“This is the end” sings Adele when James Bond falls of a train, that’s passing a viaduct, into a river having been shot by one of his own and the opening credits begin. Sam Mendes sets the tone right at this point on what is to come. The pre-credit sequences are high octane with chases on four wheels and two wheels and that mandatory train which always seem to have the CAT equivalent of L&T Proclain and some stunning cars that have to end up as crushed metal.
Before getting shot 007 was attempting to retrieve a stolen hard disk that contained the list of NATO operatives across the world and MI-6 continues to pursue the target to retrieve the data before the cover of the field operatives are blown. In Julian Assange style the antagonist reveals five names every week putting pressure on MI-6 and M who is not just fighting a battle with an unknown enemy but also keeping political pressure from inside the UK at bay.
How 007 comes back and saves the organisation from the antagonist forms the rest of the story. The antagonist is one of the cleverest villains Bond has had to face in the last 50 years, who also has a homophobic streak that plays humorously. The mandatory Bond girls are there, one of them, as it always happens, gets killed brutally. There is no mention of any physical intimacy between Bond and the other though the lines they speak are risqué. The Ashton Martin DB5 (BMT 216A) which first appeared in GoldFinger (*ing Sean Connery) makes it’s appearance in this one.
Q now is a computer geek who still needs Bond’s brain to figure the name of a tube station that’s involved in a core plot point in the movie. The gun he passes on to Bond should be made mandatory to own, why wouldn’t anyone want to possess a gun that won’t fire without the owner’s finger prints on the trigger?
Thomas Newman’s first attempt at scoring for the Bond franchisee is a welcome change, the music is void of the bravado we’ve come to associate with David Arnold’s score. Except for the legendary Monty Norman’s James Bond Theme which plays in the OST as arranged by David Arnold, Thomas goes ahead and weaves his own tapestry around the drama which makes the score subtle, synthesized in parts and engaging. It’s only fair to Sam that he brought Thomas into the movie after their successful collaboration on The Road to Perdition, American Beauty and Revolutionary Road.
Roger Deakin’s cinematography captures the mood of every scene lucidly and the latter scenes in Scotland thankfully aren’t postcards for Scotland Tourism but are stark and vivid to carry forward the narrative. Sam Mendes is no Michael Apted (The World is not enough) or Martin Campbell (Golden Eye, Casino Royale). Therefore this Bond movie is more of a drama with bursts of superb action sequences. Skyfall is a must watch.
