Your Bond Anniversary Items & My Skyfall Review
SilentSpy
Private Exotic AreaPosts: 765MI6 Agent
Better late than never.
I’m thinking about this being a Bond Anniversary topic as well with stuff people picked up or put together. For example I’m just about finished on my modern Connery homage watch strap. And getting the remastered soundtracks to put on my N8. But I think there wasn’t that much interest in my previous upcoming Bond anniversary items topic. I can’t remember. However, if you guys want to give it a try I’m all for it.
My Bond Anniversary thing is still going with the Archives and a few other things. I just finished up The Mantis’ videos and catching up on Bond sites since I was avoiding everything for Skyfall. But I figured it was time to get this review off my desktop. As I was holding off on posting a Skyfall review because I wanted to enjoy the 50th anniversary my way.
It wasn’t that Skyfall was horrible. Yet it wasn’t the greatest Bond movie either that many are/were saying. It had some major problems that I just couldn’t believe I was seeing. And since Mendes is returning for another try, which I guess proves that money talks and that the producers want and will most likely top Skyfall’s earnings with the sequel. I thought I would get my review up then go back to enjoying the 50th. Which might extend into next year at the rate I’m reading the Archives Book while having drinks, watching the movies, and putting together those soundtracks.
My Skyfall Review or The Birth of the Modern James Bond - Finally?
Where to start, I guess at the beginning of Skyfall. At this point I think they might as well leave the gun barrel at the end for these new Bonds. As a sort of acknowledgement that these are different from the ones ending with Die Another Day. I know there will be cheers if the gun barrel shows up at the beginning of the next Bond film. I know I would cheer. But even that isn’t a guarantee of a classic Bond film. I remember people who liked Quantum of Solace saying that the gun barrel was at the end because it was a direct sequel to Casino Royale. That you had to watch them together and Bond becomes Bond at the end of QoS. I wonder what their excuse is now for the gun barrel.
I wasn’t too crazy about the opening. It’s definitely the worst of the three from Daniel Craig. The stuff inside the building was fine and tense but once the chase starts it’s fairly common action movie stuff. I even thought I was watching a Transporter movie at one point. Bond does a Transporter like pose when he lands in the train even though he gets shot a few scenes before. The whole pre-credits sequence ends with the producers continued obsession of dropping Bond from absurd heights. There is all this talk about humanizing James Bond. But how human is a guy that can get shot twice with high powered guns, fall off a moving train that is crossing a high bridge, land in a raging river on his neck/back area, and then fall down a waterfall, all without drowning or massive blood loss? Seriously, I love James Bond movies but this was way too far. Remember in the old Bond movies that chops to the neck like in FRWL killed people. I think it was George Lazenby that called Daniel Craig a Terminator Bond after seeing either Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace. Well that Terminator reference couldn’t be more true in this opening.
I think the awesome title music got me back into the movie. It’s easily one of the best title songs. And I was fairly consistently impressed by the cinematography. I love the DB5 driving sequence. The movie seemed to be trying for something different. A modern spy movie. Which is fine but I wish it was more a modern Bond spy movie If that makes sense. When Bond turns the tables on Silva (even though for some reason he wasn’t able to save Severine), I thought finally they get it. Bond is not a one man army. They were getting back to the classic Bond movies where Bond gets help in the end during that helicopter capture scene of Silva. But no, we get something that for the first time makes Bond look stupid and incompetent. Something a reviewer I think here or elsewhere mentioned about Bond in Goldfinger, which I didn’t believe. But in Skyfall it’s true.
It’s the so called trap. With both Q and Mallory in on it. This was back to the modern standard of Bond against everyone on his own. Which is fine at times. But not here. And the trap made no sense either. Bond and M are reasonable enough to know that Silva will bring more protection. Q and Mallory know what’s going on but don’t have agents waiting in the woods or anything. Bond doesn’t even take Tanner. Or Moneypenny who he knows has field experience! And what’s the worst is Bond acting all cool at the garage with the DB5 (more on that later) and his line about company cars not having trackers. But Silva is following them and both Q and Mallory are placing the hints to where Bond and M are going. So how is that a trap? Bond just finished saving M and he’s in many ways responsible for her death. I think at that hearing, M mentions the importance of Bond or her department. How they are needed. Meaning more than just Bond. Yet it’s just Bond on his own again for the finale. I don’t include the house guy with the flashlight. Which was silly. Especially since that guy was I think supposed to be hunter or something. I just thought that M didn’t need to die. Or go out that way. I felt kind of sad that it happened for that actress that way. Not for the character. M could have stayed in the tunnel while Bond and the hunter guy lead Silva to the church. And many compared the last sequence to Home Alone. Which is kind of true. But I also thought it was like a bad LMN network movie. Where the crazy guy comes after the girl. And they are getting chased around a house or some other rundown area.
I did like all the homage scenes in the movie. They were far more subtle than the ones in Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace for that matter. The Dragon one was good. The Jaws one was surprising. It was modern and a bit scary. It seems like for all the seriousness of Daniel Craig’s Bond, he has more nods to Roger Moore than the other Bonds. I did like the signature gun homage from License to Kill and the Thunderball shower scene. But hopefully in the next one, Daniel Craig will make more of his own Bond moments instead of having homage scenes. Like the “don’t touch your ear” bit in the Casino. I love the camera shots and cinematography in that scene too.
I did not get the inclusion of the classic DB5. At first I thought this is the one he won in Casino Royale. But the driver’s position is different. Then there was the mention of the ejector seat. And finally the guns. So are the producers trying to say that Daniel Craig’s Bond is part of the older history now? That they just told Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace as a modern origin, now everything is back to whatever normal timeline existed in the previous Bond movies? That doesn’t make sense to me. Especially since Bond mentions that bit about company cars and tracking devices. So the DB5 is his personal car? Yet M knows about it and the ejector seat. Doesn’t make much sense unless you start to make a backstory about it which didn’t happen in the movie. Or you have a situation where Bond being Bond either traded the Casino Royale one for a proper British one. Or modified the Casino Royale DB5 and armed it with classic Bond weapons. Both are pretty crazy options.
With the Bond Girls, I still think that Carmen Ejogo from that 90s Avengers movie would have been a better choice for Moneypenny. But I didn’t have any real problems with the reimagined, more military version of Moneypenny. Secondly, Berenice Marlohe needs to have a second appearance. She essentially played the Maud Adams part in The Man with Golden Gun. And she came back to play Octopussy. I love Severine’s small scene in the casino. Besides what Bond fan doesn’t have a thing for Eurasians?
In many ways Skyfall is the opposite of Die Another Day. There are tons of similarities. Bond captured vs “enjoying death” at the opening. Bond having to prove himself on a small mission that leads him to the main bad guy. Conflict and trust issues between Bond and M. Which I don’t know why the producers are going that route so much. It never happened in the older movies. Skyfall has tons of homage scenes to the previous movies. If Die Another Day is a cartoonish anniversary movie, Skyfall is the serious anniversary movie. But where I could watch scenes in Die Another Day like the driving chase on ice. There isn’t much I want to see Skyfall for again. Except for technical moments like the DB5 shots, the casino shot, and the silhouette scene. Stuff like that. My favorite scene in Skyfall is the small scene when Bond saves M and winks at Mallory. That was cool. But then that “trap” thing happens.
Right now, I feel like we just got a trilogy origin story that could have been planned a lot better. As I doubt a trilogy origin story was the producers intent from the beginning. In the end, part of me felt like I was still watching a guy with Bond attributes many times and still not Bond. And certainly not a classic Bond movie from a Bond actor. It’s a small detail but I wish Bond was eating lunch or something in a corner while waiting for that guy in the airport. That would be an old school Bond spy moment. I would say Casino Royale is still Daniel Craig’s best. But like I mentioned before on this forum. That was the origin of his Bond. So maybe Daniel Craig will finally be a fully formed Bond in his fourth movie since we have M’s classic office and hopefully no more personal Bond stories. Even though I guess The Quantum Group is still out there. Unless Bond finished them off in a mission between QoS and Skyfall that we didn’t see. Is it just me or has anyone else realized that all the Bond movies have been personal since License to Kill. Maybe we’ll get the simple find the bad guy / find out what’s going on plot next time. It worked for Connery and his movies still haven’t been topped.
I’m thinking about this being a Bond Anniversary topic as well with stuff people picked up or put together. For example I’m just about finished on my modern Connery homage watch strap. And getting the remastered soundtracks to put on my N8. But I think there wasn’t that much interest in my previous upcoming Bond anniversary items topic. I can’t remember. However, if you guys want to give it a try I’m all for it.
My Bond Anniversary thing is still going with the Archives and a few other things. I just finished up The Mantis’ videos and catching up on Bond sites since I was avoiding everything for Skyfall. But I figured it was time to get this review off my desktop. As I was holding off on posting a Skyfall review because I wanted to enjoy the 50th anniversary my way.
It wasn’t that Skyfall was horrible. Yet it wasn’t the greatest Bond movie either that many are/were saying. It had some major problems that I just couldn’t believe I was seeing. And since Mendes is returning for another try, which I guess proves that money talks and that the producers want and will most likely top Skyfall’s earnings with the sequel. I thought I would get my review up then go back to enjoying the 50th. Which might extend into next year at the rate I’m reading the Archives Book while having drinks, watching the movies, and putting together those soundtracks.
My Skyfall Review or The Birth of the Modern James Bond - Finally?
Where to start, I guess at the beginning of Skyfall. At this point I think they might as well leave the gun barrel at the end for these new Bonds. As a sort of acknowledgement that these are different from the ones ending with Die Another Day. I know there will be cheers if the gun barrel shows up at the beginning of the next Bond film. I know I would cheer. But even that isn’t a guarantee of a classic Bond film. I remember people who liked Quantum of Solace saying that the gun barrel was at the end because it was a direct sequel to Casino Royale. That you had to watch them together and Bond becomes Bond at the end of QoS. I wonder what their excuse is now for the gun barrel.
I wasn’t too crazy about the opening. It’s definitely the worst of the three from Daniel Craig. The stuff inside the building was fine and tense but once the chase starts it’s fairly common action movie stuff. I even thought I was watching a Transporter movie at one point. Bond does a Transporter like pose when he lands in the train even though he gets shot a few scenes before. The whole pre-credits sequence ends with the producers continued obsession of dropping Bond from absurd heights. There is all this talk about humanizing James Bond. But how human is a guy that can get shot twice with high powered guns, fall off a moving train that is crossing a high bridge, land in a raging river on his neck/back area, and then fall down a waterfall, all without drowning or massive blood loss? Seriously, I love James Bond movies but this was way too far. Remember in the old Bond movies that chops to the neck like in FRWL killed people. I think it was George Lazenby that called Daniel Craig a Terminator Bond after seeing either Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace. Well that Terminator reference couldn’t be more true in this opening.
I think the awesome title music got me back into the movie. It’s easily one of the best title songs. And I was fairly consistently impressed by the cinematography. I love the DB5 driving sequence. The movie seemed to be trying for something different. A modern spy movie. Which is fine but I wish it was more a modern Bond spy movie If that makes sense. When Bond turns the tables on Silva (even though for some reason he wasn’t able to save Severine), I thought finally they get it. Bond is not a one man army. They were getting back to the classic Bond movies where Bond gets help in the end during that helicopter capture scene of Silva. But no, we get something that for the first time makes Bond look stupid and incompetent. Something a reviewer I think here or elsewhere mentioned about Bond in Goldfinger, which I didn’t believe. But in Skyfall it’s true.
It’s the so called trap. With both Q and Mallory in on it. This was back to the modern standard of Bond against everyone on his own. Which is fine at times. But not here. And the trap made no sense either. Bond and M are reasonable enough to know that Silva will bring more protection. Q and Mallory know what’s going on but don’t have agents waiting in the woods or anything. Bond doesn’t even take Tanner. Or Moneypenny who he knows has field experience! And what’s the worst is Bond acting all cool at the garage with the DB5 (more on that later) and his line about company cars not having trackers. But Silva is following them and both Q and Mallory are placing the hints to where Bond and M are going. So how is that a trap? Bond just finished saving M and he’s in many ways responsible for her death. I think at that hearing, M mentions the importance of Bond or her department. How they are needed. Meaning more than just Bond. Yet it’s just Bond on his own again for the finale. I don’t include the house guy with the flashlight. Which was silly. Especially since that guy was I think supposed to be hunter or something. I just thought that M didn’t need to die. Or go out that way. I felt kind of sad that it happened for that actress that way. Not for the character. M could have stayed in the tunnel while Bond and the hunter guy lead Silva to the church. And many compared the last sequence to Home Alone. Which is kind of true. But I also thought it was like a bad LMN network movie. Where the crazy guy comes after the girl. And they are getting chased around a house or some other rundown area.
I did like all the homage scenes in the movie. They were far more subtle than the ones in Die Another Day and Quantum of Solace for that matter. The Dragon one was good. The Jaws one was surprising. It was modern and a bit scary. It seems like for all the seriousness of Daniel Craig’s Bond, he has more nods to Roger Moore than the other Bonds. I did like the signature gun homage from License to Kill and the Thunderball shower scene. But hopefully in the next one, Daniel Craig will make more of his own Bond moments instead of having homage scenes. Like the “don’t touch your ear” bit in the Casino. I love the camera shots and cinematography in that scene too.
I did not get the inclusion of the classic DB5. At first I thought this is the one he won in Casino Royale. But the driver’s position is different. Then there was the mention of the ejector seat. And finally the guns. So are the producers trying to say that Daniel Craig’s Bond is part of the older history now? That they just told Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace as a modern origin, now everything is back to whatever normal timeline existed in the previous Bond movies? That doesn’t make sense to me. Especially since Bond mentions that bit about company cars and tracking devices. So the DB5 is his personal car? Yet M knows about it and the ejector seat. Doesn’t make much sense unless you start to make a backstory about it which didn’t happen in the movie. Or you have a situation where Bond being Bond either traded the Casino Royale one for a proper British one. Or modified the Casino Royale DB5 and armed it with classic Bond weapons. Both are pretty crazy options.
With the Bond Girls, I still think that Carmen Ejogo from that 90s Avengers movie would have been a better choice for Moneypenny. But I didn’t have any real problems with the reimagined, more military version of Moneypenny. Secondly, Berenice Marlohe needs to have a second appearance. She essentially played the Maud Adams part in The Man with Golden Gun. And she came back to play Octopussy. I love Severine’s small scene in the casino. Besides what Bond fan doesn’t have a thing for Eurasians?
In many ways Skyfall is the opposite of Die Another Day. There are tons of similarities. Bond captured vs “enjoying death” at the opening. Bond having to prove himself on a small mission that leads him to the main bad guy. Conflict and trust issues between Bond and M. Which I don’t know why the producers are going that route so much. It never happened in the older movies. Skyfall has tons of homage scenes to the previous movies. If Die Another Day is a cartoonish anniversary movie, Skyfall is the serious anniversary movie. But where I could watch scenes in Die Another Day like the driving chase on ice. There isn’t much I want to see Skyfall for again. Except for technical moments like the DB5 shots, the casino shot, and the silhouette scene. Stuff like that. My favorite scene in Skyfall is the small scene when Bond saves M and winks at Mallory. That was cool. But then that “trap” thing happens.
Right now, I feel like we just got a trilogy origin story that could have been planned a lot better. As I doubt a trilogy origin story was the producers intent from the beginning. In the end, part of me felt like I was still watching a guy with Bond attributes many times and still not Bond. And certainly not a classic Bond movie from a Bond actor. It’s a small detail but I wish Bond was eating lunch or something in a corner while waiting for that guy in the airport. That would be an old school Bond spy moment. I would say Casino Royale is still Daniel Craig’s best. But like I mentioned before on this forum. That was the origin of his Bond. So maybe Daniel Craig will finally be a fully formed Bond in his fourth movie since we have M’s classic office and hopefully no more personal Bond stories. Even though I guess The Quantum Group is still out there. Unless Bond finished them off in a mission between QoS and Skyfall that we didn’t see. Is it just me or has anyone else realized that all the Bond movies have been personal since License to Kill. Maybe we’ll get the simple find the bad guy / find out what’s going on plot next time. It worked for Connery and his movies still haven’t been topped.
"Better late than never."
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