Skyfall (2012)

We have finally reached the end; this, the culmination of an epic journey of Bondiness. I had hoped to see the film a second time before writing this, but given that my wife’s waters broke last night I don’t think that’s going to be an option! It is also therefore perfect timing for the end of Blogalongabond as I feel my blog posting maybe curtailed for a while. So without further ado, here’s what I thought of the film that 22 months of 00heaven have been leading up to.

I thought that the direction by Sam Mendes was top notch; the film was skillfully, subtly and deliberately made. For example there were several slow camera moves that would lead the eye from character to character or location, linking events together. In particular there is a great scene in the club in Macau, where Bond and Eve move around speaking to each other through their ear-pieces; but as they glide around the club separately, they really dance around each other. It’s these kind of moments that help guide the eye through a scene and make viewing a pleasure.

Not only that but Roger flippin’ Deacons was cinematographer! So of course the whole film looks gorgeous. There was a five second scene of 007 slouching on a bed, drinking a beer after banging some random woman, but it really stuck in my head because it was so beautifully composed: the light from the sunset/rise angles through onto Daniel Craig, just enough to illuminate the knackered (notched) fantastic headboard. Quite an insignificant scene, but etched in my head because it looked so fantastic. Of course everything in the final act of the film looked ace too, everyone’s faces lit up with the orange glow of a burning Skyfall.

It goes without saying that the cast are pretty perfect. Daniel Craig continues to be the best Bond; not just brilliant in action scenes and looking great in a Tom Ford suit, but an actual actor to boot. Ralph Fiennes is good as Mallory (an M with a name!), and Naomie Harris does well as Eve. Javier Bardem is a fine villain, the hairpiece alone proves it, though not the terrifying cold-blooded killing machine of No Country for Old Men. Good that he was able to own an island in Cobb’s subconscious though! Despite his escape from the MI6 secret bunker being a cross between Hannibal Lecter in Silence of the Lambs and Moriarty in BBC’s Sherlock, his single-mindedness in pursuing M is quite refreshing in the Bond villain hall of shame. No ludicrous “Necklace of Death”, or Sun-focussing death ray, or even playing arms-dealers money on the stock-market; Silva is all about simple revenge.

Speaking of M, let’s face it, this is really Judi Dench’s film. The bond girl isn’t Bérénice Marlohe’s Sévérine (whose trembling lips strangely reminded me of Rodrigo Santoro’s Xerxes in 300); it isn’t even Naomie Harris. No, Skyfall’s Bond girl is M; and Dench is great, finally getting the kind of scenes she has always deserved (though the misogynistic dinosaur bit in Goldeneye was pretty good too). We’ve always know that M has balls (despite her admission to the contrary in Tomorrow Never Dies), and she gets to show it here. She’s quite happy to tell those who consider themselves her superiors or those who are investigating her exactly what she thinks of them, and does her own thing anyway. A wonderful swansong performance from Dench.

We also get a new quartermaster too:

Well something like that. Anyway, Ben Wishaw is pretty good.

The song by Adele is a grower. It’s no You Know my Name, or Living Daylights, or even Live and Let Die. Come to think of it there are plenty of Bond tunes better than Skyfall. However, the song has a melancholy inevitability to it, which is a perfect reflection of the film - especially the startling events of the final act.

I think where Skyfall succeeds is that it doesn’t try too hard, it is almost naturally good. There are still some superfluous scenes, but for the most part everything has a purpose in the film. There are no completely unnecessary car chases, or hydrogen-fuelled exploding hotels, or insignificant characters covered in oil. I don’t think I really have a bad thing to say about it, I’ve only put it 3rd in my list because I think the story in Casino Royale is neater and it was such an incredible breath of fresh air; also I have a real soft spot for You Only Live Twice. A brilliant 007, excellent performances all round, more tremendous action, a straightforward revenge story (though on the other foot from Licence to Kill), and such a crowd-pleasing final scene you wouldn’t believe. All in all, a very fitting end to Blongalongabond.

Blogalongabond will return in... actually it probably won’t this time!

Final order of preference:

Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, Skyfall, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Quantum of Solace, Tomorrow Never Dies, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Goldeneye, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love, Dr No, The World is Not Enough, The Man with the Golden Gun, Die Another Day, A View to a Kill, Octopussy, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, Thunderball

Quantum of Solace (2008)

A last and a first. The last 007 film that we already knew before Blogalongabond started, and the first ever true Bond sequel. Starting immediately after the events of Casino Royale, we see a battered and bruised Mr White stuffed in the boot of Bond’s car, as 007 tries to track down the organisation responsible for the death of Vespa. Overall QOS is a very fun film; brooding Daniel Craig, tremendous action and enough intrigue to hold your attention. I feel where it falls down is the lack of tangible villain. Of course the bad guy is actually Quantum; essentially SPECTRE for the 21st century. The trouble is, Mr Greene is no LeChiffre.

The very beginning has some lovely touches: slowly zooming into the mountain, intercut with glimpses of chrome, Aston Martin and Bond’s eyes before BANG we’re into a frenetic car chase. Actually this chase sets the tempo for a lot of the set pieces in the film; all of them are very energetic and tremendously exciting. The chase through Sienna, climaxing on the scaffolding is amazing and really brutal. Though further along the line, I can’t decide whether I like the way that the crescendo of the opera is cut with 007 taking out Quantum stooges in Zurich. No doubt it’s stylish, but I’m not sure it really works.

007 is perhaps even more bullish and arrogant than in Casino Royale, and he has no compunction about executing ex-coworkers, special forces or Bolivian Police. Daniel Craig continues to suit this hard-nose character perfectly. Though Jesper Christensen’s role as Mr White is very brief, I thought he was completely brilliant; superbly maniacal as he laughs that “You don’t know anything about us at all!” If only he’d been the main antagonist rather than a wishy washy Mr Greene.

The women are a bit rubbish. Camille isn’t really much of a bond girl (she only gets a kiss right at the end); instead she has her own revenge story to mirror Bond’s, which is a nice twist to a Bond girl’s character. Fields is even more pointless, her only function seems to be so that a nod can be made to Jill Masterson’s demise in Goldfinger. The trouble is, it’s not worth it! All that results is that M has even more contempt for Bond’s style, but I hardly think this is the pinnacle of Quantum’s machinations! The only woman worth her salt is Judi Dench; M is still a hard-ass with some great lines: “When someone says "We've got people everywhere", you expect it to be hyperbole! Lots of people say that. Florists use that expression. It doesn't mean that they've got somebody working for them inside the bloody room! “

The title song is cool, but the credit sequence is far too involved; there is so much going on it’s hard to make out any kind of narrative or symbolism. Worst of all there is no gun barrel anywhere near the beginning, it’s tacked on the end as if it was forgotten about and then suddenly discovered on the cutting room floor. Just in time for some lift music over the closing credits! In fact, I felt that David Arnold’s score was mostly invisible (or inaudible?) throughout the film.

Not as spectacular as the previous film, but still maintaining the gritty, brutal themes of Daniel Craig’s 007; Quantum of Solace continues the quality of the “reboot”. At least for one more film the self-parody is still absent and the realism is still there (unshielded hydrogen cells in every hotel room notwithstanding!). I can just see the brochure for the hotel: Come and visit the Perla des las Dunas. En suite bathrooms, minibar, free wifi, and a serious explosion risk in every room!

Order of Preference so far:

Casino Royale, You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Quantum of Solace, Tomorrow Never Dies, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Goldeneye, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love, Dr No, The World is Not Enough, The Man with the Golden Gun, Die Another Day, A View to a Kill, Octopussy, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, Thunderball

The World is Not Enough (1999)

Following the cool reception of TND by my fellow Blogalongabonders, I’m expecting a frosty one for The World is Not Enough. Having said that, I quite liked TND, so what do I know?

A plot involving competing oil pipelines through the Caspian has 007 tracking the progress of Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), daughter of Robert King, who is a close friend of M. Playing the victim, Elektra is actually working with known terrorist for hire Renard (Robert Carlyle) and has a plan to detonate a nuclear device near Istanbul, rendering competing pipelines useless, so all oil must flow through the King pipes.

Once again, the action can’t be faulted, Vic Armstrong again showing us how inventive he can be. His remit for the boat chase was simply that Bond’s boat would leave MI6 pursuing a female assassin, and that the Millenium Dome and a hot-air balloon had to be involved! After this dramatic boat chase along the Thames, there is one of the series best opening songs. The World is Not Enough is belted out by Shirley Manson, the only trouble is, it doesn’t get better than this.

Brozza is fine, and Judi Dench is as good as ever; but everyone else is either pointless or disappointing. Carlyle has the potential to be a brilliant villain, but pulls his punches too much; Renard has none of the edge of Begbie or the psychopath from Cracker. Sophie Marceau also has potential as Elektra, but her performance is just vapid. My James Bond Encyclopedia says “With Elektra, Bond thinks he has found Tracy (from OHMSS) but he’s really found Blofeld.” Erm, didn’t get that at all; Elektra is about as Tracy as Christmas Jones. Speaking of which, there have to be few Bond Girls as pointless as Denise Richards. Why does 007 let her hang around (beyond the obvious)? She’s a nuclear physicist, once she has disarmed the bomb in the pipeline she has no other function. She’s just a hanger-oner. Then there’s a mute heavy that hangs around Elektra, at least Stamper had some function in the plot of TND; and the less said about John Cleese’s appearance as Mr Bean the better.

In the midst of all this I did enjoy the recurrence of Valentin Zukovsky, Robbie Coltrane is almost always worthwhile; and Goldie was fun as Bullion, one of Zukovsky’s stooges. But this really is like finding a pound coin in a dog turd. Most offensive was the ludicrously idiotic idea to build a pipeline on a glacier. I had to rewind several times to make sure I had seen correctly!

I also thought it was very silly of M to travel out to see Elektra, simply because Bond hadn’t made her a post-coital breakfast. She’s head of MI6, doesn’t she see

In case you hadn’t noticed, I didn’t really like TWINE. A nice idea using the world’s dependence on oil as a tool for the villain, but of course 6 months after the completion of the pipeline, the glacier will have shifted enough to break the pipe and we won't get any oil at all thanks to a contaminated Bosphorus! Fantastic action set pieces, but far too many under-developed or pointless characters to make this any more than a mediocre film.

Order of Preference so far:

You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, Tomorrow Never Dies, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Goldeneye, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love, Dr No, The World is Not Enough, The Man with the Golden Gun, A View to a Kill, Octopussy, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, Thunderball

Goldeneye (1995)

Despite the Berlin Wall coming down 6 years previous, and the end of the cold war, the intro credits leave us in no doubt that it is a traditional foe who are the enemy here. What is surprising is that Bono and The Edge wrote the title song, performed with typical gusto by Tina Turner. No Shirley Bassey, but far better than the 80s cheesefest that was Gladys Knight’s Licence to Kill.

The film’s opening scenes are all pretty dramatic; 007 bungee jumps down a dam, 006 is callously shot in the head, and then Bond drives a motorbike off a cliff to escape in a nose-diving plane. It’s a fair statement of intent for the series now featuring many new faces both in front and behind the camera. Pierce Brosnan is the most obvious newbie; and after the hard-hitting Dalton performances, Brosnan’s Bond is more of a return to the suave Sean Connery days. However, when Brosnan tries too hard to be suave, I think he often comes across as arrogant. No doubt that 007 is arrogant, but Brosnan’s Bond almost has an arrogant arrogance!

Judi Dench is making sure she carves her own M, and during her brief screen time is very hard-nosed. Introduced as an accountant (I’m not actually sure what the ideal qualifications would be to direct MI6) she does have great banter with 007. I thought it interesting that following Licence To Kill, M specifically tells 007 not to go off on a personal vendetta to avenge the death of 006. I guess this is as close as we get to continuity of stories from film to film, other than the same actors recurring as different characters, or the occasional nod to the fact that Bond was married once.

Sean Bean is, well, Sean Bean; but he is good as long as he’s not trying to do a plummy accent. Of course his “death” at the beginning sets alarm bells ringing, and within the first 5 minutes of the film we know there will be a reveal later on showing him as the villain of the piece. It is Sean that has the best line in the film “I might as well ask if all the vodka martinis ever silenced the screams of all the men you killed; or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women, for all the dead ones you failed to protect.” Ouch baby!

In fact 007 comes in for quite a few reality checks. Alec (Sean's character) also refers to him as “Her Majesty’s loyal terrier” (good dog), and M calls him a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur!" Then Natalya tells him that being a hero and being so cold is what keeps him alone. Brosnan can’t portray his emotion the same way that Dalton could, but he has to deal with a lot of criticism of his character here.

Famke Janssen is a pretty good henchwoman. OK, she has a fairly ludicrous name, and an over-the-top way of dispatching people(!); but I liked her Zorin-like glee in the way she killed people. Now here’s a nugget of information that has been lodged in my brain for years. The woman who stunt-doubled Famke was Eunice Huthart, and I remember that she was a champion of Gladiators! Yes, that! For some reason I must have caught the show when she returned as a champion or something, and she mentioned how she’d had to wrap her legs around Pierce Brosnan! Now I’ve told that story maybe I can mercifully forget it!

In term of action, there are some pretty impressive set pieces. The first is the stunt at the beginning involving the bungee jump (at the time the world’s highest from a fixed position) and 007 launching himself off a cliff on a motorbike so that he can freefall and climb into a crashing plane. The other spectacular scene is 007 tearing up St Petersburg with a tank. With a budget over twice that of any other Bond film (presumably not inflation-adjusted) the sets that the tank charges through are tremendous, if indeed lacking some mortar.

Director Martin Campbell successfully managed to take 007 in a new direction. By concentrating on the story Goldeneye is a solid entry into the franchise. Indeed Campbell focuses on the plot so much that there are noticeable swathes of the film without 007 at all. When he does appear, Brosnan’s Bond is very committed and really looks like he cares about finding the Golden McGuffin. At the same time the writers are trying to keep the edge to Bond that characterised the previous two films, by slagging him off a few times and giving in him a slap in the face by having someone he considered a friend to be a two-faced megalomaniac. Let’s see where Brosnan’s hunted 007 goes from here.

Order of Preference so far:

You Only Live Twice, Goldfinger, The Living Daylights, Licence to Kill, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Goldeneye, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, For Your Eyes Only, From Russia with Love,  Dr No, The Man with the Golden Gun, A View to a Kill, Octopussy, Moonraker, Diamonds are Forever, Thunderball

The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel (2012)

"I want to outsource Old Age"

Films with ensemble casts are tricky things. No doubt filling a story with big stars is going to get people to watch it; but as a result, some of the characters can become marginalised and you end up wondering what the point of casting them was. I like Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s 11, it’s slick, stylish, has an intriguing plot, and it has a hell of a cast. There is no doubt however, that it’s George Clooney and Brad Pitt’s film. Crash is another example. Another great cast, but was Sandra Bullock really necessary? Just checking IMDB, I’d forgotten that Brendan Fraser and William Fitchner were in it! Of course one way of fitting in all the characters is to go down the route of Magnolia: make a really long film so that everyone gets enough screen time!

However, in The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, it all seems to work. All of the characters get time enough for their story to unfold, it’s not an overlong film, and there definitely isn’t one or two main characters. It also happens to be very funny. All of the cast here (pretty much the cream of later-generation British talent) are quietly brilliant; no-one particularly steals the lime-light, they all just work perfectly together; understated but great acting. You can tell where most of the characters' stories are going: Maggie Smith’s fairly racist Muriel will obviously embrace the Indian culture by the end of the film (these are hardly spoilers), Bill Nighy and Penelope Wilton’s marriage is clearly rocky, throw in a romantic story for Dev Patel as well as his struggle against an overbearing Mum and none of the film is terribly original. This doesn't matter at all, because it's the way we get there that's so enjoyable.

Director John Madden may not have the most illustrious back-catalogue (though Shakespeare in Love did win a Best Picture Academy Award), but he handles the various story arcs very well, weaving them in such a way that they don’t feel forced or focussed on one character too much. At one point I did feel that two of the characters had been marginalised; but no sooner had I had that thought, then we got back to them and their story was fleshed out more.

The film doesn’t do anything outstanding, but it is deftly handled, the cast are all great, and it is sometimes wickedly funny.

Casino Royale

Now before I start, I should state that I think of course Sean Connery was the best Bond. That doesn't mean that I don't enjoy any of the other Bonds; even of late I enjoyed Pierce Brosnan in Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies. However, after the terribleness that was Die Another Day, with some shocking cg, an instantly forgettable theme tune and plot, the world was crying out for Daniel Craig and Casino Royale. Well, I was anyway.

The plot is based around baddie Le Chiffre, a stock market player for the evil and corrupt. He invests money in an airline stock so that when the shares crash (he plans to blow the brand new flagship plane up to guarantee this) he will make a killing. However, when 007 prevents the plane from blowing up, Le Chiffre is $150m out of pocket. He plans to win this back in a high stakes poker game in Casino Royale in Montenegro. Of course Bond is financed by HM government to play in the game and wins all of the money.

Behind the scenes, everything is contrived by a criminal "Organisation", this is all we know it as. So when Le Chiffre kidnaps bond and his female accomplice (Vesper Lynd, played by Eva Green), after some pretty brutal torture, Mr White from the Organisation turns up and kills Le Chiffre, allowing Bond and Vesper to go free. However, as 007 and Vesper fall in love, we find out that the Organisation had previously contacted Vesper and her boyfriend, and the only way the boyfriend will be left alone is if Vesper was planted with Bond with a view to acquiring the poker winnings (I think, all very confusing!).

Anyway, James finds Vesper withdrawing all of the money from the winnings, and this leads to a final shootout in Venice wherein Vesper drowns. But before her death, she did leave a message on her phone to James, giving him the name Mr White and a phone number. The film ends with 007 tracking down Mr White, and saying his name is Bond, James Bond! Quantum of Solace follows on directly from here.

I really do think this is a cracking film. A very gritty begining showing Bond's first kill. Great title sequence with a great song from the man with and incredible voice: Chris Cornell. A tremendous action sequence at the beginning as 007 tries to keep up with a free-running gun-for-hire bomb-maker. A very nicely set up poker game, with enough intrigue in between hands, so we are not just watching a game of cards for 30 mins; and a very interesting plot, not your usual baddie looking for domination over something (world/media/oil).



Gone are all the gadgets, and instead 007 has to think on his feet a lot more; this is a reflection of the popularity of the Bourne series I think. I did like the gadgets (especially in the Sean Connery era), but I think the franchise ended up relying on them too much; on the feet thinking led to a much more fluid story, rather than one that was contrived around some fancy piece of tech. There are a few moments of more familiar bond: telling Vesper that her cover name is Stephanie Broadchest.

Judi Dench is still great as M, being initially indignant at Bond for finding out where she lived, her login for the MI6 network, and her name! But later she is more encouraging, and positively gets behind him in the next film. Daniel Craig as Bond I think is great. He has a roughness to him that a man who will do anything to get the job done should have. He also plays the arrogance part of the character well, as well as managing to be smooth enough when he has to be. I know some people think it's silly to have a blonde haired, blue eyed James Bond, but I don't care, why should it matter? And anyway, Daniel Craig is from the same city as me. Imagine that, I was born in the same city as James Bond! How cool is that?!