00 Status Reinstated

So, I did watch Skyfall, that too on IMAX, which has evidently made someone to count to Dec 21. It was a good watch, albeit some buttering the back to mark the 50th anniversary of James Bond on screen, and a fitting tribute it was, to mark the quinquagenary bringing in some retro accessories and music.

For someone who has watched all the 22 Bond movies leading up to the film, Skyfall offers quite a number of eye-brow raisers, annoyance and rare smiles. Let me make it clear, I am no fan of James Bond nor Ian Fleming's style. I must admint, I have never read Ian Fleming nor Alaister MacLean, but, simply from the screenwriting and movies, I favour MacLean's lead characters, plotline, thrills and idea of entertainment, much better.

Staying with Bond series, it was unfortunate that it was Dr. No which was filmed first and not Casino Royale, the first assignment of Bond as a 00 agent. Dr. No portrayed Bond as a suave, go-lucky and cold-blooded operative, which was played to perfection by a then lesser known Connery, who went on to become a huge success as James Bond which forced the producers to bring him back from retirement into Thunderball after a notably eccentric performance by Lazenby in his only Bond film OHMSS. However the fans of Fleming's original novels were supposed to have loved the rather rebellious portrayal of Bond in OHMSS, but were critical of Lazenby's acting prowess, especially with the surprising romantic plot in the film and the only 2nd occasion where James Bond is to be seen in tears (according to the books).

It was in the era of Timothy Dalton, the man who took James Bond rather too seriously, that, a serious and darker side of the character was shown on  a consistent basis as opposed to Moore's often fantastic light-humour and at times mock-worthy sequences. Quoting Steven Jay Rubin :

"Unlike Moore, who always seems to be in command, Dalton's Bond sometimes looks like a candidate for the psychiatrist's couch – a burned-out killer who may have just enough energy left for one final mission. That was Fleming's Bond – a man who drank to diminish the poison in his system, the poison of a violent world with impossible demands.... [H]is is the suffering Bond."

It is for this reason, as a follower of this series, I would have wished to see this re-invention of 007 with Casino Royale had come in the Dalton Era, especially when they have run out of original Fleming's adversaries - SPECTRE, Cold War, Rogue Spies and residues of SPECTRE, after Bond kills Blofeld, that they were forced into ridiculous and fantastic fronts with Moore's last few movies. Dalton Era also coincided with the end of Cold war, which also was reflected in Living Daylights, and a Casino Royale would have marked a new SPECTRE, and they could have picked up a fresh series with a redefined and spectacular new adversary.

In the big picture, Skyfall was disappointing for me, for they chose to divert their agenda to M as the only pivot in the plot, ignoring the new dimensions of the "yet to be named" organisation that Bond had uncovered while tailing Dominic Greene. Also disappointing was the "Die Hard" like plotline and sequences that were unfitting to a spy movie, but was credible, given that M and a personal revenge against her were the principal to the line. In fact, Silva brought remembrance of Simon from Die Hard with a Vengeance; So did the London Tube! :P

Silva happens to be a rare combative villain in the series, after Francisco Scaramanga in The Man with the Golden Gun (The Best Bond movie, in my opinion) and Janus (rogue 006 in GoldenEye), more like Janus. This combative villain is refreshing to see, amidst the routine arm-chair based masterminds aided by heartless operatives ever since Ernst Stavro Blofeld.

On the whole, the movie had a spectacular opening sequence that would rival Casino Royale, Die Another Day or The World is Not Enough, an ordinary narrative on how Bond comes back to M with a start-stop like screenplay and a notable seriousness shown by Bond to get fit and back into service, which otherwise has been a resigning attitude in most of the earlier installments and finally, a rather sentimental exchange with M. Bond cries for the third time on screen, and for the second time since new promotion as a 00.

Some strange things about this installment are the ones surrounding M. In all the earlier 22 movies, M is never known to make a public appearance, but in this she gets out of her car mid way!. Also, M's real name is seldom revealed and nor his/her residence is made known. If I remember right, it is shown for the first time in Casino Royale when Bond breaks into her house which stuns her and even in that, the apartment is shown to be some kind of "unaccounted" space in the core of a building, without windows or doors, while in Skyfall, she is shown to "enter" her house through a "door"!

In the end, Mallory comes in as M, more like Bernard Lee as the first on-screen M in Dr. No, Eve Moneypenny assumes the secretary desk and our good old foam cushioned door takes office while the hat stand is still missing :D , I only wish they do a Dr. No again, next time around.


Note: A female character who was an important figure, in a sentimental angle, in the hero's life, dying in his lap marking a turning point in the hero's personal and professional life is a 'heard of' line from somewhere. Where ? - Clue : An epic of a fiction NOT in english ;-)