Reviews Film / Skyfall

Spoilers—ye be warned

I love spy fiction, and no one does it better than Bond, although the character plain annoys me. Skyfall is a perfectly adequate entry in, a fun Craig-era Bond which continues everything we’ve come to expect from the franchise at this point, all the while moving back to the original sombre Connery flavour.

Ridiculousness is never far from the screen, though, especially when it comes to the ladies. Bond girl Severine, ambushed in the shower, murmurs to Bond that she feels naked without her gun. As it happens, I have heard this sentiment before, and it did not come from a gut-wrenchingly beautiful Broken Bird Frenchwoman, but from a plain-spoken hatchet-faced farmer woman of about seventy. Later, the villain shoots the girl in a sadistic display of cruelty which would have been more convincing if Bond hadn’t then immediately mowed down everyone in the area. If it was so easy for him, why didn't he do it ten seconds previous, and save the life of this girl who trusted him?

This entry, however, solidifies something that we had a hint of in previous Craig-era Bond movies—that the real Bond girl is Judi Dench’s M, the only woman Bond treats with consistent respect, love, and chivalry, though the dynamic is filial. Unfortunately, this leads to the fate of all Bond girls, especially those he genuinely cares for. Still, before it ends, M’s relationship with him shows that Bond actually is capable of a mature relationship with a woman. In a series littered with disposable beauties, M’s death comes as a shock.