Today I went to the local "Cine-multi-mall-plex" and saw Skyfall and I learned a few things.
1) It's a problem when the pre-movie commercials for coke and other sundries, combined with the coming attractions, take so long that I have consumed almost all my popcorn and half my soda before the film even starts...
2) Tactical error - buying a large soda, even when slpit with my husband - creates an urgent need to use the bathroom approximately 40 minutes into the movie. There is typically no quiet moment during a James Bond movie in which to act on this urge. So I must suffer for the next 2 hours.
3) Great as the movie was, I couldn't resist noticing that when Bond stands on the roof in the final scenes, I knew it was just to create the above shot for the posters...
Now for the film:
I have a complicated relationship with action movies. Some of them, like the Bond Franchise and the Bourne movies, I absolutely adore. Others leave me cold.
In assessing why this is so I have come to the conclusion that it is all about humor and cleverness. An action movie that has a great sense of humor and witty dialogue will often win me over while a straight, "shoot 'em up and make sure lots of stuff blows up" movie will lose me.
I also cannot stand gratuitous violence or cruelty. The second Mission Impossible movie lost me when the villian was too psychopathic. Likewise for the Dark Knight. Loved Batman Begins, couldn't get out of the theater fast enough after Heath Ledgers's genuinely cruel performance in The Dark Knight.
Great music and an engaging lead actor are also a must.
Skyfall has everything I look for in an action movie and more.
I grew up primarily during the Roger Moore Bond era and only discovered the Sean Connery Bond movies after I hit college. So my first impression of the saga that is Bond was pretty campy. I didn't realize how campy until I married a Bond fan who had all the original Ian Fleming books. After reading those I was pretty sure Roger Mooore's James Bond did not line up too well with the character in the books.
This made me a die hard Connery fan.
Then came Timothy Dalton.
Do I even have to explain how far away from the books the two Dalton films are? In Timothy's defense it's pretty hard to act your way out of bad writing and wretched plot.
So I was ecstatic when Pierce Brosnan took over the role. The Brosnan films brought us out of the campy 70's and politically correct 80's and realigned us with Fleming's cold war vibe. No more silly villains like Drax and Max Zorin (first role I ever saw Christopher Walken in - who knew?)
After a good run with Brosnan, we arrived at Daniel Craig.
I heard all the anti-Craig hype before I went to see Casino Royale and really didn't know what to expect.
He had me within the first 40 seconds of the film. And by the end I knew I was finally seeing the James Bond onscreen that I had read about in the books. Low tech, gritty, majorly beat up and battered, eminently flawed.
Skyfall remains completely true to all of the above. Not only does it build nicely on the groundwork laid by the first two Craig Bond films, it elegantly nods back to the Connery movies. I don't want to include any spoilers but, suffice it to say you will feel a great wave of nostalgia and satisfaction when the Astin Martin and the Bond theme music show up.
I enjoyed literally every minute of the movie.
So go see it right now!
End notes:
- I wasn't sure how I would like Judy Dench as M when she first appeared in Goldeneye - suffice it to say she has set the bar for M pretty high 7 films later.
- The new Q is brilliant - terrific touch to make him young and hip
- We get to continue to evade silly gadgets and stick to the nitty gritty of weaponry
- Javier Bardem - perfect villain. Just the right mix of sanity and insanity
- Adele singing the opening credits - another brilliant choice. I thought I was listening to Shirley Bassey for a moment. The Skyfall theme might have been too close to "Diamonds Are Forever" for some people but I liked it.
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