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| Skyfall 007 |
It's not just the best ever 007 film - Skyfall deserves to bag its stars, director and writers a host of Academy Awards
Bond movies have picked up an insultingly meagre two technical Oscars over the past 50 years, for Goldfinger and Thunderball.
There must be a good chance that this is about to change, and change dramatically. For Skyfall takes the Bond franchise to a new pinnacle of quality.
Nine times nominee Roger Deakins (No Country For Old Men, The Shawshank Redemption) should win his first Academy Award for his stunning cinematography, equally magical whether it is among the iridescent skyscrapers of modern Shanghai or the bleak, ancient moorland of Scotland.
One of the world’s most talented yet least known composers Thomas Newman (American Beauty, Road To Perdition) must also be a good bet after ten unsuccessful nominations to achieve his first Oscar, finally emulating his famous cousin Randy.
The score is matchlessly atmospheric and makes witty use of old Bond themes while adding a few of its own.
Disgracefully for a series that has brought us such great numbers as Goldfinger, Nobody Does It Better and Live And Let Die, Bond has always failed to win best song. Adele should at least win a nomination this time.
And who would have thought Skyfall would be a strong contender for best original screenplay? John Logan (a nominee for Gladiator, The Aviator and Hugo) has teamed up with previous 007 scribes Neal Purvis and Robert Wade to come up with a script that has qualities rarely seen in an action adventure: topicality, wit and intelligence.
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| Skyfall 007 |
Perhaps most significantly, Skyfall is the first Bond film to have a realistic chance of winning the major awards: best picture, director (Sam Mendes, who has already won for American Beauty), actor (Daniel Craig) and supporting actors (Judi Dench, Javier Bardem).
That’s how good this film is. A second viewing persuades me this is not just the best Bond movie, it’s up there with the top action-adventures of all time.
It tells a refreshingly simple story and succeeds because of consummate craft, marvellous action set pieces and a cast that looks like the National Theatre at play.
In the pivotal role, Dench as M gets more to do than ever before in a Bond movie, and endows her role with a lifetime of experience and authority. She won an Oscar for Shakespeare In Love, and she’s even better here.
There are juicy roles for Ralph Fiennes, as M’s deviously bureaucratic new boss, and Albert Finney, as an entertainingly violent gamekeeper.
Strong supporting parts are also played by Rory Kinnear, Helen McCrory, Naomie Harris and especially Ben Whishaw as a new, modernising Q.
The only weak link is Berenice Marlohe, struggling with the surely outmoded job of being a Bond girl. But after a parachuting Queen, I suppose anyone would have been a let-down. In Raoul Silva (Bardem), Bond gets his creepiest adversary ever: a man not — for once — bent on world domination, but with good reason to hate MI6.
Helped by astonishing special effects and a spectacularly demented hairstyle, Silva exudes a peculiar kind of menace: a cheery perviness that makes The Joker look wholesome.