Skyfall

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PLOT

The latest James Bond movie stars Javier Bardem as the villain Raoul Silva. Silva is mad because M (Judi Dench) gave him up to the Chinese for 5 months of torture. After eating the cyanide pill that did not kill him but disfigured him, Silva had enough of MI6 and M. He wants M to die and end his miserable existence. Silva will have to go through Bond to do it.

Stray Comment: I love how James Bond looks at Silva when he is detailing his torture. He smirks and looks him up and down in disdain with a look that says in American: B*tch A** Spaniard! and in British might be something like "Man up, your behavior is utterly appalling."

*CUE THEME SONG*

*Minor Spoilers Ahead*

I couldn't for the life of me figure out why everyone was raving about the latest James Bond movie. By the time Quantum of Solace came around I had already declared this remake of the series a dud and continued to feed my Daniel Craig obsession by watching alternatives like Cowboys and Aliens.

As I saw the beginning credits go by with the sweet sound of Adele's "Skyfall" in my ear, I thought the hype might be about the amazing cast. I also thought Ralph Fiennes would be the villain and that I would be in for a magnificent treat of pure evil. Even when it turned out he wasn't, I was still expecting, with bated breath, his inevitable turn to the dark side. It never happened. Instead, I got Javier Bardem doing the role of The Joker's whiny little brother (but still pure evil, of course). This did not dissuade me. I needed to pinpoint what made this movie amazing when the others had been stale at best.

I began to watch it and slowly I began to understand why this movie was different than all the others. This time around there was a timeless quality to it. A reminder that James Bond is a legend. A polite hero,but a most human one with nothing left but age and an iron will that no MI6 test can see coming. A man who was once a young boy escaping to an underground cave from the death of his parents and who came out a man and no longer a boy.

Q: Age is no guarantee of efficiency
Bond: Youth is no guarantee of innovation

These words are put to the test as it is repeatedly said that James Bond is getting old and that he should have just stayed dead and enjoyed an early retirement. It is clear to the audience that this is not the case. MI6 has just withstood a terrorist attack and 007 is ready for duty, wether MI6 thinks he is or not.

What made the movie nostalgic (for those Sean Connery lovers) is not only the old theme song, the English dry wit or even the action scenes. What made it amazing was the old fashioned 1950's car with the theme song and Bond driving down a lonely road like the rogue he is, ready to defend his country once more even when it just willingly sacrificed and shot him a few months ago.

Bond shows us all that old dogs could learn new tricks, but that sometimes the old way is the best way. Symbolically, Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is killed not by a gun, the symbol of the gadgets in this new technology age, but by a knife in the back the way they used to do it in the good old days. A reminder that the MI6 is about fighting in the shadows against people who are "not on a map, who do not have a name"and that MI6 is made up of the people who do the dirty work. The agents who slide a knife between someone's rib and slip back into the shadows to live in darkness in order to allow the people to live in the light.

Nothing could have resonated with me more. I love the exploration of the darkness inside of James Bond. A darkness not only present in justice-seeking spies, but inside of all of us.

This movie was not at all perfect (why did bond chase Silva through the train station if he already knew his destination?) but its quality comes from its message that technology may be good and all, but it can never replace human instinct and our incessant will to--in the case of James Bond--resurrect.