Pros and Cons: Skyfall (Page 1 of 2)

I realy enjoyed Skyfall but agree it is not the best Bond.  Much better than QOS but not quite as good as CR.

Pros:

Great PTS
Good song from Adele.  Welcome relief after Another Way to Die
A more human Bond.  Less of the indestructible superhero of previous movies.  More the character created by Fleming.
Top villian with a genuine motivation for his actions
Excellent new Q.
One of the best casts ever assembled for a Bond movie.
Great chemistry between Bond and M, Bond and Q, Bond and Eve.
Shanghai scenes brilliant.  The fight with Patrice with the lights in the background was excellent.
Nice moment hearing someone call Bond a jumped up little   Brexit .

Cons:

Missed David Arnold for the score.
Lack of real Bond girl.  Severine came and went (probably literally) very quickly.  Was surprised when she got killed.  Eve didn't really classify.
Apart from the PTS no real stunts.  Plenty of action but no real stand out stunts.
Final confrontation with Silva a bit low key.

Pros:
- Intresting plot, keeps you entertained and wondering. (Unlike Qos!)
- Beautifull cinematography! 
- Daniel Craig seems to be really comfortable in the role now, it took me untill this film to really realise: "Yes, I now believe that this guy is James Bond!"
- Great acting from everyone in the cast!
- The Bond theme is back, loved when it came on when he got in the DB5!
- Great twist to bring back moneypenny at the end, I didn't see that one coming! I also loved how they put a homage to the old universal exports office, and got it back to that style!!

Cons:
Having just seen it yesterday, and being pretty much blown away by it, so far I can only think of this:
- Severine didn't have much screentime, which I thought was a bit of a shame, her character was intresting, and I think she did well.

There werent much other dissapointments on first viewing for me. Maybe when it sinks in a little bit more, I'll have some more complaints.

Pros

Craig is very good! I liked his performance in CR and QoS and SF also.
Cinematography!!! Beautiful!
Bringing moneypenny in.
DB5
The whole shanghai part. Everyting beautiful shot and the atmosphere was exactly how it should be. The silhouette fight was good!
The long shot of our villain introduction. I liked it that it was one shot of him talking. No cutting in this introduction.
Bonds roots. I'm a big fan of the books. I liked how they give Bond some character.
The title sequence. Very good! I liked it. Good images and the correct font!
I liked the Q scene! Very different, especially Bond being negative (no Christmas..    )

Cons:
The music in the end was a bit of a mess.
Not a great story. I liked it how they wrote the characters, they are interesting, but there is not really a story. I hoped after QoS, they would bring back a world domination plan. I know there was something with computers and stuff but there was no threatening what so ever.
Our villain wasn't very threatening. I know everybody likes him but for me it wasn't bad but there were moments I just saw a man acting.
The pre title sequence. Can someone please explain to me what was so good about this? I was already a bit furious we didn't saw the gunbarrel in the beginning. The pts didn't made this up. I liked the opening shot but the pts didn't gave us anything new. Fight on the train, lost list... mission impossible 1 flashback.. The motorracing on the rooftops sounds cool but wasn't convincing by all the quick cuts, trying to hide the stuntmen. For me, there was no bond feeling to the PTS sadly. I liked it that Bond gets shot by his own team ( i'm so glad i didn't saw the trailer).
No memorable stunt.
The gunbarrel at the end.
No good torture scene, i liked the torture scene in CR. I hoped it would be in this one also...

A lot of cons... but I liked the movie, but I recon that Bond isn't the trendsetter anymore...

Last edited by schaduwoog (1st Nov 2012 16:58)

Yes 4 times then. and as in DAD,he had so many scorpions-how poisonous are they?
Will they kill you? or is it just like a bad bee sting ?!

Bleuville.

I'm with you on most things here, particularly regarding the chemistry between Eve & Bond which I thought was excellent.  Hopefully will lend itself well in the next movie and add a little bit of playful tension.  Very positive about Ralph Fiennes too, as he's a superb actor and lends the harsher persona that I believe such a role would exhibit, (as well as having a leather backed door!!).  Albert Finney was excellent too and probably delievered the line of the entire film.

Wasn't so bothered about a lack of high-end stunts after the PTS tbh (which I thought was absolutely superb), as I found the tube chase to be very enjoyable and it meant that there was more focus upon the acting / story.  Having the DB5 back in was a great call, especially when the machine guns were put to use.  Perhaps another major stunt would have put the icing on the cake, but I'm sure with everything else going on the coffers were nearly bare!

If I were to have a gripe it would be that Silva didn't possibly have the screen time he deserved / needed and I don't truly believe that he came across as the totally evil so & so that we should have been witness too.  Wasn't entirely sold upon the deserted island bit, but it wasn't a major negative.  Also would have liked to have seen more of Severine (for more than one reason  )

Ive watched CR 8 times or even more Quantum around 4' id have to say Skyfall falls in the middle. I believe all this hype thats gong around is plainly cause of the long g between qos and also comemorting 50 years , but still cr is way better than sf

I was going to make a thread like this, but it's already been done.  Okay, I'll finish out my Pros and Cons series with this post.

Skyfall.  23rd film in the Bond series, the 3rd to feature Daniel Craig.  The development cycle was 4 years long because of MGM's uncertain financial situation.  Coming after the relatively less successful Quantum of Solace, Skyfall was widely acclaimed and stands as one of the best selling movies of all time.

Pros:
*** The theme song (Adele did a great job capturing the magic of the older soulful theme songs)
*** Opening set pieces (The film wastes no time giving you an eventful action packed introduction)
*** Strong acting (Craig as a human Bond, Bardem as a terrifyingly insane villain and a great outro for Dench)
*** Excellent cinematography (Great directing, and every dollar of it's massive budget shows in the final product)
*** The burning house 3rd act (Dedicating a lot of time in one area, redolent of the train act in From Russia With Love)
*** Show's Bonds vulnerabilities and weaknesses (Particularly showing his home and where he came from)
*** Bond is armed with his wits (Just a knife and a handgun, supplied by the wonderfully witty new Q)
*** 21st century relevant themes (Addresses the issue of cyberterrorism and the good/bad of modern technology)
*** Lots of nice scenes overall (M at the conference, Silva in cop disguise, Shanghai fight, Bond wetshaving)

Cons:
*** Story isn't very original (Borrows a lot from The Dark Knight, Silence of the Lambs, Home Alone, Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough ; but older classic Bond films borrowed elements from other movies too)
*** Plot is a bit contrived (Some parts make no sense, don't adhere well to reality, but it's a movie, so I don't care too much)
Severine (Bond pursues a sex slave.  That's like Abraham Lincoln freeing the slaves and say "Hey, want to work on my garden")

How will Skyfall age?  I would guess that it's going to age well, because there are a lot of undeniably good elements to it.  Sure, the glitter and glow might wear off in years to follow but even so, it's a big accomplishment for its time.

Pros

Its a primer on how NOT to do a Bond film and will be useful for those writing future ones.

Cons
Everything

I'm not a big fan of Skyfall, sure there were some good bits but for me it went downhill once Silva was introduced. The best bits were the dialogue between Bond and M, especially the scene at her house.

Pros:
* Gives us insight into Judi Dench's 'new' M

* Widens the mythology and trappings of the 'new' James Bond universe by bringing in Q, gadgets, Moneypenny, and Gareth Mallory's 'M'

Cons:
* The story bogs down after Bond goes to Shanghai

* Silva is so over-the-top that he becomes a caricature, especially since there's no real explanation offered for why he's doing what he's doing

* Severine is pretty much useless as a character, and there's absolutely no explanation as to why Bond was interested in her or how he knew she was connected to Silva

* It feels like like Moneypenny was 'shoehorned in' in a few places, especially since she really doesn't have much involvement in what James is doing