Is Skyfall the most shockingly relevant Bond film?
walther p99
NJPosts: 3,416MI6 Agent
Every time I watch Skyfall I'm a little taken aback by the unsetting familiarity of its imagery and its parallels to current world events. Images and scenes that I think make it more unsetting then any other Bond film. Multiple bombings, a shooting in a public venue, CNN news reports, civilian panic, Bond running through racing police cars and ambulances. Granted, these scenes and images have all happened before in previous Bonds like CR and QOS but Skyfall, like most of the Craig era, felt more real world then fantasy. What are your thoughts on this?
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One of the aspects in SPECTRE was that we have terrorist attacks happening all over the world and we only hear about them through news reports and in conversation with characters, and all caused through the new threats of cyberterrorism and global surveillance. These threats appeared to have heightened its presence in SP than in SF, yet despite some fleeting moments of of "wow this could actually happen" in SP, it just didn't develop as well as it should have to have the same impact as SF.
What I am seeing now are the events of Tomorrow Never Dies seemingly being realised in today's world. Releasing bugs and software to force endless upgrades, journalists wording stories in a way that provokes global tension, remote control cars, etc. That film was really ahead of its time and I feel the power of SF will similarly maintain/strengthen its impact in the years to come.
how was Dr No perceived during the early years of the American space program? I know people were worried about the Soviets having that Sputnik up there, and the US had some serious catching up to do, any interference could cost them the Cold War
Flemings books were definitely ripped from the headlines stuff ... imagine reading Moonraker less than a decade after the war ended, having lived through those V2 rocket attacks
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"Let the mayhem begin!"
That Paris Carver's let herself go a bit. (Though, to be fair, not that much)
Roger Moore 1927-2017
"How do I know Mick? He dated my roommate."
The running scene was pure Bond, after all the carnage you knew that it would all be alright, our man was on the case.
But when you take a look at some of the plots of Bond movies from the past, there are a lot of them out there which are so relevant to the times they were made in. I think Octopussy is a great example. I have watched it again yesterday and am working on a video review of it, and found the plot to be so much more realistic then I remembered it being!
"Bond finds out that Orlov replaced the Soviet treasures with a nuclear warhead, primed to explode during the circus show at a US Air Force base in West Germany. The explosion would trigger Europe into seeking disarmament in the belief that the bomb was a US one that detonated by accident, leaving its borders open to a Soviet invasion"
In 1983 the cold war era was still in full swing, and threats of nuclear bombs coming from the Russians were still very real. In retrospect the plot of Octopussy might seem dated, as we cannot emphatize with those times anymore, but back then, that was still very relevant and real.
So in short I feel the Bond movies have defenitely pulled this off numerous times before!
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That has become the iconic image of Craig as Bond. Far more for me than him coming out of the water in CR (that's the one for the women), it just is Bond. And it's perfect. The shot is perfect, the poetry over it makes it memorable, the score build up to the shootout is incredible, and there is so much tension - it's essentially Bond racing Silva to M. And it's brilliant.
That has become the iconic image of Craig as Bond. Far more for me than him coming out of the water in CR (that's the one for the women), it just is Bond. And it's perfect. The shot is perfect, the poetry over it makes it memorable, the score build up to the shootout is incredible, and there is so much tension - it's essentially Bond racing Silva to M. And it's brilliant.
There was also a lot of tension in his suit! It was so tight it was about to rip open. And I was tense worrying about that!
Octopussy review today. I can remember the protests at the time to remove
Nuclear missiles etc from Britain and Europe.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Be careful what you wish for. I sense a dissertation on the evolution of western poetry and film is coming!
SF is still essentially a clear-cut Good Mi-6 Vs. Bad Terrorists story. QoS is more ambiguous, showing Mi-6 and the CIA willing to work with the Bad Guys, as they often have in real life. For many people, that is truly shocking. (Not me, though. I'm too jaded to be shocked anymore.)
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Second, though the revenge plot has been done before (see GE), this time it's more personal and intimate. Though many terrorists events and multiple killing events have the idea of some grand political/religious scheme behind them, some are just the more personal actions of deranged individuals lashing out at large - though most often their targets are as many innocent bystanders as they can kill. In this case, the villain is someone who gets caught working illegally outside the parameters of their mission, is given up so some good agents can be retrieved, then after suffering years of torture his mania is supercharged up to the point that his whole purpose left in life is to torture M and make her suffer emotionally, then kill her (and like all these types doesn't care if he dies to accomplish it). Those of us who grew up with the assassinations of political figures through our entire lives starting with JFK see the very real and eerie similarities to Silva's plot - especially at the point where he charges into the public meeting in an attempt to publicly assassinate M. This is another thread that makes the film seem disturbingly realistic.
Third, the cinematography is often either shot in very modern and almost futuristic color schemes - the Shanghai sequence reminded me of Bladerunner - or the grey/blue hues of overcast skies (we even see it raining) of London and Scotland. This is another reality check the film does that many don't notice on first viewing - in most of the series the events take place under sunny skies.
Fourth, once again the gadgets are low tech and very few. Bond has to rely more on his own wits and his surroundings more than what Q can provide. Yes the Aston is used for great effect at the end, but that's put in as a nostalgic nod to the old series. The third act at Skyfall resembles more of a realistic creation of attacks on defensive positions that take place in ongoing middle east battles or in historic international incidents (see Bengazi). The attackers are using bombs and large firepower against the defenders who may have limited resources or are just outnumbered.
All these events in the film take place against the the backdrop of the reality going on in the real world (cyber crime, assassination, war battles, coups, mass killings) and in many instances, it reflects or imbues itself in those ways with that reality. It's actually a throwback to the first two films in the series - especially FRWL. There is no stylized, slick grand saga of a supervillain trying to subdue or extort the world - just a more personal, real, intimate and gritty spy story that reflects the fears and political machinations of it's time.
Agreed, and yet despite all this, there are still helpings of the fantastical that separate Bond from other spy series in the form of the Bardem's Silva, taking Bond from the art dealer in Shanghai to casino in Macau, dragons, etc.
Fantasy scene ( grim fantasy) such as the shooting competition on Silva's island.
Giving an almost parallax view, as if Bond exists in our world, but a slightly surreal
Version.
Exactly, which is why I really enjoy Fleming's work and this series. He took real life gritty spy games and infused them with just enough fantasy to make them entertaining. I like Le Carre and Deighton a lot, but Fleming and EON are my main game.
With all due respect, I thought Skyfall was less credible and relevant than Die Another Day.