Despite it all, Skyfall is still a great movie
Halcon
Zen TemplePosts: 487MI6 Agent
Saw it again this weekend,
Skyfall is much like QOS in that its parts are greater than the sum of its parts.
Certain scenes more than make up for where it clumsily stumbles.
The pts was hands down one of the best in the series, great pace and energy, absolutely wonderful!
From there you can skip to the Shanghai scenes, the highlight of the movie imo.
The Shanghai act includes one of my fave scenes in the film, the Komodo Dragon scene where we see Bond as we all know and love-confident, kicking ass, smiling and uttering great lines like "Good luck with that" and " its the circle of life". awsome...
From there, the movie loses some its appeal with the exception of scenes of the Aston Martin heading toward Skyfall- those shots are epic, atmospheric and make my skin tingle every time i see them.
Those Aston scenes with the big grey sky in the background are special in that they convince me that Sean Connery is in there driving that Aston as he heads to wherever he is going. This is where Sam Mendes succeeds in bringing us back to the feel of the original Bond, imo.
the final scenes are just entertainning enough, with Craig kicking serious butt, thus making Bond authentically menacing, so that's a great thing.
Skip everything in between and you've got a pretty great James Bond fil. B-)
Skyfall is much like QOS in that its parts are greater than the sum of its parts.
Certain scenes more than make up for where it clumsily stumbles.
The pts was hands down one of the best in the series, great pace and energy, absolutely wonderful!
From there you can skip to the Shanghai scenes, the highlight of the movie imo.
The Shanghai act includes one of my fave scenes in the film, the Komodo Dragon scene where we see Bond as we all know and love-confident, kicking ass, smiling and uttering great lines like "Good luck with that" and " its the circle of life". awsome...
From there, the movie loses some its appeal with the exception of scenes of the Aston Martin heading toward Skyfall- those shots are epic, atmospheric and make my skin tingle every time i see them.
Those Aston scenes with the big grey sky in the background are special in that they convince me that Sean Connery is in there driving that Aston as he heads to wherever he is going. This is where Sam Mendes succeeds in bringing us back to the feel of the original Bond, imo.
the final scenes are just entertainning enough, with Craig kicking serious butt, thus making Bond authentically menacing, so that's a great thing.
Skip everything in between and you've got a pretty great James Bond fil. B-)
Comments
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Hehe- they were my fave parts to be honest! I got bored with the subway / middle bit
I really enjoy the shanghai scenes and the subway / middle bit but don't care that much for the Scottish malarky. Some really impressive visuals, some great scenes, very good PTS, but overall Skyfall is a bit of a mixed bag for me.
And I for two!
I think its the best Bond film ever. Was never a die hard Bond fan, taught Connery was great up to Thunderball, never could stand Moore or Brosnan take on Bond. I like Bond played a little kickass mixed with the suave. Craig comes along and just gives Bond back his balls, CR is a masterpiece, QOS was flawed but still a good Bond Film. Skyfall was the perfect Bond film from start to finish. Made me go out and spend 150 euro on the Bond Blu Ray set.
Silva, absolutely one of the better villains, completely under used because of the daft plan, you know steal hard drive -> nja, nja, nja -> murder M. I just can't get over how silly it is, it's even sillier than all those supper villains and their plans we see in RM movies.
Cinematography, best in the series, with plenty of exotic locations relevant to the plot. Bonds looks: looks like a Polish constructor that's struck rich in London.
Never the less; still on par with DC as a Bond, the third best for him, way better than anything from RM or TD. Wipes the floor also with DAF and DAD easily.
-Mr Arlington Beech
If you can't find the flaw in spending 150 euro on a Blu Ray set in which you hate at least 11 out of the 23 films in it, no wonder you think Skyfall is a masterpiece. {:)
Roger Moore 1927-2017
-Mr Arlington Beech
Reminds me of my recent UK trip.
I was in HMV on Oxford Street last month browsing the overpriced DVDs etc. Suddenly the shop alarm goes off (which happens every min) and the security guards wander off to look in some girls bag (presumably she paid for the item but a tag was accidently left on etc like they do and set off the alarm!) Anyhow the guy standing next to me hears the alarm and scrambles fast as hell to the Box-Sets section and seemingly picks up the most expensive item he can get his hands on, funnily enough in seconds he has the 007 Blu Ray box set in his hands and walks very swiftly out the shop and down the street whilst the alarm is still buzzing and guards distracted.
I guess this is usual practice amongst thieves nowadays, waiting for alarms to go off. Very casually done and me and the missus both noticed it.
Fast forward a week later, I am in John Lewis (UK dept store) with various bags of stuff purchased. On exit from the shop I set off the alarms, I of course stop and look for a security guard to explain etc and nobody in sight except girls on the perfume / makeup counters who dont give a ****. 5 mins of waiting with nobody caring that I set the alarms off I simply bugger off - bizarre
lol... "He Who Dares!"...............
noticed before,,for instance the tee shirt in the gym/ fitness scenes is blue
I thought it was grey
set up the " new " traditional series. As all the regulars
are in place and there seems to be an obvious step towards
a little more comedy.
However, unlike most other bond films, I have do be in the mood for this film. Probably because I find it to be one of the most tense and epic bond films.
1 - Moore, 2 - Dalton, 3 - Craig, 4 - Connery, 5 - Brosnan, 6 - Lazenby
traditional elements. M in his office, a Q equipement scene.
An opening big stunt, several very attractive ladies, and a
witty script.
Right again, TP. -{
Overall, the plot was not overly complicated, and was more accurate of a Bond style plot of events that Fleming couldn't written.
What I disliked the most was the very last scene, Bond going back to work, it was too contrived I found. That aside, excellent atmospheres produced in all scenes.
"...It was the job we were chosen for"...
What a profound thing you've noticed there!
For me Skyfall was Craig's best film, but only because his first two didn't even feel like Bond films to me. I won't dwell on that as I'm sure it has been discussed at length already on these forums, so lets focus on SF.
Pros:
[list=*]
[*]Well directed, especially action sequences[/*]
[*]Genuinely threatening and interesting villain[/*]
[*]Q branch (even if it was not-quite-as-we-know-it)[/*]
[*]Ralph Fiennes![/*]
[*]Great Locations[/*]
[*]Great outfits (his dinner suit was sublime, apart from the airbrushing)[/*]
[*]Great cinematography[/*]
[/list]
Cons
[list=*]
[*]For me the PTS was simply too long and complicated.[/*]
[*]Silva's plan made sense, how exactly?[/*]
[*]Bond taking M and fleeing to his childhood home benefited them how exactly!?[/*]
[*]Whatever happened to the hard drive they were desperately trying to retrieve?[/*]
[*]Whether it was deliberate because of the theme of the movie, or whether Craig is just a bit old now, he looked too old to be Bond, and he did not look suave, he looked like a football thug.[/*]
[*]The Flashlight!!![/*]
[/list]
I wonder if anybody agrees with any of that 8-)
JediM
I think if men with guns were after me, I'd just deal with the bloody dark!
The country concerned being the one I live in, yes I have. And you're 100% correct. I was at Loch Tay last weekend, relatively not too far from where Skyfall would be in Glencoe, and it was very, very dark at night.
" In Scotland at Night, it gets Dark "
I'm sure to keep the story moving they had to have some way of Silva to follow them.
I'm not surprised you didn't like it since you rank Moonraker as your Number 1.
One day...One day Blackleiter you shall see the light...why do you hide? from the Moonraker!!!!!!!!!
I hide because I must, my friend!
I agree about the PTS. Though it's staged well and exciting, it really pushes the over the top factor (gets in the coyote/roadrunner territory). Leaping from an overpass onto a moving train just doesn't come off as real, even if they show the character "almost falling off". Using hand guns to sever railcars..uhhhhh..no. Having M directing his moves from London..uhhh...no. Bond falling hundreds of feet into the drink after being shot and surviving....no, don't think so.
Silva's plan? I got the impression he had several plans and backup plans in case one didn't work. He only diverted to different ones depending on how fate stepped in and changed things. He learned to think and plan like that from his past experience of being a field agent as well as being an expert hacker - they have to be able to anticipate changes in programing and hacking into other systems and be able to quickly come up with alternate methods.
Bond taking M to Skyfall - it benefited them because they wanted to lead Silva and his crew away from any crowded area where innocents could get hurt; Bond wanted to be on familiar ground that would be unfamiliar to Silva; Bond wanted Silva's power that was rooted in the internet and high tech to be useless in a confrontation. He and M were doing something that would never be authorized by the government, so they had to get to a location removed from government security forces. They also did not want anyone else involved in case the whole plan went south (that's what Mallory, Q and Tanner realized and why they decided to help even though they would be implicated).
The hard drive had been secured and Q was having it analyzed but Silva booby trapped it by putting in a program that allowed his escape.
They did make Craig look more ragged and worn purposely to show the stress he had gone through after nearly dying and recovering. It was to show the contrast to when he "resurrects" himself through the film and survives at the end. As far as him not looking suave - it's one of the things I hated about the older series - if the character looks polished and suave no matter what the situation, the whole movie comes across to me as more of a parody than a real spy film.
The flashlight - M and Kincade assumed that Bond, Silva and his men were killed when the house and helicopter were destroyed. Had they been nearby they would have seen them by the light from the fires - but from what I could tell from several viewings they were far enough away that they probably could not see them.