Skyfall thoughts, Part 1
My thoughts on Skyfall so far (after having watched it twice in the cinema; the latest on IMAX). These are not my real review, but rather points that I've collected for my review later.
Well, it's not really a Bond movie is it? It doesn't have the old formula of "Bond goes on an adventure to save the world from a megalomaniac's plan to destroy it". It's a much more personal story than that and very isolated.
And that's the very reason I love it. It's different, it's new, it's refreshing.
In so many ways, this could be called the REAL origin story of James Bond. And Casino Royale was not.
I'd give Skyfall the subtitle BOND: THE REBIRTH.
I love how Skyfall pays so much tribute to Bond's past while not following a Bond formula for its story. Like I said, it's a classic Bond movie with new innovations. After 50 years, this was exactly what it needed.
Is there still anyone complaining about the lack of sexy women in Skyfall? If there is, I hope they'd have the courtesy to smack themselves in the head. I cannot even begin to tell you just how glad I am that there is only ONE Bond girl in this movie and that she wasn't even a centerpiece of the story. Thank you, Skyfall writers!
This is a very British James Bond movie. And it's not just because there were just about as many shots of the Union Jack as there were product placement shots.
Javier Bardem's Silva has knocked Auric Goldfinger and Le Chiffre from my No. 2 and 3 of Top 10 Most Evil Bond Villains List. No. 2 is for Silva's personality. No. 3 is for Silva's hair and his hair alone.
I love Silva as a villain. What a creepy douche.
The cinematography is one of the best things about Skyfall. It would be a shame if award committees do not pay attention to that. Roger Deakins has given real class to a Bond movie that it deserves.
RANDOM THOUGHT: What happens to Tanner now? I hope Rory Kinnear won't go anywhere. Maybe he'll now work with the Q branch?
There will be more notes later.
There will be more notes later.
- Tho' much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven; that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- Alfred Tennyson; "Ulysses"