4. Dark Tone (Sans Humor)
Like the two previous Daniel Craig Bond films, Skyfall is a dramatically darker version of Bond than many of the earlier ones. In varying degrees, The Living Daylights and Die Another Day had notable dark elements to the film, but they failed, in part, due to an overreliance on special effects and gadgets, cheeky one-liners, and plot issues that challenge the suspension of disbelief (consider the Gustav Graves = Tan-Sun Moon scenario in the second of these films). The dark tone of Skyfall is initially established through Bond whose psychological and physical fitness are questioned by those within MI6. While Bond has recovered from his spat of revenge in Quantum of Solace, he is noticeably shaken at his core and this plays into the M-Silva-Bond triangle that composes most of film. It seems that a good deal of the darkness and drama of Skyfall revolves around this triangle and the fact that this film is to be Judi Dench's last go-round as M. For this reason, as well as Craig's last two portrayals and director Sam Mendes' personal vision of the film, Skyfall avoids the special effects festivals and comeback lines of other Bond films. As the film develops from the M's gripping reading of Tennyson's Ulysses during a key action sequence ("We are not now that strength which in old days moved earth and heaven") to the key finale at Skyfall Lodgewhich is so much more soft-spoken and more powerful than the over-the-top destruction of the Atacama Desert hotel in Quantum of Solacewe are caught up in the highly personalized and emotional stakes of the conflict between M, Silva, and Bond. At times, the triangle reminded me of the triads of characters in The Dark Knight and No Country for Old Men (the latter which also featured Bardem as a villain). Of course, we need to keep in mind that of all of themes explored in this article, this one clearly falls into the realm of enjoyment. One could, for example, find extreme pleasure in Roger Moore's portrayal of Bond in Octopussyclown suit and alland find Skyfall and the other Daniel Craig-era films to be too dark, too psychological, and utterly depressing. Many of the darker elements of Bond and other characters from Ian Fleming's novels have been absent from many of the films, so there is precedence for a filmic Bond that is a bit more lite. For more on this theme of the novels, see "
The Dark Side of 007." Clearly, there are foundations for both the campy, humorous Bond and the more serious, self-doubting, and psychological Bond. The trend now has shifted to the serious, darker Bond, but this does not mean that Bond 24 will be devoid of the irony that Daniel Craig has alluded may play a bigger part in it. I would make the argument for the maintenance of the serious Bond that Craig has portrayed aptly in two films and that Mendes has directed in one. Like Christopher Nolan's reboot of the Batman franchise, the new direction of Bond through the last three films offers an opportunity to consider more serious political and social themes. This seems particularly relevant given the current world picture of terrorism, intelligence and security scandals (such as with the NSA), geo-political instability, and other issues of a global world.