Skyfall (Film Review)

[selenak]

In which Sam Mendes assembles a stellar cast as the franchise turns fifty, and I'm sorry, Sean Connery, that's settled it. I was already wavering before, but now I'm certain. Craig!Bond is my favourite. (Well, other than Bashir, Julian Bashir, of course.)

Comments

[kathyh]

Glad you enjoyed as I rather thought you would :)

if Judi Dench!M had to leave us, this was the way to do it.

Yes, that's what I thought too. It was a fitting end for her, killed in action, partly as a result of her own choices but having defended her service to the end and regalvanised Bond in the process.

btw, that speech was as much an argument as to why there should still be spy movies in the computer age as anything else

Again, that's what I thought. It was a defence of the Bond franchise as much as anything else. Incidentally I heard an interview with Sam Mendes and he said he didn't want to go too high tech with the action but make it tell a story, which also worked for me. I think directors with masses of CGI at their disposal should always try to remember that the action should serve the story, not the story the action.

"what makes you think it's my first time?"

I thought they were going with homophobic cliche and I thought it was jarring until that line came along *g*.

given that Kincade mishears Bond's introduction

[selenak]

But Kathy, even those of us born after the divine Ms. Peel reigned on screen are aware of her existence. :) So Mendes and his scriptwriting team can be as well.

[wwolf_87]

I loved this movie. But for me it would have been even better if at the end M killed Silva. It was her villian, in some ways I think Bond cheated her of that.
I feel sorry to let her go but she was amazing as M

[selenak]

You have a point about M killing Silva. Though I comfort myself with the fact that Silva wanted her to kill him (and die at the same time, of course), and she wasn't about to give him anything he wanted. That's the Watsonian level; on a Doylist one, of course, Bond kills him because he's the main character and very few franchise films are ready to ignore that. (Oddly enough THe Dark Knight Rises, about which I have other complaints but not that one, is the exception, since it lets Selina, not Bruce, kill Bane.)

[ide_cyan]

In TDKR Selina got to do this after (or around the time) Bane was revealed to be the Dragon to the actual Big Bad.

[selenak]

True, but Bruce didn't kill Talia, either. That was Gordon (in as much as he chased her down). Batman's heroics were the saving of Gotham from the nuclear bomb, not the physical defeat of either villain.

[stagbeetle]

Lovely review. With the doomed second Bond girl, I wondered if they were deliberately doing a compilation of *all* the traditional Bond girl cliches - but that's no reason to include the nastiest cliches, and the compression makes them nastier.

I love your analysis of the homophobic cliche. The story of Craig and the Doctor Who kiss is gorgeous. Do you know if that interview's online? I've googled, without success.

On M: oh, oh, Judi Dench. I also loved the way Mendes gives her the kind of close-up you'd give Clint Eastwood. Most movies try to make women look younger and softer, but Mendes records her wrinkles with awed respect.

[selenak]

Craig interview: I read it in the winter following Casino Royale, and I think it was online then, though I have no idea whether or not it still is.

Great point about Mendes and his cameras treating Judi Dench like Clint Eastwood! It's true, most films pull punches for female actors the same age, but not so here. And in a franchise that used to have the male gaze on women as one of its primary selling points, no less. Casting Judi Dench as M was the best decision the Broccolis made in the 90s!

[ide_cyan]

On M: oh, oh, Judi Dench. I also loved the way Mendes gives her the kind of close-up you'd give Clint Eastwood. Most movies try to make women look younger and softer, but Mendes records her wrinkles with awed respect.

I'm quoting this!

[stagbeetle]

Aww, thank you!