I liked the themes of Skyfall a lot. It has to do with the past, aging, the young and the old, and Bond growing comfortable with who he is. These themes are explored reasonably well (though far from perfectly) within the Bond framework.
I found that the action scenes were (with one exception) folded nicely into the plot.
I liked the focus/emphasis on Judy Dench's M and that she got a chance to shine (and shine she did).
I liked the stripped-down climax of the movie, including the retro car and the throwback arrangement of the Bond theme.
Overall, I also found the plot and action to be upper-tier Bond. Not my favourite Bond film, but a decent action/thriller of the spy genre, particularly of the 007 stripe.
I had gripes (Silva's nonsensical plan, the unnecessary assassin leading them to Laos - could've gone straight to Laos) but overall, I thought it was an excellent film and a great entry into the Bond franchise.
I tend to think of it as a top-10er for Bond.
Casino Royale is, I think, the better film by far (top three).
My least favouite Bond of all time is Quantum of Solace. It's inane, poorly shot and edited, never feels like Bond (but for a brief sequence at the opera), and drags despite its short run time.
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LordBAElish (2015)
5 years ago
This was a pretty good movie until the Home Alone Ending. It's not a bad movie, but I don't understand how this ranks as an all time Bond movie by some people. Its good, not great.
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Ace_Spade (9336)
5 years ago
I'd say that, for me, it has an interesting theme of "Old vs. New".
You've got Bond aging and needing to pass fitness tests, being upstaged by whippersnapper Q, and that sort of thing. This ties in with the other notion of the haunted past, mistakes and inner demons which were done in youth come back to bite you. Bond is forced to go back to Skyfall and deal with his weaknesses by making them into strengths and M has to deal with Silva, who she turned into a monster.
Bond fighting Silva is also an inverse: Silva is to Bond what Bond is to Q. Ironically, Silva has a mastery of tech which is making Bond obsolete. He knows that going "retro" is the only way forward: he leans into the stripped-down mansion and obsolete tech (basic booby traps - I don't mind the "Home Alone" stuff because it's thematically sensible) to beat Silva's army and hacking capabilities. They even have him pull out the classic car and use a "retro" version of the Bond theme, which is beautiful and thrilled an old-school Bond fan like me.
This is a recognition that an embracing of the past is important, but also moving forward. Being a complete person requires acknowledging all of yourself - even if some of that is stuff you tried to bury.
That's a pretty great theme for any movie, and it's refreshingly deep in Bond where theme is often, "Don't let them blow up the world!"
My complaint about the movie is that it's overlong. Some of the stuff leading up to Silva could be truncated. I'd also say that what Skyfall means to Bond isn't as established as it should be. If they had done that, this would have gone from "top grade Bond/action film" to "movie that just transcended its genre into something bigger".
A final point in Skyfall's favour: it makes brilliant use of Judi Dench as M. She was always excellent and Skyfall gave her a chance to be a driving character instead of the mission-granter.
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LordBAElish (2015)
5 years ago
The fact that Bond is already an aging agent seems stupid to me. He was young and naive in CR and QOS, then all of sudden he goes to washed u agent in his next mission? Makes on no sense. He should have been washed up in Spectre, not Skyfall.
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