The latest
installation of James Bond 007, Skyfall, is a reflection of a meltdown in the Eurozone,
where an aging 007 (Daniel Craig) has to fight-off not only his "accidental'
death but the utter of collapse of MI6, the intelligence agency he has
represented for more than 50 years.
Bond's
nemesis, Roual Silva (Javier Bardem), asks him, what is your hobby? Bond
replies, "Resurrection", a recurring theme in many superhero films lately. They all seem to be coming back from the dead
after 9/11 and collapse of financial markets in 2008 -- the old world paradigms
giving way to the thrust of the new century.
The story is as follows -- an operation in Turkey fails,
where Bond takes a bullet and is presumed to be dead. Someone inside the agency leaks the
identities of all the MI6 agents and blows up the agency with a
cyber-attack. The security breach is
traced to the South China Sea, but it turns out to be none other than a
disgruntled former agent, who was earlier carrying on cyber-attacks on the
Chinese government and businesses.
It is indeed
the twenty-third spy film to be released by the Bond franchise, originally
conceived by Ian Fleming in the 1960s.
If the film tackles the intelligence challenges Europe faces today in an
emerging multipolar civilization, the Bond franchise itself may be witnessing a
rite de passage. Skyfall was released
in the UK exactly on the half-century mark which started with a bang with Dr. No.
It took $78
million on its international release. According
to Hollywood Reporter, "In France, Skyfall drew $10.5 million from 825
situations. Russia opened to $8.3 million at 951 locales. The South Korea bow
scooped up 49% of the market with $5.9 million from 753 locatdions. Skyfall set
an opening record for a Bond title in Brazil ($3.1 million) and drew $1.5
million in Belgium."
The compelling
plot brings espionage back home to London, while plumbing the psychological depths
of the world's well-known spy agent. Inside
the spy thriller -- with fast cars, beautiful women, and great locations -- Sam
Mendes, the Oscar winning director has packed a psycho-thriller between Bond,
Silva and M (Judy Dench), the good agent, the bad agent and "the Mom",
respectively.
The oedipal triangulation
works well to advance the storyline leading to a denouement worth the wait. We learn about Bond's parentage, where he grew
up, and understand his motivation for the life-threatening and grueling work.
Yet, the larger than life agent is reduced to a mere mortal; he seems to have
lost his step and suffers a hard fall.
As the agent
faces a near-death experience it behooves to be introspective; the film maker forces
us to reflect on our predicament in the fast changing world. We see a middle-aged Bond with his libido
under wraps, gasping for air under and above water, constantly on the run for
his life in Istanbul, Shanghai, South China Sea, London and the Scottish
countryside, which happens to be the place of his heroic birth.
During the
rehabilitation, Bond goes through psychological assessment, consisting of a
word-association test, an x-ray of the psyche. The psychologist presents a word
and Bond replies without delay:
Country. "England."
Gun. "Shot."
Agent. "Provocateur."
Murder. "Employment."
Skyfall. Bond hesitates a bit, but then utters "Done".
There are barely
any Bond escapades -- with women in their skimpy bikinis -- as if to represent
the former colonies at a beauty pageant.
There are two new Bond girls (Bà ©rà ©nice Marlohe and Naomie Harris), but
they play rather staid roles almost always elegantly clothed, shades of
post-feminism changing roles.
The spy thriller borrows elements from the superhero
comics -- Superman or Spiderman -- and partly has the dark look of the sci-fi cult
film, "The Highlander,' which starred the original Bond, Sean Connery. Especially in the latter half when Bond
retreats to his Scottish birthplace to protect M, the picture explodes with a violent
obsession with mythic immortality.
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