Bond 23: Skyfall

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  • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

    Originally posted by SundownInRetreat View Post
    I disagree. Bond was none of those things, he was a blunt instrument, regularly making wrong calls, because he was new and inexperienced at that level. He wasn't the suave, sophisticate of past Bonds because he had yet to grow into that.
    Yes, his character makes some downright counterproductive choices, killing baddies when he would have benefited from keeping them alive, but his character otherwise acts like James Bond.

    He charms the hell out of the horse-riding girl on the beach, as well as Vesper. He's cool and slick in all social situations, which was something Skyfall lacked entirely. He's clever and smart and uses his brain often (none of those things occur in Skyfall). He even ordered the "Vesper martini" pretty much the same exact way as in the original novel.

    In Casino Royale, Bond is actually Bond. He's a bit more thuggish, but he's still Bond.

    There is no character in Skyfall the resembles James Bond in any other way than props and name.

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    • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

      Yeah, he charmed the women but that's 'cause he's a natural. Not sure he's slick in all social situations and am sure he was rough around the edges and lost his cool a few times (notably using his real identity when checking into the hotel, the "do I look like I give a damn" speech and his shell shock at losing $15m).

      I can't remember too much about his character in Skyfall. Probably because I've mentally blocked out the rancid turd that the film is.

      As for Skyfall, how can you set up a baddie by saying he generates fear unlike anyone Bond could ever imagine only for him to do very little bar mincing?
      M.A.G.A.

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      • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

        Here is a tip for an enterprising screenwriter:

        Unknown to him, James Bond had a child with his Japanese wife in the book You Only Live Twice, before returning to Great Britain. (Actually he went to the Soviet Union because he had lost his memory and after finding a Russian newspaper he decided to go there because he knew it had something to do with his past. He ended up in the U.K. in the next Bond novel.)

        Suppose that child was a boy who grew up into a suave, debonair and witty young man who learns who is father was, contacts the British embassy and ends up as an agent, essentially taking over for his retired father? That might be a way to rejuvenate the Bond saga without an 80 year old James.

        Skyfall was actually a pretty good flick, but best in the series remains From Russia with Love. Hard core, realistic spy yarn that fit the times when it was released.
        We're making a movie here, not a film! - Kit Ramsey

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        • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

          Originally posted by billmarq View Post
          best in the series remains From Russia with Love. Hard core, realistic spy yarn that fit the times when it was released.
          Absolutely.

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          • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

            Not that it was a terrible film, but I got more thrills from the final three minutes of Skyfall than from the rest of the movie. The sets, the grade, the props, the camera angles--it was making a promise to Bond lovers of old. The first three Craig movies were merely prelude for what is to come, being a REAL James Bond movie. I forgive a lot of the un-Bondian nature of Skyfall thanks to those final few minutes. And sure as hell hope they don't welch on their promise.

            BTW, loved Casino Royale, but it's still not up there with FRWL, OHMSS and Goldfinger.

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            • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

              Late to the party, just watched the movie on DVD. Hey what can ya do, we've no movie theaters out here in the backwoods any more, the guy who operated the projector died and no one else had strong enough arms to crank the handle.

              Anyways... for me, long-time Bond fan, that's 3 strikes. Just too much damn nonsense.

              nonsense n. meaningless words or ideas ; foolish or extravagant conduct. nonsensical adj. nonsensically adv.

              Saw a recent article that mentions:
              Screenwriters Neal Purvis and Robert Wade, who have worked on five instalments of the series, have also revealed they are quitting the franchise.
              What I can't understand is how they got away with it for so long -- why they weren't escorted off the set by security. 'Cause these plots have been limp.

              limp v. walk or proceed lamely or awkwardly. n. lame walk.

              Don't get me wrong, I would have used much stronger words, but the bad language filter would have just turned 'em into asterisks. Skyfall: so much disappointment after so much build-up.

              Added: On a less serious note, I found myself reading this parody for giggles today. Nearly pee'd myself laughing at the word association scene.

              Not to mention this: Honest Trailers - Skyfall
              Last edited by dpaterso; 03-20-2013, 03:14 PM.

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              • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                I think people are just so relieved that it isn't Quantum of Solace bad (which nearly ENDED the franchise), that they are lording up a very average Bond movie.

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                • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                  Originally posted by miktal-1 View Post
                  I think people are just so relieved that it isn't Quantum of Solace bad (which nearly ENDED the franchise), that they are lording up a very average Bond movie.
                  True. Similarly, after X-files 2, an X-files 3 movie would be an oscar contender in comparison.
                  I'm never wrong. Reality is just stubborn.

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                  • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                    Finally saw it. Wasn't going to pay for a Bond film after QOS, so I waited until I could see it for free.

                    I think the reason it has garnered such disparate reactions is because it's two different movies artificially spliced together.

                    The first half is a terrific Bond film, from the surprise of Bond getting shot, to the plot of having a former agent working against MI6, to the theme of Bond's obsolescence in a technocratic age. The locations in Shangai and Macau are some of the most gorgeous in any Bond movie. The silhouette-fight in the glass tower, with the Blade-Runner-like neon illumination, is a masterpiece of cinematography.

                    And Séverine is one of the most effective Bond girls in ages, darkly mysterious, yet softly feminine and vulnerable in a way that Bond girls haven't been permitted to be in a long time. An excellent contrast to the hard, masculine Bond.

                    Where the movie starts to go off the rails is when Silva is introduced. I can hardly think of a less menacing Bond villain. Heath Ledger's Joker without the edge. Blah.

                    And when Séverine was killed, so early in the film, I felt an immediate emotional disconnect. Who was there left to care for? One knows that Bond isn't going to die.

                    And once the film heads off to Scotland, it becomes something other than a Bond film -- a kind of contained thriller, I suppose, but not particularly thrilling, and not especially contained. A low-key anticlimax, to put it mildly.

                    It was nice to see a few hints of Bond's history, and to put to rest the annoying idea that "James Bond" is a code name passed on from agent to agent. No, he's one, single character, with a specific heritage and identity: James Bond, son of Scottish nobility, born to Albert Bond. Now it's film canon.

                    Making M the pseudo-Bond-girl of the film was an idiotic choice. I never liked Judi Dench in the role, nor the whole surrogate-mother angle, and the series is well rid of her. The final scene, with Ralph Fiennes in place as M, back in the traditional office, is quite gratifying.

                    It's basically one-half a great Bond film, spliced together with one-half an uninteresting, rather standard shoot-out. And I think it's the first half of the film that earned it such great box office, because that actually does feel like a Bond film, mixing the best of traditional 007 elements with a tougher, more contemporary sense of quasi-plausibility.
                    Last edited by karsten; 03-20-2013, 05:19 PM.

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                    • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                      What exactly was so bad about QOS? If you ask me it was an intelligent, artfully-directed spy thriller. Some aspects of the plot could have been fleshed out more, particularly the blossoming relationship between the CIA and Quantum, but overall I'd say it's definitely one of the better Bond films.

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                      • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                        Originally posted by entlassen View Post
                        What exactly was so bad about QOS? If you ask me it was an intelligent, artfully-directed spy thriller. Some aspects of the plot could have been fleshed out more, particularly the blossoming relationship between the CIA and Quantum, but overall I'd say it's definitely one of the better Bond films.
                        Are you serious?

                        Artfully directed? If lazy CGI camerawork, cutting randomly every 0.5-2 seconds, and zooming in so far it appears as if the action was shot through a keyhole is considered art, then I don't even know what. If anything, the direction of this movie exemplifies everything that is wrong with modern films.

                        The story? I don't recall the details, but I remember it being terribly structured and paced. Just lousy writing with awfully weak characters. I'd give it another chance, but I don't feel like wasting 2 more hours of my time. Perhaps someone can step in on this point?

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                        • Skyfall

                          Originally posted by entlassen View Post
                          What exactly was so bad about QOS? If you ask me it was an intelligent, artfully-directed spy thriller.
                          http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmoIDKqfY44

                          Canadian agents don't have nearly as much trouble following someone as 007.

                          English http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DES9mJe1pM8
                          French http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n170hl6KWnE
                          JEKYLL & CANADA (free .mp4 download @ Vimeo.com)

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                          • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                            As a Bond fanatic, this is how I see the canon:

                            CLASSICS

                            From Russia With Love
                            Goldfinger
                            On Her Majesty's Secret Service
                            The Spy Who Loved Me
                            Casino Royale

                            DEPENDABLES

                            Dr No
                            Thunderball
                            For Your Eyes Only
                            The Living Daylights
                            Licence To Kill
                            Goldeneye
                            Skyfall

                            HOKEY

                            You Only Live Twice
                            Diamonds Are Forever
                            Live and Liet Die
                            The Man With The Golden Gun
                            Octo*****
                            Tomorrow Never Dies
                            The World Is Not Enough
                            Quantum Of Solace

                            ARE YOU KIDDING?

                            Moonraker
                            A View To A Kill
                            Die Another Day

                            Yep, not all Connery was gold. Dalton was underrated. Brosnan overrated.

                            Lazenby? A total enigma. Worst actor in perhaps the best film.

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                            • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                              I watched OHMSS a couple of weeks ago and it's far and away the best Bond movie ever for me. And Lazenby is terrific in the role, so I'm not sure why he gets dissed for his acting. It's a crying shame he didn't make any more.
                              TimeStorm & Blurred Vision Book info & blog: https://stormingtime.com//

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                              • Re: Bond 23: Skyfall

                                Heh, it's the fate of every Bond thread on the internet to degenerate into a "best actor/best movie" opinion-fest.

                                Recent best Bond movie polls have certainly suggested that Lazenby's performance in OHMSS warrants more respect. Unfortunately for him he got compared to "the other feller" who played the role before him.

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