Last week the full trailer for Skyfall came online. What do we think?
First of all, it is not by a long shot as intriguing as that very first teaser, which was a work of art in my book. But that does not mean that this is bad, or that it makes me expect less from the film.
As you may recall, Skyfall is being directed by Academy Award winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, Jarhead, Revolutionary Road). This is a clear new direction taken by producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilso. In the past, the director was ‘just for hire’ on Bond films, and if there were ‘authors’ to the series at all than the producers filled that role. Skyfall seems a typical Mendes film, with strong visual images (also courtesy of cinematographer Roger Deakins) and troubled protagonists. Furthermore, Mendes brought his own composer Thomas Newman with him, replacing Bond regular David Arnold.
The action looks stunning. The plot substantial and the threat real. The big question is how especially British audiences will react to what seems to be a terrorist attack on the London Underground.
Javier Bardem is an old-fashioned Bond viollain with an accent and a bad hair day. However, remembering his Anton Chigurh (No Country for Old Men) he is also properly scary. Ben Whishaw looks good as a new, young ‘Q’. The girls are beautiful, but not much more than that it seems. There is no place for a Vesper Lynd in Skyfall.
If there is a big female role at all, it must be Judi Dench’s M, whose former mistakes cost MI6 dearly now. The question on everyone’s minds is whether Dench will survive the film, with Ralph Fiennes lined up as government official Gareth Mallory.
We will have to wait for November 1st to find out. Until then,w e’ll have to make do with the new trailer and this stunning teaser:
