Broadgate Tower

Broadgate Tower – Skyfall (2012) by Sam Mendes

This week was meant to bring this blog back to the original theme of connecting London places with films. Instead, it will have to meet it halfway – Broadgate Tower is an example of London location playing the role of some other, often remote place. In this case, Broadgate Tower of Bishopsgate became a menacing Shanghai skyscraper. Additionally, contrary to the initial idea, it actually represents one of the most popular films of the recent years – Skyfall, a film of the James Bond series.

James Bond’s latest mission ends up with a failure, leading to exposure off undercover agents around the world and putting MI6 headquarters in danger. When everything seems to be falling apart, Bond is desperate to save the agency, and most importantly – M, one more time. He goes on a mission that leads him across the world to track down the man behind all this – the mysterious Silva who seems to have a connection to M’s past and now returns to settle an old score…

However, it is easy to forget about the fact that Skyfall belongs to the ever-popular Bond series when faced with its wonderful cinematography. Directed by Sam Mendes (author of the beautiful American Beauty), Skyfall is a unique Bond film, in which memorable landscapes, Adele’s original music score, and Javier Bardem’s disturbing villain Raoul Silva, not the action sequences, are what this film will be remembered for. Featuring other stellar performances from actors such as Judi Dench or Ralph Fiennes, Skyfall makes up for much more than just a one-time Friday afternoon entertainment.

“There is nothing superfluous in my life. When a thing is redundant, it is – poof – eliminated”

–Raoul Silva–