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Not really
It's shouty and elongated! =))
So modest an opinion, it makes a broken record blush.
Well, just checking back on this thread as Skyfall has not lost any appeal for me. It has layers of meaning, is gorgeously shot, and great acting by an outstanding cast.
As for the above quoted comments, the whole Severine's death argument, I simply want to say I concur with @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7's summation of this.
And @Matt_Helm , I find it quite amusing you would would link yourself arm in arm with Ian Fleming, so sure you are of his potential feelings about that scene. Fleming's Bond struggled with plenty emotionally and showed wear and tear in every sense, not just physically. Bond was the best of the best, a super spy, a hero, yes, but also damaged from the work he had to do and often was the only one who could do it. Craig's Bond is not in any way a "sociopathic wreck" as you blithely stated - and he did show reaction to Silva's startling and unexpected quick killing of Severine. It is called underplaying the moment, just to help enlighten you a bit. Craig's reaction was subtle, entirely appropriate due to the circumstances of that particular scene, and I also could see Connery acting quite similar in that moment. B-)
And Craig did a very good job with the task of flirting throughout Skyfall - oh yes! He was fine in that department, too. Maybe it takes a woman to see that more clearly; but you can trust me on that point.
"So you've heard the term"
I don't really understand: if Craig's Bond is too emotional, it's wrong. If he isn't, it's wrong too. As his predecesor said, "well, you can't win them all". I agree with both @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7 and @4EverBonded.
Didn't Bond said in GE "kill her, she means nothing to me" and in CR "the bitch is dead" even if he was still in love with Vesper? The great actors can play a character inside a character, they have layers of personalities. That's why Bond didn't want to show emotion to Silva.
I really can't believe this topic is argue that much. Maybe one can complain about Severine being killed so early in the film as she was an interesting character, in my opinion. But Craig handles the moment as Bond should have done. The problem with comparing him to Fleming's Bond is that in the movies you can't show the inner talks he has in the books. But it ain't difficult to imagine what would Bond have thought in the killing of Severine moment.
ready for a new actor at this point.
Concerning point 1:
Your reasoning not even remotely imitates logic. She obviously feared him like satan himself ("not like this, not like him" anyone?) but had somehow convinced herself that the guy she had met in the casino might be up to the challenge. Then she had brought Bond to the island (and don't tell me this "this was part of a plan" stuff, because no one on earth can explain the "plan" and "logic" from the moment on 007 comes to Shanghai ) and at that moment looked already quite beaten up. I would dare to argue that a clever guy could have had gotten a clue,somehow.
About your second point let me quote myself:
"Yeah,sure! I am shivering like a naked maid on Capt. Blackbeard's ship, can't shoot straight at 7 yards,but now when he kills the helpless girl, which I promised to protect I look cold like a stone. That certainly will impress him!"
Your reasoning not even remotely imitates logic.
Lovely argument that. Let me throw it right back to you.
Yes, she fears her boss and yes, she's sailing towards him. Why? Bond didn't show up. We see her waiting for her guest in vain before the boat leaves. It's only when she's taking a shower that she knows he's on board. We don't see them being overtaken by the crew but it's fair to assume that's what happened (see them standing on deck when several goons walk up from behind? She might've mistakenly thought they'd be loyal to her, not to Silva). hence no gun.
Now perhaps you've been watching 'arsefall' or another porn version of this film too much but I never saw any shivering naked maidens on board any of Blackbeards ships in SF. Nor did I see that ship in SF. Why his aiming was off has been stated previously, he still had shrapnell in his shoulder.
In any case he wasn't trying to 'impress' Silva, he was trying not to show any emotions. In which he succeeded, as you thought he looked 'cold like a stone'.
Concerning your first point: Flemings Bond was a sucker for just about every bird with a broken wing,so he would have almost certainly fallen in love with her. Also, Fleming made it a point in several of his novels and short stories to emphasize how Bond hated killing in cold blood (hell,he couldn't shoot Scaramanga even though he knew,that he was setting him up for his killing). He never would have him watch ,almost bored ,the execution of the art collector in Shanghai, let alone Severignes'.Despite what so many here like to think Flemings Bond was light years removed from a cold blooded professional,being much more a Richard Hannay kind of hero than - for example - my namesake Matt Helm.
About that Connery thing - I wonder which Connery this might be. Certainly not the one from Goldfinger who struggled to fight his rage down even days later in M's office ,when the Masterson girl had been killed or the one, who even ceased fighting the moment her sister was hit by Odd Jobbs bowler. This volatile and self serving logic you (and so many others on this very forum) apply when it comes to SF is - depending on my mood - somewhere between amusing and ridiculous.
About that flirting thing. When was it? You certainly would not call that in the casino a flirt, wouldn't you? Because in my book telling a woman upfront in her face about her past as a child slave and prostitute , simply just doesn't make the cut! Or maybe it was when he tried to grab Eves tits just like a drunken tourist on Mallorca just three minutes after she had come into his hotel room?
Oh please! She was destined to sail back to the island anyhow, so there would not have been any special reason for her to fear Silva more than usual.
Concerning "Arsefall" (which would have been an appropriate title for that mess)- he was trembling like a leaf and -btw- had the shrapnel removed himself way back in London.
It is also worth noting that 20 seconds later he gives a young Bruce Willis in "Die Harder" having no problem at all to kill Sivas henchmen.
Which had nothing to do with accuracy - just raw emotion. Bond's killing of Silva's henchmen is his reaction to the death of Severine. Pent up anger released in one fell swoop. That's how I read it. But then I guess that's the genius of film, one can read a scene however they wish.
I mean, really, we shouldn't exactly mourn Severine, she was quite happy to co-opt with an assassination herself no much earlier. Of course, in that Bond was not bothered about watching it unfold, nice fella eh? My point is that Sev is not exactly a lovely sort, she is a bad gal albeit with a tortured background that might make her worth saving. Had she been cast as more of a femme fetale it would have worked, it sounds shallow but we wouldn't care much if she looked like Miss Tao from Dr No, ie a bit evil. But the actress they picked had a more vulnerable side to her, so personally the death leaves a bad taste.
The nearest situ in Fleming is towards the end of Golden Gun, when Bond thinks Goodnight is tied to the railway tracks, and I think he fights the urge to throw up, if I recall.
If you were to rewrite the scene, how would you adjust it to appear more tasteful? Or do you think it's more a case that it extends beyond just this scene?
@NapoleonPlural, do you mean that Bond would really care what happens to a girl like Severine if things were faithful to the novels (i.e. TMWTGG) and that Bond in SF fails to come across this way? If so, I tend to agree.
Personally, when I've only removed shrapnell from my arm, I obviously can aim like the best in an instant, my wounds heal faster then bullits fly. But for Bond this is lesser so..
Are you talking about his aim when Silva challenges him to shoot the glass on Severine's head? If so, I don't think that's his shoulder acting up, just his nerves. He doesn't want to risk hitting Severine and ends up hitting the stone behind her instead. The guns they were using were very archaic as well, meaning it would be harder to judge a shot while aiming than with a more modern weapon.
And anyone who has ever shot an unfamiliar gun (or driven an unfamiliar car) can see that you don't instantly master it- it takes a few seconds.
Yes, at the very least few seconds I'd imagine or a lot longer in reality. And as Brady points out, they were very archaic guns to boot. It could be said that that fact added immensely to the difficulty of the William Tell like scene.
Personally I think she adds a level of weight that you wouldn't usually get with a sacrificial lamb. I guess it's just a matter of taste, from viewer to viewer.
Unless we can count mind-reading as one of Bond's talents, there was no way he could tell Silva was going to kill her.
James Bond is not a superhero; he's a flawed human being. The sooner people jettison the faulty image in favor of an accurate one, the more they'll be able to properly appreciate films like SF.
That said I suppose, for a long time, Vesper wasn't mentioned in the Fleming novels following CR.
The lame and un-funny one liner that Craig is given just doesn't work on any level. As already stated, it's not funny. But then what's if for? In my view Bond would have expressed his disgust and made this very clear Silva. You can just picture the utter distain and contempt with which Connery would have responded in that situation. I'm just not sure what Craig was supposed to be communicating to the audience in that scene. The fact he's wearing those ridiculous product placement shades doesn't help as you can't see his eyes.
Just another wrong note in a very patchy movie.
But isn't it too a theme of the film that Bond makes mistakes and is fallible and even past his sell-by date (M and Mallory)?
Yes, this is an odd scene. Bond just starts groping at Eve's décolletage. It's always interesting seeing a new side of Bond revealed, but the inexperienced groper is probably one we could have done without.