Skyfall, and Why We All (Should) Love Mr. Bond

By Lacey Ross on November 15, 2012

Alternative title for this article? I Want My Martinis Shaken (And I’ve Never Even Had One).

Never fear, there are no spoilers here.

I have been a fan since I saw my first Bond film, GoldenEye, randomly on the telly one lazy summer day. I knew nothing of James Bond outside of his drink order and his agent number, 007. Little did I know that my life was about to take a turn for the exciting (and the slightly raunchy).

After conducting a little research of my own after thoroughly enjoying GoldenEye, I found that I was nowhere near completing the Bond film series. Adjusted for inflation, the Bond series is the single most-successful film series of all-time. “It consists of 23 films riddled with suave men, sexy women, guns, angst and English pride!” I thought to myself. “Of course it’s successful.”

After seeing Skyfall, the latest installment in the series, my mind has been changed and I feel compelled to compose this article.

There’s so much more to this series than just pomp!

People who claim to dislike the Bond series have their reasons, but I feel like a trip to the pictures to see Skyfall could warm even the coldest, most skeptical heart to MI6’s most famous orphan.

Skyfall’s “Bond girl”, Bérénice Marlohe.

You: I don’t like the James Bond series because “it’s just an attractive men/women showcase”:

Me: The last three Bond films (Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, & Skyfall) have starred Daniel Craig, an unconventionally handsome, extremely rugged man. Ian Fleming, the author of the James Bond series, described his title character in this way:

Bond’s physical description has generally been consistent: slim build; a three-inch long, thin vertical scar on his right cheek; blue-grey eyes; a “cruel” mouth; short, black hair, a comma of which falls on his forehead. Physically he is described as 183 centimetres (6 feet) in height and 76 kilograms (167 lb) in weight.

Daniel Craig fits this description less than any previous Bond, and his casting was met with much uproar about him not being handsome enough to play the role. (I don’t know what they’re talking about, really. He’s flawless.) Bond girls, on the other hand, never fail to stun. The latest bombshell, Bérénice Marlohe, made me drool… and I’m a girl. Why would you not want to see that? Her character is mystifying as a quasi-villainous enigma that is not as important to the plot as, say, Vesper Lynd in Casino Royale, but still needs to be there. It’s a flashback to the classic Bond girls.

A still of Craig as Bond from Skyfall.

You: I don’t like the James Bond series because “it’s all just explosions and shooting and grandeur.”

Me: You are so wrong! Skyfall is the perfect Bond film to see, assuming this is what is keeping you from enjoying the series. It has the most intimate, most poignant plot of the Bond movies I’ve seen, and gracefully skips from psychological drama to action film to suspenseful thriller throughout. The characters are so human and the script so classically witty; Skyfall is modern cinematic gold. The films have to have more than just action–that would have gotten old 20 films ago.

The first and most iconic Bond, Sean Connery.

You: I don’t like the James Bond series because “the acting is bad, the idea is played out, etc.”

Me: This is a hard comment to combat, perhaps the hardest. The Bond series has encountered its share of hardships in direction and acting, and the fact that everyone has a different opinion muddles things a bit (see this superb article from the latest issue of Rolling Stone for Peter Travers’ opinions!) My personal opinion? Craig is the best Bond since Sean Connery, the first and easily the most iconic man to play 007. From a poll taken of the opinions of my mom and dad when I was home on this long Veteran’s Day weekend, my mom dislikes Pierce Brosnan (the Irish predecessor to Craig) and my dad dislikes everyone but Connery. As my first Bond film was GoldenEye, a Brosnan-as-Bond film, I was appalled. Pierce Brosnan was James Bond to me for a long time, especially because his face is on the N64 GoldenEye 007 cartridge that has since been played to pieces. Brosnan brought the depth, psychology, and spirit to Bond that, to me, had been missing since Connery or was not present at all. Personally, I enjoy a serious Bond with occasional humor, not Roger Moore’s looser Bond.

Pierce Brosnan as Bond in GoldenEye. His physical appearance IS Bond.

Seeing Daniel Craig as Bond, however, is breathtaking to a Bond fan (or, at least to me). Casino Royale took viewers to the birth of Bond’s career (Casino Royale was the first Bond story written by Sir Fleming), and it felt as if the series had been rejuvenated and given a second chance after over 40 years. Craig is, in a few words, convincing, deadpan, and unusual in the part–you believe him just as much as he believes he is James Bond. When it comes to women, he is smooth but not chauvinistic. When it comes to danger, he has a well-deserved ego but he also fails on occasion, showing us that Bond, indeed, is a person. Craig’s 007 sheds tears, for God’s sake. It broke my heart.

In conclusion, Skyfall is a must-see for Bond lovers and Bond haters alike. A blonde Javier Bardem (the villain!), a cute and snappy new Q (played by Ben Whishaw), Ralph Fiennes (Lord Voldemort, anyone?), and Dame Judi Dench are also included.

What’s your excuse now?

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