By Amanda Ack, Film Critic
When all a franchise can do is pay homage to its own history, it’s probably time to let it die.
Such is the case with “Skyfall,” the newest entry in the 50-year-old James Bond film series.
Rather than follow the new path set by 2006’s brilliant “Casino Royale” (and, to a lesser extent, by 2008’s “Quantum of Solace”), it eschews originality in favor of slick nostalgia, giving us everything we expect and nothing we haven’t seen before.
Daniel Craig reprises his role as British agent “James Bond,” who is presumed dead after a mission goes horribly awry.
He makes like a drunken Thoreau until it becomes apparent that a full-on attack on MI6 is on the horizon, orchestrated by the diabolical “Silva” (Javier Bardem, chewing scenery for all he’s worth), a criminal mastermind with a personal vendetta against MI6 leader “M” (Judi Dench).
With the help of “M,” field agent Eve (Naomie Harris), and techie whiz kid “Q” (the delightful Ben Whishaw), Bond must combat Silva and save MI6 from sinking into irrelevance, all the while
confronting issues from his childhood.
The whole thing feels like moving pop art with a dash of Freud.
It’s filled to the brim with gimmicky winks at the audience, as if we need to be constantly reminded that we’re watching a Bond film.
When it isn’t beating us over the head with what we already know, it’s filling in bits of Bond’s past, robbing the character of much of his mystery and adding an unneeded element of sickly sentimentality.
Visually speaking, it’s a good-looking movie in short bursts.
As a whole, however, it feels bloated and overly stylized. Director Sam Mendes and cinematographer Roger Deakins do their best to show off their technical prowess in every frame, which isn’t so much impressive as it is exhausting.
What’s more, the movie features multiple locations that all seem to be filmed in different styles, robbing it of any sense of visual coherence.
All in all, “Skyfall” isn’t exactly a bad film – it’s just not a particularly interesting one.
Aside from shaking up the cast of characters a bit, it spends so much time looking back that it doesn’t move the franchise forward.
It’s like a hand-me-down present in a shiny new box: the outside may be pretty, but the inside is a little too familiar.
Leave a Reply