Blu-ray Review Skyfall Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Chuck Anstey]

When I was done watching this I was not satisfied. My main issue isn't the plots themselves so much as Daniel Craig was absolutely the wrong actor for them and this movie really made that clear. If they wanted to do this story arc then they should have gotten an actor who was around 27 to start. Craig's Bond is unsophisticated and always plans to brawl and shoot his way out of every situation but is too old for such techniques. Whether Craig looks this way now or they purposely made him up to look so gaunt, he looks like a shell of a man physically like he has some sort of physically degenerating illness. They also spent most of the movie constantly saying he is too old for the job. There is no recovering from everything shown and said in the movie. This story arc would have made a lot more sense to me if they had started with a Bond of 27 or so where he was always able to physically get himself out of every situation. However now that he is in his later 30's he is starting to slow down. At this point he has to learn that spying isn't just run and gun but stealth and brains and finally makes the transition to "Gentleman spy" that all the other Bonds were. Craig's Bond may wear a tux but it doesn't fit him. After Skyfall, any transition of Craig to Gentleman spy seems too little, too late and extremely false. He pushed himself too long running and gunning and is now washed up physically and emotionally. Nothing in Skyfall makes such a transition believable. It is a pure "Tada" moment at the end, which stinks because Craig would have made a great Gentleman spy that was a bit more physical than his predecessors from the start. I realize that Daniel Craig himself is still younger than Roger Moore when he made Live and Let Die (same age by next movie) but his Bond character is old, worn out, and no longer fit for duty. However I expect the next movie to be a complete reset and will just ignore these previous three movies.

 

[Todd J Moore]

Spoiler

Bond loses the card game, but is staked to more money by another person (Vesper in the book, Felix in the movie) and goes on to win the game. Vesper is then kidnapped by Le Chiffre. Bond gives chase, is forced off the road and captured. He is then tortured to give up the money which he doesn't. Le Chiffre's employers (SMERSH in the book, Quantum in the movie) kill Le Chiffre for his failures. Bond romances Vesper until he finds out she is a double agent and she commits suicide.

All straight from the novel and in the movie. If that is not the definition of a faithful adapation (especially for this series), I'm not quite certain what is. There are some differences. The guy with the cane gun threatening Bond was replaced by the girl poisioning him, the carpet beater used on Bond was replaced by a knotted rope, SMERSH became Quantum, but otherwise it's pretty much there. It's at least as faitfhful if not more so than the 1954 version and vastly more faithful than the 1967 version. The first half of the movie isn't from the book, of course, but there had to be some explanation of how Le Chiffre lost the money to enter the card game and it gave a pretty exciting sequence with Bond not failing to prevent the bombing of the airplane.

 

[Richard--W]

redacted

 

[RobertR]

When I was done watching this I was not satisfied. My main issue isn't the plots themselves so much as Daniel Craig was absolutely the wrong actor for them and this movie really made that clear. If they wanted to do this story arc then they should have gotten an actor who was around 27 to start. Craig's Bond is unsophisticated and always plans to brawl and shoot his way out of every situation but is too old for such techniques. Whether Craig looks this way now or they purposely made him up to look so gaunt, he looks like a shell of a man physically like he has some sort of physically degenerating illness. They also spent most of the movie constantly saying he is too old for the job. There is no recovering from everything shown and said in the movie. This story arc would have made a lot more sense to me if they had started with a Bond of 27 or so where he was always able to physically get himself out of every situation. However now that he is in his later 30's he is starting to slow down. At this point he has to learn that spying isn't just run and gun but stealth and brains and finally makes the transition to "Gentleman spy" that all the other Bonds were. Craig's Bond may wear a tux but it doesn't fit him. After Skyfall, any transition of Craig to Gentleman spy seems too little, too late and extremely false. He pushed himself too long running and gunning and is now washed up physically and emotionally. Nothing in Skyfall makes such a transition believable. It is a pure "Tada" moment at the end, which stinks because Craig would have made a great Gentleman spy that was a bit more physical than his predecessors from the start. I realize that Daniel Craig himself is still younger than Roger Moore when he made Live and Let Die (same age by next movie) but his Bond character is old, worn out, and no longer fit for duty. However

That's quite well said. I especially don't buy the notion that depicting Bond as a gaunt, burned out shell of a man (including showing the gray stubble of his beard) was "necessary" in order to depict the suave sophisticate. The opposite is true.

I expect the next movie to be a complete reset and will just ignore these previous three movies

I agree. It will make no sense, but neither does depicting Bond as a burned out shell barely three assignments after getting 00 status.

 

[Mark Booth]

Skyfall is my favorite Bond film, ever! Casino Royale (Craig) is in the top 5. Quantum of Solace is farther down but it's hardly the worst Bond ever made. Daniel Craig is the best thing to happen to the Bond franchise since Sean Connery. Mark

 

[theonemacduff]

Agreed. Connery is my favourite, but the producers essentially betrayed the character in the 1970s and 80s, by overstuffing the films with wisecracks, gadgets, and set piece elephantaisis (bigger ain't necessarily better). That's why Connery quit, and only came back for a last film if he could get money for a particular project. Craig is the closest we've got to the original Connery conception of the character, a thug with manners. I thought Skyfall was brilliantly written, shot, and directed, and with a plot that was emotionally engaging. Loved it. And consider, with 50 years of product, not all of it up to very high standards (Man With the Golden Gun plays like an Ealing comedy in some ways), there will a lot for people to pick their own favourites from, and then make comparisons. But comparisons are nearly always invidious, that is to say, they seldom allow discussion; without discussion, there are simply opinions clashing in the dark. Personally, I can't see where they are going to go after this with the franchise, because as good as Skyfall is, the film does kind of dead end back in that office in 1962. But I will still want to go see the next one, and I suppose that's all it will take to keep the franchise rolling for who knows how long.

 

[Mikey1969]

It probably would have worked better if the killing wasn't shown on the screen. In Man with the Golden Gun, Maud Adams character (another kept woman who appealed to Bond for escape) was shot by the villain but it was done in a less graphic way and didn't seem to shift the tone of the film at all. Sacrificial lambs were in many of the films, and itwas obvious to me when she betrayed Silva that her days were numbered.

 

[Mikey1969]

It probably would have worked better if the killing wasn't shown on the screen. In Man with the Golden Gun, Maud Adams character (another kept woman who appealed to Bond for escape) was shot by the villain but it was done in a less graphic way and didn't seem to shift the tone of the film at all. Sacrificial lambs were in many of the films, and itwas obvious to me when she betrayed Silva that her days were numbered.

 

[Richard--W]

Michael Fox, Andrea (played by Maud Adams) is killed off-screen by a single shot in the forehead in THE MAN WITH GOLDEN GUN (1974). Bond enters the scene after the fact and sits next to her. He quickly realizes as we do that she is dead. He doesn't use her for target practice, is not present when she is murdered, and doesn't make a sick joke about it. The scene has no parallel in SKYFALL. The tone and attitude of Severine's murder is very different in SKYFALL. Bond is complicit in her execution, using her for target practice, and callous about it afterward making a sick joke about the cavalry failing to come to her rescue. Each of Craig's Bond films has to have at least one of these sick scenes to demonstrate just how base Bond has become. SKYFALL has two of them. Times have changed, and today's audience is fine with it. Those who disapprove are in the minority.

Spoiler

Bond loses the card game, but is staked to more money by another person (Vesper in the book, Felix in the movie) and goes on to win the game. Vesper is then kidnapped by Le Chiffre. Bond gives chase, is forced off the road and captured. He is then tortured to give up the money which he doesn't. Le Chiffre's employers (SMERSH in the book, Quantum in the movie) kill Le Chiffre for his failures. Bond romances Vesper until he finds out she is a double agent and she commits suicide.

All straight from the novel and in the movie. If that is not the definition of a faithful adapation (especially for this series), I'm not quite certain what is. There are some differences. The guy with the cane gun threatening Bond was replaced by the girl poisioning him, the carpet beater used on Bond was replaced by a knotted rope, SMERSH became Quantum, but otherwise it's pretty much there. It's at least as faitfhful if not more so than the 1954 version and vastly more faithful than the 1967 version. The first half of the movie isn't from the book, of course, but there had to be some explanation of how Le Chiffre lost the money to enter the card game and it gave a pretty exciting sequence with Bond not failing to prevent the bombing of the airplane.

Which proves nothing. These plot points are some of the external framework I spoke of. You're leaving out a lot -- too much -- and overlooking the subtext that puts these external factors into perspective. You say that you're not quite certain what a faithful adaptation is beyond these obvious plot points, and I believe you. I'm not unwilling to expound, but only if you ask for the information. I'm mindful that this is a SKYFALL thread.

 

[MattAlbie60]

I'd really love to see you talk this passionately about something you actually like

 

[Sam Favate]

Originally Posted by Richard--W
Michael Fox, Andrea (played by Maud Adams) is killed off-screen by a single shot in the forehead in THE MAN WITH GOLDEN GUN (1974).

Actually, Bond notices she's been shot in the chest, just above the heart, not the forehead.

 

[Richard--W]

A trivial point, but you are correct. That doesn't change the gist of the post.

 

[larryKR]

Bond didn't use Severine as target practice in my opinion. With a gun held against his head, he was told to knock the scotch glass off her head. He missed, and one could say he missed on purpose as he was very accurate with a gun moments later. What else could Bond do in that situation. The SKYFALL blu-ray looks better on my display then the film did at my local theater.

 

[Richard--W]

Digital capture always looks better on the luminosity of a home monitor than it does in the theater. Digital capture is made for luminous monitors, not theaters. It's a long, long way from matching 35mm film at its best. He's still complicit. The point is in not writing the scene to give him that choice in the first place. Just don't go there. Certainly his sick joke after her murder tells us about his character.

 

[Kai Penttila]

Digital capture always looks better on the luminosity of a home monitor than it does in the theater. Digital capture is made for luminous monitors, not theaters. It's a long, long way from matching 35mm film at its best. He's still complicit. The point is in not writing the scene to give him that choice in the first place. Just don't go there. Certainly his sick joke after her murder tells us about his character.

Bond used women as human shields in the 60s and 70s -- and made a joke about it in Thunderball -- what did that tell you about his character?

 

[Nelson Au]

Fiona Volpe was a bad girl who tries to kill Bond. It was a funny joke, she's just dead. She was a SPECTRE member too.

 

[John Weller]

Austin Powers kind of crushed that one into the ground...literally!

 

[SilverWook]

Digital capture always looks better on the luminosity of a home monitor than it does in the theater. Digital capture is made for luminous monitors, not theaters. It's a long, long way from matching 35mm film at its best. He's still complicit. The point is in not writing the scene to give him that choice in the first place. Just don't go there. Certainly his sick joke after her murder tells us about his character.

I was unable to see Skyfall until it was at my local bargain theater. The 35mm print they were running looked pretty good to me. I wouldn't have guessed it was shot digitally at the time.

 

[performing arts]

i think that Sam Mendes is an indisputed main colomn -star in cinema industry today as well as great stage director.. so Skyfall could not fail ... Each Mendes film is deep emotion to me like Woody Allen and Christopher Nolan.. here I said all

 

[Noel Aguirre]

I saw Skyfall twice in the theater last December. The acting, editing and cinematography were exemplary. How this did not get a Best Picture nominee is a joke.