It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
^ Back to Top
The MI6 Community is unofficial and in no way associated or linked with EON Productions, MGM, Sony Pictures, Activision or Ian Fleming Publications. Any views expressed on this website are of the individual members and do not necessarily reflect those of the Community owners. Any video or images displayed in topics on MI6 Community are embedded by users from third party sites and as such MI6 Community and its owners take no responsibility for this material.
James Bond News • James Bond Articles • James Bond Magazine
Comments
Saying 'I'm sure he had it all figured out' isn't an answer. Have you a reason why you think that? I'm one of the school that thinks these elements of the plot are ridiculous. I think it's fair to say that alot of it is nonsense, which you can ignore, but it's nonsense all the same. The way some people describe his plot asks you to 'imagine' 50% of it, which is not what a good film does. It should leave you asking questions but not plugging holes.
Tanner even says he has been planning this for months/years, including 'blowing up MI-6,' which happens before Bond returns to London and pulls the uranium shrapnel out of his shoulder. It's obvious that he couldn't factor something like that into his plan, so he must have changed his plan when Bond was thrown into the mix in Shanghai.
When I look at the island scene where Bond and Silva first meet, I think Silva has no idea that Bond will be there until he actually arrives. I think Bond hops on the yacht and nobody knows he is on board until he comes up on deck with Severine the following morning. He walks past the guards, and when she says something about it not being too late to turn around, all of the guards pull out their guns and walk towards both of them.
Silva must have had another plan to get caught, in between blowing up MI-6 and getting caught on his island. If he planned on blowing up MI-6 to eventually get caught and taken into the bunkers where he would escape on that exact day to kill M at the conference, he couldn't have factored in Bond's return; he had no idea he was alive.
I suppose I'm arguing both sides of the coin here. Is it a plot hole? Sure. Is it a possibility that Silva just had another plan before Bond return? Absolutely.
In a way, if Silva just planned on Bond doing all of this from the start, it's one of those incredibly outlandish, out there, unbelievable, next to impossible things they want us to accept, like the Harvey Dent escape in TDK: so many tiny things had to culminate into perfection for the villain to get what he wants. Silva had to know that Bond survived, would return to London after hearing reports of the attack, think on the uranium shrapnel, trace it to Patrice, have friends in the CIA who could give him his location, track him, stop him, stumble upon the coin, escape the goons in Macau, make it on the yacht, and arrive at his island, just to stop everyone and capture him.
But Silva didn't need to know or plan on any of that to have an escape plan in place in case he ever got captured one day. Just because Bond was the one that ended up capturing him, doesn't mean Silva planned on that happening.
In other words, Silva had an escape plan in his back pocket in case MI-6 ever got a hold of him. Simple as that.
Ok, sure, I can buy that. But why do we have to work Bond into that? Perhaps Silva planned on getting caught, or even intentially got caught, but that still doesn't mean he intentionally planned on Bond being the one to catch him.
The real question for those who want to pick everything apart (which, by the way, is not me - I loved Skyfall), if Silva can do all this stuff remotely like blow up MI-6, escape from the incredible cage they had him in, etc. - all just to get to M, then why didn't he just hack the security system at MI-6 and walk in the front door? :-)
I have an answer to that, and I am not the nit-picking type ;)
I think Silva wanted to personally humiliate M first, by destroying her reputation and then killing her as an act of closure. Think back to all the way in the PTS, when Patrice stole the hard drive. Assuming that Silva had a plan in place in hacking the entire Mi-6 and drive M out anyway, I think Silva brought Patrice's information, used it to start a worldwide attack on the Mi-6 and begin his vengeance. He then blows up the building, have the committee throw M out of office after more agents being killed and then finally shoot her. Bond only got in the way, and remember, if he hadn't interfered at all, his plan would've went smoothly without a hitch.
Remember, at the end Silva wanted both of them killed peacefully, almost as if an eye-for-an-eye type scenario. Silva simply barging in the front door and shooting her would be less fulfilling than taking the extra step in bringing her down, much like the same way she did to him a few years back when he was an agent.
Pretty much this. Even in the beginning, Bond simply breaks in to M's flat - no security - and waits for her to arrive home. Silva could have done this, killed M, and his plan would be complete. He wanted to humiliate her first.
I don't think anyone would disagree with this sentiment, it's obvious this is what he wanted to do. What's most irritating is that the logic behind the mechanics of his plot is wildly fantastical, which doesn't really stack up with the grounded nature of the rest of the film. From the moment it was revealed he blew up a MI6 through a controlled gas leak I thought, hmmmm how unrealistic. Would it not have been more intriguing and downright psychopathic for Silva to have had a suicide bomber inside the building. It would have immediately given us a sense of his power over others and the lengths to which he would go. She said 'he knows us, he's one of us' - so why be a coward and attack from the safe haven of an island and why plump for the easy option of shrouding the logic in computer jargon?
If he really was one of them would it not have been better to follow or include the human story? There must have been more agents that had a beef with the system and their superiors, agents who were susceptible to Silva's ruthlessness.
He could have easily destroyed her reputation and then flown into London at the opportune moment and handed himself in. It would have made more sense that his ensuing plan was foolproof. If this was indeed the case and Bond interrupted this plan then it certainly wasn't flagged up in any way, shape or form. The logic of the narrative suggests he meant to be captured, which to me seems like bollocks. There are too many coincidences and it all happened too smoothly, with huge questions being left unanswered such as, where did his guards at MI6 go? A tea break? All a bit convenient. You can dismiss it with the argument 'not everything has to make sense' but I thought it was jarring with the overall reality (albeit hightened reality) of the film.
@RC7 you are right in what you say, i think the filmakers do take the liberty that the viewer will just go with it. And i think in the end it comes down to the viewer and if your willing to go with it which some people will and some people wont, some people will ask questions and come up with anwers and some people will ask questions and think i'm not buying that. I am not saying you're right or wrong either way and i think it was intentional for Sam Mendes to do this. I personally liked the film and i enjoy thinking about possible contingency plans Silva had in place. Like @Creasy47 said Is it a plot hole? Sure. Is it a possibility that Silva just had another plan before Bond return? Absolutely.
I have a theory about that Murder in Shagai. Maybe Silva wanted to incriminate someone else, maybe someone who works on the building where Ola Rapace charcter shot the victim. Anyway I think it is not important at all, I don' t need everything to be 100 % explained .
We don't know, but maybe someone who is or was on some way conected with the building and knows the "view to a kill" or a former Chinese/mi6 agent who is connected with the victim and the weapon ... So many possibilities.
Exactly. Would have been nice to know, not a difficult bit of exposition. I don't want to make up theories I just want to feel like it's mildly integral and not a bit of useless padding.
Who knows? It's just another thing that you get to answer for yourself. Not every single thing in the film can be answered - there will always be lingering questions for any movie. If she won, I'm sure she was able to keep the winnings, just like Bond had the opportunity to do in CR.
Well the money is throwaway and irrelevant to the plot. The way it's constructed suggests the guy Patrice kills isn't. If the bloke had been surrounded by random thugs you'd kind of take it with a pinch of salt and assume it's a random hit. The main problem is that Severine is in the room. Why is she there? There must be a reason? I know there's a cut scene where she gives Patrice the gun. I just don't see why she has to appear at this point. Why not have her make her first appearance in the casino? It would have made sense that she was the middle-woman so to speak, who watches over the transfer of cash on behalf of Silva. Overall the sniper scene just muddles things for me and suggests this apparently voracious pursuit of 'M' is not the only thing on Silva's mind, he still has time to organise random hits on chinese gangsters.
I wouldn't say plotholes, I would say "interesting unknowns"
Ha ha, are you either of P+W by any chance?
I'm curious as to what Kincade will do now that Skyfall has been destroyed.
Also, when Severine says the word "Walther" to James in Macau, I was always think she sounds exactly like Vesper.
Get into the film business, play a CGI dragon in a Dennis Quaid movie.
:)) my question has been answered!
It goes kind of downhill from there, but then, in 2055, he's asked to return when Elastic Arts makes a video game "director's cut" of Skyfall, and he's one of the only cast members still around.