350 replies to this topic

[DaveBond21]

Well, I might sound like the party pooper here, but I'm really left disappointed.
Sure, this is a very beautiful movie as such. Great cinematography, great cast, superb shots.
But this is not a Bond movie. This would have been more suitable for another character. Bond doesn't call for a movie about his inner traumas. Bond doesn't call for a movie where he takes care of M like she's his mother. I mean, we see M almost as often as we see Bond! I must have missed the part when they said Skyfall would be a hitchkockian film about a putative mother/son relationship...
Whatever happend to the Bond character we so love? Whatever happened to the simple notion of a spy sent on a mission to do what he does best? Why on Earth do we need to get inside Bond's mind and delve into his childhood issues?
To me, eventhough it is brilliantly done, this kind of movie is really uncalled for in the Bond series.
The only glimmer of hope I got was watching the last minute, where we (finally!) get Bond back. Maybe the next one will actually be a Bond movie. Better late than never...

This side to the movie is my only complaint - and it is a shame that it takes up the best part of an hour (to me the scenes at Skyfall could be from Batman and Harry Potter - and I bet those who like these scenes like those movies too).

The good news is that they can't do it again.

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I think Bond´s back story is dealt with now: Vesper, his parents and - almost most importantly - M as a mother figure.

That does not mean that his traumatic experiences won´t play a role in future missions. But it surely will be less important.

I do believe that there is still one character that will cause another traumatic experience, at some time down the line. Having set up Bond so perfectly with the three films of the new era, it is too tempting not to re-introduce Tracy. And it would be a fitting end to Craig´s arc if his Bond were to fall in love again, this time for real, and ending in tragedy.

I disagree. I expect that when they announce the title for Bond 24, they will say they are going in a new direction and that "this time it's personal". There will be some lines about who can Bond trust and all that kind of stuff.

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[DaveBond21]

He also wants to show that MI6 are fallible. He knows that M will be appearing before the committee. He'll be pretty sure that M will announce to them that he has been captured. If he escapes after this then M will be humiliated - part of his plan.

His plan is just to shoot her in the face there at the enquiry. Doesn't seem a terribly sophisticated humiliation plan.

I'm not sure how he could have timed it so M would be at an enquiry at the time: his plan for getting captured hinges on Bond happening to pull a bit of bullet out of his shoulder. The sequence of events after that are so impossible to predict that he couldn't have known if he'd get captured that month or the next.

Yep, and don't start quoting poetry. That's just asking for bad guys to turn up in dramatic fashion!


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[Trippy13]

Surely by now, everyone will have seen the film? If not though, THERE WILL BE SPOILERS AHEAD! Aha, I am new to forum's and such, and only began to use them to monitor the production of Skyfall! This is also the first review I have ever written so, try to stay awake and don't worry too much if I begin to rave on about the uncontrollable beauty and perfection of Skyfall!

Skyfall was released in Australia on Thursday! Finally..It was the longest and most painful wait. I had my tickets booked for over a month and I skipped school to see the film! I arrived at my local cinema an hour early to be perfectly sure that I would be able to secure the best seat's in the house. I got them! I had been doing my best to avoid spoiler sections but it became increasingly difficult after the film was released in the states, so I actually had a fairly good idea of what happened in the film. This knowledge did not help though, as the film still managed to surprise and exhilarate me at every twist and turn. It was one of the most joyful, sad, and beautiful cinematic experiences of my life. And now having seen it three times, I feel as though I am ready to give it an in depth review:

When the film began, and the shadowy silhouette of James Bond appeared. I knew that this was a Bond movie. Bond was back.

After the mere Quantum of Solace, I left feeling slightly underwhelmed. Something I had never felt upon leaving a Bond film before. Then ofcourse, I was buried with the rumour's of MGM's financial trouble's. Unfortunately these rumour's became reality. I had never questioned this before, but this time I was abliged too. Would James Bond return?

The answer is YES! And after a four year wait, he returned better then ever! I had very high expectations for this film, and Skyfall boodly well exceeded them! James Bond makes a triumphant return, and why he is at it, prove's that the world will always have a need for Bond. He is relevant now more than ever!

Pre Titles- AMAZING! My god! Sam mendes wasted absolutely no time. Introducing three character's in the first two minutes, and creating one of the most intense, dangerous and traditional opening sequences, probably since Goldeneye. It set the standard's for the film, and created a perfect piece of breath-taking drama. I love the inter-cutting between the action and the decision making at MI6. I am so thrilled that we can actually see the action this time!! Editing perfect. Stunt's perfect. The crew tick's all the boxes in the first 11 minutes. The entire sequence felt like classic Bond, but it still retained it's realistic grittiness about it. When Bond was shot, the entire audience just became dead silent. That scene will go down as a classic! I am still speechless about it.. ahaha. I am actually finding this all very difficult to write as there is just so much to say, but I am trying to keep it short and simple. Pre-title sequence is perfect, great action, Bond is back, very traditional.

Main title sequence- Wow! Welcome back Daniel Kleinman! We have missed you! Especially after the cheap job of MK12. The first tear rolled down my eye here. For week's I have listened to adele's song, the voice was perfect with a classic Bond undertone. But hearing it while watching Skyfall's title sequence was just beautiful. The entire thing was crafted to perfection. It set the tone for the entire film. I must say, they may beat Casino Royale's.. I am not sure as of yet. Just beautiful though! I love the imagery and symbolism that is present, (Mirror's cracking, house crumbling) Representing the end of an era.

plot- The plot is relatively simple and brilliantly crafted. After fumbling a mission to retrieve a stolen hard drive, Bond is shot and presumed dead. After a brutal terrorist attack at the heart of MI6, M is called into question and relevance by Gareth Mallory, the chairman of the intelligence and security committee. The terrorist attack is the right amount of push that Bond need's to return to duty and defend his service, his country and his honour. M send's him up against the villainous Silva, a shadowy figure from M's past, with a fierce vendetta against the delicate but commanding lady.

At 2 hours and 20 minutes, the film skips by in a heart beat. Never once did I find myself breaking away or becoming tired or restless. My eyes were fixed on the screen, and I was one with the film throughout. P&W and John Logan have crafted a delicate story with many important underlying themes, and a beautiful character driven story, which left me feeling happy with a great satisfaction. I genuinely felt endangered in this story, and some scene's were quite chilling, such as Silva dressed as a metropolitan police officer attacking a public enquiry. The wonderful thing is, that the story isn't filled with unneccesary garbage, it is a straight plot (good Vs Evil) If you will. Silva want's revenge, Bond want's to stop him. Makes for a fastly tense story, filled with wonderful action, witty dialogue and excellent character development. No time is wasted.

Character's-

Daniel Craig as James Bond- Craig finally nail's it in this one! He is James Bond. I grew up watching Sean Connery, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Timothy and George. I remember back in 2006. I was only 11 years old, but I seen the new James Bond at the press conference, and I just walked away angry. It was impossible. He didn't look anything like JAMES BOND!! Once I seen Casino Royale though, my opinion instantly changed. He was the closest actor ever to interpret what Flemming dictated on his pages. He is one of the best Bond's without a doubt, and in Skyfall he proves it. The way he faces his demon's, the way he enable's the style and sophistication in which we were so used too, the way he communicates, the way he portray's this flawed and broken man. We have watched this man for fifty year's so we really feel for him. I am so glad Craig has given us the classical element's while crafting something new. Sometimes the old way's are the best. Craig has perfectly captured Commander James Bond, the wit, the bluntness, the sophistication, the reality, the coldness, and he deliver's the humour deliciously.

Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva- He will without a doubt go down as one of the best Bond villain's. He has one of the best entrance's in the entire 50 years. He is menacing, chilling, unstable and brilliantly un-predictable. He has a disgustingly rare disfigurment, along with his physically intimidation, he is always one step ahead, and continues to throw challenges at Bond and MI6. He is theatrically evil, and ignites so much energy into the film, the charcter and the story. He is amazing!! Haunting too!

Naomie Harris as Eve- She was a wonderful surprise. I am so glad we have monneypenny!! She was perfect the way she flirted with Craig! Reminded me of the old film's when Sean or Roger would flirt Louis Maxwell! Wonderful feeling! I love the way they recreated her as a field agent. I love her priorities. I love that she think's she is Bond's equal! Splendid acting from her!

Berenice Marlohe as Severine- She is dastardly underused. Although, in the fifteen minutes she was present, she made a terrificly haunting and seductive impression. She has a sexy and luxurious look, but underneath all that expense of clothes and make-up, she is very fragile and scared. She is electrically powerful! She set's the audience up for the inttroduction of the villain and her death came greatly unexpected which added more power and domain to Silva's character.

Judi Dench as M- Out of all several film's. Never, have we seen Judi Dench shine like this. She is the Bond girl here! She must prove her relevance to Mi6 and does so in such a beautiful and graceful way. We see her, like never before here, making judgement call's, fighting to keep her position, having to defend herself, being forced to fight for herself. She battle's it right through until the end! Her honour is restored, her action's are justifed. A beautiful scene that sum's up the character, the story and the relevance of her, is when she recites poetry in the midst of battle.

Ben whishaw was fantastic as Q, I love how they have reinvented him to adjust to the changing times, and Whishaw and Daniel play off each other perfectly.

Ralph Fiennes as Mallory was bloody Wonderful! Shown as the stubborn beauracrat, secretly a brave soldier. Splendid!

Albert Finney was a gem, added so much in the short time. Rory Kinnear was awesome!! Ola rapace was great, Helen Mcrory was not wasted. Even though many character's are only on screen for a short time, they manage to bring great depth to their charcter's and move the story along quickly.

The Music- The music was wonderful! I never thought I would say this, but it was nice to have a break from David Arnold. Thomas Newman did an amazing job. The music blended in with the scene's and action so well, that it absolutely captivated me. there was wonderful moment's of the bond theme! Something that has been lacking for oh so long. He creates a very dimensional soundtrack but remain's true to the sound's of Bond! It never becomes boring, or never overshadow's what is happening in the scene. It bring's the tension of the scene to new heights.

The main theme by Adele, is truly haunting and eerie. It is beautifully strung together, with a melancholic pitch of timlessness and style.

Location's- From Istanbul, to dreary London, to the neon lit skyscraper's of Shanghai, along to a majestic floating casino in Macau, then a yacht to an abandoned city in the middle of the South China sea, all the way to the Scottish moor's, and 100 feet beneath the ice of a frozen lake. The location's are used to the fullest extent, but each is utterly relevant to the story and the character's. Escapism at it's toppest form.

The Action- It is top notch, full throttle Bond action. A little tinge of the Dark Knight rises here and there, but they make sure not too conform too much. Not as bad as Moonraker conformed to star wars, or Quantum of solcae conformed to Jason Bourne anyway

The action in instanbul is amazing!! Car chase, shootout, motorbike chase, motorbike on rooftop chase, train shootout, digger on train chase, fight on train, Bond is shot. All in the first 11 minutes! WOW. The action is done appropriately, and not edited to death.
The action in shanghai, gives us a dark reminder of the brutality of Bond's profession, and is beautifull shot. The action in Macau is pure Bond, done with style and class. The action in London, is sharp, emotional and dangerous and very well done. The finale in Scotland is completely new and original, it feel's like a western and maintains more than ever the metaphor of the film. Old Vs the new.

The action is fun but still gritty. Fueled with tension and suspense.

The Crew-

Sam Mendes- I was very excited when I heard that this man was going to be directing. I was a little thrown off though, as he has never done an action movie before..But the man has done a spectacular job. He has created the best Bond film in year's, never once losing pace. He has given us the perfect film to celebrate the 50th anniversary with, bringing back all the classical element's while creating something entirely modern and relevant to our times. His understanding and love for the franchise is clearly there, and he has given the audience and the fan's a pure Bond picture. He has made a remarkable achievement for a non action director and has used his knowledge of drama to create a tension fuelled piece intercut with amazing action sequences. The best example of this would be Bond running accross London to save M intercut with M reciting Tennyson and Silva coming to get her..
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven: That which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic heart's,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will,
To strive, To seek, To find, And not to yield.

Roger Deakin's cinematography would probably have to be some of the best on a Bond film.. well ever! The way he encaptures every scene, he create's beauty out of the most deformed environment's, a prime example would be the approach to Silva's island.
Another masterstroke is the scene in the shanghai tower, where an entire fight sequence is played out in the shadows which is where they must do battle.

The editing is perfect and has room to breathe, but it doesn't let up any of the suspense. The costume's were all spectatcular, Dennis Gasner done a brilliant job on set, catching and showing every detail to reflect character and story.

BOND IS BACK

Bond is well and truly back. Eve mutter's 'Old dog, new trick's' and that is exactly what James Bond is in this film. A broken man at times, losing a foot in the world, but regaining that step, and doing it better then ever. The whole film can be described as a bullet, flashing by, piercing it's viewer's. The most beautiful thing in this film is the motherly relationship in which Craig and Dench have created. It is definetly the heart of the story and I shed many tear's when it came to an end.

Skyfall isn't afraid to ditch the iconic formula, but as it does so, it brings all the Bond element's and tradition's with it, and slowly recreates some, forget's a few, and develops new and fresh one's. Breathing new and exciting life into the series. Connery put the character on the screen, but Daniel Craig has now brought James Bond into the 21st century, and has guranteed Bond another 50 years. Skyfall is James Bond, it is the charcter we love, It is Bond like you have never seen before, It is without doubt one of the greatest Bond film's to ever be made. It has the classical element's, the Aston Martin, The villain's, the girls, the location, the action, the depth, the story, the bond theme, the humour, Q, Monneypenny, M.

SKYFALL has it all, and more, along with a fantastically, emotionally gripping, tensely, hilarious film, that just goes to show and does a fantastic job at proving at 50 years, Nobody does it better than Bond. James Bond. 10000000000000/10

[DaveBond21]

What was the assassination in Shanghai about?

The man killed was an art collector. I believe there was a scene cut which explained more fully about Severine and Silva making money by purporting to sell stolen pieces of art, and then killing off the buyers. The Modigliani shown in Severine's apartment was "Woman with a Fan", which was stolen in real life from the Paris Museum of Modern Art in 2010.

Vauxhall, you are a legend


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It's a very good Bond movie. Better then QoS, that's for damn sure.

But it sure wasn't no Casino Royale. And the climax just went on FOREVER, with M's death kinda an afterthought.

All it needed was for M to mutter "I die first Indy". Yep, some of us have been watching these scenes for 30 years, but our parents have been watching the same thing for 60 years.


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[DaveBond21]

As CBNers are well aware I was scathing in my review of the 2008 monstrosity "Quantum of Solace". It essentially ended my love affair (ne obsession) with the James Bond movies in one fell swoop. Make no mistake, I still love many of the entries in the EON series, but I retreated from James Bond fandom almost entirely. As an example of the effect the movie has I have perhaps visited CBn about 20 times since 2008, whereas previously I had been visiting it at least daily.
As a result I went into "Skyfall" blind, in essence the theater ticket was a "blind buy". I had heard that Q was back and that Fiennes and Finney would make an appearance, but ignorant of any other details. Be warned this review will contain spoilers.
And what a welcome surprise the movie was. I was expecting a painful experience with another Carig misfire and instead came out reinvigorated and hopeful that the 007 series was back on the right track. I was delighted to see the DB5 return and especially to acknowledge the ejector seat and Craig using the machine guns behind the headlights. Gone were the in-your-face forced feeling nods to the past that appeared in "Die Another Day" the tributes in this movie felt natural and less heavy handed than in the Brosnan movie.
The end was also perfect and can be sewn effectively into the beginning of Dr No. We realized in this final scene that we had not just witnessed Bond's origin story, but also Moneypenny's. And the most exciting thing of all - the padded door was back. One of the things I had been missing since Dalton's era was the warm, aesthetically pleasing classic decor of M's office. I've always hate the glass and metal modern design of Dench's Ms office - I don't like it in everyday life either and would never allow that look in my office - and this perhaps was the most welcome sight of the entire movie. It was this reason that I didn't mind the gunbarrel at the end, it was essentially an exclamation mark to say "James Bond is back".
John Logan of course should be commended for his work on the screenplay. I noticed he was saddled with the hapless pair that gave us "Die Another Day" and were unable to pull together "QoS" but the less said about them the better. I assume that Logan did the lions share on this one. His script was tight and dramatic, the lines were natural instead of forced and he really created a development of the characters.
I also appreciated bringing back Q and the exchange between Bond and Q at the art gallery. It was good to see Bond receive practical, useful gadgets, instead of "exploding pens". Logan managed to set the groundwork for what will likely be a more respectful Bond-Q exchange in the future.
A review of "Skyfall" would also be incomplete without a mention of the "look" of the movie. The cinematography is incredible. In a word "wow".
Everyone involved in "Skyfall" should be proud of their work, this is perhaps the best James Bond movie in the series. It is certainly in my top five. It has also made me a believer again!

As CBNers are well aware I was scathing in my review of the 2008 monstrosity "Quantum of Solace". It essentially ended my love affair (ne obsession) with the James Bond movies in one fell swoop. Make no mistake, I still love many of the entries in the EON series, but I retreated from James Bond fandom almost entirely. As an example of the effect the movie has I have perhaps visited CBn about 20 times since 2008, whereas previously I had been visiting it at least daily.
As a result I went into "Skyfall" blind, in essence the theater ticket was a "blind buy". I had heard that Q was back and that Fiennes and Finney would make an appearance, but ignorant of any other details. Be warned this review will contain spoilers.
And what a welcome surprise the movie was. I was expecting a painful experience with another Carig misfire and instead came out reinvigorated and hopeful that the 007 series was back on the right track. I was delighted to see the DB5 return and especially to acknowledge the ejector seat and Craig using the machine guns behind the headlights. Gone were the in-your-face forced feeling nods to the past that appeared in "Die Another Day" the tributes in this movie felt natural and less heavy handed than in the Brosnan movie.
The end was also perfect and can be sewn effectively into the beginning of Dr No. We realized in this final scene that we had not just witnessed Bond's origin story, but also Moneypenny's. And the most exciting thing of all - the padded door was back. One of the things I had been missing since Dalton's era was the warm, aesthetically pleasing classic decor of M's office. I've always hate the glass and metal modern design of Dench's Ms office - I don't like it in everyday life either and would never allow that look in my office - and this perhaps was the most welcome sight of the entire movie. It was this reason that I didn't mind the gunbarrel at the end, it was essentially an exclamation mark to say "James Bond is back".
John Logan of course should be commended for his work on the screenplay. I noticed he was saddled with the hapless pair that gave us "Die Another Day" and were unable to pull together "QoS" but the less said about them the better. I assume that Logan did the lions share on this one. His script was tight and dramatic, the lines were natural instead of forced and he really created a development of the characters.
I also appreciated bringing back Q and the exchange between Bond and Q at the art gallery. It was good to see Bond receive practical, useful gadgets, instead of "exploding pens". Logan managed to set the groundwork for what will likely be a more respectful Bond-Q exchange in the future.
A review of "Skyfall" would also be incomplete without a mention of the "look" of the movie. The cinematography is incredible. In a word "wow".
Everyone involved in "Skyfall" should be proud of their work, this is perhaps the best James Bond movie in the series. It is certainly in my top five. It has also made me a believer again!

Great to see you back. DLibrasnow

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[RedshirtWilly]

Just saw the movie and although im not an active poster I wanted to share my thoughts anyway..

After stepping out of the theatre my first thoughts were how awesome it was to have broody Vesper-Bond gone after QoS.

On thinking about it though it almost feels like the continuity part of Bond, which as a fan of the series ive always enjoyed talking about and speculating things on things like if Bond is the same person throughout the Connery-Craig eras, was pretty disrespectful here. The sequence with the car from Goldfinger was fantastic and a real nostalgic moment which I marked out for, but then Q and Moneypenny were already established.. so does this mean Eve is coincidentally surnamed "Moneypenny?"

Loved the movie, just felt they were a little careless in the way they handled continuity

To Bond 24!

[The Shark]

"Bond continuity" is an oxymoron.

[sharpshooter]

I more or less view Bond movies as individual adventures. To me its about the entertainment they provide. I'm not going to deduct points for not linking up with another film if the performances and moments of this film are well done.

Edited by sharpshooter, 25 November 2012 - 03:07 AM.

[Vodka Martino]

I wrote this and posted it on a watch forum a couple of days ago, so I'll just cut & paste it. Nice to be back at CBn forums too. Long time between drinks.

I have been letting the film bounce around in my head. There was so much in it.

Lucky I got my Q Scrabble mug a few months ago.



Okay, I'll need at least two more viewings of this film to really break it down, but I just had to jot down my initial thoughts. I have to say that three things really stood out for me.

1- This film is a love letter to Bond fans. It's the kind of Bond film that "Die Another Day" should have been. "DAD" was the 20th Bond film (officially) and while they threw in a few references to past Bond films, they missed their opportunity to celebrate this fact. With "Skyfall", EON Productions have made up for their previous miss-step.

2- This film is a love letter to England, or rather, 'Englishness' and the values (that I imagine) Britain holds dear and how the country sees itself. It does give England more of an old-fashioned, Churchillian identity which I thought was a master-stroke, from the Turner reference in the museum to the porcelain British bulldog on M's desk.

3- If Ian Fleming were a modern author writing Bond novels today, this is how they would look, once translated to the silver screen. Like I said above, "Skyfall" is a love letter to Bond fans, but I think it has a little more resonance with Bond fans who've read the Fleming books. I liked the fact that there were no gadgets and it was Bond relying on his brute strength, his wits, and his patriotism.

The cinematography was astounding. The shots of Bond's DB5 driving through the Highlands looked like moving oil paintings. No MTV editing in this film, which was a good thing. This film was allowed to breathe.

Sam Mendes, well, I knew it would be a great Bond film once I'd read that he was attached. A very sure-footed job. Yes, it is just a Bond film, but there were a few extra layers in the characterisations that you don't normally expect in a Bond film. Almost hard to believe that it was written by the same dudes who gave Bond an invisible Aston Martin ten years ago. I've got two theories-either Purvis and Wade were given a little more freedom with the script OR all the good bits in this story were provided by John Logan, the other writer on this film. I'm not sure, but in Purvis' and Wade's defence, I should mention that they did write a very well-received telemovie called "Let Him Have It" before they began writing Bond movies, so I have to give them credit. Anybody writing a Bond script (or novel) has very stringent guidelines to follow, so perhaps they were given a little more rope to write the Bond film that they've always wanted to write.

The humour was well-placed and not over-the-top or corny. No steel-toothed henchmen wrenching the steering wheels off speedboats before going over waterfalls, no sleazy gags about Christmas coming twice a year or 'attempting re-entry, sir'. Just some sarcastic lines here and there.
And in the final battle, the look on DC's face when the Aston Martin gets shot to pieces is priceless. Don't mess with Bond's car.

The story is just a good, old-fashioned revenge tale, but with a twist. It's not Bond out for revenge. It's Silva, the bad guy. And as far as bad guys go, Javier Bardem did a great job. Forget the blonde hair. Man, why do people get so riled up with blonde hair in Bond films? Bardem did a great job.
The plot itself, well this is where I need to see the film a few times. It made enough sense. Sure there were some holes in it, but it's an action thriller. But what I loved were the notions of duty, patriotism, and the need for something like the Double-O Section in the modern world.

And the title? I thought Skyfall was going to refer to some past mission, like 'Thunderball' and 'Moonraker', so I thought it was a nice touch to find that it was the name of his old family home, even if it did rewrite Bond history.

I would have liked to have seen Severine given more time on-screen. Berenice Marlohe's performance was divine. The scene at the bar with Bond where she looks like she's about to burst into tears any second over the hopelessness of her situation, and then she gives Bond a tortured and brittle smile. It was a complex performance. A great Bond Girl, but brief.
But I suppose the true Bond Girl in this film was M. I absolutely loved Bond's determination to keep her safe. The Inquiry hearing scene where M recites the Tennyson poem as Bond runs through the street to get to her brought me back 38 years to when I was a kid watching "Live And Let Die" and saw this heroic man in a suit doing whatever was necessary to save the day.
If this was to be Judi Dench's last performance as M, then it was handled beautifully. And Ralph Fiennes is gonna be an awesome replacement in future films.

Gripes? Yes, I have a few, but they are minor. In fact, they're quite childish. I don't know if I buy Bond sitting in a cantina playing a drinking game with a scorpion. Mrs Vodka Martino reckons that, because Bond's been listed as KIA, he feels let down or betrayed by MI6 and feels no need to return. And this scene is also one of re-birth. Certainly the theme of betrayal is an overt one in this film. After all, Bond stabs Silva in the back at the end.

Another minor gripe was Bond's palm-print PPK. Whenever I see a signature-gun in a film, I just know that some bad guy will get hold of it and try to kill the hero with it.

And Eve Moneypenny? Why'd it have to be Eve? My daughter's name is Eve and ever since she was born (in 2002), my wife and I have been toying with adding 'Moneypenny' as her middle name. Yes, it's true. Well, that plan's shot to hell now. Perhaps.

"Skyfall" is a great Bond movie. Destined to be a classic in the series. I'll need to watch it again to really make up my mind, but there's nothing in it really that I didn't like.

Just my humble op.

[00Twelve]

Well behind the curve, I just finally saw SKYFALL yesterday afternoon. First time I've missed an opening day on a Bond film since I started going to see them. The trials of new fatherhood...

My words will be inadequate no matter what kind of brilliance I try to conjure up, so I'll keep it mercifully brief.

Just superb. I can't find anything beyond the most absurdly obtuse of nitpick items to say negatively about the film. It was a Bond film I'd apparently been waiting for without even knowing it. Not every Bond film need go so deep into pathos territory, but I can't say I regret one minute of this one doing just that. I'll save time going down the checklist of production and onscreen roles that we all evaluate by just saying I found no fault with any of them. Naive? Idealist? Overzealous? Fine, guilty. I saw the most mature Bond film ever made, and will do my best to comprehend one's thinking that any of the previous 22 could possibly hold that title instead. Can't make any guarantees, though.

I do wish we had seen some explanation for the fall survival. Not because I can’t be satisfied without one - because I am satisfied – but because it is a missed opportunity to show Bond’s resourcefulness. It was a missed opportunity to put some more flesh on the idea that Bond is a “resurrection specialist”. They could’ve had Roger Moore just pop up in the next scene after Zorin and Mayday push his car into the lake… but isn’t it much cooler to see exactly how Bond does survive? Rhetorical question. Of course it is. Just as it would have been in SKYFALL as well.

It’s critically important for the survival of the series to include these moments of survival brilliance. Bond can only be the best on assumption for so long. As often as possible he needs to step up and prove it.

Glad you enjoyed it, brother, high points and low. Regarding this one observation, you wouldn't have wanted a flashback as to how Silva's body survived the cyanide, would you? His body just refused to die despite the punishment, like some do after a horrible burn, explosion, or [wait for it.....] fall. [See Fleming's YOLT for reference.] At least it doesn't happen every film. The idea that he just miraculously survived because it wasn't time for him to be dead yet is improbable, nearly implausible, but not impossible. We'll just have to live with that and either shrug it off or shake our fist at the air in its general direction for the next two years.

<shrug>

[MHazard]

I've previously given my brief thoughts, but I wished to add two observations:

1. This may belong in the Music threads, but I just bought the soundtrack and it is the worst Bond soundtrack, bar none! It may work in the movie, but it's basically just sound effects. You do not get the Adele song (this happened with You Know My Name on the CR soundtrack) but there is almost nothing that sounds like an actual song. I put on the GF soundtrack after and it was just striking. I truly hope this is the last time this guy scores a Bond movie. Part of the fun for me of a Bond movie is getting the soundtrack, driving around with it playing, pretending I have machine guns and ejector seats, etc. (also, on my IPOD, while wearing a suit...). Anyway, it works okay in the movie, but the lack of a good soundtrack becomes glaring if you just listen to it, it doesn't sound like a Bond movie.

2. Fleming fan that I am, I re-read Bond's obit in YOLT. According to Ian, his father was from Scotland, but he was essentially raised abroad, due to his Dad being a representative from Vickers armaments. After his parents death he went to live in Kent with his Aunt Charmian. Now, none of this is totally inconsistent with his family having an estate in Scotland and a retainer, but I don't think that's what Ian had in mind. I will give them credit though, they got Bond's parents names right.

Now, I've already stated that I really liked Skyfall and want to see it again-still a tough ticket in the States, but, save your money on the soundtrack.

[MkB]

2. Fleming fan that I am, I re-read Bond's obit in YOLT. According to Ian, his father was from Scotland, but he was essentially raised abroad, due to his Dad being a representative from Vickers armaments. After his parents death he went to live in Kent with his Aunt Charmian. Now, none of this is totally inconsistent with his family having an estate in Scotland and a retainer, but I don't think that's what Ian had in mind. I will give them credit though, they got Bond's parents names right.

Maybe the producers wanted to save the possibility of blowing Aunt Charmian's Kent cottage to pieces in the next film?

[Judo chop]

I do wish we had seen some explanation for the fall survival. Not because I can’t be satisfied without one - because I am satisfied – but because it is a missed opportunity to show Bond’s resourcefulness. It was a missed opportunity to put some more flesh on the idea that Bond is a “resurrection specialist”. They could’ve had Roger Moore just pop up in the next scene after Zorin and Mayday push his car into the lake… but isn’t it much cooler to see exactly how Bond does survive? Rhetorical question. Of course it is. Just as it would have been in SKYFALL as well.
It’s critically important for the survival of the series to include these moments of survival brilliance. Bond can only be the best on assumption for so long. As often as possible he needs to step up and prove it.

Regarding this one observation, you wouldn't have wanted a flashback as to how Silva's body survived the cyanide, would you?

No. But it's not quite the same thing, either. For one, with Silva's survival, we're talking about something that occurred pre MGM lion roar (or whatever it was this time). ie. It's not something that I am asked to process while I watch the film. I might have been annoyed if they had shown to me his sizzling face and and agonized writhing as he's left abandoned in a dungeon cell, only to cut to him on a beach drinking scorpion shots in the next scene. For two, I'm pretty much always a little peeved when someone falls a great distance and "just doesn't die". I think because I can somewhat process what a fall does to a body, having done it on a smaller scale a great many times myself. I'm not really sure what cyanide does, so I can much more easily swallow (no pun intended) their lack of explanation on that matter. For three, I care a whole lot more to know how Bond survives than I do to know how the villain survives. And this is really my prominent point. It's not that I HAVE to see how Bond survives. It's that I WANT to see how Bond survives. The omission of an explanation is more about a lack of a positive than the presence of a negative. So, yeah. A <shrug> will have to do.

[TheSilhouette]

My long overdue review...

Old Dog, New Tricks: A Review of Skyfall

by BattleshipGreyGT (MI6 Community) / The Silhouette (Commanderbond.net)
In Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace, Daniel Craig introduced a younger, arrogant, inexperienced version of Bond at the beginning of his career as a 00 agent. In Skyfall, we appear to find Bond later on in his career, older, wiser, and more experienced, in the middle of a mission gone horribly wrong. We open to a blast of the signature James Bond blast of brass with Bond's silhouette walking down a dark corridor towards the camera stepping out of the shadows into a slim ray of light illuminating his eyes. Straight from the get go, we can see that the imagery is more poetic than one would be accustomed to in a Bond film, and all time great cinematographer Roger Deakins makes his presence known. The pre-titles sequence quickly erases any doubts about Academy Award winning director Sam Mendes' ability to direct action. As Bond must recover a stolen drive containing the list of all NATO agents embedded undercover in terrorist organizations across the globe, he is thrust into a car chase which turns into a bike chase, which turns into a rooftop bike chase, and finally turns into a fistfight on top of a moving train. The sequence is colorful, invigorating, and kinetic, while offering tension through the juxtaposition of M (Dame Judi Dench) calling the shots in her office back in rainy London and Field Agent Eve (Naomie Harris) following alongside Bond in a Land Rover. The tension builds to a boiling point as M is forced to make the decision of her career. Order Eve to fire at the mercenary, Patrice (Ola Rapace), and risk hitting Bond or leave Bond to fight Patrice on the moving train and recover the drive. With a flinty toughness, M orders Eve to take the shot, which she reluctantly does, and misses as we watch Bond plummet from a 300 foot bridge into a river and Patrice disappear into the tunnel with the drive. We sit in agonizing silence, as M, Tanner, and MI6 staff await the outcome of the decision... "Agent down." The sky is falling. James Bond is dead.

Daniel Kleinman's title sequence is his best work yet. His nightmarish title sequence is eerie, elegant, and haunting with the best modern Bond theme and possibly the best Bond theme of all, Adele's Skyfall, poetically dancing with the images on screen. We see Bond's arm floating underwater being grabbed by a woman's hand pulling him into the realm of the dead. The morbid images of knives, graves, skulls, and blood are shown through the sequence, and during the first chorus we see a crumbling manor house, slowly revealing the quivering eyes of an adolescent Bond, hidden behind the stone walls. Bond continues exploring the cavernous depths of the underworld as Kleinman incorporates much of the film's symbolic imagery of shadows, graves, and mirrors, as Bond shoots at his reflection in a hall of mirrors.

While the plot synopsis and the opening of the film do suggest that the film is about recovering the stolen drive, the true story of the film arises when Gareth Mallory, the new chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee (Ralph Finnes) is introduced into the story. M is under scrutiny from Mallory for her questionable handling the Istanbul mission and the loss of a drive containing sensitive information which should not have been on record in the first place. M is told she will "voluntarily retire" and recieve the GCMG with full honours, but she's not having any of it. Now with her best agent dead, and with the lives of her other agents in danger, M must now fight to defend MI6 and her "out dated" way of doing things. Meanwhile, Bond is living in a beach side hut in Turkey looking haggard, disheveled, and unshaved, getting drunk, having sex and feeling sorry for himself after M's decision to risk sacrificing him for the good of the mission. Rarely ever do we get to see Bond off duty, and here we see the bored, depressed, and somewhat miserable Bond Fleming often wrote of. After MI6 is attacked by a shadowy figure from M's past, several agents are killed and Bond returns to England from his early retirement. Upon returning home, Bond finds his world has been turned upside down. His flat is sold, MI6 is in a new place, with new staff, and now he and M are a thing of the past. Bond is once again put through physical and psychological examinations, all of which he fails, but M lies to him, telling him he barely passed and proceeding to put him on active duty. The idea of a Bond who is aging and seems to have lost a step is an interesting concept, as we now have doubts about Bond's ability to perform in the field and operate at the level which he needs to survive. For once we actually fear that Bond may not be able to pull something off. Unlike his shoulder injury in TWINE that only popped up when it wanted to, we see Bond missing the target in his marksmanship test, collapsing after doing pull ups, struggling to hold on to the bottom of the elevator in Shanghai, panting after swimming laps in the pool, and his hand shakes when he takes aim with his pistol. It seems that Bond is not only rusty, but may even be a bit of a liability in the field. Awaiting the meeting with his new Quartermaster in the National Gallery, Bond stares at "The Fighting Temaraire", a painting depicting a grand old warship being hauled away to be used for scrap. The painting serves as an interesting parallel towards Bond and M's dilemma as they have become relics, now being phased out in favor for a new breed of Intelligence, such as Q (Ben Whishaw), who is a young computer expert who gives Bond a simple palm reading gun and a palm reader. Q Branch is no longer in the business of exploding pens, because in a world where every 16 year old has GPS, and all sorts of technology available to them on their cell phone or iPod, what practical gadget is there to give?

The Shanghai sequence may be the most visually striking action scenes in a Bond film or even in any film at all. In a maze of neon, shadows, and reflections, Bond's fistfight with Patrice is a hypnotic as it is one lingering shot as the two men beat and batter each other in silhouette, with only flashes of gunfire illuminating their faces for milliseconds. In Macau, a playful little scene once again reminds us of the theme of the old and the new, with Eve shaving Bond with a cutthroat razor, filled sexual tension that could be cut with a butter knife. The following scene is pure cinematic Bond glory. Bond is once again shaved, donning the tuxedo, triumphantly gliding through fiery dragon heads against a firework lit sky, with Komodo Dragon, Newman's instrumental take on Adele's theme, in the background. James Bond is back from the dead. The casino sequence feels like a deliberate nod to the James Bond of old. We are introduced to Severine (Berenice Marlohe), a haunted, vulnerable femme fatale working for Silva. As inexperienced as Marlohe is as an actress, she absolutely shines as Severine given her minimal screen time, masking fear with a false sense of confidence. Mendes throws in a slightly cheeky fight in a Komodo Dragon sequence towards the end of the casino sequence, giving a fun, playful nod to Live and Let Die but still managing to maintain the signature brutality of Craig-era fight sequences. In classic Bond fashion, Bond drops a one liner to Eve, and strides out of the casino with panache. Any doubts about Daniel Craig's ability to portray the classic elements of Bond's character are put to rest. Meanwhile, agents are being exposed on YouTube, and she and MI6 publicly come under scrutiny. Mallory informs M that the Prime Minister has ordered an inquiry which she must attend later in the week.

The franchise was lucky to have an actor as talented as Javier Bardem to play the villain of Skyfall, and I can confidently say that those talents are not put to waste. Silva's introduction is among some of the most memorable villain introductions in history. In one long take, Silva slowly walks from the back of the room towards the camera while telling a chilling story about cannibalistic rats, referring to he and Bond as the last two rats. Silva is about as over the top and flamboyant as any villain in the series. With bleached blond hair, blue eyes, strange facial features, and an outfit straight out of the 1970's, Silva's appearance is absolutely alien. Silva is quirky, with a bizarre onomatopoeial way of speaking and slightly goofy mannerisms, but manages to drip with charisma and come across as strangely likable. Silva and Bond engage in a homo-erotically charged mental chess game, where Silva begins to feel up Bond's face, body, and thighs, which will go down as one of the franchise's finest scenes. Speculations about Silva's sexuality are debatable, but one thing that is certain is that he uses sexuality (one of the many weapons in Bond's arsenal), against Bond in order to get in his head, but after suggesting that it is Bond's first homosexual encounter, Bond plays right along asking Silva what makes him think it's first time. Silva's otherness is once again reaffirmed by his playing of Charles Trenet's "Boum!" over the loudspeakers during a William Tell duel involving a shot glass on Severine's head. While the use of CGI is apparent, the production team did a great job creating "The Dead Island", an abandoned island modeled after Hashima Island in Japan.

When Silva is captured and sent to London we, along with Bond, hear Silva's backstory for the first time. A former MI6 agent working under M during the handover, was caught hacking by the Chinese, and M hands him over to the Chinese for six agents and a peaceful handover. Silva is tortured for months by the Chinese and is left only with his cyanide capsule in his molar. Silva bites the capsule, only to find it has become defective and the hydrogen cyanide ends up burning away all his teeth, the left side of his mouth and his left cheekbone. His grotesque and heartbreaking deformity is revealed when he removes his prosthetic mouth and cheekbone in front of Bond and M, once again, superbly done by the VFX team. What is truly fascinating about Silva is that he is a distorted fun-house mirror image of Bond. He and Bond were both top notch agents who were sacrificed for the greater good by M, who appears to both as a maternal figure. While M is a legitimate mother figure to Bond, Silva has a warped infatuation with her which deepens his plan past a simple revenge with he, Bond, and M entangled in a complex relationship between two rival siblings and their mother. With the information he had, he likely could have killed M long ago, but deliberately made sure to spare her during the MI6 explosion. It is his perverse love for her that gives him a new purpose to his life, rather than simple rage and thirst for revenge. Silva's being sent to London wasn't an accident, he wanted to be brought to her. He effectively uses the stolen drive as bait for MI6 to pursue and apprehend him, ironically using himself as a Trojan horse, bringing him into the heart of MI6 and reuiniting him once again with "mommy." Silva's plan isn't about exposing agents on YouTube, and neither is the film as a whole; it's about his suffering as he sees himself as a suffering son left to die by his own mother, and his desire to not only kill her but to hold her and look into her eyes before they both die together.

Silva uses his technological resources to hack MI6's computer system, after Q shows his youth by carelessly connecting Silva's laptop to their system via ethernet cable. After opening all the doors and escaping into the underground, with his embedded associates giving him a police outfit for disguise. Bond and Silva embark on a cat and mouse chase through the tube system into the catacombs of underground London. Mendes effectively uses juxtaposition and parallel action as Bond's pursuit of Silva is intercut with M's Board of Inquiry hearing, where she is grilled by the "bitchy politician", Clair Dowar (Helen McCrory). In a world of internet surveillance, predator drones, heightened transparency, and skilled computer hackers like Q, what use is there for clandestine men with guns going out into the field and risking their lives gathering intelligence? A case could be made that Bond, M, and their ideologies are a thing of the past and that there isn't a place for them in the new age of espionage. Perhaps the world no longer needs James Bond. In a speech that encapsulates the very essence of Skyfall, M takes her stand expressing that the world is no longer transparent, enemies are no longer easily identifiable, and do not have loyalties to nations. The new danger is in fact in the shadows, the places where most people do not and cannot see, and the place where Bond exists to protect the world from the enemies that are not known to us. In the most poetic scene in Bond's history (literally and figuratively), M quotes the ending of Lord Alfred Tennyson's "Ulysses" to the members of the hearing, while the poem is intercut with Silva and his men approaching the hearing, and Bond sprinting through the chaotic London streets to rescue her.

"We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."

While they may be old fashioned and aging, they are not obsolete. It is through perseverance and power of will that Bond and M continue to fight in the shadows, defending the realm against the new threats posed against us. In the ensuing shootout, Bond must now defend MI6 in a more literal sense as Silva opens fire on the Inquiry, and all hell breaks lose. In this scene, we see Mallory's true colors show. In a act of heroism, he jumps in front of M, taking a bullet to the shoulder to protect her, and showing us that perhaps he isn't a pesky, spineless, bureaucrat, and that behind his charm and courtesy, lies a man of steel. Bond gets M off to safety and whisks her off in a company car. They have been playing catch up from the day this started and it's time the ball was in their court. Bond tells Q make an off-the-books plan to create an unauthorized false tracking signal that only Silva can see, but small enough where he does not smell a rat. In the process of this Q and Tanner are unexpectedly interrupted by Mallory, who recognizes what they are doing and commends them for it, telling them to carry on with their business, behind the Prime Minister's back. We're left thinking that maybe Mallory isn't so bad after all. Bond makes a stop to change vehicles since the company cars have trackers installed, so he switches to his personal car. The DB5 has a symbolic value in this film representing the Bond of old, and it's reveal is a true fist pumping moment for Bond fans, with the classic Bond theme and the roar of the DB5 in the background. Bond's car appears to have been upgraded by the old quartermaster since we last saw the DB5 in Casino Royale, with the usual gadgets, machine guns, and the ejector seat offering a nice bit of self referential humor.

The final act of the film is the most polarizing among fans, where the film departs from the conventional Bond structure and becomes a thing of his own. Bond and M set off to Skyfall lodge, an old manor house in the moors of Scotland, in which Bond grew up. One may wonder why Bond would take M to a such place, but because Silva's niche is the use and manipulation of computers and technology, the only way he can gain an advantage is dueling Silva in a familiar place, which is completely off the grid, and thus giving Silva no tactical advantage. In a brief scene Bond and M gaze out into the moors and M asks him about the death of his parents. Predictably, he's unwilling to talk, and silently prepares himself as he will be forced to relive with the childhood traumas he had pushed under the the table for most of his life. When we arrive at Skyfall lodge, Bond slowly walks through the empty rooms of his childhood home, and appearing to have memories of his childhood coming back to life. We then meet Kincade (Albert Finney), an old gamekeeper of Skyfall lodge, who became somewhat of a paternal figure after Jame's father, Andrew Bond, had passed. He shows M a priest hole on the property in which James hid after hearing of his parents passing. When he reemerged two days later, he was no longer a boy. For a moment, we and M hear about a side of Bond that not many know of: Bond the orphan boy, rather than Bond the international superspy. In their dialogue, we see glimpses of the humorous, warm relationship between Bond and Kincade which feels organic and wouldn't be hard to imagine a saucy young Bond verbally sparring with his old gamekeeper. Bond discovers that the lodge has been sold, and along with most of the guns in the gun room, severely diminishing the advantage of coming to Skyfall. They are only left with Andrew Bond's old hunting rifle, and a few sticks of dynamite and a knife, with Kincade once again expressing the films theme that, "Sometimes the old ways are the best." There is a bit of a Home Alone type vibe as we see the three of them rigging the house with improvised bombs and booby traps for the coming battle. Once the attack begins, they manage to hold off the first wave of attackers but M is left wounded. Silva then arrives in true over the top fashion, in a helicopter, blaring The Animals' "Boom Boom" with the fitting lyrics;
"Boom, boom, boom, boom,
Gonna shoot you right down,
Take you in my arms,
I'm in love with you..."

One moment that brought a tear to the eye of many men in the cinema was Silva's blowing up of the DB5, setting Bond over the edge and leading him to rig the mansion into a gigantic bomb, and running into the priest hole for safety. Although it may not seem to significant, this sequence holds a lot of symbolic value. By destroying the DB5, the film says "We recognize the past of the franchise, and while it was great, it's time to move forward into a new age of Bond." Similarly, Bond is forced to go back into that priest hole and conquer his demons, completely destroying Skyfall and everything it represented. The final showdown in the Skyfall chapel ranks up with Tracy's death as one of the most moving scenes in Bond's 50 year history. As Silva approaches the chapel he stops to look at Bond's parents' grave, signifying a family reunion of sorts. Silva finally reaches the moment he's lived for since his failed suicide. He can hold "mommy" in his arms, look into her eyes, and finish the task by killing them both with the same bullet. Bond intervenes before Silva reaches his goal by throwing a knife into his back and saying telling him "Last rat standing." before Silva collapses and dies. Unfortunately, Bond is too late, M falls into his arms as she bleeds out from her gunshot wound. Poetically, Bond will now lose his mother for the second time, just steps away from where his parents are burried. M says, "Well I got one thing right." expressing that through all the mistakes she'd made throughout her career, she got one thing right in the arrogant, "blunt instrument" she promoted in Casino Royale. In the most touching moment of the series, Bond closes her eyelids after she fades away, and kisses her on her forehead as he weeps. The film then cuts from the dark, firelit chapel to the bright rooftops of London where Bond stands heroically overlooking the empire which he defends.

It is a new day, not only for Bond, but for MI6... the "new" or rather the "old" MI6. Eve tells Bond she declined her offer to go back into the field, and decided to take a desk job after she realized she wasn't cut out for field work. When Bond mentions that they'd never had a formal introduction, Eve introduces herself as Eve Moneypenny, and the Bond theme begins to play as she sits down in a familiar looking office with a desk and a coat rack by the door. As Tanner emerges from behind the large padded leather door, a feeling that could not be described in words arises. Bond enters the room into the classic M's office with Gareth Mallory sitting behind the desk and a drawing of the former MI6 building behind him. After a long battle with proving his place in a modern world, Bond comes up victorious but only after his world was completely torn down, and been rebuilt and re-proven with himself back at the center, but surrounded by a new team with elements of the old and the new, headed by his new M, Mallory. Bond's journey in Skyfall also mirrors the journey of the series as a whole. After the franchise had lost it's way, and the disappointment of Quantum of Solace coupled with MGM's financial struggles, many Bond fans and moviegoers alike felt that maybe James Bond was a thing of the past, and that his best days are behind him. Skyfall proves that not only is James Bond relevant, but he's needed now more than ever, and while respect must be paid to the old guard, it is necessary to adapt and evolve in order to survive. On the wall of the new M's office is a painting of old warships, like in "The Fighting Temeraire" but this one rather, a new fleet lined up in the waters, ready and able to protect and defend. MI6 and James Bond will prevail.

All in all, Sam Mendes has made the best Bond film to date, combining the fun, beloved elements of classic Bond, with a new contemporary edge and at the same time integrating a thematic depth, and solidarity not yet seen in the Bond franchise. The team has once again raised the bar, this time making it evident that it is possible to not only make a great Bond film, but a great film in it's own right. With great performances, stunning cinematography, and an emotionally charged story, Skyfall will go down as one of the classics.
9.5/10

Edited by TheSilhouette, 30 November 2012 - 10:17 AM.

[00Twelve]

What a wonderful review and analysis, Silhouette. Thank you for taking the time and effort to share.

[Dustin]

Spectacular review there, congratulations!

[tdalton]

Having had a full day now to digest my thoughts on SKYFALL, I'll make an attempt at a review:


I went to see SKYFALL with very high expectations. Too high, perhaps, but high nonetheless. Those expectations were stoked by the nearly obscene level of praise that SKYFALL was generating from the press and from the Bond fan community as well. I had given some thought to simply waiting for the Blu-ray, as I haven't been to the cinema in nearly two years, but I decided to go and check out SKYFALL seeing as how it seemed like the kind of Bond film that you simply couldn't miss seeing in a theater. Unfortunately, this didn't turn out to be the case.

SKYFALL is a movie that doesn't really know what it wants to be. It makes some truly dreadful attempts at comedy, with only the odd line or two getting any kind of a chuckle from the audience I saw the film with. The lines that got the laughs were Kincade's about Bond being a "jumped up little..." and the ejector seat moment between Bond and M on their way out to Skyfall. Bond's petrified reaction to the Komodo Dragon was also rather humorous, although bordering a bit too closely to the kind of comedy that we used to see in the Roger Moore entries. The rest of them, both for me and the audience I saw it with, fell flat. These moments also did not seem to gel very well with what wanted to be the most deadly serious Bond tale of them all.

Even with the humor not being what it could have been, it's the serious aspects of the film where it completely falls flat. There are so many half-baked storylines running through SKYFALL that whenever they let one go unresolved or underdeveloped, it feels like a missed opportunity rather than a way of moving on to something new and exciting in the storyline. The biggest gripe I can find in the story is that it decides to be a small scale story even though it's inappropriate for it to be that way. I'm all for the smaller-scale Bond films. LICENCE TO KILL is my favorite Bond film, and they don't come much lower-scale than that. But it's the low-scale nature of SKYFALL that largely contributes to its downfall. There's nothing much at stake in SKYFALL, aside from the career of M, who is written to be such an unlikeable character that one could make the argument that she is the true villain of SKYFALL, not Javier Bardem's Silva.

When the writers paint its supposed sympathetic hero of the story (M) as more of a villain than anything else, and then asks you to get wrapped up in her cause, there needs to be something else at stake. The writers had a great opportunity to really use London as a location in SKYFALL, but botched the opportunity completely. London should have been under direct siege by Silva and his men. The major theme running through the story is that MI6 and the Double-oh Section is no longer necessary, that they serve no further purpose. Giving them a chance to prove their worth here, and directly showing the people of London that they (excluding M here) are not the incompetent lot that the British/global media paints them to be in the film. Instead, the film detours to Scotland so that Daniel Craig can run around doing his best MacCauley Culkin impression while Albert Finney tries to channel his inner Sean Connery to play the superfluous Kincade.

We also saw an extremely interesting story arc in the form of Severine get dumped far too early. Berenice Marlohe is simply phenomenal as Severine, far better than Naomie Harris, whose Eve Moneypenny is more of an annoyance than a benefit to the film. Marlohe participates in what could have only been 3, 4 scenes at the maximum, before she's dispatched like so many of the plot possibilities that Purvis, Wade, and Logan could have used to make SKYFALL a much better film than what they ended up with. Severine's slave lifestyle under Silva and Bond's attempt to save her could have led to a Bond/Bond-girl relationship that would have felt much different from the majority of the prior relationships in the film, and would have allowed the filmmakers to break some new ground and go in directions that they hadn't been before. But, they quickly discard that, almost as though they decided halfway through they now longer wanted to use it. As it stands, Silva's plan relies on so many coincidences that it simply doesn't become believable as it moves along. And, yes, I'm aware that this is a problem with some of the prior Bond films, but in this new age of the franchise where they want to be taken seriously not as "Bond film" makers but as true filmmakers in the Academy's sense of the word, this is something that is not acceptable.

The decision to make the film largely about Bond being slowed a step and behind the game is just absurd. Not only is it absurd because this is only Craig's third outing as 007, it's also absurd because there's no way that he loses that much ability in the span of what could have been, at the absolute most, a couple of weeks. The absurdity of this is perhaps why Craig comes across as slightly bored through portions of the movie, as though he knows that the material just isn't quite up to par.

The music in SKYFALL is something of a mixed bag. I liked a good portion of Newman's score, although I'd have to see it again to determine if it's because I actually like the music itself or if it's just the fact that it's different from Arnold's cut-and-paste Bond scores that we've had to listen to over the past several Bond films. One thing regarding the music is absolutely clear, however, and that is that Adele's title song is just awful.

There were some things that made SKYFALL worth watching. Craig is once again excellent in the part, although at times he doesn't seem to have the enthusiasm for the part that he displayed in both CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE. As already stated, Berenice Marlohe is a revelation, and it's a shame that her contribution to the series is only 3-4 scenes, as she should have been reserved for a much more substantial part than that of Severine. Ralph Fiennes is excellent as Mallory, with the only fault I can find with Fiennes is that he had to be a part of that horrific final scene that, if you listened to quietly, you could hear Barbara Broccoli and Michael Wilson scratching the items off of the checklist from just off camera.

The Shanghai and Maccau sequences are far and away the best of the film. I would have liked to have seen much more of the film set there, as well as Silva's island, which is woefully underused. It's when things get to London that they begin to fall apart, which is a shame. The use of the Komodo Dragons was an excellent, Flemingesque touch, and Bond's fight with Patrice atop the Shanghai skyscraper was awesome to watch, especially due to the visuals employed during the sequence.

Overall, SKYFALL isn't a bad Bond film, but it may go down as the most disappointing entry in the series. After two excellent Bond films in CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE, Craig's first outing as Bond in nearly a half decade simply can't stand up to the massive expectations that the media, the fanbase, and the filmmakers themselves heaped atop it. SKYFALL is certainly not a deserving Academy Award nominee in any category, despite the hype that it's unjustly getting, but it also never sinks to the depths of entries like DIE ANOTHER DAY, THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, or YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE. It's problems are that, like many of the other entries, it's got plot holes you could drive trucks through, it doesn't stand up to the great films in the franchise (or even up to the other two in Craig's tenure alone), and it actually stands to make its villain more sympathetic than his target.

[Genrewriter]

I've seen it twice so far and it's even better the second time around. Javier Bardem is just amazingly creepy (even without a CGI-rendered sagging face), Judi Dench gets a very nice sendoff and Craig is solid as always as Bond. I did a slightly more detailed review over on my blog but the short version is simple: This is the best outing for Craig thus far.

[Kincade]

This is the review I wrote right after seeing Skyfall but I have not had any chances to see it again as I am in the countryside most of the time.I previously put this on my blog. You can also read my list of highlights from the film here: http://endlesskitche...ll-spoiler.html

 

"James Bond 007 is back with perhaps the very best entry in the series and one heck of a thrilling mixture of action, drama and even tragedy. Bond is in style, vintage yet bold, fresh and finally, Bond has an apposite and relevant place in the 21st century, post-Cold War world. At one point, James Bond calls resurrection his hobby but that could easily be a nod to this film's push in a new direction. Speaking of nods, the film provides very minor but appreciable nods to Bond films of the past fifty years throughout but they are sly and not distracting in the least.

Anyone who appreciates Bond, action movies or just well-told stories will have a blast watching Skyfall. Daniel Craig not only makes a great Bond but his talent and commitment as an actor really shines through. He shows the imperfect strength of the character and his emotions underneath the cool, introverted and brooding exterior. The Bond of the novels with a touch of Timothy Dalton is Craig's style as Fleming-esque is the only word to describe him. Javier Bardem, an engaging and talented actor if there ever was one, creates an instant classic villain in Raoul Silva just as he did in No Country for Old Men. He is vicious and twisted, inside and out; a Bond villain with a touch of Hannibal Lector and the Joker. He is eccentrically dressed and groomed with an odd disfigurement and a sick sense of humor. When he makes his incredible and memorable first appearance, he gives a skin-crawling anecdote of how to dispose of rats. Bardem steals the show and his character is so fascinating in each scene he is in despite how cruel and malicious he is. That said, there are elements of tragedy in Silva's background that allows him to be much more sympathetic than most film protagonists' foes, let alone a Bond villain. Mendes uses the Jaws technique in villain introduction, we do not even see Raoul Silva until about an hour into the film.

The rest of the cast delivers as well. Naomie Harris is excellent as Eve, an agent who is out of her league in the field but still a vital ally as well as a love interest. Judi Dench gives her best performance yet in the Bond franchise as M's leadership is vital once British Intelligence is directly targeted. Do spies working in the shadows still bear relevance in 2012? The answer, according to M in a passionate and poetic speech, is yes because enemies like Silva live and operate in the shadows as well. Speaking of MI6, it was great to see more screen time by Tanner (Rory Kinnear) and Q compared to the previous two Bond films. It makes the drama of those scenes much more interesting than the nameless drones inCasino Royale and Quantum of Solace and it is fascinating to see Q as a younger brainchild without a labcoat assisting 007. Bérénice Marlohe gives a very strong performance creating a sympathetic feeling towards her character's trapped predicament that a lesser actor might not have done as well as she did. Fiennes is also very charismatic as the government critic of MI6 who might be swayed into believing their relevance in the age of globalization, the internet and mass media. Albert Finney shows up and creates a charming, avuncular and very tough ally for Bond in the second half of the film. Not since William Hurt in A History of Violence has such a fascinating and memorable character come from such a small role. Can Kincade get a spin-off film? Please!!

The script by John Logan, Neal Purvis and Robert Wade is sharp, clever and even poignant at times. Despite a lot of intensity, there is a good dose of funny lines but without any grating hokiness. Sam Mendes' direction complements this story perfectly as the story simply flows and reveals itself so very well. Skyfall's tone shifts between the traditional Bond formula of fun to exciting action to compelling drama to, at times, the ferocity of a thriller. At two hours and twenty-three minutes, some might call this film long but the crescendo and excellent pacing makes it actually feel a bit on the short side (as well as it being so much fun). Skyfall will be both familiar to Bond fans and new to them. For those uninitiated or disliking of the Bond films, this might be the one that sways you over, if only to liking this entry. Master of photography and cinematography Roger Deakins creates gorgeous scenery and backgrounds that really puts a special flair to the look of Skyfall, especially to those who see it on IMAX. The scenes in Macau with Dragon Year floats and Chinese lanthorns floating around are simply unforgettable. Thomas Newman provides a great score, although it fails to reach the mantle of great Bond scores like On Her Majesty's Secret Service or Dr. No. Adele's theme song is a bit too simplistic for my tastes but I was won over by the power of her vocal performance. About one minute into the song, there are a few tinges of the riffs in the James Bond theme to be heard; an awesome little surprise. It is rather catchy and fits well with Danny Kleinman's awesome titles. This is another area where Skyfall delivers classic Bond at its best. The shifts of shapes and forms are not only dazzling, slick and cool but they deliver neat clues to the themes of the movie."

Edited by Kincade, 07 December 2012 - 12:13 PM.

[Sean Moore]

Good writing is important. I'm one of those Bond fans who is more interested in the story being told than in the action, but I want action, too. The newest James Bond film manages to tell story through action rather than let action run off with the film or stick out as something that doesn't belong there. SKYFALL has an intelligent and well-structured script by John Logan, an esteemed playwright, a writer's writer, and a screenwriter with several hit films under his belt. I seriously doubt if the credited co-authors, Purvis and Wade, had much to do with the script, since they have proven themselves incapable of achieving this level of pared-down sophistication in their four previous Bond scripts. They are probably responsible for the third act, however, which I'll talk about in a minute. Logan's plot is character-driven and full of unexpected twists and turns. His biggest accomplishment is in changing the feminist mandate in the last 5 Bond films from male deconstruction and genre deconstruction to a reassessment of the female M. This is a film about M getting her comeuppance. The character arc belongs to her, and it's all grimly serious. Logan's second biggest accomplishment is in playing both ends against the middle -- giving the old fans what they want while obliterating it at the same time. Oh yes, and there's the co-star, James Bond getting to behave more like James Bond than he has in awhile. His dialogue is kept terse, which helps, and the phrasing is so characteristic of him one can almost hear Sean Connery speaking the words.

Except it's Daniel Craig, who misses the emotional mark as often as he nails the physical challenges. Craig is always interesting, but who is he playing exactly? The secret to Bond's success in the originating films is in his confidence, his humor and moral compass. He never doubts that he's in the right and if he is afraid of anything he doesn't let it stop him. The point in Bond being handsome, charming and suave is that handsome, charming and suave looks even more so when he is tested, bruised and battered. He can be damaged and even killed, and the tension, as well as the attraction, is in watching him outwit and overcome. This doesn't work with Daniel Craig. Craig looks bruised and battered at the outset, and he hurls himself into action like the Terminator. Craig plays on his negative feelings. He suffers, pouts and goes in for revenge. He's there to be hurt and to inflict hurt. That's all very compelling, but it isn't James Bond (not of the originating films or the novels). Connery would dodge when he saw a shark in the water; Craig gives the impression he would eat the shark blood raw with salt. This time out his Bond is morose and dejected. M doesn't belittle him this time; instead he acts small. There can be no lighhearted moments because his heart isn't light. There can be no nonchalance because his instinct is to plow the depths of moroseness. There can be no romantic moments because he is not a romantic. Watching Craig in SKYFALL, I get the impression he realizes his Bond isn't working, but has no idea how to fix it. If the director is trying to get him there, Craig either doesn't have the range to arrive or the will to try. And I think Craig truly resents the way Judi Dench took over the films. He let EON make a monkey out of him, and I think he realizes that now, too.

The pre-title finds Bond chasing a villain who has stolen a list of agents from an MI6 computer on the top of a speeding train (which is set in Turkey but looks more like Scotland). Bond is wounded first by the villain and then shot off the roof of the train by M's female sharpshooter who's aiming at the bad guy but hits Bond by mistake. In his earpiece Bond hears M instructing the sharpshooter to take the shot even at the risk of killing one of their own. He plays the rest of the film with his feelings hurt, still dedicated but looking weary and disillusioned. At the end, when the female sharpshooter says she's been reassigned to assist the new M, Bond says "Good. I feel much safer now." Craig speaks the line twice in the course of the film and both times he misses the ironic, sarcastic tone. Instead of humoring her, he says it with complete seriousness. Later, as the assault on Skyfall is about to begin, he looks about and says "I always hated this house." That line tells us just how little Craig and the creative team behind this film understand James Bond and his world. No wonder this is the first James Bond film not to mention the name Ian Fleming. After he's shot by friendly fire, there are some quick Jason Bourne-style shots of Bond floating in the water under the trestle, followed by some quick Jason Bourne-style shots of Bond recuperating on a beach half-way 'round the world until he catches sight of an explosion at MI6 on CNN. What follows is kept on the plausible side and is not overly burdened with male deconstruction and political correctness. The only sour note is in Judi Dench's M and the entire third act.

How did a diminutive old grandmother become the star and emotional anchor of the James Bond films? Dench strikes the keynote on which these Bond films are played. Once again she sets the tone, and once again it's an abrasive, condescending, shrill, depressing one. Unfortunately for SKYFALL, she is given more to do than ever before. M is the female lead. Hence, for the first time in a Bond movie, there is no romance among equals for James, no female adventurer to share in the adventure. Instead, M is called on the carpet by minister Ralph Fiennes, who gently and politely informs her that she will retire with honors after facilitating a transition into new management. Fiennes' calm reasonable tone is in deliberate contrast to Judi Dench's, and I loved every second of it. But why couldn't M's retirement -- or death -- be the pre-title sequence? Then we could get two hours of a relieved and empowered Bond working for the new M to clean up the mess she left behind.

Javier Bardem's loquacious Silva is the most believable and effective villain since Sanchez in LICENCE TO KILL (1989). Bardem plays a former spy who was betrayed and sacrificed to the enemy by M. He has suffered too much and is bent on revenge. Since he's a former agent, he knows how to humiliate M by infecting her computer and how to injure MI.6 by hitting them publicly. In an unexpected and inexplicable burst of honesty, the film has Silva referring to M as Mother, with lines like "mommy was very bad" and "oh, what has mommy done to you?!" In so doing, the subtext becomes the clear text, and if anyone ever doubted that the old grandmother ragging on James Bond and following him around the globe represented more than the letter M, here is the proof. My joke about the Bond films turning into a riff on the Stallone comedy "Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot!" is the literal truth. Whatever its flaws, I respect SKYFALL for this lapse into honesty.

One of my favorite actresses, Naomie Harris, plays a field agent who becomes the updated Moneypenny. Updated means she must first establish her chops as an assassin and spy before she takes to the desk. Once she shows that she can do anything a man can do, she reveals to Bond that her name is Eve Moneypenny. Harris is a refreshingly positive presence. How nice to have her in the regular cast.

The statuesque Eurasion beauty Bérénice Lim Marlohe plays Severine, the exotic femme fatale out of the old school of exotic femme fatales. Elegant but trashy. seductive but threatening, vulnerable but hard as nails, Marlohe is perfect. She has the gift of spontaneity and plays up the contradictions effortlessly. Watching her tremble in fear of Silva even as she coldy sets up a man to be killed for him is the film's greatest pleasure. Ian Fleming would have reveled in her casting. I love her interaction with Bond in that well-written scene at the bar. Especially the part where she leans forward and asks "Can you kill him?" Instead of lecturing Bond on his ego, she talks to him like a person who is both evil and in need of saving. Their love scene doesn't work, because it avoids showing two things -- their coupling, and Craig's face. He's a shadow behind the glass. Bérénice Lim Marlohe should remind Ian Fleming enthusiasts of the darkly conflicted women of the novels and to some extent of the originating films. She is also a reminder of all the dimensions that were missing from Vesper Lynd in the abortive CASINO ROYALE (2006). Likewise the dangerous exotica of these Shanghai scenes is a reminder of the atmosphere and style that was missing from CASINO ROYALE.

Behind the camera, Daniel Kleinman returns to provide another surrealist opening title sequence. His vision and imagery were sorely missed in the previous entry. Adele, a smokey-voiced belter and balladeer, performs the title song in the Shirley Bassey tradition. Her voice is very welcome after the last two cat-stranglers. Despite lukewarm lyrics she's quite the best vocalist the series has had since THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999). Thomas Newman fails to distinguish himself as composer, but he doesn't do anything wrong, either. When the time comes to play the Bond theme, this is the first time the arrangement fails to generate much excitement, although it's nice to hear it again after a long absence over the main action.

Photographer Roger Deakins has figured out the medium of digital capture better than anyone. SKYFALL isn't shot on film, but it never looks dim and overly soft like all the other digitally captured movies I've seen. His Shanghai is a skyscraper city of neon lights, animated signs and glass reflections that's just stunning. A fight between Bond and an assassin (it's never clear who the assassin kills or why) in front of a shattered glass wall, shot in silhouette against illumination from the apartment in a skyscraper across the way, is equally stunning. I've never seen a night-for-night exterior lit the way Deakins lights the night-time assault on James Bond's ancestral mansion. The house, Skyfall, sits in a pasture all by itself. Across the field there is a small house in the distance. Obviously he mounted arc lights at the top of tall poles or cranes but he does not flood the scene with a direct light. Instead he bounces the light off what must be tinted mirrors. The tint is a kind of rust-color that blends in with the night sky. The ground and building are flooded with a patina of diffused, even light that keeps the sky dark while allowing for a long depth of field and a sharp image free of noise. I'm pleasantly surprised at how good SKYFALL looks. There is a sense of film grain and I think an emulation of the aesthetics of Ted Moore, the dp of the originating Bond films (whose work remains vastly under-rated). No Bond film has looked this stylized since Claude Renoir shot TSWLM and MR.

I've said before that it was never necessary to deconstruct Bond in order to update him. Craig's defenders assert that Bond's screw-ups and the lectures he earns in CASINO ROYALE were the start of a new character arc. They think a grown-up in this late thirties can be taught cultured habits, spycraft and how to be a better man by being excoriated by his M.other and belittled by his gal-pals. They also assert that James Bond has finally "grown into the James Bond we all know and love" at the end of SKYFALL. These people can not be reasoned with, and it's best to simply ignore them. Unfortunately, the third act will reinforce their contentions.

"Where are you taking me?" M asks Bond. "To the past," he replies. Bond drives M to his family home in Scotland, the mansion house named Skyfall. His plan to trap and kill the army of assassins led by Silva who are coming for him and M in the house makes no sense and is as implausible as flying carpets and superhumans with steel teeth. The viewer's expectations sink when Bond starts rigging the house with booby traps and small explosives. When I see M filling light bulbs with oil and nails that will blow up when turned on I can't help thinking of all those westerns in which whiskey bottles are stuffed with a rag to be lit and used as fire grenades. This stand-off-the-Indians siege is so simplistic it could only have been thought of by the dumb & dumber of Bond writers, Purvis and Wade. Besides, it was done better at the end of a true British masterpiece, FRANKENSTEIN MUST BE DESTROYED (1969). This third act is the weakest part of the film, if not the weakest in the entire series, and would be totally laughable if it weren't directed and photographed in dark noir style with such undeniable skill. There is a caveat for the feminists, however: predictably, despite his best efforts to save M, Bond is off fighting someone outside when Silva catches up with her inside. In other words, Bond fails to protect. When he comes in to kill Silva, it's too late. No doubt producer Barbara Broccoli delighted in depicting yet another failure in Bond heroism. So with M dying romantically in Bond's arms -- grit your teeth and try not to gag -- the poisonous arc of CASINO ROYALE finally comes to a stop.

We are shown Bond's family crest and the tombstones of his parents who died when Bond was very young, modifying the orphan tale concocted for CASINO ROYALE (2006). So he's an orphan raised by the grace of someone else's charity, but he's also the privileged son of an upper class aristocrat with a title? Then we are treated to the entire place blowing up in flames together with the Aston-Martin DB5, that most beloved symbol of classic James Bond films. The classic James Bond theme plays during all this destruction, but if the audience is meant to feel excited at the familiar action score, there is a reason why it falls flat. Bond has told us the destruction is okay because he couldn't stand these things anyhow, but is it okay with the audience? Watching the Aston-Martin DB5 from GOLDFINGER (1964) being shot to pieces and blown to bits is no reason to celebrate, and putting the classic Bond theme over it feels incongruous, if not grotesque.

If the third act had been different -- if the siege had taken place in the wreckage of MI.6 or at M's apartment -- SKYFALL would be a stronger film, and a better anti-Bond film. It would also add up to the best of the three anti-Bond films that Craig has starred in. That's if the third act had taken place in a different setting and utilized a self-defense that weren't so inappropriate and pathetic.

The ending sees Bond and Moneypenny entering her office with the familiar coat rack, file cabinet and small desk in place. He is ushered through the padded double-doors into the new M's office where Ralph Fiennes, a refreshingly down-to-earth M hands Bond his next assignment. So after doing it's part to utterly destroy the James Bond concept and cinematic mythos, SKYFALL takes us back to the beginning. The film ends with Craig walking the walk in the classic gun-barrel sequence to a guitar-heavy James Bond theme.

SKYFALL is impressive dramatically and as an action film. Sam Mendes directs with unerring judgement and impeccable style. His set-ups and blocking are straight out of Directing 101, and boy does it work. I particularly liked Silva's entrance, a monologue timed to match his long walk from deep in the frame up to the foreground. I would enjoy the film more if a different actor equipped with the right emotional tools had played James Bond, and if I didn't have to look at Judi Dench for 2 1/2 hours. Don't expect to leave the theater feeling elated, but you will see an artful and well-crafted spy film with exciting action scenes. That having been said, I hope that Sam Mendes, Roger Deakins and John Logan collaborate on the next two films (to which only Logan -- and unfortunately Craig -- are contractually committed) because they are the best creative team assembled since OHMSS in 1969. The talent is there; what they do with it is something else again. Bond 24 is due out in 2014. Hopefully EON will enable Mendes, Deakins and Logan to make a right & proper 007 film. They stand a good chance of pulling it off their second time, now that the franchise is free of the legacy of CASINO ROYALE and the burden of that dreadful, abrasive, offensive woman.

Edited by Sean Moore, 17 December 2012 - 12:58 PM.

[Robinson]

I know I’m well late on reviewing SKYFALL, especially since I saw it opening night in NYC with the missus. That said, it’s time for me to put fingers to keyboard and share my thoughts on Daniel Craig’s third outing as Bond.

 

I thoroughly enjoyed Skyfall and look forward to seeing it again on the big screen (time’s running out as it’ll be on DVD in February). On a basic level, everything basically works here: the story, the action, women, villains, music, etc. Do I agree with the critics who proclaim it’s the “best Bond ever?” Absolutely not. While enjoyable, it’s not the classic that CASINO ROYALE is (amazing what a genuine romance can do for a Bond film); nor the cultural phenomenon that GOLDFINGER created. But I digress.

 

When our story begins (sans the traditional gunbarrel opening), we see Bond in Istanbul, tracking down information stolen from MI6. 007’s pursuit of a suspect turns calamitous for our hero, falling literally from grace (and our view) into images of death and Adele’s compelling, yet familiar title song. I enjoyed the song in the way I enjoyed most Bond title songs: it’s never how they sound on their own but in the context of the title sequence and how it segues to the resumption of the story.

 

I found it interesting to see Bond as a forgotten man. Considered untrustworthy and expendable by his boss, useless by her superiors and outdated by his nemesis, Silva; played with panache by Javier Bardem. Craig brings his best to the film and thus becomes more relatable to the audience, as opposed to his turn in 2008’s QUANTUM OF SOLACE. You see the hurt as he hangs from an elevator, the smoldering anger as he confronts M on her inability to believe Bond could “get the job done.” It’s there and it works.

 

The supporting cast is given plenty to do and they fill their roles nicely. Credit to John Logan as well as Purvis & Wade for providing some great dialogue for the actors to work with. No silly and obvious) double-entendres of the Bronsan era. It’s meaty, yet lean and allows everyone to shine- especially Fiennes and Whishaw. The two Bond girls, while certainly magnetic, aren’t given much in the way of dialogue, but that doesn’t mean it negates their presence. Naomi Harris shines as Eve, field agent and Bond’s partner early on in the film.  No she isn’t “Bond’s equal” but she acquits herself well, with a clipboard as well as a straight- razor. Berenice Marhloe’s Severine, caps one of one of the film’s showcase scenes- an assassination attempt in Shanghai by simply standing still and looking out a window. Her sex appeal is apparent every time she is on the screen, even as her vulnerability is revealed. Her character is the one Bond Girl of the 21^st century, where you can’t take your eyes off her, even if she has the life expectancy of Tilly Masterson.

 

Even if you feel these Bond women have been given short shrift, it’s clearly evident that the one woman who rightly receives the lion’s share of screen time, is Dame Judi Dench’s M. She’s one part Iron Lady and one part Dr. Frankenstein, who’s creations and choices have led to the proverbial chickens coming home to roost.

 

One can’t continue without talking about Roger Deakins’ cinematography and Dennis Gassner’s production design. Every image that was shown in all the trailers was magnificent. That said, I felt the overall look of the film was toned down and avoided the over saturation of color we’ve become used to in the era of color grading and digital intermediates. Personally, I didn’t think the cinematography from Quantum would be topped but it was and Deakins and director Sam Mendes must take a bow for their efforts. I’m sure there was some apprehension, when Mendes was chosen to direct. His films are great to look at but would they deliver the excitement that Bond fans expect from this series? The answer is yes and it’s done thanks to a second unit that makes sure it’s all on camera and the editorial care of Stuart Baird that insures the action won’t run too long and insures the film is well-paced. We can talk about costuming and Bond’s suits another day. In many ways, this film harkens back to the Bond films of the 60’s, when suits and neckties were slimmer. There are plenty of looks from Skyfall that filmgoers will try to emulate. If you think I’m joking, try to find that Billy Reid pea coat, Bond wears in the film. Chances are, it’s on back order at your favorite store!

 

If there is a bit of a disappointment, it’s that a major plot point is dropped, once Silva becomes the focus of the film. Given the nature of the information that sets the story in motion, it has to be as important as any nuclear device or space-based weapon a Bond villain has wielded in past films. Hopefully, this plot point can be picked up in the next installment.

 

I found the climax to be on point. Many felt something this brutal, had no place in a Bond film but I thought it great to see Bond “play defense.” For years, he’s been storming the castle on film, it’s jarring to see hold off the invading horde from his ancestral home. Seeing Craig, dispatch a henchman by using his hamstring as a garrote, is one the high points of Craig’s tenure and it shows how the series has always turned on a dime from glamour to straight up brutality.

 

In the end, the audience is left with the Bond we’re used to. After 3 films, the wood paneled office returns along with Moneypenny and Q. We have a 007 who’s free of the burden of becoming Bond and it bodes well for the future.  I think Skyfall convincingly completes its mission, to give us “our Bond” for our era and I’m eager to see where they take the series next.