Perhaps the best place to start is with the latest Bond movie but one, 2012’s Skyfall. In Sam Mendes’ directorial entry into the 007 franchise, Bond and M set out to lay out a trap for the latest big bad guy as the film’s climax approaches. And for much of it, it looks to be going well; goons come in and are completely floored by the element of surprise. Yet, as Bond peers through bad guys, he realises, Javier Bardem isn’t here. Cue the chopper, and the machine gunning.
That sums (a big part of) Javier Bardem in film. He knows how to make an entrance. Just as remarkably, he knows to be around. It’s also testament to Skyfall the film in itself, but one of the most impressive things of the film is how as Raoul Silva, Javier Bardem is the main feature of the film despite barely appearing in six scenes.
Javier Bardem is the bad guy who doesn’t even show up for the first hour of the film, but has the MI6 rattled; then makes an entrance with his rat and coconut anecdote. His presence doesn’t need to be lingering, all the acts just have to play out as he’s mapped them to. Again, this is down to the film as well, and anyone else could have played the baddie in Skyfall. But like James Spader in The Blacklist, or Robert Downey Jr in the Iron Man franchise, there was nobody better to have embodied that role, and they elevated a project beyond its look.
Before Javier Bardem in Skyfall, the Bond franchise was scrambling, on the villain side. There probably hadn’t been one that had generated any sufficient on-screen interest since Sean Bean in Golden Eye. The boss in the final Pierce Brosnan Bond movie was indicative of a franchise that needed to be reset, and the bad guy in Quantum of Solace had little in the mould of gravitas. And while Mads Mikkelsen was decent in Casino Royale, something still felt missing.
Once again, Javier Bardem knows how to make an entrance. If Daniel Craig gave the Bond franchise the jolt it desperately needed, Bardem made its villains cool again. From rat and coconut analogies, to alcoholic target practice in a deserted town. The villain that had the most simplistic goal of all, and yet very much seemed like the most elegant. As The Guardian's Emma Brockes once put it, Javier Bardem 'has a face that was made for Bond villainy: buggy eyes, crooked nose, full lips… And that's before you get to his hair'.
This is because Bardem knows how to play it cool. Javier Bardem is no Robert Patrick; he hasn’t quite built his Hollywood ilk around being a baddie. But he knows how to be one. There was the laid-back smiley-faced former MI6 agent in Skyfall. Then there’s the no-nonsense, machine-like efficient killer in No Country for Old Men, where he talks little, but does a lot. Even in the largely disappointing Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, sees Bardem first enter as myth, then vengeful man.
If fictional villains played football, Javier Bardem would be the one you’d want in your corner, especially in high-octane situations. Picture Anton Chigurh, in the midst of 50,000 roaring fans, unfazed by the booing home crowd, as he slots a penalty into the bottom corner. Or Raoul Silva making that long one in the middle of penalty shoot-out, and muttering about rats in his grandmother’s island as he approaches the goalkeeper. He wouldn’t be the kind to just blast a penalty, he’s the kind to seek the most effective approach. He also wouldn’t be one to make faces or gestures at the crowd, his taciturn celebrations afterwards would be more than enough to sting.
So, what does this pointless tribute mean? Frankly, little more than an opener for an embryonic web platform. But that doesn’t mean Javier Bardem and his Hollywood act isn’t worthy of praise, even if it can feel a touch facetious. The style is evident, the swagger is undeniable, and substance brings it all together. Javier Bardem has made a craft for himself for playing fictional characters, but in many ways, that’s as real as it gets.
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