Over enkele weken draait de film eindelijk in de
bioscoop: Sam Mendes' Skyfall, de eerste James Bond in vier jaar tijd.
Op het web duiken ondertussen de eerste recensies op van de opvolger van Marc
Forsters Quantum of Solace (2008). De meningen lopen vooralsnog niet
enorm uiteen, aangezien de critici uiterst positief gestemd zijn. De één noemt
het "de beste Bond film ooit", de ander is wat behoudender en maakt vergelijking
met de Batman films van Christopher Nolan.
Een greep uit de eerste reeks
recensies, via Collider:
Digital Spy:
Skyfalls clean, direct narrative, blistering action sequences (a neon-lit
Shanghai showdown deserves to be singled out) and strong performances across the
board elevate it to the upper end of the Bond movie spectrum. There may be an
awful lot of Heineken and a few minutes too many, but you wont walk out of this
disappointed. Turns out you can teach an old dog new
tricks.
The Times: Skyfall is a great
British bulldog of a movie. From the moment the orchestral sound of Adele belts
out, sending a nostalgic shiver down the audiences collective spine, we know
this will be a triumphant return to classic Bond. Sam Mendes, the director,
deftly balances fanboy worship of 007 tradition with sophisticated film-making,
and (apart from early Connery), nobody does it better than Daniel
Craig.
The Playlist: There are some
other missteps along the way. At nearly two and a half hour, the film doesnt
drag, but it feels a little over-extended, particularly in a climax that doesnt
quite live up to what went before. A couple of green-screen shots, especially
early on, are a little ropey. And while the nods to the series past in its 50th
anniversary are welcome, some come across as groan-worthy rather than clever
(theres one moment in a Macau casino that feels like it must be a deliberate
nod to the more out-there moments of theRoger Moore era, because we cant see
what its doing there otherwise )
But Mendes get a lot more right than he
gets wrong, and in the process has found a confident new identity for the
franchise not afraid of its past, but not chasing its competitors, or being
scared of the future either. It might take another viewing of each to see if it
exceeds Casino Royale as the best since the Connery days, but at the very
least, it makes clear that, after the disappointment of Quantum Of Solace,
that Bond is back, and hes not going anywhere. [B+]
