"Everybody needs a hobby.." "So whats yours?" "Resurrection."
Skyfall had been stuck in the pipeline for 4 years breaking the Bond-film-every-2-years momentum and judging by Daniel Craig's old looks in the trailers, I was afraid, it would be his last Bond outing. Directed by Sam Mendes, Skyfall has a stellar cast, Javier Bardem and Ralph Fiennes join Daniel Craig and Judi Dench in Bond's 23rd adventure on the silver screen.
After a long and artistically crafted entrance, as James Bond falls into the waters, you cant help but admire the tension on the screen, "Take the bloody shot!" and the silence that follows as the title track by Adele grows in the background. The premise is promising. M's (read flawed) judgement call, causes 007 to be KIA while trying to retrieve back a hard disk containing identities of British undercover agents throughout the world, raising doubts over M's ability to run MI6. An attck on the MI6 headquarters in the heart of London forces Bond to return from his death-vacation. But the transition is not smooth, Bond is reeling under physical trauma, MI6 is in hiding, British agents all over the world are being slaughtered and a psychotic terrorist leader is hellbent on destroying M and has more in common with Bond than imagined.
Daniel Craig as the rusted Bond is super. He has a very smooth presence this time, with his one liners and wry smile unless he is jumping off trains or battling bad guys in icy lakes. He is back to his shaken-not-stirred ways, a phrase which I believe has more to do with Bond's persona than his drinks. Judy Dench as M , drives the whole drama, and drives well. Just the presence of Ralph Fiennes as Gareth Mallory in the cast brings a different sort of heaviness to the proceedings, a quality previously exhibited by the likes of DeNiro and Pacino. Ben Whish as Q is a delight, perhaps the youngest actor in the entrie movie! Berenice is just stunning, and well, it ends there because she doesn't have much of a role. Sam Mendes has given a really dark, serious tone to the movie, and there is a tension associated with the characters unlike any of the previous bond movies, with the characters scrambling to get the upper hand.
When Sam Mendes said that he was inspired by Nolan's take on the Batman saga particularly, the Dark Knight, he wasn't joking. Silva in custody at the new MI6 headquarters, only to hack into MI6 security, with a plan to take down M, feels so close to Joker at MCU with a plan to take down Harvey Dent and Rachel Dawes. Doesn't sound similar? Wait till you watch the sequence. As Judy Dench recites poetry in the voice over, we have Bond running frantically out of the tube to save M while Silva blasts his way into the meeting hall, a sequence that deserves a mention as one of the best Bond sequences filmed to date. Now that I think of it, a hero not in the best of shapes, forced to return, because his cause needs him or a famous character that reveals its true name at the very end only to be applauded with 'ooh's and 'aah's, would be overstretching the similarities part a bit, but its just a Nolan fan speaking. Skyfall is a totally different film, a totally different genre I might say.
Resurrection. With Skyfall, Craig and the franchise return to the good old-fashioned cocktail of Bond without the Bourne. The boy-toys are back, the 9mm short that reads palm prints, transmitting devices and vintage Bond cars, but the exploding pens will still be missing from the arsenal for quite a while. The Bond girls are back to being 'just' Bond girls again, without wrecking any emotional havoc on our hero. But in Gaming jargon, if I am to pinpoint, the most important piece that was missing in the last two movies, it has to be a real bossfight. Javiar Bardem gives us back a real Bond villian, a smiling, gentle and creepily sophisticated monster, who can take down economies and crush countries while still mouthing dialogs like "Mommy was very bad". The character, his idiosyncracies, the blonde hair, everything fits perfectly, clearing doubts why Bardem would do something as commercial as a Bond movie, it's all about the character. He almost steals the thunder in this one.
Personally, I find Daniel Craig as the best Bond ever, he brings a particular vulnerability to the role and it has more to do with the characterisation than the actor himself. Skyfall moves down the same road on a bit personal note, exploring the relationship between Bond and M and rather beautifully. Skyfall is a bold and intelligent film, without revealing much, the second half is a very different experience, it almost puzzled me. I was like, "this isn't Bond", and its the layered script that works the charm. Its a M/Bond versus Silva battle, no end of the world, no satellites melting glaciers, no Russian submarines, its all personal.Sam Mendes has done an exceptional job, he has tamed the series and returned it back to its owners in a fitting avatar. The film is an action-packed multi-layered revenge saga delving a little bit deeper into the motivations of the central characters, and of course we have a grinning sinister Bardem on the loose. The best way to commemorate 50 years of Bond.
The
Dark Knight Rises, the last movie of the Christopher Nolan’s Batman universe
was also the most awaited movie of 2012 summer. The movie released on 20th
July worldwide, one of the few Hollywood biggies that didn’t release in 3D,
and instead in IMAX with over 50 mins of IMAX footage. Rises has too much
riding on it, as it follows the commercially and critically acclaimed The Dark
Knight, it marks the end of Nolan’s Batman Saga and fans from all over the
world have sky-high expectations from this one especially after Inception.
The Dark Knight Rises is set 8 years after the events of The
Dark Knight, when Batman(Christian Bale) takes the fall for Harvey Dents(Aaron
Eckhart) crimes, a secret kept by Commissioner Gordan(Gary Oldman) all this
while, so that the The Harvey Dent Act remains intact. Since the night of
Harvey Dent’s murder, there has been no sighting of the caped crusader. Bruce
Wayne is now a recluse, who hasn’t stepped outside Wayne Manor in months.
Miranda Tate(Marion Cottilard) is a new member of the Wayne Enterprises, who
along with Alfred(Michael Caine) and Fox(Morgan Freeman) wants to help Mr
Wayne, his enterprise and Gotham. John Blake(Gordon-Levitt) is a “hot-headed”
police officer and one of the many in Gotham who wants the Batman to return.
Selina Kyle(Anna Hathaway) also the Catwoman, though the name is never
mentioned, is a slick burglar who drives Bruce Wayne out of his self imposed
retirement. Hell breaks loose when
Dagget, a businessman who wants to overtake Wayne industries, brings Bane(Tom
Hardy), a half-masked terrorist to run his operations in Gotham. But Bane has
his own plans for Gotham and when the city is defenceless, Batman is forced to
return.
There had been a lot of apprehension, especially after a
review of The Dark Knight Rises posted on Rotten Tomatoes that Nolan’s third
attempt does not deliver. IT DOES. Essentially, what makes Christopher Nolan’s
adaptation different from the rest is the fact, that it is not the story of
just Batman, it’s the story of Bruce Wayne, and how he transforms himself, his
ideals into a symbol, his fall and how he rises back. As for Bane, yes, he is no
Joker. I believe no character or actor could have done what Heath Ledger did
for Joker in The Dark Knight, it’s a performance that made The Dark Knight a
classic and forever changed the Superhero genre. Bane who wears a mask having an analgesic
device to ease his pain, believes in carnage unlike the mind-games preferred by
Joker, the only villain physically superior to Batman and infamous for breaking
Batman’s back. Tom Hardy does a great job, especially with his accent, and gives a distinct feel to the character but somehow the mask
undermines his performance and the fear he is to instill does not appear on screen as it was intended to. Anna Hathway as Selina Kyle does the rest of it for
the film and deserves a round of applause. She brings the sexy and mischievous
feel back to the dark theme, at the same time displaying a range of emotions
including remorse for our fallen hero. The conversations between Selina and
Bruce/Batman, their chemistry are a treat to watch and fill up a little for the
memorable Batman-Joker. The only glitch in the script and character development
appears in the form of Miranda Tate, who has very little screen time, and the
roots of her characters are not very well defined for a film that introduces so
many new characters and with a running length of over 2 hours and 50 mins. Also
the entire police force behind Batman without a single unit behind the
attackers of the Stock Exchange, isn’t something you expect in Nolan’s
screenplay.
The Dark Knight trilogy is based on 3 themes, Fear (Batman
Begins), Chaos (The Dark Knight) and Pain (The Dark Knight Rises). A scarred
hero with a lost love is a common theme in all of Nolan’s works whether it was
Cobb from Inception, Robert from The Prestige or Leonard from Memento. Bruce Wayne
has lost purpose, he considers himself responsible for the death of his
childhood love Rachel and retires to prevent any more casualties. He is
downright miserable, uses a cane to walk, has no clue of his business as
always, the gadgets, the detective skills are still there but he is waiting for
something. Micheal Caine does an excellent job as Alfred reminding Bruce that
he is no longer Batman, his body cannot take it anymore, and he needs to move
on. Rises is very high on the emotional scale and very close to Begins, the way the film unfolds is to provide a very strong build-up for the climax. Christian Bale delivers a memorable performance as a broken hero, with a strong resolve to come back and save his city, "I am not afraid, I am angry".
The Dark Knight Rises is Christopher Nolan’s most ambitious
project to date. The scale of the movie is epic. Gotham is under siege, cut off
from the world, and armies are being gathered for the final showdown, a sight
to see in IMAX. “The Bat” makes an appearance as Batman’s new transport,
dodging missiles and providing escape in tight situations but still nothing
beats the truck flip of the The Dark Knight. Manhattan is taken up as Gotham in
Rises, unlike Chicago which was used in the previous two films. The cinematography
is flawless, Wally Pfister does a great job again keeping in mind the scale of
the movie, the prison sequence being a highlight. Hans Zimmer provides the
score for the movie, and uses a peculiar chant Deh Shay Bah Sah Rah(meaning "Rise") whenever
Bane makes an appearance. The soundtrack has a gloomy feel to it and uses parts
of the tracks from Begins to relate better to it, with my personal favourites
being Rise and Despair.
The
incredible thing about Rises is the way the story of Bruce Wayne connects to
its root, Begins. Rises is more similar to Begins than the Dark Knight, the
plot is emotional and sets the stage for the climax of the trilogy. The Dark Knight Rises is a great film, it delivers an amazing emotional, supercharged climax to the trilogy, going full circle.It marks the end of Bruce Wayne's journey as Batman as only cinema can deliver. As you leave theaters, you cant help feeling awe and admiration for Christopher Nolan, one of the greatest directors of today, you built a legend from scratch. "You don't owe these people anymore! You've given them everything!" I still wish the answer to that one was "Not everything. Not yet."
