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Skyfall Review


Daniel Craig. Javier Bardem.  Judi Dench.  Ralph Fiennes. Sam Mendes.  Roger Deakins.  Thomas Newman. All modern legends in their own right in the filmmaking industry.  You would think their new film, yeah not any film, a Bond film, would blow you away, wouldn't you?  Not today, not today.
Skyfall was a film that had so much promise. So much.  And yet, it took a step back following in the footsteps of Quantum of Solace.

Skyfall follows Bond as he is to retrieve a drive that contains all agents hidden in terrorist organizations across the world.  He can't find it and the chase pursues.  It ends on a train, where M orders an agent to shoot a man Bond is fighting.  She shoots, and hits Bond.  The rest of the film follows M16 and M, limping out with out Bond, hoping to stay afloat.  But things get worse and worse, and low and behold, Bond comes back to save the day, and does, with a story that well, isn't Bond like at all really ( even less enticing than Quantum of Solace in some ways).  It ends on a note of sadness, and takes us back in more ways than one. The story is how a spoiled crazy agent, Silva(Javier Bardem) was deserted by M and wants her dead.  World domination? This guy could do it, but rather, wants an old lady dead. I thought this story would be on a grand scale, but personal. Not the case.  All personal.

These things being said, I don't want to take away anything from anyone involved, especially Roger Deakins, which I think, is some of his finest work.  The imagery encapsulates the mood with such vivid color and crispness. The work in Shanghai was phenomenal.  Too bad his work was for a mediocre Bond movie at best.

Mendes, who was made such films as American Beauty and Jarhead, takes his almost theatrical directorial style to a Bond movie, and it doesn't translate.  The pacing is slow, and at times, monotonous. Mendes to his credit, did allow more freedom for the actors to work, but Bond isn't a drama.  It's a spy thriller.  THRILLER.  The action sequences seemed old hat. When I saw Casino Royale, the parkour chase was something that took my breathe away.  It was involving, intriguing, and different.  These chases were not. They were the same as every other movie. There was nothing to set them apart.

And have you noticed how this is almost just like the Dark Knight Rises in every way?  Hero is old, people don't know if he can do it, disappears and dies, bad guys are winning, miraculously comes back against the odds, wins, and life moves on.
I was never left breathless, even in IMAX, and that is hard to come by.

Craig and Bardem are great, as is the rest of the cast, but I yet have one more question to ask:  Why go back to what the original Bond had with Penny and the male M?  What they were bringing forth was fresh and new, Casino Royale again being a great example.  And, what happened to that secret organization that was running the world?  Evidently, it just somehow died.
I felt this was a reboot of a reboot, and a Bond movie that's good to rent, but the theatre? I'll keep my money, thank you.

Comments

  1. I didn't think it was that terrible personally, but I agree-it didn't feel like a Bond film. I very much enjoyed the movie as a movie, but taking into consideration as a Bond film and what Bond is, it didn't hit that mark. Adele's opening number was eerie and wonderful, and excited me for what was to come. Beautifully filmed, strong acting (in my opinion) and an intriguing enough story, the main issue was it didn't feel like Bond. My only other issue is while I love Judi Dench, I feel as if this film was more about her as M than Bond. Which was interesting and different in its own right, but the fact remains the same-it is a Bond film.

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  2. Hi Caleb. I just wrote a mini-review on this at AttentionEra.com. As a stand-alone film, I thought it was great. Yes, I had the same question about the evil network disappearing. I think they went back to Moneypenny and male M to sync it with the rest of the series. The problem is that it doesn't sync with the Pierce Brosnan era (or Casino Royale).

    Deep and personal for sure, but much more beautiful than Quantum of Solace. I think they'll get back to thriller next time.

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