Skyfall - Grading & Discussion

[doubleohfive]

Dimesdan wrote:

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I'm guessing he did given the whole discussion over the right or wrong use of Oriental when referring to that region of the globe came out of Bones review of the film.

I've been mostly glossing over that conversation as it's not really relevant here, just a bunch of people arguing over semantics and not really what I'm reading this thread for. Still, he could also just as easily have gleaned the reference from what people have been saying in here, so I wanted to ask point blank.

[Dimesdan]

doubleohfive wrote:

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I've been mostly glossing over that conversation as it's not really relevant here, just a bunch of people arguing over semantics and not really what I'm reading this thread for. Still, he could also just as easily have gleaned the reference from what people have been saying in here, so I wanted to ask point blank.

Well the discussion for what it's worth occurred after he commented on the film and his use of Oriental City in describing Shanghai.

But that's cool, it has been a bit off piste and I can understand why you'd gloss over it, we've all done that from time to time.

but going by his comments on the film a few days ago, I do reckon it's a safe bet he watched Skyfall.

[doubleohfive]

Yeah, you're probably right.

[sidious618]

I love the title of the film. I think it's the best since "For Your Eyes Only."

[Ghost Bones]

doubleohfive wrote:

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I mean, did you even see the film?

Well of course. Read my previous posts and you'll see an excellent analysis of the film.

[TedShatner10]

I liked Skyfall in general and it was very solid as a Bond movie, but it was not all that much better than MI: Ghost Protocol earlier this year. I still think Casino Royale is the best Daniel Craig instalment and best Bond movie in the past quarter of a century. Skyfall nearly vanished up its own backside with its Bond references and borrowed heavily from Chris Nolan movies (like Inception and The Dark Knight, with Silva being a toned down Ledger Joker with better funding).

And people are ripping into Quantum of Solace now, even though it was a relatively decent Bond movie? Quantum of Solace was underwritten and overdirected (a troubled middle simbling in the Craig series so-far), but its villains (though less directly threatening and more blander than Bardem's antagonist) were in some ways more unpleasant, monopolising the vital water supplies in a poor country, being led by billionaire leaders holding secret meetings in plain sight, and having "people everywhere".

QoS had problems, but the TPTB will be throwing the baby out with the bathwater by dumping the Quantum syndicate and Mr. White altogether.

And the CGI giant lizards in that casino pit were as cheesy as that rubber snake in Drax's pool from Moonraker.

[Starkers]

Nothing is as cheesy as that rubber snake. It's only down to how monumentally awesome an actor Rog is that you don't realise it isn't real

[JarodRussell]

That Komodo Dragon scene was SOOO Roger Moore era. Awesome.

[Samurai8472]

Skyfall title minus credits online

http://vimeo.com/53442121

[Professor Zoom]

I haven't read through the thread, so maybe some people felt the same way...

I was disappointed. Goldeneye (a spy betrayed) and The World Is Not Enough (Let's get M) and a pinch of Burn Notice (When you're a spy and you're in a house surrounded by a larger force...).

And then... if Silva wanted to kill M, why didn't he just go to her house and blow it up? Or go inside and stab her? Or if humiliation was required, just continue to reveal names and once she was denounced publicly go to her house and kill her. It would've been MUCH easier, and smarter to go that route than this utterly elaborate plan (yes, I know, he's crazy, blah blah blah) to get captured and some how know WHEN they would go through his computer and having the FORESIGHT to know where she would HAPPEN to be testifying.

Ugh.

The weird thing is: the cast is GREAT, AMAZING. The movie LOOKS BEAUTIFUL.

But the "story" is stupid. And only makes sense if Silva is stupid or SOOOO CRAZY he can't think logically... yet we see that he does... so....

Just... disappointing.

[Harvey]

Silva's plan was ridiculous, but the movie was getting a little plodding until Javier Bardem showed up on screen. Luckily, he commands the screen.

A good movie, although I think I prefer Casino Royale.

[Starkers]

I love the film but even I am a bit miffed with how ridiculous Silva's plan is. That said you could say the same about most Bond films, hell even Casino Royale makes little sense if you think about it and is built upon a house of cards of contrivences.

It is clear that Silva is not thinking logically, or even when he is his logic is tempered by serious issues. He hates M, yet he clearly loves her on some level, and part of it seems to be about proving to her that she was wrong to abandon him. Look at his actions during the finale. He sends a helicopter gunship to macerate the house, yet gives clear instructions to his men that they aren't to kill M, when he finally catches up to her he shows tender concern because she's been shot, and even though he wants her to die he wants her to kill him at the same time.

He's clearly bonkers, he's just also fiendishly clever with it. I don't think it's that unusual a combination in a fictional villain.

[Professor Zoom]

To me, he told the men to bring M alive to him was so HE could kill her. That's what he wanted to do all along, kill her personally. That's why he went to where she was testifying.

AND, upon further thinking, Bond fails to stop the bad guy. At the end of the movie what did he accomplish? He could've stayed on his island and the results would be pretty much the same.

How and why did he keep his job after such a cock up? "Sure, Bond, it was your idea to take M off the grid, rather than a secure location, and she did die, though maybe if it hadn't happened in the middle of no where... You can continue to work here."

The only way it all makes sense is if Bond and Fiennes were working WITH Silva to get rid of M.

[Captain Craig]

Grade: A

So third times the charm for Daniel Craig's turn in the role to finally and actually make a James Bond movie. Finally! I still don't visually buy him as Bond but he played the part, the film was sprinkled with actual cinematic Bond traits and standards that it took a 50th Anniversary to pull off.

Casino Royale isn't a bad movie. Actually it's a pretty good spy movie. It's just not a cinematic James Bond movie.
The less said about Quantum of Solace the better. It's easily one of the 5 worst films in the whole franchise. And it does it while not being very Bond-esque either.

Skyfall is the first DC Bond I'll be proud to own and watch over and over. We could nitpick the crazy rationale of Silva's plan but that would be pointless. He's a Bond villain...it's kinda supposed to be that way. We have an actual Bond opening sequence, credit montage complete with song that features the title song by a current pop/rock artist with appeal. We have Q. We get another Moneypenny. Dare I say hotter than Samantha Bond's Moneypenny from the Brosnan era?! The classic car...my showing last Saturday night actually had a few dozen people clap(including myself).
The movie felt like thematically it was borrowing from Goldeneye(turncoat Double OO agent) background on family(World is Not Enough), he dies(Connery's You Only Live Twice) only to resurface. The komodo dragon pit could just as easy been a variation on the shark tank or electric eel aquarium from Dalton's License to Kill. These aren't complaints. In fact they are kudos to them drawing inspiration from cool moments in the franchise to expand on and give Daniel Craig's turn at James Bond to actually feel like it belongs in the series.

Ok, I've praised. My only real plot question was why no one was checking in on the Skyfall property after Q had laid the bread crumbs. I know there was that line about once we leave a trail we have to back down so as not to tip him(Silva) off. However, don't you set a de facto time limit and if not digitally track(spy satellites) the property for signs of activity have some one drive out there? I get that Judi Dench is encountering health issues and was ready to pass the torch but it was set up for her to retire. Not sure her death had to happen.

Still it's a James Bond movie with Daniel Craig I can finally endorse.

[Ghost Bones]

Starkers wrote:

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I love the film but even I am a bit miffed with how ridiculous Silva's plan is. That said you could say the same about most Bond films, hell even Casino Royale makes little sense if you think about it and is built upon a house of cards of contrivences.

What do you mean even Casino Royale? It's as ridiculous as any Bond film, if not more.

In fact, just last week HISHE did it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byku-4Sl4zE