Saw it this morning

Don’t really know what to make of it. Good basic story but feel it was just a gap filler/background on Bond/Transitional movie for the whole Bond story.

As soon as they kept mentioning Bond and M were old etc etc there was only one way you can see it ending, which was the way it did.

Couple of moments that made me chuckle, one being the ejector seat.

Overall, Im feeling a little meh about it

I did the support steel for the model of M16 headquarters that they blew up…and the steel in M’s office and and the dragon casino (including the curved bridge over the monitor lizard pit)
Sad but true

I saw it this morning too.
Bardem was the highlight tbh but and we had a good giggle at him camping it up but the Ralph Fiennes storyline was always a bit too predictable I thought. Good way to spend a few hours but I wouldnt say I’m raving about how good it was.

I did enjoy the bit during the enquiry though when all hell broke loose 🙂

Q was good too

Yeah Q was good… But how many different films has that roof top in Turkey been in now?!

I liked the idea of it being British/London based but I find Hunted on BBC more gripping than this.

Good work revs

*edit*

Well Q was good, but come on, as soon as he plugged the laptop in you knew what was going to happen

I really enjoyed it actually. I like the way they’ve set up the new M with the ‘old’ style office with Moneypenny outside etc., so now a couple of films after the reboot they’ve kind of come full circle.

I also thought the enquiry shootout was glorious.

Yeah you know what, I really liked it. When Bond gets mad after they blow up the Aston, I thought it was awesome.

The poor Aston, glad they used some of the gadgets on it

As this is the place for spoilers – Javier Bardem = Sydrome. Even had the henchmen.

For me it ticked all the bond boxes

A nutcase baddie with a physical disfigurement, holed up in a ‘lair’.
A pit with some bite-y things in, whom end up eating a henchman
One liners.
Q branch.
Britishness.

I really liked the references to the previous films, the chat with Q, the db5 and the bit in the casino where he is poured the ‘perfect’ drink (despite the worries of heineken ruining it with product placement, which weren’t that bad tbf)

It seemed to me they are trying to win back all the fans that hated the abomination that was quantum, but baby steps. Give it a couple of films and well be back to the halcyon days of moonbases with laser death rays 😀

Really enjoyed it! Loved the amazing stunts and cgi. Nice twists with a back to basics backs to the wall finish…

A transitional Bond that ticks all the boxes.

The last few films have been a bit rubbish. The Pierce Brosnan era was marred by desperately poor storylines, OTT gadgetry (invisible car anyone?), some woeful CGI and plot holes you could drive a bus through.

Casino Royale at least it brought a return to the gritty style even though the plot was thin and riddled with holes again. Quantum just had a dreadful script and a rubbish bad guy.

With Skyfall it was back to some good one-liners, less reliance on CGI, decent character development and a comically bad, bad guy. Everyone seems to have settled into their roles now and it ended up going full circle with Moneypenny so hopefully it’s back to the good old days of Bond but just brought up to date.

I dozed off a few times, but I’m old and had just eaten. 40 minutes of advertising before the film didn’t help neither.

I chuckled when it took him a full 3 seconds to change gear so we could get a good look at his Omega watch. The best bit was the end titles: “50 years of Bond”; I though the film felt shorter than that.

[yawn]

Saw it yesterday. A return to form for me.
Crazy-legs above sums up the problems with the recent Bonds perfectly.
Took the family (who are not Bond fans). They all enjoyed it so much they said ” can we watch quantum of solace when we get home”……oh dear, my wife summed it best by her surgical observation “This one has a different director”

So, go see skyfall. Let Sam Mendes do the next 3 Bonds and we will all be happy.

40 minutes of advertising before the film didn’t help neither.

We generally turn up about twenty minutes after the official start time nowadays. Some of the cinema staff have been a bit arsey about it but it’s a joke the length of advertising at the start. I don’t mind a couple but you can pretty much guarantee half an hour at big films.

By the way, the original DB5 is up for sale….

http://www.rswilliams.co.uk/aston-martin-sales/?carid=42

Who thinks they can afford it?

Much MUCH better than Quantum of Solace, not quite as good as Casino Royale; I really enjoyed it. He’s very nearly topping Sean as The Best Bond

And when the full Bond theme kicked in at the end I was smiling from ear to ear 🙂

Opening scenes were good but then it went downhill from there. Moneypenny was rubbish, Q will get better and better. Plot was rubbish with holes galore. Nice twist at the end but other than that it was as bad as Quantum of Solace for me. Next Bond I think I’ll wait for it to be shown on TV

I thought it was brilliant. A return to the old school Bond but done properly. And there was an audible gasp when he opened the garage to reveal the Aston. The gasp was me, I found out later. 🙂
The plot was standard Bond fare but I was genuinely nervous as they headed off to get to M. Liked the new Q too.
Apart from the obvious product placement I thought it was a superb film.

Much MUCH better than Quantum of Solace, not quite as good as Casino Royale;

Quantum of Solace was one of the worst, and least coherent, films I’ve ever paid to see.

I remember Casino Royale being ‘quite good’, but can’t actually remember many details about it.

I’m not sure I’d make the effort to see Skyfall.

To be honest, I prefer a top notch TV series (The Wire, West Wing etc.)to a 2 hour film.

(despite the worries of heineken ruining it with product placement, which weren’t that bad tbf)

The only time it was REALLY obvious was when M’s sidekick was having a beer when Q was plotting the trail for Silva to follow. You couldn’t really imagine that MI6 have a well stocked beer fridge for a quick one after you’ve just been in a gun battle in an enquiry. The bit I found most invasive was the VW Beetles with M’s “what was that?” line, followed by “I believe they were volkswagen beetles”, which only missed “available in a range of colours on your local dealer’s forecourt now”.

The only bits I disliked were the obvious setups. Gun only Bond can use – check. Komodo dragon – check. My prediction – Bond and 1-2-3 others fall into pit, Bond drops gun in escape, thug gets eaten by big lizard. Turned out I wasn’t far wrong. Also, when he got back to the UK, they’d sold all his shit or put it into storage. He had the brains to remember to get everything out of storage but totally forgot about this massive estate in Scotland he owned? Oh, and where did he get that really nicely tailored leather jacket he was wearing on the beach and why would he be wearing a leather jacket on the beach anyway.

Got to agree that it definitely felt like the end of the old-new Bond and a return to a new-old Bond style. The new Q seems great (Ben Whishaw was excellent in The Hour playing a similarly too smart for his own good character) and I quite like how old school tie Ralph Fiennes character is.

Anyway, other than a couple of story blips and some obvious cues of upcoming things, I really enjoyed it. I watched the latest Bourne film a few weeks ago and where the first Bourne films were on a par or better than Bond, a really shit Bourne movie and a pretty strong Bond has restored the balance.

Quantum of Solace was one of the worst, and least coherent, films I’ve ever paid to see.

Really? Really? Wow. I thought it was fantastic. Maybe I just don’t sit there trying to pick holes in stuff and just sit and enjoy it? Dunno…. 🙂

and why would he be wearing a leather jacket on the beach anyway.

Becasue he is James Bond and he is COOL. Ice cool. Men want to be him (And own his Aston) Women want to be with him. No other reason than that
It’s that simple. Stop over anlysing it. It’s entertainment and on the score I give Skyfall 9.5 out of 10.

I liked QOS and thought Skyfall was a big pile of meh.

Villain manipulates MI6 in a staggeringly sophisticated and unlikely way and then relies on armed chimps to finish off the plan. Riiiight.

“Company cars have trackers in them….” Cue Bond getting in his old company car (Bond owns a Bentley)which in Goldfinger was fitting with kit for tracking Goldfinger.

Gamekeeper refers to shotgun as a rifle….

Lots of silhouettes of 007 emphasising his jug ears

007 running everywhere like Forrest Gump

Adjusting cufflinks after Roger Moore shaming digger scene

Ok, I’m being very picky but lots of little things like that irked.

The product placement before the film was nearly as bad as that in it. I know the books are always name dropping the items and its happened before but it seemed really clumsy in Skyfall. I’m feeling bad about being on a downer about but there has been so much positive hype it didn’t live up to. It seemed to me that after UA’s financial woes they had to get something out on the cheap until the recession is over and they can do it properly.

I’m with the chap above, an hour of good TV like Homeland is much more entertaining.

I thought it was a bit OTT with product placement – Heineken, Vaio, etc.

Other than that, pretty decent. Did like the full circle bit at the end back to Moneypenny and M in the oak lined office.

I thought it was a bit meh, and a bit of a step back towards elements that I was glad to see Casino Royale move away from- Miss Moneypenny, Q, palmprint-coded gun, and the machine guns (and implied ejector seat) in the Aston Martin- WTF? The computer scenes were ridiculous and predictable, and the island lair was a bit too close to the old grand bad guy HQs of old.

But Daniel Craig is an excellent Bond, and the stuff with his death/comeback and the bits of origin story were good, and the bit in Scotland at the end. Javier Bardem is good too. Can’t say I really noticed the product placement.

What a bunch of misserable barstewards some of you are.

I really feel for you if you can’t enjoy a film becuase the drink a lot of one brand of beer, all use Sony tech or call a shortgun a rifle.

(but bizarely find US TV with it endless product placements, Apple anyone?!, more accepable!)

I loved it.

johnnystorm – you’re not actually analysing the feasibility of the plot??
😆

Dez, that’s it, innit?

It’s entertainment. Nothing more. It’s not trying to be real. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Too many people think of themselves as the next Barry Norman I think. 🙂

Liked it – it is just a movie afterall. Was pee’d off at all the very “specifc” ads beforehand though, just shut my eyes and hummed to myself.

Liked the baddie
Q could have been developed a bit more
Didn’t get the bit in Shanghai with the sniper
But where was the car chase….

I liked it, but after listening to the way everyone on the radio referred to it as the best Bond ever I felt a little bit disappointed. Just felt it had something missing. That said I did like Silva, Q (who is from round my way) and the references to past films.

I felt Fiennes’ character could’ve gone either way. Until the point he saved M I did think he may have been part of Silva’s plan. Once he saved M it was obvious he was going to be the new M.

Couple of things it could’ve done with… A few more Bond girls. I think he only managed 2. Roger Moore would be on 5-6 at least 🙄 . Silva didn’t seem to have a dependable unbelievably loyal man servant/henchman.

As for the product placement. It really didn’t bother me. The OH is a Bond fanatic, so we seem to have spent the last month watching the Bond movie channel on Sky. Product placement is blatant in pretty much all of the Bond films right back to the early ones. I actually find it quite amusing.

It’s entertainment. Nothing more. It’s not trying to be real. Sit back and enjoy the ride.

Too many people think of themselves as the next Barry Norman I think.

Not at all. I just think sometimes, filmmakers should take a deep breath and watch their own film (or look at the storyboards) before releasing to make sure they don’t create pointless holes where they never needed to be.

I enjoyed the film, just could have been a shade better.

johnnystorm
Gamekeeper refers to shotgun rifle as a rifle….

FTFY.
It was an express rifle. If you’re gonna be picky, at least worry about the right things 😆

I really enjoyed it. The only plot hole that I didn’t like was that Bond basically kidnaps M and takes her to Scotland on a suicide mission. You’re not setting much of a trap if you take practically nothing to defend yourself with and deliberately tell the bad guy where you’re going. Once he’s successfully got M killed Fiennes suddenly stops thinking he’s over the hill and becomes his new best mate

Just seen it for my 50th Birthday treat – WOW! Really loved it 🙂

Despite having no urge to see it, we did get the chance to have a rare evening out and went to watch “Skyfall”.

I suppose that it was ‘better’ than Quantum of Solace, but… it was just very, very silly.

It was a James Bond film (I wasn’t expecting gritty, social realism) with some imaginatively product-placed set-pieces (arguably too many, and little else other than some “War on Terror” style rhetoric and references to old fashioned espionage), but I just didn’t care about what happened to any of the characters.

In a world where anything is possible/nothing is impossible then plausibility doesn’t count for anything. It reminded be a little of the awful Mission Impossible 2 (in which anybody could mask themselves as anybody else).

I lost interest about half-way through and was relieved when it finally ended.

Yawn.

ps. I can’t imagine that I’ll be rushing out to buy any of the product-placed cars, watches, beers etc. either.

I really liked it.

My only objection was they sent Bond up the A9 to get to Glen Etive, that was inexcusable

rich – more cameras for tracking that way.

Pay attention 007.

Each to their own, but I find it difficult to enjoy films that consist of little more than multiple loosely-linked, rapid ‘action’ advertising set-pieces sewn clumsily together with some scenes of ‘serious talk’, hammy acting and re-writing of characters’ history added in order to provide a vague narrative that could barely be described as a ‘plot’. I suspect that Coronation St has more depth.

Films like Skyfall are just clichéd nonsense which require the audiences to do little more than gawp at the action, advertising, CGI and pyrothechnics, suspending any sort of thinking or questioning.

The result is fast-moving, vacuous, loud, violent, cinematic wallpaper that actually manages to be quite boring in the sense that it is almost entirely mentally un-stimulating.

ps. How many people watching even considered for one moment that Bond was dead after having a brutal fight on the roof of a moving train before taking a bullet and falling a great distance into a fast moving river in the opening sequence? It hardly built much in the way of tension.

pps. Did anybody care about what happened to ‘M’?

Aristotle,

1. Probably not many.
2. Yes.

What a bunch of moaning minnies. it’s a Bond film FFS.

Girls – check
car chase – check
evil henchman being eaten by fierce beast in a pit – check
big shoot out – check
Evil bloke getting chance to bump Bond (or M) off several times but fails because they want to do it with frickin’ lasers instead – check

I went last night and thoroughly enjoyed it. Ending went on a bit, and i did nod off briefly in the middle so had to get a quick catch up on how he got out of his glass box. It’s not supposed to make you leave the cinema pondering the frailties of human existance and the futility of life. It’s a bloke in a suit shooting and shagging.

By way of comparison, I enjoyed “Taken” when I saw it and I thought the Bourne films were pretty good.

It’s not supposed to make you leave the cinema pondering the frailties of human existance and the futility of life. It’s a bloke in a suit shooting and shagging.

Yes, the biggest difficulties I had were that it wasn’t filmed in black and white with subtitled Serbo-Croat dialogue.