Trailer Trashin’: Suspense, Style, and Smarts Come Together in Skyfall

We’ve reached August, and the summer movie season is starting to wind down, with only a handful of notable releases left. But even if there aren’t as many movies, there are still some great trailers coming out. This week marks the first time in this column’s history that I’m revisiting a movie I’ve already covered, because there’s a new trailer out for the next James Bond film, Skyfall.

Premise: After an operation in Istanbul ends in disaster, James Bond (Daniel Craig) is missing and presumed dead, the identities of every active undercover MI6 agent are leaked onto the internet, and M (Judi Dench) becomes the subject of a government review over her handling of the situation. When the agency itself is attacked, Bond’s sudden reappearance gives M the pretext she needs to seek out a dangerous villain claiming a personal connection to both of them – but as he follows a trail from London to the South China Sea, Bond soon finds his loyalty to M challenged over secrets from her past.

My take: For almost fifty years, Eon Productions’ James Bond series has been a fixture of world cinema. The franchise has certainly had its low points – Die Another Day (2002) immediately springs to mind – but it’s also proven to be remarkably resilient, managing to stay successful and relevant despite the changing times. And as an appropriate way to celebrate the series’ golden jubilee, Skyfall, the twenty-third film in the franchise, will arrive in our theaters this fall. The second trailer for the film has arrived, and my only word for it is “awesome.”

As I said last time, the James Bond films have a history of impressive casts, and Skyfall is no exception. I love Daniel Craig as Bond, and he’s really made the role his own. We finally get a good look at Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, the main villain, and he looks quite menacing, despite his slightly goofy-looking blond hair. Judi Dench is always great as M, and it looks like she’s got a pretty meaty story this time around. It’s always nice to see Ralph Fiennes in a movie, and I’m curious what role his character Mallory will play in the story. We see a lot more of the two Bond girls – Naomie Harris as Eve and Berenice Marlohe as Severine – in this trailer. It looks like Eve is more involved in Bond’s mission than I expected, and I’m still wondering whose side Severine will end up being on. The member of the cast I was most hoping to see here was Ben Whishaw as Q, and he does indeed appear. This younger, nerdy Q is a big difference from what we’ve seen before and I’m liking it so far. Still no sight of Albert Finney or Helen McCrory, so we’ll have to wait for the next trailer to maybe see them.

I have to say, I really like the story they’re going for in this movie. Undercover agents having their identities exposed is a classic spy trope, and having them uploaded to the internet is a great modern twist. I wasn’t expecting them to have Bond be seemingly killed and come back later, and I’m interested to know whether M and the others are in on it, or if they thought he was actually dead. And speaking of which, M doesn’t usually have such a direct role in the proceedings, so I’m eager to see how that plays out.

This trailer also shows a lot more of the action, and it looks pretty spectacular. We’ve got vehicle chases, fistfights, gunfights, a subway derailment, and more. The one that impresses me the most is the extended scene involving the train, which at various points includes Bond riding a motorcycle on top of the train and a crane tearing apart the train cars. That scene alone looks like it might make it worth the cost of seeing the film in IMAX. And I just love the quick moment where, after Bond leaps into the smashed train car, he takes a moment to adjust his cuffs – for me, that’s just a classic Bond touch.

MGM and Sony have really done an amazing job so far promoting this film; there has not been a single thing to dampen my enthusiasm. I’ve been a big fan of this series for a long time, and this could be one to remember. With a great cast, an intriguing story, and some killer action, this looks like it could be one of the highlights of the fall movie season. I was already really looking forward to the movie, but after seeing this trailer, I’m definitely going to try to see Skyfall on its opening weekend.

ANTICIPATION: I’m shaking (not stirred) with excitement.

Release Date: November 9th, 2012

Starring: Daniel Craig, Javier Bardem, Judi Dench, Ralph Fiennes, Albert Finney, Naomie Harris, Rory Kinnear, Berenice Marlohe, Helen McCrory, Ola Rapace, and Ben Whishaw
Director: Sam Mendes
Writers: John Logan, Neal Purvis, and Robert Wade

P.S. So, Christopher Eccleston is going to play Malekith the Accursed, the main villain in Thor: The Dark World. For those who aren’t familiar with the comics, Malekith is the ruler of the Dark Elves of Svartalfheim, another one of the nine realms. There’s only one word for this news: “Fantastic!”

P.P.S. In other very cool comic book-movie news, there’s rumors that Marvel/Disney and Fox are in serious talks about swapping some rights. Supposedly, the deal is that Fox gets an extension on their rights to Daredevil, in order to finally get that reboot off the ground – with none other than Joe Carnahan in talks to direct – and in exchange, Marvel gets back the film rights to both the Silver Surfer and Galactus, presumably to add them into their shared movie universe. I really hope this deal happens, because both parts of it sound quite awesome.