Skyfall - Grading & Discussion

[Captaindemotion]

^Hmmm, I gave it an A-, deciding at the last minute that a B+ was too low. I'm still pretty sure that I preferred TDKR to it though.

As regards the comparison someone made earlier with The World is Not Enough, I suppose another comparison (unintended, I'm sure) is that that movie took its title from Bond's family motto, whereas this one took one from his family home.

[Starkers]

I think the TWINE similarity might be completely intentional. Like I say there's a lot of The Man With the Golden Gun in there as well.

[Captaindemotion]

^Oh yeah, I doubt very much that of all the movies in the Bond canon, TWINE is the one they sat down and sought to emulate!

I'd previously pointed to similarities between QoS and Licence to Kill; a lot of these themes are bound to recur over the course of 20+ movies.

[Starkers]

I need to do a list I can se similarities between LTK and QoS definitely.

[JarodRussell]

Absolutely loved this film. The best of Craig's Bonds yet, and amongst the best of the entire series.



And, oh boy, I so expected someone else to appear at the end in Scotland, but then it was just Al Finney. I think the silver screen would have exploded had it been you know who.


And if Skyfall doesn't get the Oscar for best cinematography and best editing, then I don't know what film will.

[Captaindemotion]

^Oh, I think heads would have melted had You Know Who played Kinkaid.

There were rumours around the time that Pierce Brosnan's last movie was going into pre-production (it would ultimately be called Die Another Day but was supposed to be called Beneath The Ice at one time) that Connery was going to appear in it as Bond's father in flashbacks and that the plot would involve Bond discovering belatedly that his parents had been murdered, not merely dying in a skiing accident as he had always believed.

Took them another decade to do a movie which shone a light on their deaths and is childhood...

[Relayer1]

I liked it, but not as much as Casino Royale, From Russia With Love and probably a few others too. Best Bond ever seems just hype, but it was very good. Spotted Moneypenny early on though.

It's loused up my personal Bond film chronology though - I'd pretty much fitted in the Brosnan Bonds (all Dench 'M's) after Quantum and before Skyfall, but they've already got Moneypenny in. I was already struggling to reconcile the other films. Despite the same M, this just isn't the same Bond is it ?

And so how did he have the old Aston if he's not 'that' bond ?

[Lonemagpie]

Relayer1 wrote:

---

I liked it, but not as much as Casino Royale, From Russia With Love and probably a few others too. Best Bond ever seems just hype, but it was very good. Spotted Moneypenny early on though.

It's loused up my personal Bond film chronology though - I'd pretty much fitted in the Brosnan Bonds (all Dench 'M's) after Quantum and before Skyfall, but they've already got Moneypenny in. I was already struggling to reconcile the other films. Despite the same M, this just isn't the same Bond is it ?

And so how did he have the old Aston if he's not 'that' bond ?

He's a Time Lord - this is his first incarnation, but at some point he'll regenerate into Sean Connery (doubtless after a few more incarnations between) and go back to 1962, either by means of his TARDIS or an encounter with the Weeping Angels...

[Relayer1]

Lonemagpie wrote:

---

He's a Time Lord - this is his first incarnation, but at some point he'll regenerate into Sean Connery (doubtless after a few more incarnations between) and go back to 1962, either by means of his TARDIS or an encounter with the Weeping Angels...

That is a uniquely 'you' perspective...

[Kai "the spy"]

Saw it today. Stupid thing is, I had my hopes up since all the people said how this one went back for a more traditional Bond feel. The missing gun barrel sequence at the beginning, banned again to the ending, should have been my clue that those comments were bullshit.
Granted, the pre-title sequence rocked and actually had quite a few Bond moments. But after that, it all became just another modern spy-flick like Jason Bourne or Salt, with a totally a-typical "Sam Peckinpah is Home Alone"-finale.

So, it was a nice action thriller, but not a "real" Bond movie, to me. So, right now, my disappointment is to fresh for me to cast a fair vote.

But, now that absolutely everything is in place (you know, Q, new M in old office, Moneypenny, Bill Tanner), I hope the next one will finally deal with a world-threatening plot again.
But tomorrow, I'll rewatch "Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol", to remind me of the fact that even modern spy flicks still can be fun.

[JarodRussell]

Well instead of the gun barrell we got a pretty cool intro. The very first shot with the music put a smile on my face.

I took it that they wanted us to forget about Quantum of Solace. Casino Royale and Skyfall can be taken as one character arc to his development into the full James Bond character. Dirty gunbarrel and less Bond feel in CR, and clean gunbarrel and a solid dose of Bond in SF.


It's kinda ironic how they wanted to get away from it all with the Craig films, and now we're even back with the Connery/Moore era M office.

[teacake]

So is there a ton of Dench?

[Relayer1]

^ Yes, there's a lot of Dame Judy !

Relayer1 wrote:

---

I liked it, but not as much as Casino Royale, From Russia With Love and probably a few others too. Best Bond ever seems just hype, but it was very good. Spotted Moneypenny early on though.

It's loused up my personal Bond film chronology though - I'd pretty much fitted in the Brosnan Bonds (all Dench 'M's) after Quantum and before Skyfall, but they've already got Moneypenny in. I was already struggling to reconcile the other films. Despite the same M, this just isn't the same Bond is it ?

And so how did he have the old Aston if he's not 'that' bond ?

No ideas ?

Eve's not supposed to be the original Moneypennys daughter is she ?

And here's another niggle (minor spoiler) - why were M and Co. waving a torch around when escaping ? They knew they were being hunted ! Easily written around too - remove torch, add thermal imaging glasses for hunter and bingo !

[Lonemagpie]

Relayer1 wrote:

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And here's another niggle (minor spoiler) - why were M and Co. waving a torch around when escaping ? They knew they were being hunted ! Easily written around too - remove torch, add thermal imaging glasses for hunter and bingo !

I actually thought at the time that the ghillie character might have tied it to a bush and would be waiting with a gun a few yards away to see who'd come for it - which is what I'd have done!

And then it turned out that, no, they were just being stupid.

[JarodRussell]

To be fair, they were walking through a frozen swamp.



I'm growing fond of the idea that James Bond is a cover identity specifically for 007 agents. MI6 recruits similar character profiles for this job. Orphans, hardened by life, with love for alcohol, women and their country. Then they give them the name James Bond to erase any ties to their true real life background.

It all started with an actual 007 agent named James Bond. Then he got killed in the line of duty, but MI6 thought it was a good idea to sort of keep the legend alive. So they recruited a similar type, and gave him the identity. And that practice continues to this day. Every now and then, when life gets in the way (like for example when he marries someone and his wife gets killed), they integrate that into the backstory for every future 007 agent. They even go so far as to change the date of the gravestones of the dead Bond parents.

So that's how he can walk around introducing himself as "Bond, James Bond" because the bad guys know the myth that once they kill him, a new Bond will appear.