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Comments
I like that approach and it rings true. Its different, but its still Bond and beyond.
How did a MI6 field agent in Istanbul end up with a list of agents on his laptop hard drive ?
Impossible to tell. I suppose that would be a film on its own, but one that doesn't involve Bond and hence we don't know and I suppose in all fairness we don't need to know. ;-)
And the film's attitude towards the hard drive is exactly that..
It was delivered there by Mr. J G McGuffin.
@DRush
It's called a 'Mcguffin' ;)
Other examples in Bond include The Spector (or "Lektor" in the book) and the ATAC
He had a big scar on his shoulder, I assume it was from the bullet @thelivingroyale. I'm with you on this one, I don't think Dalton would have done this either.
PS. I took the liberty in correcting your spelling of The Spektor from Fleming's book.
He was joking, in case you didn't notice.
Saw that he noted that later on, edited my post after I saw it. With some of the other 'reviews' people are giving this one fit in really well and I missed any sarcasm.
I never could understand why the Soviets would have the Lektor at their consulate in Istanbul. On the other hand, I'm aware that the ATAC was exactly where it was supposed to be . . . on that spy ship.
I'll just file the whole hard drive part as bad writing on the screenwriters' part.
Wow.
What a Bond film. No, what a amazing spy/action/thriller film. From the opening shot, I knew something was going to be different. And for once, I'm glad it was.
Pros:
- Daniel Craig. Finest acting I have ever seen in an Bond actor. Those "boredom" scenes? Absolute perfect and he's raised the bar of being Bond even higher. He's damn close in channeling the perfect blend of charisma and toughness to the point where it's almost at Sean's level. I'm glad he's here for a while.
- Javier Bardem. What a fantastic actor. Probably showcased the most realistic, almost tragic villain to date. The cyanide pill effects was grotesque and horrifying. The monologue before that was heartfelt. I think this is the most sympathetic villain I seen, and it was a personal vendetta (something I don't think the franchise have seen since TMWTGG). His homosexual behavior was also a nice twist. He's a classic villain in my eyes for sure.
- Judi Dench. This is what we wanted to see when she was first hired. Played the guilt part quite well, and I actually choked up a little bit when she died (also at the part where she is reading the poem). A fitting end to a fantastic era of the head of Mi6.
- Ben Whishaw. It's always tough to follow a legend, but he played Q quite well from a different perspective. I also loved his coordination with Bond during the chase. He's also someone I hope that will stay for long in the franchise.
- Ralph Fiennes. Welcome back, Bernard Lee! ;)
- Stuart Baird and Daniel Kleinman. You have been missed.
- Roger Deankins. Probably the most beautiful Bond movie I have ever seen.
- John Logan. What a script. Not many people can humanize Bond and most usually fail to do so, but damn. Clicked on all corners. The humor was real and legit. Plenty of badass moments. There were still some plotholes sometimes but the flow was quite impressive, and he wrote some great characters in. Looking forward to see where his next two scripts take him. The ending was great in tying things up quite clearly and effectively.
Cons:
- Berenice Marhloe and Naomi Harris. I had high hopes for both of them, but I was sort of disappointed. Their characters were already minimized by their screen time (Berenice especially) but they never screamed "Bond Girl" to me. Harris was interesting enough to make me want to see where she takes Moneypenny to. The shower scene was nice though - could it be longer on DVD? ;)
- Sam Mendes. He did a great job directing the film, but with a name like him I expected something better. He got all the little things right with what Bond is but I wanted him to add some more of his own traditions into it. Oh well. Hopefully he comes back with more creative control.
- Thomas Newman. Some tracks were awesome (Mother, for example). But again, I expected better. Most were quite David Arnold-ish. But he provided a great score for some of the best moments in the movie.
- Albert Finney. Kincade should've died in the firefight at the lodge. I loved the mirror trick though.
All in all, this has been a great Bond film, and John Logan wrote a fantastic script that turned out to be a clever, exciting and emotional movie. I gladly wave goodbye to Craig's "reboot" era and say hello to another promising series of Bond films.
Final Verdict: 9/10
Honestly, the only issue to me was that the Komodo Dragons looked fake. Everything else clicked, and therefore Skyfall is....my all time #1 Bond film. A purely magical film experience.
10/10
What was a MI6 in Istanbul doing with a list of American and British undercover agents on his laptop hard drive?
You asked that question a few posts ago. Several of us replied.
8-|
Pros
- Great acting all throughout.
- Deakins did an amazing job; the beauty of Shanghai blew me away.
- The comedy (which will be touched on in the Negatives, as well) was missed.
- Bond finally managed to kill the bad guy. Not only did I love finally seeing that, but Silva turning around to show his disgust was great. Well done.
- Intriguing drama.
- Wonderful theme song. It was nice to finally hear it, as I haven't heard it once until I saw it attached to the film.
- Wonderful PTS; kicks off with a hit and doesn't let up until the title sequence.
Negatives
- While Silva had some characteristics of the Joker, his flamboyance and attitude just didn't make him believable as a threatening Bond villain, no matter his actions.
- Like one of the first posters stated, I don't recall a really great action-y moment.
- The finale wasn't as great as expected. I thought it would be a huge showdown, but it was mostly Bond taking out the first set of goons, then running and running away.
- They seemed to overdo the comedy, I felt. I've felt a realistic turn with Craig thus far, and scenes such as Bond vs. the goon in the komodo dragon pit in Macau were far too 'comedic' for me.
Other than that, it was a great ride. Am I slightly disappointed? Yes. Did I still heavily enjoy myself? Yes.
This is how Blackberry got fame with the lost MI5 phone
I agree in terms of the comedy. That fight in the pit could have been better and more suspensful and I didn't like the cheesy exchanges between Bond and Severine. It got better after Bond has started telling her that she'd put on a convincing act etc. As beautiful as the set looked, I don't really like most of the casino scene.
Why can't the title song be played at the end aswell like in the old days? Instead, after the 007 theme they played that generic action cue. They played YKMN name after the 007 theme during the CR end credits.
Also, the DB5 having gadgets was taking tradition too far. Did Demetrious have these in his car when Bond won it off him in CR? I don't think so. If Q was supposed to have put them in then there should have been some dialogue regarding this. Anyway, why in these days would they put gadgets in an old car like this. Love the car but there was no reason to put machine guns in it and an ejector seat. This is a reboot too. The old Q from GF doesn't exist.
It has not yet been overdone during Craig's tenure imho.
How did Carl Stromberg end up with one hell of a ship that includes retractable prow doors. No news items about this 'great ship'?
How about Blofeld not recognizing Bond in 'OHMSS', when he was close to personally kill the damn man in 'YOLT'? Plothole vs. continuity error?
What about Bond's wax statue in 'TMWTGG'. Scaramanga must know a great deal about British MI6 spy 007 to create this statue no?
In short: Every Bond film has got a few plotholes or continuity errors. But to say 'Skyfall' is the only one to suffer from these is plain bullocks. And this kind of nitpicking doesn't show true knowledge of the Bond franchise. Pity.
Sometimes I don't see the difference anymore between IMDB forums and the MI6 forums.
"A darker tone doesn't mean that there can't be some quips."
Ofcourse.
I'm talking about cheesy one liners and just bad humour.
It was overdone in the casino scene in SF in my opinion. Part of the humour wasn't even good humour in this segment.
I loved how Campbell said before CR "gone are the awful one line clankers". Good move for a darker film as I don't think chessy one liners really harmonise with dark films. I'm not talking about humour in general, I'm talking about bad one liners.
True. balance is about right i didn't care for the casino fight though