By MacKenzie Linehan
Contributing Writer
James Bond will seemingly never die, and I am quite all right with that.
As an avid fan for as long as I can remember, I have seen each Bond movie at least once. The franchise has made 24 fantastic movies.
‘Skyfall’ already is set to break the Bond franchise record, with its total earnings currently at more than $346 million worldwide. With the U.S debut, it is on the path to crush the $594 million worldwide premiere of ‘Casino Royale.’ The numbers don’t lie, either. On the survey site Rottentomatoes.com, 92 percent of critics gave it a thumbs-up.
While ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ with Pierce Brosnan will always be my favorite Bond movie, this one has to be next in line. It was the best of the three movies Daniel Craig starred in as 007. There is more action and fighting than the previous two films. The action scenes were well done, and I have to say, for 50-years-old, Craig looked pretty good in them.
The movie opens up with a chase scene, because it wouldn’t be a Bond movie without one. It begins with a car chase and escalates to a full on brawl, involving motorcycles and an action scene atop a moving train.
Movie-goers believe Bond dies in the fight when M, the head of MI6 British Secret Service, writes his obituary in the next scene.
James Bond then goes into a downward spiral involving alcohol and pills, all while pretending to be dead, until an explosion at MI6’s headquarters forces him to return to find the villain.
The film focuses on the conflict between Bond and the evil villain Silva, who was responsible for the explosion at the beginning of the movie.
Silva, played by Javier Bardem (“No Country for Old Men”), feels underappreciated by MI6 as an ex-agent, and he plans to destroy MI6 by releasing the names of all the MI6’s in the world. By doing this, it would put all agents in danger.
You would think that being the head of MI6 would know how to prevent this. However, Silva has planned the demise of MI6 for so long that he knew how to counter its every move. Cue Bond to defend the MI6 and attempt to outsmart Silva and save the day.
The resurrection of the Aston Martin DB5, previously featured in ‘Goldfinger,’ and the visit to Bond’s hometown was a last farewell to the old Bond. As sad as it is that the old Bond’s reign ended, the scene was also an introduction to the new generation of Bond.
The movie was ultimately a success, full of heightened action scenes with clever connections to the old films. Most of the greatness is due to Bardem’s performance, which is reminiscent of how an actor can truly make a movie special.
‘The Dark Knight’ was so successful because Heath Ledger played the Joker brilliantly. Without Bardem as Silva, I doubt ‘Skyfall’ would get half the praise it deserves.
The movie is definitely a must-see for everyone, and even those who haven’t seen any of the Bond movies will enjoy it.
linehamr12@bonaventure.edu
