Bond. Jimmy Bond.

Film 6 (365)
Skyfall

While in my hometown last summer perusing a Best Buy I overheard a portly fellow express to his wife how boring Skyfall was. "The first ten minutes were great, but that was it." This, my dear reader, is the mountain I must climb as a filmmaker.

I watched Skyfall for the first time yesterday. I know, I'm behind the times, but at no point was I bored. It worries me that our audiences of today want spoon fed exposition and moment to moment action. That's why Robert Rodriguez keeps getting paid and The Fast and the Furious now has six films to top off its franchise.

Heaven forbid James Bond would have a backstory or have time to grow as a character. If you don't know, James is out of commission for apparently six months while everyone thought he was dead. He goes a drinking in the Pacific Islands it would seem. Good ol' Jimmy B also seems to get soft.

His aim is off after a bullet enters his right shoulder and a lack of exercise make him a bit shaky. This is great news for a guy like me! Now Bond has space to grow as a character, he can have an arc. No longer is he bound to be a robotic killing machine.

I was half expecting there to be a moment when, whammo! I miraculously have my aim and my charisma back! But director Sam Mendes and his team of writers are better filmmakers than that and I'm forever grateful. Mr. Best Buy Guy, you can have Machete Kills. I'll take this Bond over your fluff any day.

Mendes carefully balances the old with the new. We never hear "shaken, not stirred", but we see a woman shaking his cocktail and as she pours it into his glass Bond says, "Perfect." We know what this means, and it means more to me to see it rather than hear it all over again. One of my favorite parts of Casino Royale was Bond replying, "Do I look like I give a damn?" to the waiter who asks how he'd like his martini.

There's so much I enjoyed about this movie I don't want to start, for fear of pissing off the few of you who haven't seen it yet. But let's just say the moment Bond and M go "back in time", I was transported with them.


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