Daniel Craig returns to celebrate James Bond’s fiftieth anniversary with Skyfall.
It’s 2012 and Bond has been absent from movie screens for four years! When last we saw him was way back in 2008’s Quantum of Solace. That first Bond sequel movie wrapped up the lingering questions left from Casino Royale. Bond had found his solace with Vesper’s death, learned more about that mysterious evil organization known as Quantum and despite looking like a rogue agent out for a personal vendetta assured M that he had never left MI6. It looked like another mission was coming his way very soon.
It didn’t.
Fans and producers were eager for the next 007 adventure, but a bit of a problem put the breaks on Bond. MGM filed for bankruptcy and production halted on Bond 23. It wouldn’t be until 2010 when the studio’s problems would be cleared up before EON producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson felt confident to proceed ahead with the next Bond adventure.
Along with Craig returning to the role of 007, Judi Dench would once again play his boss M. This time however, M would find herself in more of a prominent role in the story than ever before. It would also be an emotional closing chapter for Dench and her character.
Skyfall would bring a bunch of new faces to the series, both behind the camera and in front of it. Sam Mendes would direct, famed cinematographer Roger Deakins would come on board and Adele was hired to sing the films theme song.
The film would not only be a celebration of Bond’s past, but it would also look towards the future. Old characters would be reintroduced. Long missing staples of the series, Skyfall would bring back and update the beloved characters of Q and Miss Moneypenny, who now would be played by Ben Whishaw and Naomie Harris.
Also starring would be Javier Bardem as the villain who has a bit of a personal grudge against M. Bérénice Marlohe as a mysterious, exotic woman. Albert Finney as a character stepping out of the shadows from Bond’s past and Ralph Fiennes as a soon-to-be recurring character in future installments, I take a look at Skyfall.
As some of my longtime viewers have witnessed, these Bond projects gradually progressed to more extensive and penetrating looks at the films. They’ve gotten a bit more polished over time and hopefully a bit more of a fun experience to watch as well.
They’ve also gotten to be perhaps too exhaustive in many ways. With recent Bond projects they have reached staggering lengths – to even my shock. What was once meant to be a fun diversion of a one-minute look at each Bond film, have now become epic projects. One could simply watch the Bond movie I’m focusing on rather than spending that time hearing me ramble about it – and still have plenty of time to spare!
I’ve just come to accept the mammoth lengths where these Bond projects take me. Typically, I have no idea in what directions I’m going to venture when I first sit down and start work on them. This was especially true with Skyfall. I didn’t anticipate what was going to happen with it, but I guess I found plenty to talk about with it – since it is LONG! It’s the longest project I’ve done. I just keep setting a new record with every new Bond project.
Also, this look at Skyfall was never meant to have taken as long to finish as it has. No, I’m not trying to pattern this Bond series with the duration between the actual films being released (that could be a neat idea though!).
Not surprisingly, things happen away from online antics and personal events take away the time to work on these projects and they must be placed on the back burner. There was a lot of starting and stopping on this project. It just ended up dragging out over a much longer period of time than I had hoped. But what can you do?
Lastly, I’m extremely appreciative to all the fellow Bond fans out there who have been interested in when this next project would be done and have been left wondering if I was ever going to continue this series with Skyfall.
It’s very humbling and I’m very grateful that there is a genuine interest in these projects. That folks have taken the time to watch them, rate them, comment on them and that they are being appreciated and providing some entertainment is real motivation for me to continue doing them.
I really enjoy hearing other fans’ feedback, comments, observations and opinions on the films. Whether it’s in the Youtube comments, my blog, Twitter, Facebook, wherever, it’s always great hearing the different perspectives from fans of Bond. So, thanks to all my fellow Bond fans!
With all that being said, here’s The Craig Reconstruction: Skyfall. As I said, it’s a long one folks! Oh, and I have no idea when I might look at Spectre or when my next Bond project will be. It will be awhile before I recover from this one.
– For those where the Youtube version has been blocked
The Craig Reconstruction: Skyfall (Part Four) from HaphazardStuff on Vimeo.
