Skyfall
2012 · Directed by Sam Mendes
Original language: English
- action
- adventure
- thriller
The story
When Bond's latest assignment goes gravely wrong, agents around the world are exposed and MI6 headquarters is attacked. While M faces challenges to her authority and position from Gareth Mallory, the new Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, it's up to Bond, aided only by field agent Eve, to locate the mastermind behind the attack.
What it’s like
Rich, saturated colour carries most of this film: Shanghai neon bleeding through rain-slick glass, the amber haze of a Macau casino, the Scottish highlands under a flat, pale sky, and a final act of candlelit darkness and burning orange firelight. Roger Deakins's cinematography favours wide, composed frames and long, unhurried takes, with the camera holding on faces and empty corridors as much as on action. The action is sharp and physical, with a train-top brawl and a long, grimy sequence in a Macau skyscraper, but it arrives in bursts rather than a constant churn. Adele's title song and Thomas Newman's score move between brassy swagger and sparse, melancholy strings. The vibe is glossy but elegiac, a mix of nostalgia for old-school espionage and quiet unease about who the service is for. Violence is frequent and often brutal, with shootings, hand-to-hand fights and some bloody moments, though there is no graphic gore beyond that, and a villain's cruelty and menace are unsettling throughout. Its pace suits a lit-up evening with full attention, and it is for viewers who like stylish, grown-up thrillers about loyalty, aging and the cost of duty.
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