Skyfall (2012)'s comments - page 4

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Pike

This movie was more like a random collection of half-failed Bond-hommages intercut with scenes that revolved around a quite simple yet contrived story. I felt that Bond was less of a real human being than even in Quantum of Solace, where his anger for Vesper's death fueled his brutality against everything and everyone. It seemed like Craig was just going through the motions with this one. He didn't have any good lines to sink his teeth into and even his relationship with M was a dissapointment. A real shame. The creators of this movie spent more time paying hommage to fifty years of an allready overly-well known movie brand than telling an actual, innovative strory about him that would keep him fresh for this generation. They brought this character back to the status quo of old, which is a shame.

11 years 10 months ago

dombrewer

I liked this film, but what's all this "best Bond ever" nonsense? It makes me like it less. No film that depends on references to other, better films can be "the best". There are some clumsy screenwriting and hefty timeline problems: spoiler

. It certainly is a good action adventure though, beautifully shot - particularly the Shanghai sequence and last section in the Scottish highlands, and well acted, and my god, it's a thousand times better than "Quantum of Solace" but I think all the modern Bond films have suffered weak or predictable plotting, and unfortunately struggle to stand next to genuinely thrilling modern action films like the Bourne series which raised the bar out of Bond's reach. The realer the world they put Bond into the less convincing it all seems. In M's hearing, her defense of the "shadow ops" of MI6 feels like a defense of the whole franchise in the face of better films - quoting Tennyson isn't a very convincing argument.
The number one problem is Daniel Craig just isn't Bond for me - he has no charisma or panache - he plays Bond as damaged thug that scowls through his movies. Javier Bardem is an interesting villain though, the campness and the deformity feels like a throwback to the 60s and 70s; he does a good deranged, but something didn't quite work in his character; maybe it was his script. Harris and Marlohe are both strong "Bond girls". Albert Finney couldn't seem to decide if he was Scottish or American. spoiler

And let's not mention the horrible product placement - Sony mobile phones, Omega watches....anyone fancy a Heineken by the way?
I've criticised more than I've praised, which a little unfair, but that's what happens when hyperbole starts the "best" tag being thrown around. Give me the six 60s Bond films any day. Meanwhile this is a good addition to the franchise, and hopefully a step toward an even better Bond 24.

11 years 10 months ago

thaisquisito

Gorgeous visuals!! Javier Barden were amazing. and Daniel Craig great as always. Loved it!

11 years 10 months ago

Scratch47

Not 'the best' Bond film but simply 'really rather good' I adored the gorgeous visuals and cinematography, and the solid acting and contemporary plot feel taut and muscular. The action scenes are some of the best Bond has had in a decade: the introduction is quite breathless, the tribunal storming is shockingly direct, and the ending perhaps even more so. Bardem plays a very good villain as Silva, serving as Bond's foil and mirror - and this is precisely where I had a problem. The dramatic subtext that Bond - having lost his lover, then his health, and treated as expendable in an age of shadows, has adequate reason to betray queen and country and thus become his enemy, as they are both 'Mummy's Boys'- is fascinating but left a bit too implicit; never fully expounded upon to my satisfaction, and not only did that commit the crime of making me have to think, it took the momentum and drive out of a lot of the film, leaving about 20 minutes (particularly in the first third) that should have been edited out for pacing. That said, by the conclusion the producers show admirable balls in gutting some of the franchises' sacred cows in an obvious desire to move forward, having adapted all the Fleming stories they can move in any direction they please. Bond is once again shown as the anti-hero, and it's interesting to note that whilst Silva lets his past consume him, Bond would rather prime his to blow up. Again, a fascinating concept, but the film could have been a little sharper; in the hands of Sam Mendes the film looks gorgeous yet perhaps a little too ponderous, though a change in pace in the third act that literally goes back to the past opens up a subtle and necessary change in mood that only someone of his film-making caliber could open up and deserves more admiration than I first thought. Perhaps a second viewing is in order: this isn't a disposable 'View To A Kill' but genuine cinema. Let's just say the explosions are internal as much as external.

EDIT: Mark Kermode raised two points in his review which were surprisingly pointed which make me enjoy this just that little bit more, and start to really rank this.

11 years 10 months ago

RoastMutton10

This will be seen as the Goldfinger of the Craig era. I wouldn't say it's the best Bond film ever made like a lot of reviewers and critics are saying, but it's probably the best directed- all of the shots in the Shanghai highrise sequence were amazing, for example. It got a bit boring in the middle for about 20 minutes, but the last act really brought it back, nice and sentimental. Silva seems almost like a parody (almost like a Metal Gear Solid villain, but then, Bond influenced MGS in many ways so) but is a definite improvement than Quantum's badguy. Great credits/theme song too, though a girl in the row behind me said "that was irrelevant"...I guess she's never seen a Bond film before...

11 years 10 months ago

JCS

Bond is back!

11 years 10 months ago

Pete Concrete

It's my favorite of all the Craig-Bonds and a huge improvement over Quantum of Solace. While the story really isn't spectacular, most other things like direction, camera, acting, etc. is.

Also gone is the stupid fast cut shaky cam action, the action scenes are beautifully shot, and never disorienting.

11 years 11 months ago

Shoalin

James Bond 23: Skyfall

Official title!

12 years 10 months ago

sureup

First half is very bondish and reminds me of why I love this series. Second half has it's ups and downs, and I totally agree with the criticism of the "home alone" scene. The whole "skyfall" story also feels half-assed. In the end it's a decent bond movie.

11 years 6 months ago

MentallyHysteric

I've never been much of a fan of the Bond movies and this film didn't change that at all. Visually beautiful, good acting but felt kind of average and predictible. The only shocking thing in the whole movie was spoiler

.

11 years 7 months ago

KuroSawWhat

Skyfall isn't the Best.Bond.Ever., but it certainly puts the franchise back on the right path. If we can get more of this, and no more Bourne copycats (Quantum of Solace), then there will be some great days ahead for Bond. Sometimes the old ways really are the best.

11 years 10 months ago