Nelson Au
Senior HTF Member
- Joined
- Mar 16, 1999
- Messages
- 19,130
My quick thoughts from seeing it today.
They just wiped out the entire Brosnan era! By that, I mean the obvious elimination of Judi Dench as she was the last element of that iteration. Though Tanner seems to have survived. The super high tech MI6 office of M is gone.
By the end if the film, the series has reverted back to its roots for the most part with a traditional M and his traditional office. And there is Moneypenny back and a smart aleck Q. Though those two are not traditional.
As for the film, it was also very non traditional and went outside the formula. And I surprisingly enjoyed it. A friend accused this film of being too much like Bourne. I didn't see that.
I grew up on Sean Connery, Moore and the other iterations of Bond. The books always had that bit of cartoonish outlandish villain. And the usual Bond elements are there, but in a more modern way. The Terence Young version of Bond is no longer here. Some of him survives. The Saville Row tailored clothing, the elegance of the villain, they are more or less gone.
But this is a modern film for a new audience and I think it was okay. I never liked Daniel Craig in the role. I hated him in Casino Royale. He was playimg an idiot whose name is James Bond. But this time, I thought the character was written more like Fleming Bond. So it was a much better character. Still don't think Craig fits the part. But I did enjoy his portrayal this time.
The slightly grotesque nature of Silva seems okay to me. The Fleming literary villains were just that. As for his motivations to take his revenge on M because his suicide pill didn't work and dissolved his mouth was a bit outlandish. He was a weak villain in that regard. I didn't see how he could strike so much fear from his underlings, and has this army of killers at his disposal. His main threat was his ability to get those secret names and infiltrating MI6 to bring it down.
I don't recall reading that Skyfall was Bond's family home. As for Kincade, I was okay with who portrayed him. I didn't know Connery was considered for the role. I'm glad he wasn't asked, and he would have likely told Broccoli no. And I don't see the advantage of Moore, or Brosnan or Dalton or Lazenby in the role either. It would draw too much attention to that character and or diminish their Bond's some how.
I don't understand how Bond was able to keep the Aston Martin. It's obviously used as a reference for the 50th anniversary mostly. But he was able to keep the car hidden away like it was his own personal car? And with all the gadgets intact? It doesn't make sense if he is a rebooted Bond to have the same car Connery had.
Of course, I liked the underlying theme that Bond, and MI6 are treated as dinosaurs, so it was a cheap trick to make the audience accept that Craig is the same character that Connery played, so he'll have those toys too. I was disappointed, as Bond was, when the car was destroyed. Because it was the last symbol of the original Bond and as I said above of the Brosnan era, to be wiped out of existence.
This film completed the reboot and it's back to its roots. A male traditional M, Moneypenny and Q are back. What's in the back of my head now is for how long. I can't see Craig willing to play this role more then one or two more times. But maybe that's okay, a new actor for Bond, but keep everything else this new film establishes.
Overall, I like the movie. It broke tradition and did it well. I understand the earlier comment about rythym, that aspect of the film didn't bother me. Perhaps after another viewing, the construction of the film will break apart for me. It was a great Looking film. I particularly liked the Shanghai segment with the glass walls of the tower and the reflections of the neon lights outside and the fight between Bond and the assassin done in profile.
I forgot to add, the pre title sequence starting up without the white disc moving across the screen did bother me. They broke another tradition, though the titles were nicely done. And the discs did return at the end of the film.
The music was okay too. But all these none John Barry scores never seem to integrate the Bond theme very well. The Arnold scores were okay, not super great. But he managed to copy Barry's style. This new guy who did the score was better then the Serra's score for GoldenEye. But it didn't really have any themes to it that I could hear.
They just wiped out the entire Brosnan era! By that, I mean the obvious elimination of Judi Dench as she was the last element of that iteration. Though Tanner seems to have survived. The super high tech MI6 office of M is gone.
By the end if the film, the series has reverted back to its roots for the most part with a traditional M and his traditional office. And there is Moneypenny back and a smart aleck Q. Though those two are not traditional.
As for the film, it was also very non traditional and went outside the formula. And I surprisingly enjoyed it. A friend accused this film of being too much like Bourne. I didn't see that.
I grew up on Sean Connery, Moore and the other iterations of Bond. The books always had that bit of cartoonish outlandish villain. And the usual Bond elements are there, but in a more modern way. The Terence Young version of Bond is no longer here. Some of him survives. The Saville Row tailored clothing, the elegance of the villain, they are more or less gone.
But this is a modern film for a new audience and I think it was okay. I never liked Daniel Craig in the role. I hated him in Casino Royale. He was playimg an idiot whose name is James Bond. But this time, I thought the character was written more like Fleming Bond. So it was a much better character. Still don't think Craig fits the part. But I did enjoy his portrayal this time.
The slightly grotesque nature of Silva seems okay to me. The Fleming literary villains were just that. As for his motivations to take his revenge on M because his suicide pill didn't work and dissolved his mouth was a bit outlandish. He was a weak villain in that regard. I didn't see how he could strike so much fear from his underlings, and has this army of killers at his disposal. His main threat was his ability to get those secret names and infiltrating MI6 to bring it down.
I don't recall reading that Skyfall was Bond's family home. As for Kincade, I was okay with who portrayed him. I didn't know Connery was considered for the role. I'm glad he wasn't asked, and he would have likely told Broccoli no. And I don't see the advantage of Moore, or Brosnan or Dalton or Lazenby in the role either. It would draw too much attention to that character and or diminish their Bond's some how.
I don't understand how Bond was able to keep the Aston Martin. It's obviously used as a reference for the 50th anniversary mostly. But he was able to keep the car hidden away like it was his own personal car? And with all the gadgets intact? It doesn't make sense if he is a rebooted Bond to have the same car Connery had.
Of course, I liked the underlying theme that Bond, and MI6 are treated as dinosaurs, so it was a cheap trick to make the audience accept that Craig is the same character that Connery played, so he'll have those toys too. I was disappointed, as Bond was, when the car was destroyed. Because it was the last symbol of the original Bond and as I said above of the Brosnan era, to be wiped out of existence.
This film completed the reboot and it's back to its roots. A male traditional M, Moneypenny and Q are back. What's in the back of my head now is for how long. I can't see Craig willing to play this role more then one or two more times. But maybe that's okay, a new actor for Bond, but keep everything else this new film establishes.
Overall, I like the movie. It broke tradition and did it well. I understand the earlier comment about rythym, that aspect of the film didn't bother me. Perhaps after another viewing, the construction of the film will break apart for me. It was a great Looking film. I particularly liked the Shanghai segment with the glass walls of the tower and the reflections of the neon lights outside and the fight between Bond and the assassin done in profile.
I forgot to add, the pre title sequence starting up without the white disc moving across the screen did bother me. They broke another tradition, though the titles were nicely done. And the discs did return at the end of the film.
The music was okay too. But all these none John Barry scores never seem to integrate the Bond theme very well. The Arnold scores were okay, not super great. But he managed to copy Barry's style. This new guy who did the score was better then the Serra's score for GoldenEye. But it didn't really have any themes to it that I could hear.
