BOND FLICK

[detbuch]

Saw it yesterday. Pretty good. Bit of an existential psychodrama. Bond has always been a sort of existential character without the baggage of existential angst. He was totally immersed in being the 007 agent. And we were entertained by the heroic action of an indestructable character who was always rewarded in the end by a fling with a hottie. There were occasional minor lapses into what was behind the mask but not so much penetration (except with the hottie) that it interfered with the surface action. This film takes a different tack. The action and hotties are still there, but they play a minor role to finding out who bond really is. His age is played up and his past intrudes. He is still the action man, but with more reflection. His current mission is a watershed of insight into his and the supporting heavies' psyches. The conflict is not merely good vs. bad, foreign enemies against the home front, it is about an internal enemy. A sort of Pogoesque we have met the enemy and it is us. The whole mission and method of MI6 is brought into question by the brilliantly portrayed villain with his warnings to "look on your own sin." The price of the methods used by the MI6 director, judi Dench, is high enough to exact revenge. Rather than just hard-nosed orders and actions, either by the good guys or the bad guys, the internal costs are analyzed and weighed. Even the initially villainous hottie, Marlohe, has her hard, beautiful veneer exposed by Bond to be borne of a fear that masks a softer virtue. She plays the hell out that scene. There is some really good acting in this film. The cinematography is lush. The trip back into Bond's infant home is particularly striking. The old English mansion, Skyfall, sequestered in an isolated English marshland is visually striking and foreboding of a dark past and the tragedy of his parents death there leaving Bond an orphan is telling as is the MI6 directors comment that orphans make the best recruits. Bond's apparent death in the beginning and his usual ultimate escape from that condition, this time, leads to an exploration of what and who those who people the agency existentially are, and if there is anything beyond the existential duty to do the job. His return to duty after the obligatory physical and, especially, the psychological exam is one of the many little keys to the psychodrama that unfolds. See the movie if you want to find out who these people, according to the film, are. There are a lot of symbolic remarks and scenes that will subliminally affect you, or even blatantly jump out at you such as Bond's reference to a "brave new world." And, after all the death dealing and death defying action ask yourself if you're convinced by an aging Bond's final remark when asked if he was ready to return to the field was a Yes, With Pleasure.