SKYFALL: Is this the best Bond film?

Comments

• patb

  April 4 edited April 4 Posts: 4,721

  Q plugging in the seized laptop in to the main network was utter bonkers and shows Q as a child like figure who failed GCSE IT studies which he does not deserve and undermines the character, the script needed him to be stupid to start the escape scene, that led to the underground train explosion, which was also bonkers and makes no sense. Before escape , M tells Silva he will be transferred to Belmarsh (a predicatable move from Silva's perspective), we could have seen Silva's team hack into the security vehicles during the transfer and he escapes, (car hacking is something new to Bond and something that's clever but easy for the audience to take in/relate to) Bond tries to give chase (action scene adding car chase to SF) but his "company car" is also hacked with Silva able to manipulate the car at will and Silva loving the ability to have Bond "on a piece of string"- a metaphor for showing how easily Bond and MI6 are being manipulated and justification for Bond to escape to the analogue environment of Skyfall. This removes some stupid stuff, shows a new form of cleverness from Silva (car hacking), and a better explanation as to why, later, Bond collects the DB5 as it can't be hacked. It also calls to a wider theme of how Bond adapts in the digital age ("I'll hazard I can do more damage on my laptop sitting in my pajamas before my first cup of Earl Grey than you can do in a year in the field." ) and further justifies/re-enforces the claim that, sometimes, the old ways are the best (the climax at Skyfall is 100% analogue) and "back in time" - a time where there was no digital tech for Silva to exploit his advantages
  PS I'm stretching things here but another issue is how easily Silva attacks M at the enquiry, she just sits there giving poetry whilst Tanner gets a warning for her to leave via his laptop and Bond runs to the enquiry rather than just phoning security to have the building locked down (again, they have to do this to create the iconic Tennyson scene. )So, my version...once Silva escapes, he asks his team in the fake police car "where is she", they tell him that she is giving evidence in a certain building, he orders for the building coms to be cut (explaining why Bond can't call them on their digital phone system and Tanner receives no warning) . Q informs Bond that the building has been isolated, adding more urgency to his sprinting and more evidence for him (and the audience) that they need to escape the digital environment (which Bond obviously does straight after the enquiry attack) in order to even up the game.