"The 50th anniversary of the big-screen Bond was the right time to pull off something big. Skyfall is a hugely enjoyable action spectacular, but more grounded and cogent than the previous and disappointing outing, Quantum of Solace. It finds the right position on the spectrum between extravagance and realism (...) this pre-credit sequence, with its cataclysmic finale, showcases a great new Bond theme song from Adele, Basseying those vocals mightily, and conveying the camp combination of Bond's machismo and strange and preposterous vulnerability. (...) This is a Bond who has something to prove, and who could be damaged goods, physically and even mentally. Even at his lowest, however, he is still capable of pulling off a very scary drinking trick involving a scorpion. But now he must face one of his tastiest adversaries ever – the chilling Silva, played by Javier Bardem. Silva makes his first entrance from far away, a virtual dot on the horizon, giving a sinuous speech about what happens when rats fight each other. Gradually, his unsettling face comes into focus – quite a visual coup from Mendes and his cinematographer, Roger Deakins."
by Peter Bradshaw in The Guardian
"The pre-credits sequence, which coincidentally chases through a Turkish bazaar seen this year in Taken 2 and Argo, establishes that Sam Mendes – brought in to raise the tone a bit – can handle a fist-fight on top of a train as well as anyone. The boldest hire for this go-round is cinematographer Roger Deakins, who delivers the most impressive visuals this series has had since the 1960s. (...) Javier Bardem’s villain makes a grand entrance, walking from the back of the frame to the foreground while delivering a parable about rats in a barrel, then gets deeper under the hero’s skin than any official shrink, prodding him into reflections about his drink and pill dependency and sexual identity which would have made Sean Connery blench. Silva is a Flemingesque creation – a loathesome foreigner with a hidden (and gruesome) deformity – but Bardem adds in a little Hannibal Lecter vibe (especially in a sequence set under London) and even becomes a horror movie slasher for a surprisingly gothic, down-and-dirty climax. (...) Skyfall is pretty much all you could want from a 21st Century Bond: cool but not camp, respectful of tradition but up to the moment, serious in its thrills and relatively complex in its characters but with the sense of fun that hasn’t always been evident lately."
by Kim Newman in Empire Magazine
"Dramatically gripping while still brandishing a droll undercurrent of humor, this beautifully made film certainly will be embraced as one of the best Bonds by loyal fans worldwide and leaves you wanting the next one to turn up sooner than four years from now. (...) Javier Bardem makes his fabulously staged entrance as Silva, who, like many Bond villains of the past, is half persuasive and half lunatic, has delusions of exceptional grandeur and is partial to explaining many things to his captive before he means to kill him. He also has a theatrically sexual side that brings something new to the gallery of Bond villains. In all events, Bardem makes him a riveting and most entertaining figure. (...) Deakins' cinematography is dense, colorful and impactful, noticeably a notch or two above the series’ norm. Production values are similarly at the high end of things, and Thomas Newman's score is far from generic, finding many moods while delightfully allowing room for Monty Norman's immortal Bond theme when the moment calls for it."
by Todd McCarthy in The Hollywood Reporter
"Skyfall, the often dazzling, always audacious new entry directed by Sam Mendes (...) Silva is almost as inscrutable as The Dark Knight’s Joker himself: Bardem’s lip-lickingly camp turn makes him the oddest Bond villain since the Roger Moore era, and his nicotine hair flops queasily over his forehead in a way that calls to mind Julian Assange. (...) Mendes, whose American Beauty and Revolutionary Road were light on explosions, lets the quieter moments breathe, and a conversation between Bond and Silva that’s simply buttered with innuendo drew cheers at an early preview screening. But Mendes is rather good at being loud, too, and his nine times Oscar-nominated cinematographer Roger Deakins makes the wildly ambitious action sequences the most beautiful in Bond’s 50-year career. (...) It’s pearls like these, not to mention the deliriously arch fight scene involving two komodo dragons, that give Mendes’s film enough momentum to power through its scrappy third act"
by Robbie Collin in Daily Telegraph
OSCAR POTENTIAL CATEGORIES
- Best Supporting Actor (Javier Bardem)
- Best Cinematography
- Best Production Design
- Best Sound Editing
- Best Original Song ("Skyfall")
BUT...
This is a James Bond movie and the AMPAS doesn't tend to honour this franchise's chapters that much (only Goldfinger and Thunderball managed to took an Oscar home and only The Spy Who Loved Me got more than 1 nomination), but I believe the movie has big chances in the Best Cinematography and Best Original Song fields and may be a longshot in the Best Soud Editing category. Bardem was great, but this year's Best Supporting Actor seems to have stronger contenders and the voters tend to choose period pieces for the Best Production Design category, in spite of the beautiful contemporany sets we can see during the movie. I'm not a huge Bond fan, my Skyfall just seduced me with its quality, so it may seduce non-Bond-fans-Oscar-voters as well...
Title: FOR OUR CONSIDERATION: "Skyfall"
Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
12:28 PM
Rating: 100% based on 99998 ratings. 5 user reviews.
12:28 PM
