Skyfall - Guest Review

Skyfall - 143min - PG13
by C. L. Cadwallader

I love James Bond movies. I watched "For Your Eyes Only" at least a dozen times on HBO when I was a kid. It hooked me on Bond and I've stayed hooked. I am not ashamed to say that I can find something to like about every single Bond movie from "Dr. No" forward. I like Connery, Lazenby, Moore, Brosnan. I even like Timothy Dalton.

Above all these movies and actors that I have enjoyed, Daniel Craig's performance as Bond in 2006's "Casino Royale" ranks #1 in my book. "Skyfall" is Craig's third turn at Bond, and he continues his portrayal of a harder, more visceral secret agent for the 21st Century -- more reliant on basic bullets and brains than snazzy devices from Q and witty repartee. Here we see a Bond who is far from invulnerable. He's suave and tough of course he rocks a tuxedo like no one else, but if you cut him, he bleeds. "Skyfall" goes out of its way to show us Bond as a person -- someone with a past who exists in a dangerously real world. I give it a green light as an exciting and entertaining continuation of a series I hope to continue seeing for decades to come.

In the traditional Bond cold-open "Skyfall" shows us Bond and his young female protégé chasing a lost computer hard drive through Istanbul. The chase ends when Bond is shot and presumed killed by friendly fire. Bond returns to action when an attack takes out MI-6 headquarters. His quest to find those responsible leads him to Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a former MI-6 agent with a serious axe to grind against M (Judi Dench). In the meantime, M has problems of her own, in the form of MP Gareth Mallory (Ralph Fiennes) who thinks she no longer has what it takes to run a 21st Century intelligence operation.

Every performance in this movie is top-shelf. Daniel Craig is as smooth and tough as ever. Judi Dench is terrific as a woman born to be tough, but with just the right touch of sentiment and humor. Javier Bardem is creepy, brilliant and diabolical like the Bond villains of old. And how can you go wrong with actors like Ralph Feinnes and Albert Finney supporting roles?

If there was one thing to criticize about this movie, it would be the 143 minute running time. The third act drags on a bit while we set up for the inevitable final confrontation. Once we got to that fight though, I forgot about checking my watch (and breathing at times) and went along for an action-packed ride worthy of any Bond film.

Long live Bond. When is 24 coming out?

The Tourist

The tourist rated PG13 103min

This movie is one that has the elements of a classic who done it. You have beautiful people meeting in exotic locations getting swept up in a espionage story that has a flavor of a north by northwest. At least that what the trailers would have you believe. In reality you have beautiful people in exotic settings with absolutely none of the feel of the old time spy movies. Angelina Jolie and Johnny Depp play the main parts in this film, each providing as much to the characters as needed to collect a paycheck. I really expect so much more form Johnny Depp. His role choices in the past have been ones that have been exquisite studies into the uniqueness of characters that have been the center of many of his films. I have never been a fan of Angelina, She has never struck me as an actress that I can believe in, she seems to have one side to whatever role she is placed in. I think the only film that I liked her in was Girl Interrupted. I think at that point she had peaked as an actress and has not really moved on from there. In this movie she gives us a great face to look at but there is really nothing behind her eyes. This movie has some great potential but it seems to waste it. We have some heist movie elements but this movie takes place after the heisted and now we are trying to catch the clever bad guy who has a love interest with Angelina’s character, so Interpol is watching her and is keeping her under surveillance until the person they are hunting shows up. This movie left me flat over all and it seemed like many of the stars were here to shoot a quick movie over the weekend. Some other notable appearances are Paul Bettany who plays a detective on the trail of the bad guy who steals from bad guys and Timothy Dalton as his boss. Paul did a better job than his piers but still over all his performance was not enough to bring this film’s overall lack of feeling up any. Steven Berkoff did a good job of bring to life the wronged crime lord but again his effort was lost in a sea of apathy. This is Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck’s second full length film. His previous work on “lives of others” was a much better example of his potential. Technically there are some editing errors (If I see them on the first viewing the movie does not have my attention the story) but other than that it was a fine film from a technical standpoint. If you have nothing to do for the one hundred and three minuets that the movie plays for and you are going to be able to watch it for free, than you might want to choose this film. Or not It really does not warrant a look.