Skyfall is one of the few Bond films that gets less enjoyable every time i watch it. Despite that, theres still some good stuff here.
Pros:
.The cinematography is truly excellent. Mainly during the China and Scotland scenes.
.The locations are stunning.
.The theme song and title sequence are terrific. This and GE are Kleinman's best work.
.Great cast and acting all around.
.The entire China section is pretty cool.
.Really dig the finale apart from some of the melodrama.
.The end scene got me pumped for Bond 24.
.Has a real patriotic feel.
Cons:
.The score, apart from Grand Bizaar and a couple of slower tracks just doesn't do it for me. I've been spoiled by Barry and Arnold.
.The film features the worst gunbarrel. Its at the end for no good reason, the walk is bad, and don't get me started on the design.
.Rory Kinnear. Personally I would've kept Villiers.
.Too much CGI.
.Severine is underused.
.Daniel Craig's haircut and wardrobe.
.Kincade using a flashlight.
.I just really wanted to see a sequel to QOS that showed this new type of Bond in his prime.
con - Silva had the first great looking villain's HQ in ages, yet the scenes in this HQ were rushed and resolved much too soon, with nearly half the film yet to come ... and the action then moved back to Britain, bad enough in and of itself but also setting precedent for the structure of the next film ... let's hope future generations recognise this as a mistake and never do it again, final acts should always be big productions showing off the villains HQ
pro - replacing the traditional villains HQ with Bond's childhood home is actually a clever twist ... and we do get to explore Bonds ancestral HQ, setting up all the traps in the various rooms then hiding in the priesthole, and it does get blowed up real good at the end, all the things that should have happened with Silva's HQ but didn't
Now that Bond25 has got delayed, there isn't such a rush to rewatch his first four. But might as well keep going, right? Specially since its all one big story.
This one I actually liked better than I had remembered.
________________________________________
PROS
- Only all-original title to not include the word "Die". And coincidentally the only good all-original title.
- First theme song since tWiNE that actually sounds like a Bond theme.
- Classic transition from precredits to credits. This is always one of my favourite moments in any Bondfilm, and is done particularly well here.
- Only self contained CraigBond film, revisionist retcons notwithstanding.
- Aside from (the second half of) Casino Royale, this film has the most coherent plot of all the Craig-films. And it's cleverly structured with several symmetries, and some deep thoughts to ponder.
- Symmetries: Bond's obsolescence is echoed by M's enforced retirement after a string of failures. M's decision to let Bond get shot is echoed by M's decision to trade Sylva to the enemy.
- also: the British BullDog statue is echoed when Moneypenny calls Bond an old dog, and by all the action happening in Churchill's bunkers. That little statue on M's desk carries a lot of symbolic weight.
- The story has a lot of character moments for Bond, M and Sylva without all the soap opera vibe of the previous film.
- Bits and pieces of Fleming, in particular the end of YOLT and beginning of tMwtGG. I like to believe the woman seen sleeping with Bond while he is "enjoying death" is a topless pearl diver. And we see M write Bond's Obituary. Later we see the gravestone of Andrew Bond and Monique Delacroix.
- Fleming never mentioned any place called SkyFall, but he did tell us Bond was from Glencoe. I think it's Pearson who first described a specific ancestral home in Glencoe.
- Craig gets to display more comedy chops than in his first two films combined.
- Despite not generally liking these overly artistic action scenes, the fight in front of advertising lights is rather impressive. The silhouettes invoke Binder. And the main background image the figures are set against is a giant digital jellyfish! Fleming would have approved of that jellyfish.
- The new Moneypenny is easily the best since the Lois Maxwell.
- "a close shave". What happens next in the shaving scene is left to our imaginations, but can be read either way, depending on what you choose to believe. Classic Moneypenny was indoobitably a repressed spinster living her fantasies vicariously through Bond. I believe this new Moneypenny has alrady slept with Bond before getting the deskjob where she can flirt with him outside his boss's office, a good new twist. But based on the specific evidence we are given, another viewer can choose to believe the exact opposite.
Still, that "close shave" scene was mighty sexy.
- If, like me, you're now wondering if classic Moneypenny was ever a field agent, there's an early Danger Man episode where Lois Maxwell teamed up with John Drake in the field. And if we assume Sandi Lewis was an alias, she could be the same character!
- Camera movement during the Casino scene, and precise choreography of Bond and Moneypenny's movements. This director is good with these tracking shots.
- Severine is the femme fataliest character of all the Craig era films. She's got a very vampy look going on!
- Bérénice Marlohe would reappear in Twin Peaks the Return as Deputy Director Gordon Cole's date, one of two Craig-era Bondgirls who are also Gordon Cole girls.
(quick, who can name the second?)
- Sylva has got a freakin' amazing villain's headquarters! When was the last time we even saw a proper villain's headquarters?
- That island is fantastic, with all the abandoned buildings and cars, the server farm, and the toppled statue where Severine will meet her end.
- the story Sylva tells about the rats could easily be from Fleming. We know there were rats in Goldeneye!
- Sylva gets the most screentime of any Craig-era villain, and really chews the scenery. And he makes a pass at our hero.
- new MI6 headquarters: it's Churchill's old bunkers from WWII, and they're still discovering tunnels dating back to the 1700s. Sylva has it mapped on his harddrive: those tunnels lead into the tube and the sewers and therefor all across London, from below. Setting up a chase scene of interest to any municipal cartographers in the audience.
- And there's some sort of weird irony with the threat emerging from those bunkers right into the well lit cabinet inquiry, while the minister is literally promising to drag MI6 out of the shadows.
- Bond's ancestral home therefor plays the part traditionally given to the villain's headquarters, complete with explosion. And even if he always hated that place, the Bond clan had a very cool ancestral home.
CONS
- gun barrel in the wrong place, once a-bloody-gain!
- That deep perspective shot of Bond walking up towards the peephole would actually have followed nicely from a proper gunbarrel, it's a similar composition.
- Despite sounding superficially like a classic Bond theme, Adele's theme song is not very substantial, and upon re-listening does not reveal all those interlocking hooks the Barry-era themes had.
- What happened to the years where CraigBond was at this career prime? There must be a lot of Unseen Missions that have been left to our imagination.
- Poor old Dench-M really hasn't succeeded at much during these Craig-era films, has she? Lost all the money to QUANTUM in the first film, found her own bodyguard is a QUANTUM mole in the second, and now this. The cabinet is not wrong to prefer a replacement.
- It's nice Tanner is such a major character, and he's not a jerk like the Tanner in FYEO. But this guy is mighty bland, and I certainly can't picture him being Craig-Bond's best friend.
- why does the psychiatrist say the word "skyfall" during word association? this is never explained
- "a waste of good Scotch" is just about the cruelest and least funny oneliner ever in a James Bond movie. Very low moment.
- Since Bond was able to take out all the bodyguards singlehanded, and knew all those helicopters were hovering just behind the buildings, why did he wait til after Severine was shot to act? Just so he could use that witty oneliner, right?
- The potential of Sylva's headquarters is completely squandered after two short scenes, we should have been exploring that unique space for the rest of the film.
- Helicopters appearing over the horizon on cue is such a copout, why wouldn't Bond just have them appear every time he gets in a spot like that? No need for the story to ever get interesting if capturing a Bond villain is that easy.
- and of course this nonsense of abruptly returning to London for the final act set precedent for the next film.
- Q plugs the villains laptop directly into the MI6 network. What kind of programmer in the IT department is he anyway?
- M's poetry reading: more arty-fartying of action sequences in the Craig era instead of letting action scenes speak for themselves.
- Bond doesn't get a ladyfriend in a clinch at the end, yet a-goddam-gain. It's like these young whippersnapper filmmakers don't even like proper James Bond movies!
As with QoS, I took too long to post my updated views, so I'll just say I give 8/10.
"Hostile takeovers. Shall we?"
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
Pros
superb theme (even with the weird way she ways some words!)
Craig has really settled in well
brilliant Q
Silva is great fun
Lots of London on it, always good for a Bond film
Great to have the family backstory
some great additions to the cast, especially Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney
love Naomie Harris and Moneypenny being added
great use of locations standing in for worldwide ones (saving money in a cool and inventive way)
interesting story of a rogue villain
cool locations around the world
Cons
plot holes, the planning of Silva is a bit strange
Severine underused
you dont find out enough about Silva
its all a little bit gloomy for large portions of the film
nice to see the DBS but the jokey ejector seat thing doesnt sit well with the films tone
The silhouettes invoke Binder. And the main background image the figures are set against is a giant digital jellyfish! Fleming would have approved of that jellyfish.
Back in 2012, a lot of giddy Bond fans were insisting that the end of Skyfall was aligning Craigs Bond into the timeline of the previous Bonds, i thought that was silly but in hindsight, maybe it would have been better to do that rather than the Stepbro Blofeld was behind everything that happened in the past few movies nonsense?
Comments
Pros:
.The cinematography is truly excellent. Mainly during the China and Scotland scenes.
.The locations are stunning.
.The theme song and title sequence are terrific. This and GE are Kleinman's best work.
.Great cast and acting all around.
.The entire China section is pretty cool.
.Really dig the finale apart from some of the melodrama.
.The end scene got me pumped for Bond 24.
.Has a real patriotic feel.
Cons:
.The score, apart from Grand Bizaar and a couple of slower tracks just doesn't do it for me. I've been spoiled by Barry and Arnold.
.The film features the worst gunbarrel. Its at the end for no good reason, the walk is bad, and don't get me started on the design.
.Rory Kinnear. Personally I would've kept Villiers.
.Too much CGI.
.Severine is underused.
.Daniel Craig's haircut and wardrobe.
.Kincade using a flashlight.
.I just really wanted to see a sequel to QOS that showed this new type of Bond in his prime.
8/10 -{
pro - replacing the traditional villains HQ with Bond's childhood home is actually a clever twist ... and we do get to explore Bonds ancestral HQ, setting up all the traps in the various rooms then hiding in the priesthole, and it does get blowed up real good at the end, all the things that should have happened with Silva's HQ but didn't
This one I actually liked better than I had remembered.
________________________________________
PROS
- Only all-original title to not include the word "Die". And coincidentally the only good all-original title.
- First theme song since tWiNE that actually sounds like a Bond theme.
- Classic transition from precredits to credits. This is always one of my favourite moments in any Bondfilm, and is done particularly well here.
- Only self contained CraigBond film, revisionist retcons notwithstanding.
- Aside from (the second half of) Casino Royale, this film has the most coherent plot of all the Craig-films. And it's cleverly structured with several symmetries, and some deep thoughts to ponder.
- Symmetries: Bond's obsolescence is echoed by M's enforced retirement after a string of failures. M's decision to let Bond get shot is echoed by M's decision to trade Sylva to the enemy.
- also: the British BullDog statue is echoed when Moneypenny calls Bond an old dog, and by all the action happening in Churchill's bunkers. That little statue on M's desk carries a lot of symbolic weight.
- The story has a lot of character moments for Bond, M and Sylva without all the soap opera vibe of the previous film.
- Bits and pieces of Fleming, in particular the end of YOLT and beginning of tMwtGG. I like to believe the woman seen sleeping with Bond while he is "enjoying death" is a topless pearl diver. And we see M write Bond's Obituary. Later we see the gravestone of Andrew Bond and Monique Delacroix.
- Fleming never mentioned any place called SkyFall, but he did tell us Bond was from Glencoe. I think it's Pearson who first described a specific ancestral home in Glencoe.
- Craig gets to display more comedy chops than in his first two films combined.
- Despite not generally liking these overly artistic action scenes, the fight in front of advertising lights is rather impressive. The silhouettes invoke Binder. And the main background image the figures are set against is a giant digital jellyfish! Fleming would have approved of that jellyfish.
- The new Moneypenny is easily the best since the Lois Maxwell.
- "a close shave". What happens next in the shaving scene is left to our imaginations, but can be read either way, depending on what you choose to believe. Classic Moneypenny was indoobitably a repressed spinster living her fantasies vicariously through Bond. I believe this new Moneypenny has alrady slept with Bond before getting the deskjob where she can flirt with him outside his boss's office, a good new twist. But based on the specific evidence we are given, another viewer can choose to believe the exact opposite.
Still, that "close shave" scene was mighty sexy.
- If, like me, you're now wondering if classic Moneypenny was ever a field agent, there's an early Danger Man episode where Lois Maxwell teamed up with John Drake in the field. And if we assume Sandi Lewis was an alias, she could be the same character!
- Camera movement during the Casino scene, and precise choreography of Bond and Moneypenny's movements. This director is good with these tracking shots.
- Severine is the femme fataliest character of all the Craig era films. She's got a very vampy look going on!
- Bérénice Marlohe would reappear in Twin Peaks the Return as Deputy Director Gordon Cole's date, one of two Craig-era Bondgirls who are also Gordon Cole girls.
(quick, who can name the second?)
- Sylva has got a freakin' amazing villain's headquarters! When was the last time we even saw a proper villain's headquarters?
- That island is fantastic, with all the abandoned buildings and cars, the server farm, and the toppled statue where Severine will meet her end.
- the story Sylva tells about the rats could easily be from Fleming. We know there were rats in Goldeneye!
- Sylva gets the most screentime of any Craig-era villain, and really chews the scenery.
And he makes a pass at our hero.
- new MI6 headquarters: it's Churchill's old bunkers from WWII, and they're still discovering tunnels dating back to the 1700s. Sylva has it mapped on his harddrive: those tunnels lead into the tube and the sewers and therefor all across London, from below. Setting up a chase scene of interest to any municipal cartographers in the audience.
- And there's some sort of weird irony with the threat emerging from those bunkers right into the well lit cabinet inquiry, while the minister is literally promising to drag MI6 out of the shadows.
- Bond's ancestral home therefor plays the part traditionally given to the villain's headquarters, complete with explosion. And even if he always hated that place, the Bond clan had a very cool ancestral home.
CONS
- gun barrel in the wrong place, once a-bloody-gain!
- That deep perspective shot of Bond walking up towards the peephole would actually have followed nicely from a proper gunbarrel, it's a similar composition.
- Despite sounding superficially like a classic Bond theme, Adele's theme song is not very substantial, and upon re-listening does not reveal all those interlocking hooks the Barry-era themes had.
- What happened to the years where CraigBond was at this career prime? There must be a lot of Unseen Missions that have been left to our imagination.
- Poor old Dench-M really hasn't succeeded at much during these Craig-era films, has she? Lost all the money to QUANTUM in the first film, found her own bodyguard is a QUANTUM mole in the second, and now this. The cabinet is not wrong to prefer a replacement.
- It's nice Tanner is such a major character, and he's not a jerk like the Tanner in FYEO. But this guy is mighty bland, and I certainly can't picture him being Craig-Bond's best friend.
- why does the psychiatrist say the word "skyfall" during word association? this is never explained
- "a waste of good Scotch" is just about the cruelest and least funny oneliner ever in a James Bond movie. Very low moment.
- Since Bond was able to take out all the bodyguards singlehanded, and knew all those helicopters were hovering just behind the buildings, why did he wait til after Severine was shot to act? Just so he could use that witty oneliner, right?
- The potential of Sylva's headquarters is completely squandered after two short scenes, we should have been exploring that unique space for the rest of the film.
- Helicopters appearing over the horizon on cue is such a copout, why wouldn't Bond just have them appear every time he gets in a spot like that? No need for the story to ever get interesting if capturing a Bond villain is that easy.
- and of course this nonsense of abruptly returning to London for the final act set precedent for the next film.
- Q plugs the villains laptop directly into the MI6 network. What kind of programmer in the IT department is he anyway?
- M's poetry reading: more arty-fartying of action sequences in the Craig era instead of letting action scenes speak for themselves.
- Bond doesn't get a ladyfriend in a clinch at the end, yet a-goddam-gain. It's like these young whippersnapper filmmakers don't even like proper James Bond movies!
New 2020 ranking (for now DAF and FYEO keep their previous placements)
1. TLD 2. TND 3. GF 4. TSWLM 5. TWINE 6. OHMSS 7. LtK 8. TMWTGG 9. L&LD 10. YOLT 11. DAD 12. QoS 13. DN 14. GE 15. SF 16. OP 17. MR 18. AVTAK 19. TB 20. FRWL 21. CR 22. FYEO 23. DAF (SP to be included later)
Bond actors to be re-ranked later
superb theme (even with the weird way she ways some words!)
Craig has really settled in well
brilliant Q
Silva is great fun
Lots of London on it, always good for a Bond film
Great to have the family backstory
some great additions to the cast, especially Ralph Fiennes and Albert Finney
love Naomie Harris and Moneypenny being added
great use of locations standing in for worldwide ones (saving money in a cool and inventive way)
interesting story of a rogue villain
cool locations around the world
Cons
plot holes, the planning of Silva is a bit strange
Severine underused
you dont find out enough about Silva
its all a little bit gloomy for large portions of the film
nice to see the DBS but the jokey ejector seat thing doesnt sit well with the films tone
I approve of that jellyfish!
Back in 2012, a lot of giddy Bond fans were insisting that the end of Skyfall was aligning Craigs Bond into the timeline of the previous Bonds, i thought that was silly but in hindsight, maybe it would have been better to do that rather than the Stepbro Blofeld was behind everything that happened in the past few movies nonsense?
There's not much could be worse, other than killing Bond himself .... oh.