James Bond In Skyfall - - Part 11

[chamber-music]

Some fans want Bond movies to stick very much to the tropes and forumla set down by previous Bond films.

 

[mfmcgreal]

Agree to an extent regarding the third act in Scotland.

I remember feeling a little underwhelmed once it finished. It just didn't seem to feel like 'the big perfect massive ending' if that make's any sense. Something was missing, but it's difficult to put your finger on it. Possibly because as previously mentioned, it's not your typical Bond location, so it all felt a little strange. I'm sure on a second viewing, it will be far more enjoyable.

Spoiler

M's/Judi's death seemed a little sudden and rushed too, for a character who's spent so long in the franchise. I remember her dying, the scene ending, and five minutes later the film finishing. All seemed a bit 'wait, hold on a second'.

Someone mentioned a few pages back, that M dying, and then Bond going after Silva for revenge, probably would have worked better, and I totally agree.

Reflecting on the film, now a week ago since viewing it, it definitely has it flaws. Which is frustrating more than anything, because after enjoying the film so much, you know with a little tweaking, it could have been 'even' better.
For example, Silva could have been an 'even' better villain, with more screen-time.

There was far too many tasters of characters etc. in Skyfall, that don't get exploited enough. I come away feeling the story was solid, but too many different characters, stories, events etc. were squeezed into it, more for the sake of it than anything. You get the impression Mendes and Craig sat down, listed everything they loved/what makes a great Bond movie, and said "Let's just throw it all in there and make a real classic Bond movie", but there's too much that's been thrown into it, which leads to a lack of focus. There's stages in the film where you just want the film to settle, in a certain location, with certain characters. But it's constantly on the move, switching locations or scene's. You almost feel like Skyfall is a large teaser for future Bond movies, especially with certain characters like Naomie's and Fienne's, who you only get tasters of in this film.

It's still a solid edition anyway, on par with Casino Royale at the very least, which tell's how you good it is. I could spend all day talking about the positives from the movie, literally.

 

[The Joker]

Apparently you have never heard any interviews by any actor he acted with in the 60's and 70's. Everyone either says he was either a conceited jerk....or they don't say anything at all.

Several of the Star Trek actors couldn't stand him.

 

[Slushy]

I've got Roger Moore's autobiography and he's a surpisingly humble guy. I didn't know much about him, but he's always had this air of upper-class English toff about him - probably due to the accent more than anything else. But in his book he's quite self-deprecating and admits he took a lot of roles just because it was a cushy number of easy money. He certainly doesn't take himself too seriously at all, asides from when it comes to mentioning his charity work for Unicef which is obviously important to him.

That's why he'll always be the worst Bond to me because he did it for the money. He never cared for the source material. (Hell, he didn't even know the heroine of The Spy Who Loved Me novel was Vivienne Michel, NOT Ayna Amasova.) He might as well have played Simon Templar posing as 007.


With that said, I did read his book just to get his take on things. He comes off as a stand-up guy overall although a notorious prankster as well. The highlights for me:

- Killed the rumor that he was a / the original choice to play James Bond (or had been approached for it) in Dr. No


- Would've done On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but busy with The Saint at the time.


- Confirmed Lazenby's departure because of his agent's bad advice and that he wouldn't have continued even if he did do Diamonds Are Forever.


- Connery's main reason for giving up being 007 was getting lowballed by the producers which is why he demanded his $1,000,000 asking price for DAF.


- Declined to make a second season of The Persuaders so he could get the James Bond role.


- A stunt driver from Live And Let Die during filming in New York because he drove one of the film's nice cars to a local gas station to get re-fueled that had the fake license plates seen in the films and the cops didn't believe he was an actor!


- Had a hard time filming his first Bond movie because he's afraid of alligators and snakes!


- Made Jane Seymour cry after a prank gone wrong when Roger Moore (in advance) told everybody to leave the lunch table all at once, leaving her all by herself.


- A tarot card dealer gave Moore his reading one day on set and he would be in an accident while traveling in a black limousine. He made sure to avoid using those afterwards.


- Cubby Broccoli liked big **** and it would be a major factor in actresses being cast as the Bond girl.


- Jack Palance was considered for the role of Francisco Scaramanga.


- Pranked Desmond Llewelyn by having his lines in the script changed at the last minute.


- Nick Nack was rumored to be quite the man****e. He would always get a hotel room on the first floor because he couldn't reach the buttons in the elevator.


- Moore and Cubby would constantly try to one-up each other during games of backgammon, to the point where it would affect film schedule because Cubby wouldn't let Moore return to the set!


- During the boat chase in Bangkok, the local undertaker had put dead bodies in the river!


- Almost got Britt Ekland seriously injured when he lost his grip on her during their run through the explosions in the island lair.


- Christopher Lee is a fan of opera music and wore a false tan during filming that could only be washed off with hot water.


- The scene where Moore goes to meet the bellydancer to retrieve the golden bullet was the final scene of the movie filmed. After the take was over, Moore got a taste of his own medicine when Cubby had a bucket of paste poured on him, ruining that nice suit he had been sporting.


- Was good friends with Frank Sinatra


- Played as Sherlock Holmes once with Patrick Macnee as Dr. John Watson


- Kept losing a number of movie roles to Edward Fox


- Rick Sylvester was paid $30,000 to do the famous Union Jack parachute jump. Hearing a dead quiet crowd erupt with deafening applause after the opening sequence ended is one of Roger Moore's favorite moments in life.


- Maurice Binder wouldn't finish the opening credits sequence until the day before the world premiere. He would also rub Vaseline on women's private parts to keep their pubic hair flat when they were in front of the wind machine.


- Cameraman Alec Mills demanded Roger Moore leave the submarine when he had to go inside the torpedo tube to film, out of fear Moore would push the button to launch him out!


- Would get kidney stones from time to time and suffered from a case of shingles once during filming. The camera man had to film around Moore by going over his shoulder, but if you look carefully in the Spy Who Loved Me, you can see Roger's face is swollen.


- During lunch one day in Pinewood Studios, a child actress was a fan of his and wanted to meet him and so they did. She was very smart who would give suggestions to the director on where to put the camera. That girl was a very young Jodie Foster!


- Burned his ass because the special effects guy pushed the button too early on the exploding chair during the confrontation with Stromberg scene.


- The guy who played Sandor didn't want to do his death scene because he's afraid of heights.


- His jokes didn't go so well during Japanese press events because they got lost in translation.


- Bought a Rolls Royce and drove around it dressed as Santa Clause once.


- OJ Simpson was the original choice for Shawn Flynn in The Wild Geese because the agents didn't know the meaning of the term "black Irish" was.


- Gambled with Telly Savalas once.


- Moonraker was over the top even for him!


- Based his repulsed look during scenes with the films' villains by pretending they had bad breath.


- Lois Chiles was a problem for the hair and make-up crew because after they had straightened her hair out, she would go and get it wet to make it curly after each take.


- She also had a hard time delivering her lines during a scene in Drax's space station. To make her at ease, Roger Moore had a film crew member dress up as a green Martian to wash the windows.


- During the funeral boat sequence in Venice, the props department got the wreathes from outside a church in St. Marks Square where a real funeral was taking place!


- At a local bar, an old lady asked him what he was doing in Venice to which he told her he was filming a movie. She asked him which movie. He answered a 007 movie to which she asked him who does he play. At this point, Ken Adam, who was there with him, was in complete LOL mode.


- Liza Minnelli is Judy Garland's daughter and was married to Jack Haley Jr. the son of the guy who played The Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz! During a gondola ride late at night with Roger and his friends, she was singing. An angry Italian opened his window and shouted "Shut up! Who do you think you are? Liza Minnelli?!!" X D


- Bernard Lee was an alcoholic. He wanted to do his scenes in For Your Eyes Only, but was in too much pain to complete them due to his stomach cancer.


- (I always thought Steven Spielberg was denied from directing For Your Eyes Only because he didn't have that much experience, but) According to Roger, it didn't happen because its EON's policy that no director ever got a slice of box office profits. (This explain why all the best directors don't do James Bond films.)


- Anthony Perkins was a film trivia guru.


- Had a three picture deal with EON. After The Spy Who Loved Me, it was changed to a film by film basis.


- Chaim Topol loved eating pistachio nuts and would threw the shells under Alec Mills's camera as his way of ribbing him.


- Carole Bouquet couldn't dive because of a sinus problem. Her film producer boyfriend was a heroin addict.


- Had it been up to him, throwing in the dove pin would've sent Locque over the cliff. UGH!!!


- After Marlon Brando declined to accept his Oscar for the Godfather, nobody took the statue from Roger so he just held onto it. When he went outside to leave after the show, fans thought he had won an Academy Award and congratulated him for it. X D


- Believed the auditons being held to be the next 007 was just an elaborate ploy to make sure he would continue with the franchise.


- Never Say Never Again was allowed to happen is because Cubby took a share in profits.


- There was zero animosity between Sean and Roger during "The Battles of The Bonds." In fact, they would have dinner together often and compare notes.


- Didn't have a problem with Christopher Walken who likes to be prepared and wants the same out of his co-workers, but is mislabeled as "being difficult to work with" because of his work ethic.


- They were granted filming permits with ease and practically given creative freedom in San Francisco because the mayor was a Roger Moore fan.


- A View To A Kill was Dolph Lungren's first film role and got his part because he was dating Grace Jones at the time. Roger Moore has nothing nice to say about her.


- Didn't get all emotional when he decided to stop being Bond and was a team player from start to finish.

 

[The Englishman]

I don't get some of the complaints about the ending battle. For me that was when the movie when from just good to very good. Spectacular fx and spectacular cinematography! High octane, emotional, cool and funny all at once. The location looked great and personally I find the Scottish highlands very cool. Suddenly it seems like some want every Bond-movie to follow the exact same formula. Not every ending battle can take place in what most consider "exotic".

I totally agree. The Bond formula was getting really tired by DAD and I'm quite glad that they are trying different things now with Craig's films

Yeah, most of his Star Trek co-stars don't speak highly of him and say that he tried to get all the scenes/ lines for himself.



For me, it's when the movie went from good to not so good.

Spoiler

Especially when there was no fight between Bond and Silva or the absence of any Bond girl other than Judi Dench, whom you realise is ultimately meant to be the Bond girl (and even according to the screenwriter too).

I'm not expecting every Bond film to follow the exact same formula. But I would like the 50th anniversary film to have something more traditionally Bondian. If they wanted to do this type of finale for the next movie or another one, they can. For Your Eyes Only had a slightly different type of finale too, so it's not without precedent.

But this is not a 50th anniversary film, it's just a film that's come out in the 50th anniversary year...

 

[Homer J. Fong]

I just saw it, thought it was fantastic.

 

[PWN3R]

Roger Deakins... there are no words. This is such a gorgeous movie. I can't believe this wasn't shot on film. So. ****ing. gorgeous.

As for the plot, extremely satisfying. Silva's villain is a riot, and Craig's Bond is better than ever. I literally have no complaints. Everything with the Skyfall estate was a welcomed surprise. Can't wait to see this again. May Craig's era be long and fruitful.

What a great Bond film. Tip of the hat to everyone involved.

 

[The Chris]

skyfall is sensational. 5/5. Man I hope the craig era ends as well as it has begun.

 

[Matt Mortem]

Sooo excited. I'm going early tomorrow morning and then again on Saturday evening. Tonight I'm watching Casino Royale and QoS to prep.

 

[TheVileOne]

I'm not sure this is the best Bond movie ever but it is definitely top 5 I'd say. Daniel Craig though is without a doubt my favorite Bond.

Here are some thoughts I had:

Spoiler

- Disappointed nothing happened with Quantum. Would've liked some reference of some sort.

- I was glad to see everything come sort of full circle and this movie full re-establishes Craig as the Bond and his Bond-verse and circle of characters. Q, Moneypenny, and now a new male M are all there now.

- Severine was kind of a pointless character. I was a bit underwhelmed with what they did to her. I think what happened on the island should've been a ruse and she would've helped Silva escape or something.

- Harris didn't really have much to do other than become Moneypenny. Now that she's Moneypenny I don't see how they can really explore this relationship very much and establish that they sort of had this casual or holiday romance but just sort of resolved things with her being M's secretary and always having that flirty type of relationship. I think they should've consummated all the flirtations and then end things on the note they did at the end.

- Fantastic music. A lot of great themes between the new Bond theme, the old one, the type of fanfare they made for M and the dead agents, and the Skyfall theme used in the score that if you listen sort of mixes in the classic Bond theme tune into it. It's really neat.

- Adele's theme song is awesome. It's classic old school Bond.

- I was a little underwhelmed there was no big fight with Bond and Silva, but at the same time, Bond's sort of weak and off his game. Having a fist fight I'm not sure if it would've fit the tone of this movie. Like Kincade and Harris pointed out, sometimes the old ways are still the best. Bond stabbed him in the back from close range, pretty much the best and most opportunistic way he could. Bond might not have survived a fist fight with Silva.

Looking forward to the next two movies with this cast. I hope Tanner stays with MI6 and becomes the new Colin Salmon character.

Also FYI, I've seen it twice for free already. Once at the media screening and again at AFI Fest .

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Javier Bardem's on Conan right now. Holy crap, was he terrific in this.

 

[The Joker]

Javier Bardem's on Conan right now. Holy crap, was he terrific in this.

He was terrific.

Spoiler

Did you spot the TDK influences on his character's plot?

 

[TheVileOne]

http://www.411mania.com/movies/film_reviews/261865

My official review.

I did see that Joker. But I think Mendes was pretty open about the influence Nolan and the Batman movies had which is neat because Nolan himself was influenced by Bond movies for his Batman films.

The circle of . . . copy catting .

 

[The Joker]

I think Mendes was pretty open about the influence Nolan and the Batman movies had which is neat because Nolan himself was influenced by Bond movies for his Batman films.

The circle of . . . copy catting .

Oh yeah, I know he was; http://collider.com/sam-mendes-skyfall-the-dark-knight/204523/

I think it's great to see a comic book movie influence another movie from such a prominent franchise like James Bond.

 

[TheVileOne]

I wouldn't mind if Mendes wanted to do Bond again though I doubt he will.

I really like Bond's new supporting cast. Ben Whishaw as Q is going to be a lot of fun.

I think Skyfall took a lot of ideas from Dark Knight Rises and improved upon them. Skyfall basically went where I wanted Dark Knight Rises to go.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

The influence of The Dark Knight and specifically of Heath's Joker on Bardem's Silva is apparent, and the Bond franchise has a long history of being influenced by other movies in its genre or a genre nearby; that's part of what we mean when we talk about the series changing with the times. This movie does it right, though - taking cues from another movie with riveting characters, big ideas that are actually dealt with, and dynamite action scenes, and applying those to James Bond. I was never thinking, "Oh, Bardem is doing Ledger's Joker," or "Man, Mendes really wants to be Christopher Nolan here." It's the difference between taking cues and jumping on bandwagons.

 

[TheVileOne]

Well I think you can say the same thing about what Casino Royale took from Jason Bourne.

And then Quantum of Solace basically tried to rip off Bourne a lot more and IMHO didn't work.

 

[Marvolo]

Well I think you can say the same thing about what Casino Royale took from Jason Bourne.

And then Quantum of Solace basically tried to rip off Bourne a lot more and IMHO didn't work.

Quantum of Solace actually had someone who worked on the Bourne films. Was it the DP, second unit director, editor? I cant remember but i do know that Marc brought someone on the film that had worked on bourne and it was a major reason that QOS went all seizure camera.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Well I think you can say the same thing about what Casino Royale took from Jason Bourne.

I would say that for Casino Royale and Bourne, yes - and I did at the time. I resented people saying that that one was ripping Bourne off. Of course, that escalated with Quantum of Solace, and that one does look and feel more like Bourne.

 

[Homer J. Fong]

Quantum of Solace actually had someone who worked on the Bourne films. Was it the DP, second unit director, editor? I cant remember but i do know that Marc brought someone on the film that had worked on bourne and it was a major reason that QOS went all seizure camera.

It was the second unit director, Dan Bradley.

 

[Marvolo]

It was the second unit director, Dan Bradley.

Yeah that's the one.

 

[DACrowe]

Saw a midnight screening. We all all thought it was superb. A thoroughly excellent Bond film. It was not the complete throwback I had anticipated from the trailer. The first act or so definitely felt like it was channeling such classics as Goldfinger, and GoldenEye with the stunt work and action, but it became a surprisingly intimate story and did two things that are usually no-nos in Bond films: It circled back (London, three times) and delved way deeper into Bond's past and youth than I ever thought they would.

For a Bond flick, it was quite intimate and moody. I certainly see Mendes's self-described influences of Nolan, particularly in the villain being a cipher for our fears of non-state agents or terrorists in the post-9/11 world and how much of Javier Bardem's character was a cross between 006 in GoldenEye and Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight (particularly in Act II).

Judi Dench was superb as M and gave probably her best performance in the series with this film. Finnes and "Eve" were great. I also liked the other Bond girl whose name escapes me. I wish we had seen more of her. Overall, a great entry that has brought Bond back to the point where I hope Craig can finally have a full fledged Bond adventure in the next one. That said, it still isn't as good as Casino Royale despite what some critics said.

Solid stuff.

 

[DACrowe]

One last thing. How could I forget to mention the cinematography? Amazingly gorgeous. Deakins outdid himself. Bond films have always been pretty, but this one stunned me in several locations and scenes.

 

[A Necessary Evil]

I'm not sure this is the best Bond movie ever but it is definitely top 5 I'd say. Daniel Craig though is without a doubt my favorite Bond.

Here are some thoughts I had:

Spoiler

- Disappointed nothing happened with Quantum. Would've liked some reference of some sort.

.

Spoiler

Didn't Barbra say he'd go after Quantum? I assumed so, because she said it wouldn't be a trilogy, but it could bridge the gap for one. But that could have been changed up for the movie. I will, however, agree. Did they just... disband?

 

[DACrowe]

Well I think you can say the same thing about what Casino Royale took from Jason Bourne.

And then Quantum of Solace basically tried to rip off Bourne a lot more and IMHO didn't work.

Casino Royale was very much influenced by Batman Begins to me. Bourne influenced Quantum. But this is old hat. Tomorrow Never Dies was a poor attempt in cashing in on the John Woo craze in the '90s, just as License to Kill wanted to be Die Hard or Lethal Weapon. And so it goes.