Skyfall (film) - James Bond

[bassman]

At least it didn't have Bond wind surfing a Tsunami....

[MinionZombie]

I'm with bassman, although you already knew that anyway I guess, but just to further establish my position, yes, I don't get this complaining about the script at all. As for the "Honest Trailer" - a couple of chucklesome bits in there, but I've noticed some of their recent output have been for movies that really don't deserve the Honest Trailer treatment. They should be for movies that you can legitimately find a lot at fault with it, or for movies that you can really take the mick out of (like Twilight), but they were really struggling to come up with stuff for that Skyfall Honest Trailer to be perfectly honest. Like with Prometheus, I'm sure certain complaints - certain "but why this?" comments from around the web - can easily be answered with a second viewing. I've seen a few Honest Trailers, or other web parodies, complain about something in a movie that is easily explained (or excused) - or something which doesn't need explaining because it isn't of any importance to moving the plot forward - such as "how did Batman get back to Gotham in TDKR?" - it doesn't actually, honestly matter. We don't need three minutes of travelling shots. He thumbed a lift, end of. Batman sat on a bus for a few minutes of precious screentime isn't required viewing. /rant Anyway, I've got the Blu-Ray pre-ordered, so I'll be eagerly re-watching this later on this month.

[bassman]

So i've given the blu ray a look over. Of course the image and sound quality is absolutely stunning. There's a documentary called "Shooting Bond" that thankfully can be viewed as a whole 60 minute documentary or in smaller featurettes if you like. I personally hate it when they have a complete documentary but you have to select each chapter, so it's nice that there's the "play all" feature. This covers the production from the announcement of Mendes and cast, writing, filming, editing, scoring, release, the whole shebang. I haven't had a chance to listen to the producer and writer commentary track, but Mendes' commentary track is a good listen. He stays on point and gives good information throughout. If you've heard past Mendes commentaries like American Beauty or Road to Perdition, you have a good idea of how his tracks usually play out. There's also a small feature on the premiere at Albert hall with the Royal Family and all that, but it's nothing special. Theatrical trailer, and trailers for other films like the new Die Hard and the Bond 50 collection. My only complaint with this release is that it's only in the full widescreen format. I would have preferred the option to see it in the IMAX perspective, but I suppose that may be available in a future release. All things considered I'd say this blu ray is a must. The film is great, it looks amazing, the special features are pleasing for those that enjoy them, etc. If it only had the option for the IMAX format I would have given it a perfect score. 9/10

[MinionZombie]

Glad to hear the Blu-Ray is good - it's released here on Monday (I'm surprised that we Brits didn't get it first, seeing as it's a British institution, but anyway...) - so I'll have mine sometime next week. Really looking forward to seeing it again - and this time at a proper angle, not with my nose practically shoved up against the cinema screen.

[MinionZombie]

Re-watched it last night - still top drawer stuff. Now, something that was criticised in that "Honest Trailer" as posted below (and decidedly not up to the usual snuff of that particular channel), was the apparent forgetting about the hard-drive ... although, as I'd postulated earlier, these sort of queries are often explained easily once the film gets a second viewing:   The hard-drive is a bit of a macguffin in a way - it gets the plot rolling, but ultimately it isn't important. Silva has his men get the hard-drive, then he uses it and posts the first five names - he'll post the next five the following week - at this point MI6 and Bond have to kick into action and stop Silva, so they track him down and capture him (which is what Silva wanted so he could launch an attack inside MI6, and then try and kill M) - after that Bond and M go rogue and lead Silva and his men up to Scotland and they do battle and Silva dies. Now, Silva won't have given access to the hard-drive to anyone else, it was merely a tool for him to get MI6's attention, and with no Silva left - nor his underlings - the hard-drive is now meaningless. Indeed, it's probably been recovered from his island after the choppers turned up to rescue Bond and capture Silva. A simple explanation for a one-viewing query. Some of these sort of simple misunderstandings/missed pieces of plot/information were constantly levelled at Prometheus by smug sorts out there in the webtubes, and many of the questions/smug assertions could easily be explained with a second viewing ... it does irk me a little bit when some folks out there in the Interwebtube ether make such a big deal out of very small questions, which ultimately only exist because you can't possibly remember the entire plot of a 2 hour plus movie after one single viewing. Look out for it the second time and bingo - answered. Anyway, after seeing that "Honest Trailer" parody (which had funny bits, but frankly Skyfall is far too good a film to actually deserve/require the HT treatment), and that one question sticking in my mind to look out for on my second viewing, I paid attention to it last night and found the answer readily - now reporting back to anyone that happens to care.

[Neil]

^^ And of course your description in your spoiler tags states my biggest issues with the film...   "so they track him down and capture him (which is what Silva wanted so he could launch an attack inside MI6, and then try and kill M)" This just hits me as Scooby Doo territory. Silva could have done everything he did, the bombings, the embarrassing of MI6 and M, with no need to risk capture. He could simply have waited outside her house and kidnapped her... or done a hit and run on her car? The notion of risking capture, being shot, his escape not working, all just to kill M is just balmy when he could have just accomplished it infinitely easier with infinitely less risk... And yes, I know it's a Bond film... but it's just a step too far in believability for me. That said, the film is beautifully put together and I'll still happily watch it and forgive it its sins!

[MinionZombie]

I'd hardly call them "sins". As Bond says though, about Silva, the man has to make an entrance - he's a theatrical type of bad guy, he has to make grand gestures. I'm fine with his methods personally, however looking back on 2012 entertainment I did notice this:   The Avengers - Loki deliberately gets himself caught to help enact his plan. Skyfall - Silva deliberately gets himself caught to help enact his plan. Call of Duty Black Ops II - Menendez deliberately gets himself caught to help enact his plan. Twice is a coincidence, but three times across three major franchises? The villainous theme of the year.

[MinionZombie]

I was doing some more thinking about Silva vs M, and not only would you have no film if he just ran her over, but it wouldn't be the revenge he wants. Silva wants - needs - to confront her face-to-face. He wants to speak to her, show off what his suffering has done to him - that his suffering was caused by her actions. Plus, as they say in the making of doc, when coming up with Silva they looked back at the more theatrical Bond baddies of old - Dr No, Goldfinger, Blofeld - it's far easier to criticise Goldfinger, in my view, because you think "well why would he really allow Bond to stroll around his compound for days on end?" - you wouldn't get away with that in a film these days, but it worked back then.   He also intended to kill her in public in a grand execution - at the hearing - in front of cameras, but Bond foiled that, and that of course leads to the Straw Dogs style finale, where the personal link between Silva and M becomes ever-present. M is like a surrogate mother (or indeed, in the past, like a surrogate father) to these orphaned agents, so the relationship is very personal.

[EvilNed]

Twice is a coincidence, but three times across three major franchises? The villainous theme of the year. Was the Joker of The Dark Knight the original "get caught intentionally" mastermind?

[bassman]

Sam Mendes officially not returning to direct the next film: http://www.thehollywoodnews.com/2013...irect-bond-24/ Well I at least hope they can get someone as confident as Mendes or Campbell. Fingers crossed for Nolan....

[Neil]

Fingers crossed for Nolan.... That would be interesting!

[Trin]

I really thought Skyfall was awful. I am not a Bond guy in general so I'm likely less forgiving.   But really, the plot was a shambles of implausibility. The guy gets intentionally caught and his plan hinges on his leaving some carefully orchestrated something in the computer system to free him from their underground backup facility? The chances of that working given months of planning, careful implementation, testing, and having literally everyone in the facility on board... I still think it's dicey. And did Bond actually win? Didn't everyone he tried to protect end up dead? I could be wrong on this but I left thinking he lost in every conceivable way. I actually thought that was the most endearing and plausible aspect of the movie... he had a stupid plan and it failed... as it should.