In honor of spring break and the end of 3rd quarter, I figured I'd catch up on a ton of movies I was too lazy to see when they came out. That being said, I was pretty excited to see Skyfall, and maybe that was due to my love of the Bond series or maybe just the fact that there was a ton of hype surrounding this film. I read somewhere that this was one of the best Bond movies of all time, and while it was damn good, I'd have to politely disagree.
I guess going into this movie I didn't really know what to expect, and as I clicked the purchase button on my On Demand, I wondered if maybe I should see Argo or Zero Dark Thirty instead. Daniel Craig is what? 45 years old now, and it seems like the series is aging once again, and who knows what direction the series is going in, but fear not, Skyfall got a 7.8 on IMDb and I'd say that's a pretty fair assessment.
The thing about Skyfall is that it represents exactly what I was mentioning above with this sort of aging performance of Bond. Judi Dench was fantastic in her final "hoorah" as M, and that's what saves the film from being an extremely dull repeat Bond. Director Sam Mendes does a decent job keeping the audience on it's heels but at times we know exactly what's going to happen next. Oh of course, he's going to escape, oh he wanted us to capture him - I don't know, it just seemed like your cliche bad guy tricks good guy. I know I'm gonna contradict myself here, but at times Skyfall showed moments of greatness. The whole concept of this cyber warfare was insane, it was almost mixing in this sci-fi aspect, and the beautiful old DB5 Aston Martin was a delicate touch that kept me on the edge of my seat at least.
The thing that intrigued me most about Skyfall was this opening credit montage. I've always been captivated by these montages, it's like the Bond trademark but this one was especially unique. It flows seemingly from the moment he falls down the waterfall into this ultra-saturated, almost cartoon-like figures walking around as if they're characters in the movie. It's just the weirdest thing I've ever seen but I loved every second of it.
Skyfall excelled in the field of cinematography and editing, you could really tell it was a high budget film. There's long, sweeping overhead - birds eye view shots that really show you the vast geography or amazing sets they were able to develop. Like any other Bond movie, the special effects are ridiculous, the final 20 minutes of the film had to have been perfect on the first shot as they literally ripped the mansion in half and we see the helicopter and vast destruction of it all. It just fit the whole over the top style of these type of films perfectly.
Skyfall was interesting enough for me to say it was worth the $5 rental but there's still parts missing in the bigger picture. I can't quiet put my finger on it but it just seems like the series is coming to a close and that's just an inevitable part of the puzzle. That being said, the special effects and overall plot line was fairly intriguing and I'd definitely recommend Skyfall to anyone looking for a good 2+ hours spent. I'd give the film an overall 8.0.
I have yet to see Skyfall, and I've heard a lot of mixed reviews. Either people have really liked it, or people have deemed it mediocre. I want to see it simply because it is a Bond movie, and I'd have to agree with what a nice touch the DB5 was (I was reassured that it was a fake Aston Martin they ended up destroying...thank goodness). I hope to get around to watching it over break!
ReplyDeleteGood review Andre. Check out Jordan's blog under "Sample Blogs" on my blog to read the back and forth on this film. People had a lot to say, if you're interested. But I tend to side with you-- the movie was missing something. Yes, it's a Bond film, and it was a pretty good one at that, but had it not been a Bond film, I don't think I would have even said it was "kind of" good. I like Sam Mendes, and the money is up there on the screen, as you say... but the story felt weird-- even though I liked Dench and Bardem.
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