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I think you've hit on an important point of discussion. In a Moore film or certain others this can be more forgivable, but for a critical darling like SF I think there is an argument that, like the timed tube crash, it should be taken into account it is distracting as an overall experience. I feel that PTS is a mess and doesn't get the film off on a good note for me. But since it's SF, that's okay for others.
SF truly is a brilliant Bond film. Put a traditional gunbarrel at the start, and it's a downright perfect one.
For me, that is.
It would be fun to make a fan edit, if I had the first idea how to do that.
Well military obituaries are still published in Newspapers, even today (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/military/) so it would been public. Though I doubt it would've directly named him as a 00, more like “a naval officer”.
Given the three month time jump between the titles, M was only then writing his obituary, meaning they spent three months trying to find him. Given he turns up that evening, the obituary was probably never published, and no funeral or remembrance required.
Never considered that, but doesn't it seem strange that they sold his appartment and put all of his stuff into storage, but she only got around to writing his obituary months later?
Edit: I will also use this spot to renew my wish for a TV show following the lives of normal MI6 clerks during the time Skyfall takes place.
The NOC list is gone and one of our top agents is dead. We have to sell his flat and put his old stuff in storage.
HQ blows up and we have to move all of this.
Bond is back. Who has the key to his lock-up?
Also, didn't Jeremy say, Bond completely fail his evaluations? Why is he back in the field?
Oh, they are about to bring a high-value prisoner in. Better clean that glass cell...
Oh crap, everything is getting hacked. Did M click on a link again?
M is dead and we have to figure out how to reimburse a billionaire from Texas, who bought that old house in Scotland one of our agents blew up.
And we have to move again, so new M can have a fancy office...
This is very well said. I give it a 9.8 out of 10. My only knock is the Komodo Dragons and fight scene at the Casino. The first part of the casino scene is magnificent. The latter half, always makes me cringe some. Having Daniel Craig do those goofy facial expressions, not good. Remove a few of the gag spots and you have a 10/10. I rate Skyfall number 3 overall for me. It’s a classic Bond film. Bond standing tall on top of MI6 with the Union Jacks flying is one of the best scenes of the entire franchise.
100%, I love that ending as well. I actually don't mind the Komodo Dragons scene to be honest.
I wish it didn’t bother me. Because I enjoy the film so much otherwise. And I’m nitpicking. The scene at the beach bar with the scorpion and shot glass is awesome. I love when Bond twirls his finger in the air like “let’s do it again.” Then his acting when mi6 blows up, and he sees it. You know it’s about to hit the fan. I remember getting chills I’m the theatre when this happened. Does he act like he puts money in the box, but actually doesn’t? I think he does, but not sure.
When he is paying for his drink the next morning. He flashes some bills, leans over, places them somewhere (a box?), and then grabs a bottle.
I certainly can see what you're saying. But for Bond to fake paying for something really seems very un-Bondian to me. But who knows.
I'd say he's pulled loose a couple bills but has more in hand. So when he drops the money for the drink, he's also putting the remainder back in pocket.
The exact same thing went across my mind. @RichardTheBruce provides some excellent clarity there. Good catch. That part always bugged me; as to what really happened.
Skyfall and Vertigo
Skyfall is my favourite Bond movie. Something about it really clicked for me. It took me a while to work out what it was but watching the Mendes commentary on the Blu-ray made it clear. He mentioned during the Shanghai sequence that when Bond grabs onto the lift, he was directly referencing a shot from the Hitchcock film Vertigo, which is my favourite ever movie.
Suddenly it all fell into place. Skyfall has Vertigo connections all over the place to an uncanny degree.
I’ll list them out below (I did put this online once before, a few years ago on a Phil Nobile Jr. article, I think maybe at BirthMoviesDeath):
- the imagery in the Skyfall title sequence has clear references to the title and dream sequences from Vertigo. The gravestones and the camera going into the eye in particular
- both movies start with a prologue mid mission chase sequence, with the protagonist (Bond and Scottie) chasing someone down. In both cases the protagonist has to watch or let a colleague die, and both prologues end with Bond / Scottie in a situation from which there really isn’t any plausible escape or survival
- Bond and Scottie both in fact do survive but we aren’t shown how they do it. This leaves both characters metaphorically suspended between life and death during their movies.
In Vertigo, it’s a clear visual metaphor (as you’d expect from Hitchcock). The prologue ends with Scottie literally suspended between life and death. In Skyfall, it’s maybe a bit more textual: Bond is ‘enjoying death’ and his hobby is ‘resurrection’
-Bond and Scottie both leave the service (mi6 and the police force respectively). They are both dealing with physical and psychological trauma
- They are both drawn back into spy/detective work to try and protect a woman who is being haunted by something/someone from the past.
-Bond / Scottie both start their investigations through mesmerising wordless sequences where they are tracking someone through a city (Shanghai/San Francisco). In both of these sequences they observe someone sat in front of a painting
-Both movies turn on plots that have villains hatching what some critics consider to be totally implausible schemes to achieve their objectives, having an almost omnipotent ability to predict how people are going to behave at particular moments in time. Some have said these are weaknesses of the films, even plot holes.
-in both movies the villains seemingly achieve their objectives (and in Vertigo Gavin Estler gets away with it as far as we know)
- Both movies have climatic scenes whereby Bond/Scottie have to go back to revisit the scenes of past trauma
- Bond and Scottie both lose the girl at the end in a church
I’m sure all of these can’t be coincidence. Were the writers and Mendes deliberately evoking Vertigo with such obvious parallels apparent?
In Vertigo, Scottie is afflicted by vertigo, a physical manifestation of his damaged psyche. At the end of the movie, he appears to be cured of his vertigo, but at the cost of having lost the girl (technically for a second time)
In Skyfall, Bond is dealing with the weight of M’s decisions, in particular the way she treats her agents as expendable assets that she is willing to risk sacrificing for the good of the mission/service.
By the end he has come round to accepting those decisions and forgiven M. The irony is that to do so he has to make the same decision himself. He risks sacrificing M to protect the service and loses her
It still is. SP and NTTD didn't "change" SF, it's the same film it was before. It has a beginning and an end, and the loose ends of it are tied up.
Classic Bond.
FRWL: Venice section.
GF: post-Fort Knox scenes.
TB: after the Disco has blown up.
CR67: all Bonds in heaven/hell.
YOLT: after the volcano eruption.
OHMSS: marriage and tragic ending.
DAF: La Bombe Surprise.
LALD: train scenes.
TMWTGG: junk scenes.
TSWLM: after Atlantis has been destroyed.
MR: attempting re-entry.
FYEO: the PM gets the bird and moonlight swim.
OP: after Kamal’s demise.
NSNA: Bond in retirement and Small-Fawcett visit.
AVTAK: post-Golden Gate Bridge scenes.
TLD: Kara’s concert.
LTK: party at the Sanchez villa.
GE: after the satellite dish explosion.
TND: M’s memo and Bond staying undercover.
TWINE: premature millennium bug and Christmas in Turkey.
DAD: Moneypenny goes virtual while Bond and Jinx relax surrounded by diamonds.
CR: post-Vesper’s death.
QOS: Kazan scenes.
SF: Bond at MI6.
SP: getting the DB5 and driving off with Madeleine.
NTTD: everything after you-know-what.
Simply rank them, PM your choices to @GoldenGun and keep an eye out for the new thread! Thanks.
Same.