Skyfall - Grading & Discussion

[Ghost Bones]

Because she's some old woman who's about to be retired and replaced anyway.

[CaptainCanada]

So? She's a very popular and familiar character after nearly 20 years.

[sidious618]

I liked the smaller stakes as it made me more interested. Another "he's going to take over/destroy the world!" would be rather boring.

[Professor Zoom]

CaptainCanada wrote:

---

So? She's a very popular and familiar character after nearly 20 years.

She's a spy. She isn't more important than the mission, than the job. She feels that way. She said as much at the beginning of the movie. And the movie didn't really do much to change that.

It's great that she was in danger, as she was a familiar character, but with the villain's ONLY goal was her death, it made the stakes small. Again, she was going to retire. What is her value to the safety of the country? Over someone threatening to destroy all of the banking with an EMP blast.

Personally, in my spy movies I do like a little higher stakes.

sidious618 wrote:

---

I liked the smaller stakes as it made me more interested. Another "he's going to take over/destroy the world!" would be rather boring.

Pretty much ALL of the Bond movies have had some aspect of trying to take over the world, are all of them boring?

Let's look at License to Kill, it was personal for Bond, getting revenge but there was a LARGER thing at stake as well, that whole pesky War of Drugs thing.

I get what you're saying about the smaller stakes, but it was a sort of asymmetrical battle against those stakes. The movie brought all of the explosions and gunfire of a You Only Live Twice, with the stakes of a indie thriller.

[sidious618]

Professor Zoom wrote:

---

Pretty much ALL of the Bond movies have had some aspect of trying to take over the world, are all of them boring?

Let's look at License to Kill, it was personal for Bond, getting revenge but there was a LARGER thing at stake as well, that whole pesky War of Drugs thing.

I get what you're saying about the smaller stakes, but it was a sort of asymmetrical battle against those stakes. The movie brought all of the explosions and gunfire of a You Only Live Twice, with the stakes of a indie thriller.

No, not all of the ones with that plot are boring but some are. However, the previous two Craig films did not have anything involving taking over the world. "From Russia With Love," arguably the most respected Bond film, was not about taking over the world. I also think mixing an indie plot with a big budget sounds like a really cool movie...

[Ghost Bones]

CaptainCanada wrote:

---

So? She's a very popular and familiar character after nearly 20 years.

Well even that's only if we assume she's the same character as the Brosnan M. Personally I don't care about her at all, she's an average and not very interesting character. But even if I thought she was brilliant, in the universe of the film she's still not important. Not much changes for the world if she dies. It's only because we've seen her before. And it's that kind of insular plot that makes the whole thing seem so fannish.

[Professor Zoom]

sidious618 wrote:

---

No, not all of the ones with that plot are boring but some are. However, the previous two Craig films did not have anything involving taking over the world.

True, because that would be far to cartoonish for this new Bond. BUT, the organization he was facing had its hands in terrorist plots, monopolies on precious resources for power and money. And those plots affected large numbers of innocent people.

"From Russia With Love," arguably the most respected Bond film, was not about taking over the world.

True. But it was about two super powers fighting over a great MacGuffin that would give them leverage over the other.

I also think mixing an indie plot with a big budget sounds like a really cool movie...

Yeah... would love to see that someday...

[JarodRussell]

I never got what's supposed to be so great about From Russia With Love. The only good thing is the train sequence at the end. And the music throughout the film. The rest of the film I found pretty cheesy, and Tatiana's got to be the most stupid Bond girl I've ever seen.

[BillJ]

Professor Zoom wrote:

---

BUT, the organization he was facing had its hands in terrorist plots, monopolies on precious resources for power and money. And those plots affected large numbers of innocent people.

Did they really need to spell out higher stakes though? I understand that the guy is bad, has already did all kinds of bad shit and will likely do more bad shit in the future.

I say this as a casual Bond watcher.

[inflatabledalek]

Ghost Bones wrote:

---

Well even that's only if we assume she's the same character as the Brosnan M. Personally I don't care about her at all, she's an average and not very interesting character. But even if I thought she was brilliant, in the universe of the film she's still not important. Not much changes for the world if she dies. It's only because we've seen her before. And it's that kind of insular plot that makes the whole thing seem so fannish.

Surely she's even more important to Craig's Bond than the Brosnan-era version of the character was? To Craig she's the (not always friendly) mentor who brought him into the service and is probably the closest thing he has to family (he even jokingly compares her to his mother in Solace). She's far more than just the new boss he learns to respect as was the case in her first four films.

[Ghost Bones]

JarodRussell wrote:

---

I never got what's supposed to be so great about From Russia With Love. The only good thing is the train sequence at the end. And the music throughout the film. The rest of the film I found pretty cheesy, and Tatiana's got to be the most stupid Bond girl I've ever seen.

I agree. Or at least, I've not seen it for quite a long time and that echoes what I remember thinking last time I saw it. If you catch my drift.

inflatabledalek wrote:

---

Surely she's even more important to Craig's Bond than the Brosnan-era version of the character was? To Craig she's the (not always friendly) mentor who brought him into the service and is probably the closest thing he has to family (he even jokingly compares her to his mother in Solace). She's far more than just the new boss he learns to respect as was the case in her first four films.

Yeah, but again, so what? She's just some narky old bitch about to be retired anyway. They could have killed her off in the opening scene and I wouldn't have cared much, so making her the entire stakes of the film doesn't do it for me.

[lurok]

Frakkin' A+. Best Bond film in ages. Classy, witty, tense. This should have been Die Another Day, and I'd happily skip CR and QoS. This feels like the real reboot, even handing over to new M, Q, etc. The DB5 got big laugh and applause. Wasn't a Craig fan but now feel he owns the role. Bardem best blond villain since Red Grant and Max Zorin, and better rogue agent than stupid Sean Bean. Now all they need to do in next one is bring back some more glamour.

ETA: the involvement of Baird and Logan must really piss the Nemesis haters

[UssGlenn]

TedShatner10 wrote:

---

The NOC list subplot seemed to have dropped out of the story when Silva was captured and his island operation shut down.

I wouldn't call it dropped so much as concluded. They captured the man who was releasing the names and confiscated all his computers. Since the list was just a means to an end for him, he wouldn't have sent a copy to anyone else yet. Crisis averted.

[Trekker4747]

Just got back from Skyfall.

Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant. I've got no complaints about it, absolutely perfect, perfect James Bond movie in practically every way possible. Loved the old Aston Martin being used, loved the "introduction" of Moneypenny, the stuff with Judy Dench.

I mean. Wow.

I'm blown away by this movie, best Bond movie in years, hell decades even.

A+ All the way.

[Samurai8472]

Went to a 5:45pm showing

COMPLETELY PACKED


Some parts dragged/got boring:

-Shanghai.
-Bond and Serverine's talk at the bar
-Bond and Severine heading to the island.

I understood 90% of what Bernice said.

The CGI komodo dragon didn't bother me. I was thinking "Maybe the bodyguard will throw back the gun?" LOL


Some of the dry humor got no response

-Provocateur? Provacateuress?

-Resurrection....

Some laughter at Silva touching Bond and Silva's facial expressions


Lot's of giddiness from the audience when the Aston showed up


"He went in to those tunnels. He didn't come out for two days. When he came back he wasn't a boy anymore"

Me- Batman?


Some people laughed at Silva's final moments

"ARGGGGGGHHH!!!!!"

*Laughter*



I was with some people that were expecting some BIGGER action. Roger Moore style escapist/Brosnan level escapism action.

"Skyfall" still had action but aside from the bike chase everything else was subdued

I guess what i'm saying is there was no big set action piece besides the bike chase/train fight.