James Bond In Skyfall - - Part 11

[Drizzle]

I feel like I'm late to the party, but I just saw it today. What an incredible entry to the series. It's not the best Bond film (to me, that's Goldfinger), but it's possibly my favorite. It surpassed Casino Royale as Craig's best Bond film. Mostly everything about this movie just clicked. You can tell this film was influenced by The Dark Knight, and that's not a bad thing. It has the same DNA. It even shares a lot of similarities with TDKR too.

Spoiler

- Daniel Craig really owns the role at this point. Him and Connery are neck and neck, as far as I'm concerned.

- Javier Bardem stole the movie for me. Silva was such a sick twisted ****. He's definitely in the top tier of Bond villains. The series hasn't had a villain this good since Sean Bean in Goldeneye. I wish we would have seen more of his deformities. That was genuinely disgusting.

- It was sad to see Judi Dench's M go, but the fact that Ralph Fiennes is the new M more than makes up for it.

- Ben Whishaw as Q was a welcome introduction, as he was the character I missed the most in the first two Craig films. He got a good amount of screen time as well, which I liked.

- I totally knew that Naomie Harris was going to end up being Moneypenny.

- I loved the whole standoff at Skyfall.

The only things I didn't like:

- Stupid CGI Komodo Dragons

- Berenice Marlohe didn't have a lot of screen time, and I didn't like that. I realize this wasn't an entry with a lot of focus on the Bond girls, but still, I feel like her character could have been more developed.

Here's how I rank the Bond films right now:

1. Goldfinger
2. Skyfall
3. Casino Royale
4. Goldeneye
5. The Spy Who Loved Me
6. Thunderball
7. From Russia With Love
8. Dr. No
9. Licence to Kill
10. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
11. Quantum of Solace
12. For Your Eyes Only
13. Live and Let Die
14. Tomorrow Never Dies
15. The Living Daylights
16. You Only Live Twice
17. The World Is Not Enough
18. Die Another Day
19. Octopussy
20. The Man With The Golden Gun
21. A View To A Kill
22. Moonraker
23. Diamonds Are Forever


The next one will have to jump through some serious hoops to keep up with Skyfall.

 

[Dark Raven]

Why did they have to CGI the Komodo Dragon? They should've shot some real ones, and then only where absolutely necessary use CGI or get something to stand in for it. I didn't think it looked so fake though.

 

[Liam_H]

Must not be very easy to get Komodo Dragons to work with.

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

Seen it twice now; the midnight IMAX screening Wednesday night and Friday evening. And yes, I'll see it again.

Far from the "Best Bond Ever!" claims. That would be Casino Royale. But it's good. Very, very good. Exceeded the underrated Quantum (I'm glad Craig hasn't done the fashionable thing and thrown it under the bus). Arguably the finest acting in the franchise's history. A character-piece with the action centered around it. What little action, albeit damn good, there honestly is.

Spoiler

Struck by how both traditional it was (By introducing Q/Moneypenny, the retro-Dr. No MI6 headquarters/M's office at the end) while straying away from tradition (Killing off M, no sick-kick/henchman for Silva, acknowledging Bond's morality/durability head on, simple yet effective shoot-out finale at Skyfall estate instead of usual Ken Adams/Peter Lamont set explosions).

Craig is 3-0 performance-wise. God help us if he gets bored. The experiment of hiring the auteur Sam Mendes worked. No doubt he will return, just not anytime soon (Like Guy Hamilton post Goldfinger, his batteries need recharging). Hoping this success strengthens the Broccolis playing with their toys and trying new things.

What that entails is what both excites and frightens me, as a fan. This reboot universe is set to status quo save for Blofeld and that's coming. Bank on it. This incarnation of Bond, and how he's portrayed by Craig, doesn't lend itself to an outright fantasy spectacle like Goldfinger and The Spy Who Loved Me. Yet... I feel that's where they are headed.

 

[Still Wynning]

Why did they have to CGI the Komodo Dragon? They should've shot some real ones, and then only where absolutely necessary use CGI or get something to stand in for it. I didn't think it looked so fake though.

Yeah, that and the CGI scorpion were a couple of the things that bothered me. It wasn't bad, but it was definitely noticeable, so it took me out of the film at times.

They could have at least gotten some company to make an animatronic Komodo for some shots (like when Bond jumps off of it and it bites the bad guy's leg), used CGI when the guy gets pulled into the Komodo's lair, and a real Komodo for shots where it's just lounging or walking around.

 

[Visceral]

those scorpions were cgi? you sure?

 

[Still Wynning]

those scorpions were cgi? you sure?

I'm pretty sure it was CGI. At first I thought it was real, because the camera was a little farther away and I couldn't get a good look at it. Then there was close-up of it where it moved unnaturally that kind of tipped me off that it wasn't real.

Also, I doubt they would risk putting an actual Scorpion on the hand of the actor playing the main character. t:

 

[FilmNerdJamie]

Spoiler

If there's anything I'm disappointed by. It's that Silva (as great as Bardem is) was never a physical threat for Bond. You hire a big, beefy guy like Bardem and you expect a big knockdown, drag-out fight between him and Craig. And that never happens.

 

[Visceral]

I'm pretty sure it was CGI. At first I thought it was real, because the camera was a little farther away and I couldn't get a good look at it. Then there was close-up of it where it moved unnaturally that kind of tipped me off that it wasn't real.

Also, I doubt they would risk putting an actual Scorpion on the hand of the actor playing the main character. t:

there are other types of special effects

 

[Doctor Jones]

I thought that too, but I kind of liked that. Bond couldn't even shoot the clear target of Silva on the ladder in the subway. I liked that part of Bond's arc was him hitting his target. This film was about him coming back to life and physically, I don't know if Bond could have defeated Silva. Sure he took down henchmen and thugs, but Silva was someone who got to him through what he was aiming for. It doesn't come off as forced since it's a recurrent thing throughout. Instead of just brawn, the whole thing became an arc.

But of course, I would have loved to see a fight between them.

 

[Dark Raven]

And yet, before the age of CGI, they would've brought in some real Komodo dragons. They did that with the alligators in LALD. Imagine now having that scene with CGI alligators. I wonder if even TSWLM union jack parachute, the LALD boat jump and TMWTGG car spin in the air would be done by CGI these days.

 

[Dark Raven]

there are other types of special effects

They could've had an animatronic one, or even had the hand of someone who actually works with scorpions filmed for closeup shots.

 

[Still Wynning]

Spoiler

If there's anything I'm disappointed by. It's that Silva (as great as Bardem is) was never a physical threat for Bond. You hire a big, beefy guy like Bardem and you expect a big knockdown, drag-out fight between him and Craig. And that never happens.

Spoiler

I'm actually kind of glad they didn't go that route with his character. It would have been so predictable and cliche. And with the exception of Silva holding M at gunpoint at the very end and him being held hostage, Bond was never in a perfect position to physically take him out. He was either in a large crowd of people, tied up, or obstructed by gunfire.

Besides, Silva never seemed like the kind of person to waste time engaging fighting people in hand-to-hand combat. He probably thought that it was beneath him. Considering his methods with using computers to achieve his goals, which was "point-and-click", he seemed to prefer the more direct and straightforward approach. That is, using guns, explosives and subway trains. t:

 

[Doctor Jones]

Maybe they tried animatronic komodos but it didn't work. These things usually are options. It's just a matter of what works better. Practically it may have no been as convincing.

 

[Visceral]

They could've had an animatronic one, or even had the hand of someone who actually works with scorpions filmed for closeup shots.

Well I'm gonna try it, I'll post pictures on facebook for everyone....if I live

 

[Still Wynning]

there are other types of special effects

But a lot of those scenes involved situations that absolutely couldn't have been done with out CG, such as certain buildings that weren't there in real life, or dangerous action sequences (like when Bond drops that one guy from out of a tall building).

When it involves actual creatures, unless there's something so abstract that requires the need for CGI, such as an alien or the like, there's just no excuse not to use the real deal when it can be done.

 

[Man in the Suit]

The new Q is a justin beiber ass. And I supposed that is the point

What?

 

[Still Wynning]

What?

I know. That was my reaction, as well.

 

[Visceral]

What?

he's a very snotty little kid. Sorry if your a fan of beibers work

 

[The Englishman]

he's a very snotty little kid. Sorry if your fan beibers work

No he's not...

 

[Still Wynning]

he's a very snotty little kid. Sorry if your fan beibers work

He wasn't responding to that. He was responding to how confusing your statement was.

Seriously, calling the new Q a "justin beiber ass"? What is that even supposed to mean?

 

[Visceral]

He wasn't responding to that. He was responding to how confusing your statement was.

Seriously, calling the new Q a "justin beiber ass"? What is that even supposed to mean?

I'm saying james Bond Has beiber fever. Why does my sense of humor always get so ****ed up when I put on the internet.

 

[Still Wynning]

I'm saying james Bond Has beiber fever. Why does my sense of humor always get so ****ed up when I put on the internet.

Because it doesn't even make an ounce of sense.

 

[The Englishman]

WTF??

 

[Dark Raven]

In Alias Sydney Bristow had a number of gadgets. That show didn't seem camp. The gadgets fitted in. Is Bond supposed to only have the bare minimum now?