[psmith2.0]

Just returned from the midnight showing.

I really enjoyed it. I love these new opening title sequences. This is another good one.

3-4 moments that'll make you smile or nod in approval, guaranteed.

Some nice nods to the past (and to a future ), and the final 3-4 minutes are perfect. One revelation was a total surprise...nice misdirection!

Daniel Craig just wears the role, IMO. And Judi Dench has a prominent part throughout. Javier Bardem continues his "creepy, unsettling villain" thing he had going in "No Country For Old Men".

A bit of globe trotting early on, but London seems to be where so much of it is grounded. Kinda makes me want to live there...I loved all those scenes.

The other female lead, Naomie Harris, has a really nice role. And is quite beautiful. I enjoyed all the parts with her.

Better than "Quantum of Solace", and every bit as good, IMO, as "Casino Royale".

Neat little surprise cast member in the final half hour. Barely recognizable (and I thought he'd died in real life some years back). Guess not.

Glad I saw it. I hope Craig remains for at least 4-5 more.

[Moogs]

What no Flik-o-meter rating? Common!

I'm actually looking forward to this Bond flick but my better half (like most women) is not interested. So I may end up going it alone some afternoon when workload is low. Javier Bardem = awesome villain potential.

[psmith2.0]

One interesting/funny thing. With all the large stunts and action throughout, the only noticeable/blatant use of CGI came in a small, quiet scene 2/3 in. Oddly enough, it's the kind of thing that could've (would've?) been handled traditionally years ago. But the CG helped in the transition phases, I suppose.

In no other places (vehicles, chases, stunts, etc.) did I think "that doesn't look quite real".

See if you agree.

[adamb]

One of my favourite of the series for sure. Daniel Craig makes a great Bond, and Javier Bardem an excellent villain as everyone has said.

I found it especially fun as earlier in the day I had been strolling around London, then flew home and headed out to the cinema.

I cant guess the bbcode for spoiler tags so don't want to say anything to spoil it for others.

[alcimedes]

it's literally the word.

Or edit your post and steal the ones I put in there.

[Moogs]

Wasn't Quantum of Solace what happens after the end of Casino Royale where his main squeeze drowns? I never saw that one but I probably should if this is a continuation.

[drewprops]

Yes, Moogs.

Daniel Craig's Bond has an arc.

Go read the synopses on Wikipedia to get it all loaded in your head.

He's been my favorite Bond since Casino Royale.

I avoided this thread until seeing the movie (tonight) because I even though Scates didn't give away any plot secrets, I didn't even want to know ANYTHING... not even the locations.

I quite enjoyed this one!!





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[psmith2.0]

I, too, went into this totally cold. I didn't spoil it for myself, and it's the first movie I've seen in quite some time that I didn't do that with (purposely or accidentally). In fact, it was such a nice experience that I've kinda sworn off movie sites, and reading/following movies in production and reading about leaks, spoilers, casting, looking at "from the set" spy-shots and so forth. I've done that too much over the years with these larger "event" movies.

Stuff like that totally kills the experience, I've realized.

It was genuinely nice to sit there last night and truly have no idea what was going to happen next! You know, kinda like you're supposed to, in the days before the Internet and "knowing everything about anything, 24/7". It's been a while since I could honestly say that (I'm convinced I would've enjoyed The Dark Knight Bores a bit more had I not followed it during production/filming (and had that dickweed in Colorado not cast such a gloom over the whole thing with his actions).

I thought that one character (the exotic brunette) had such an amazing, pretty smile. She reminded me of Duran Duran's Rio album cover. When she and Bond were talking at the casino(?) and she kinda tilted her head back and smiled really big, I was like "wow...'her name is Rio and she dances on the saannnnd...'. I had that album, that's her!". She is an awesome combination of Bobbie Phillips and Sophie Marceau (look 'em up).

I'm now gonna get into a few specifics that I wanted to talk about last night. But I'm using the spoiler tags like a good boy, so if you click on them (or if you're on an iOS device, where, for me, they don't even show up ), that's on you. I'm taking that into account as well, and I'm giving plenty of warning/notice.

This is your official warning...DO NOT PROCEED PAST HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT TO READ/SEE SPOILER-Y STUFF ABOUT "SKYFALL".


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Last warning (this is for the benefit of those on iOS).


Because I'm a swell guy...

DO NOT PROCEED!!!



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Spoilers dead ahead...

3

2

1

I had a feeling, about 2/3 in, that Dench's M was on her final go-around. I thought it was going to happen in that hearing room when Bardem and his guys busted in and opened fire, just from the speech she was giving. I thought "wow, that'll put an exclamation point on the very thing she's telling these people if she gets gunned down." Even after she survived that, I thought "I don't know...I think she's a goner". Too bad, I really like her in that role. She's done a great job with it over the years, spanning both the Brosnan and Craig eras. When she saw the blood on her hands, and realized - like us - she'd been shot, I was like "damn...", because I knew they were too remote and alone for medical help. I liked what she left him in her will, though. And I liked how he took it, which was totally correct. I was a bit confused on the continuity and order of things, as he had that classic Connery-era Aston Martin, complete with ejector button and those machine guns. When, exactly, did he get that? I know he "won" it from someone in Casino Royale, correct? Was it retrofitted by MI6 with the spy goodies? It just seems, in the continuity of this new take, he wouldn't have received something like that yet. Unless it was on an earlier mission, between films, and we simply weren't in on it. As much as I loved seeing it, and hearing that famous Monty Norman theme with the twangy guitar, it felt a skootch forced, like he wasn't quite "there" yet...like it was reaching back into an era that shouldn't exist for Craig's Bond, both due to age age relative newness to the gig (assuming these films follow something close to "real time". I don't know. It was great to see, and the audience got a kick out of it. But I suspect that was the biggest reason it was included, as it could've/should've been just any car because they were trying to get into one that didn't have a tracking device. But then they asked Q to feed the info out and leave breadcrumbs for Bardem to follow anyway. If they were going to do that, why didn't they also bring along a detail of soldiers/special ops to Skyfall to help dispose of the bad guys, who they knew were going to show up? A few things like that, in the final 20-30 minutes, kinda bugged me...driving all the way the hell up to Scotland(?), with no real plan or weapons (or backup/assistance), and having only an old lady and an old codger with a shotgun to take on all these young, lethal professional killer types with high-tech weaponry, a helicopter, etc. Bond should've had about 20 soldiers with him, each perched in a window of that mansion, and shooting the shit out of Bardem and his men when they got about 30 feet from the front door. That was my only real problem with it all. It just seemed unnecessary and avoidable. They should've prepared. In fact, they shouldn't even have let the bad guys reach the grounds of Skyfall. They should've placed soldiers along that highway or near the entrance gates, to kill them all the moment they got out of their vehicles and began walking to the house. Bond, M and Mr. Kincaid could've just safely hid out inside, a half-mile away, until it was all over. But I guess that would've made for a boring final showdown. I did like that Bond went around for about half the movie all grizzled, with an unshaven look. That was something new and interesting to see (he didn't even go clean-shaven/suave until the Macau sequence with the tuxedo. He was running around London, in nice suits, but still looking like he hadn't shaved in days. That was kinda novel. Daniel Craig looks like a total hound dog. He's so ugly that it actually folds back in on himself and he's handsome...so haggard and mopey-looking, but somehow it works. And some of the women in the crowd were cooing at the scenes of him swimming, shirtless or only in a towel. I heard more than a couple of gasps/whistles.

[drewprops]

Saw it last night.

Loved it.

This movie is a special gift to fans of the Bond franchise. As far as movies it isn't necessarily a good film, but seen as part of a trilogy it's wonderful.

From here we go into SPOILERS.

Age-wise, it was time for M. Dench to get out of the Bond game, and what a gift to give her character's final chapter so much screen time... and yes there was early foreshadowing. I'd forgotten that he'd won the Aston Martin. You could explain away where the spy upgrades came from, so that doesn't really matter to this story. Daniel Craig's Bond has been gritty and no-nonsense so far. This time around there was a very real intention of making a connection to the original Connery films and I think they struck a good balance. To the question of taking a detachment of soldiers with them, if you'll recall from Quantum of Solace's opening sequence it was revealed that the innermost security of the organization had been infiltrated. Trusted people were inside the organization, so how could they assume that a group of soldiers wouldn't be compromised. The ladies were moaning in my section, and one girl started talking out loud during the shower scene - apparently unaware that she was voicing her willingness to be in a shower with Daniel Craig. The homoerotic discussion with Bardem's character was funny, this isn't your 20th century Bond - and it makes his character seem even more of an unknown, willing to do anything to serve his end goals. You didn't mention the OPENING SEQUENCE... now THAT is how a REAL James Bond movie begins!! Holy crap was it good.

[Chinney]

My wife and I are planning to see it this afternoon. We are really forward to it.

*not clicking the spoilers*

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, don't!

[Chinney]

We were not able to go yesterday, but did finally see it this afternoon. The film must be doing great box-office - the theatre was absolutely packed for a Sunday matinee.

I found it good, stylish, but a bit long. I agree that Daniel Craig inhabits the role. He is a dark and troubled Bond, but a real one. The dialogue, pacing and plot were good, subject only to the exception noted in greater detail in the paragraph below (partially hidden to avoid spoilers). Bardem was interesting, but a bit over the top for my tastes, though my wife loved him. Also, although there was more eye candy for the women viewers than for the men in overall screen time, I am willing to be generous on that point - my wife loved that too. Craig must spend a lot of time in the gym. The locales looked good and the cinematography was beautiful without being in love with itself and interfering with the sharpness and immediacy the plot demanded.

All those high points being acknowledged, the last half hour could have been ditched in my opinion, both to tighten the film and because I thought that it just did not work so well from a plotting point of view.

I wish that they would have ended it with the London sequences, albeit that would have left the title of the movie unexplained (maybe they could have changed the title). Clicking on 'Scates' spoiler, I agree with his criticism of the Scotland sequences and would go even further in my criticism. The last part of the movie had a 'Home Alone' quality to it that I found artificial and even bordering on silly. I had the impression that the screenwriters were given the instruction to build in another conflict sequence that would have Bond/M fighting on their own (ok, plus the loyal family groundkeeper, but that was just another cliché), while also building in the opportunity for a lot more explosions. In my imagination, the writers must have sat back pretty pleased in fulfilling those instructions. But I was just impatient with it.

[psmith2.0]

I agree. Still a really enjoyable movie. One that I'll probably catch again at a matinee showing on a rainy afternoon in the coming weeks.

There were indeed parts where Bardem's villain was a bit too hammy and "of the Moore" era for my tastes. He laid it on a little thick at times, but, overall, he did a good job. I simply never felt threatened by him. He just came across as more of a loopy, egotistical fop than anything. I was like 'I know guys like this in my real life...they're merely annoying" or a chore to be around for long stretches of time...but not particularly 'villain-y' or scary. If anything, he reminded me of Christopher Walken's Zorin from A View to a Kill, so yeah. I hope the series keeps its more grounded, grim tone and doesn't revert back to Moore/Brosnan lightness and constant tongue-in-cheek approach. That would be unfortunate. I'm not worried about Craig, Fiennes or others going that route, but, rather, the villains or any secondary characters. Talking more about the continuity and all, as it relates to the Aston Martin with its spy-gear retrofitting. If they're adhering to some sort of established timeline/canon, it's odd that Craig's Bond had this car, appointed the same as Connery's Bond, yet it wasn't until the end of this movie that he met and knew Miss Moneypenny in her known, familiar role. In the Connery ones, he and Moneypenny know each other and he's receiving those items afterwards. But if this is a true re-boot, those sorts of things can be dispensed with. We can just assume, as I did earlier, that, after winning the Aston Martin in Casino Royale, Bond had it tricked-out by MI6. And "Q", like "M", is apparently only a position/title, vs. an actual person. That explains a few things too. It was on an unseen mission, sometime between Quantum of Solace and Skyfall that the Aston Martin was upgraded? And we, as the audience, enjoy the nod to the past...but aren't meant to take it too literally, or worry about the timing and placement? I do wonder how closely they'll follow, or work in, some of these other things over time. Does Craig's Bond ever encounter Blofeld? Will he marry and then has his wife killed the same day? Will he ever have a run-in Herve Villechaize or the 7-Up guy?

Nobody agrees with my "Rio" comment from earlier? Weren't you guys around in the 80's?!

[709]

Saw it earlier today, and being a huge Bond fan and Daniel Craig's Bond in particular... I'm quite sad to report that I didn't love it. There were parts that I did like, and appreciate the introduction of certain characters, but as a whole, there was one overarching theme that I couldn't shake:

I felt like it was trying too hard to be The Dark Knight with Bardem as The Joker. The scenes in Shanghai in the glass building, Bond's "death" and rebirth, him not being fit to fight, etc. In fact, by the time they got to Scotland I was already like, "well, here goes Bruce Wayne's mansion up in flames" (and it did). Good thing Alfred magically appeared out of nowhere to help out. Bardem didn't come off as creepy to me. He came off as a loose nut, and not particularly evil. The closest he got to being a mastermind was planning to get caught, already had an escape planned, and then dressing up as a cop. That is, a page from Nolan's The Joker almost down to a tee. Oh, speaking of that - the Two-Face thing was completely unnecessary (I assume that's the CGI bit that Paul is talking about above). It wasn't even done very well, which I found surprising. I don't know, I wanted to love it. Maybe I'll have to see it again without thinking about the parallels. I went in cold - not knowing anything about the plot - but once that idea got into my head I just couldn't get past it. I loved Q, on the other hand, and Moneypenny was a nice touch at the end. Sad to see Dench go, but if anyone had a good run in the Bond films, it was her.

[drewprops]

That's okay, Grey. I loved it enough to make up for your apathy


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[psmith2.0]

Ohmigosh, you have a point! I never thought of that, but yeah...

Hmmm.

Where was Caine?! Yeah, the bit where Bardem removes his dentures/prosthetic thing was the CGI I was talking about. It looked a tad loopy and "not there". For something that static/straightforward, you'd think they would've stuck with traditional makeup. You'd lose that real-time transition, but I don't think that would be a deal-killer. Especially if the end result looked a little more convincing. But you're right...he wasn't threatening/evil at all to me. It was like Tim Gunn and Taylor Negron (character actor extraordinaire, look him up...you know him, trust me) had a son, who was really into computers.

[709]

Believe me, I really, really wanted to like it. I actually feel bad that I didn't.

I will say this though, Adele's theme song was really great. I'm not really a fan of her stuff, but the song was classic Bond, and ranks right up there with "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Goldfinger" imo.

[psmith2.0]

Totally. I was watching it and the music and visuals just felt right. I love these modern-day opening sequences. Great stuff, especially the Casino Royale one with all the gambling elements.

I'd love to watch all these on a loop. The Brosnan ones were great too!

I remember telling someone about three years ago, after first hearing Adele (that "Pavements" song?), "she'd probably sing the hell out of a James Bond theme". I love those little moments where I get to be right about something, years later.

As a youngster, these silhouette-based title sequences and my parent's National Geographic were the only chance I had to see anything remotely equating to a boob, so I hold a special place in my heart for these two fine institutions. I'd watch those 70's Moore opening sequences, searching furiously for a nipple or butt crack (even though it was on ABC primetime...what the hell did I know, I was a kid).

Hey, when you're 10 and there's no Internet, you take what you can get. I don't apologize for it.

[709]

Casino Royale is my favorite opening sequence by far - even with screechy Chris Cornell (loved Soundgarden back in the day, his later stuff not so much - maybe a couple Audioslave songs).

Your silhouette comment is hilarious. I'm completely, 100% there. Hell, I was doing it today during the black & white "inverted" sequences. Old habits and all.

Like Drew said above, a lot of "classic" Bond in this one. Although....

I'm well aware that each Bond kind've has his own arc, but when he pulled out the car from Goldfinger (ejector seat - later, guns behind the front lights) it really took me out of the movie for a bit. In fact, when he and M are pulled over on the side of the road I actually thought that Bond was going to tell her about how his wife died (ala On Her Majesty's Secret Service). The road looked the same, like he'd brought her there just to tell her that (because why in the hell else would they pull over?). Those two things spinned me out of the moment for some time, because they made no sense in the Craig timeline whatsoever. The flipside of that would be Q asking Bond "What did you expect, an exploding pen?" and "Please bring them back in one piece" (perfect!).

[psmith2.0]

Yeah, little things like this kinda threw me, or gave me stuff to think about (as I talk about above in a few spoiler tags). It's a quirky mixture of ignoring and embracing canon/the past.

How can he both have the classic outfitted DB5 and can Q Jr. be channeling Desmond Llewelyn? I was almost braced for him to toss a bowler hat onto the hatrack after being officially introduced to Moneypenny. "How the hell far back does this want to go to confuse me?!"

[709]

One other minor niggle about Moneypenny - I always got the impression in earlier Bonds that he'd never slept with her, and that tension/flirtation was key to their relationship. I was a little disappointed that he "had" her. It would've been way better if after the shaving scene she politely declined him. Now "that" would've been a good nod to classic Bond. I'll stop complaining now.

.

[drewprops]

I was convinced for quite some time that there were "European" versions of James Bond that had full-on sex scenes in them, so powerful were the articles in Playboy to my young and lustful mind!!


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[709]

Well, even after all that said, Craig is still my favorite Bond (blasphemy to some, I know). The opening sequence to Casino Royale is perfect. The black and white, the flashback scenes, the dialog. It's just so great. Craig plays Bond as incredibly raw. An ideal Bond film in a lot of ways.

In fact, thinking about it more now, I missed the dialog back and forth in this one. Bond is supposed to be snappy - in Skyfall he was just taking too many leads off too many other characters. Maybe that's what I missed and why it fell short for me.

[psmith2.0]

Not blasphemy at all. He's my favorite Bond. I'd rather watch him in 4-5 new ones than just about any Connery one (now that's blasphemy). The Connery ones get all the glory and acclaim, but let's be frank...the first 2-3 carry the others. I don't think most of them hold up well (I just watched them all within the past 14 months). I enjoyed the Connery ones the least, truth be told. They just seemed so distant and detached. And I think Austin Powers did some residual damage because it felt like I was watching a spoof of something already being spoofed. I realized just how good parts of those Powers movies were, cutting through some of the silliness and nonsense of these things.

Daniel Craig makes a really good Bond. I didn't think he would, and I poo-pooed his selection quite vocally years back. But I was dead wrong. I was hung up on the blond hair and craggy, hound-dog face and thinking "he doesn't even look like James Bond! He's not suave and handsome enough".

He doesn't have to be.

And, in his own way, he kinda is anyway. I don't have a single female co-worker or friend who hasn't been cooing/purring over him for about four days straight now.

I'm like "okay, shut up already!"

[709]

Ha. Yeah - at the final sequence of the Adele song when the camera zooms in to his unbelievably piercing blue eyes the theatre was all: panties=wet.




I will say this about Craig's Bond, and it's something that I really like about his iteration: he gets busted up and hurt. Like, a lot.

That alone makes him more believable as a 00 and a guy that you want to root for.

[709]

Originally Posted by drewprops I was convinced for quite some time that there were "European" versions of James Bond that had full-on sex scenes in them, so powerful were the articles in Playboy to my young and lustful mind!! ...

And then you grew up and discovered that the English invented the missionary position.

*sad trombone*

[drewprops]

LOLOLOLOLOLOL



LOLOLOLOLOLOL



LOLOLOLOLOLOL


yes.



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[709]

Originally Posted by 709 One other minor niggle about Moneypenny - I always got the impression in earlier Bonds that he'd never slept with her, and that tension/flirtation was key to their relationship. I was a little disappointed that he "had" her. It would've been way better if after the shaving scene she politely declined him. Now "that" would've been a good nod to classic Bond. I'll stop complaining now. .

BREAKING NEWS: Anna doesn't think that they slept together. In fact she thinks I'm way off to think that they did. What were the "hands" comments all about then? She's pretty clear that they didn't, and I can find a reason why they wouldn't - but she's got the girl sense, so I have to take some pause.

[drewprops]

I agree with the last hidden spoiler.

Also: it's kind of sad that it's just the three of us posting in this thread.


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[709]

Really? Damn, now I have to see it again.