] Among other things, he tried to kill a friend of mine.
[Camille] A woman?
[Bond]Yes. But it's not what you think.
[Camille] Your mother?
[Bond]: She likes to think so.
[1497 ; 3.15]
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