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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Water Bob" data-source="post: 6045214" data-attributes="member: 92305">I'm a HUUUUGGGEEE BOND FAN. The new Daniel Craig films are the best of the bunch. I could argue for the Connery originals, but that was a long time ago. These three Craig films are certainly better than anything since a Bond film featuring Connery--and even he made a dud or two (Never Say Never, anyone? Diamonds Are Forever really doesn't stand the test of time. I also think that the Craig films are closest to the Bond we read in Fleming's novels and short stories--at least since Connery. That said, I'm a contrarian on this film. I think it's the weakest of Craig's three films. SKYFALL doesn't have the energy and pizzazz that the producers injected into CASINO ROYALE and QUANTUM OF SOLACE.  If I used a grading scale of 0 to 5 stars... 0 = Hated It. One of the worst films ever made.1 = Didn't Like It.2 = Passible if in the mood for it.3 = Average, OK, everyday good film.4 = Liked it a lot!5 = Loved it! One of the best films ever made. I'd rate Craig's three efforts like this: 5 Stars = Casino Royale4 Stars = Quantum of Solace3 Stars = Skyfall Which basically says neither of the two Craig sequels live up to his debut, and the film series seems to be getting weaker. That's not to say that I didn't think that I don't have good things to say about Skyfall. I do. 3 Stars is a strong rating.    SOME THINGS THAT COME TO MIND THAT I LIKED: I thought Moneypenny was fantastic. In fact, all of the acting was top notch.  The opening action scene is a 5 star sequence, just as good as any in CASINO ROYALE or QUANTUM OF SOLACE. The story plays like an Ian Fleming novel. CASINO ROYALE (along with DOCTOR NO, which doesn't count because the screenplay and novel were written with each other in mind, and FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE) is one of the closest films, plot-wise, to any James Bond movie that carries an Ian Fleming title. SKYFALL is one of the closest completely original films, plot-wise, that plays out the way Ian Fleming would structure a tale.  I liked how the term "Skyfall" was used in the film. The audience is lead to believe that it's a code word for some top secret MI-6 operation--probably the one that becomes the McGuffin in the opening action sequence. I like how the whole Craig series writes in themes from the Fleming novels. In Skyfall, it's Bond seeming to be killed. This is shades of YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (both the book and the movie, though each feature plots that are quite different from each other).     SOME THINGS THAT COME TO MIND THAT I DIDN'T LIKE: Though I liked how the film played (as an Ian Fleming novel), it did not fell "tight" at all. I think the screenplay needed to be tighten up a bit. Or, maybe it's the editing. The storytelling felt, for lack of a better term, non-traditional and "wierd". The DB5's appearance. I'd have this is the "LIKE" column except that the producers are confusing the facts of the series. In CASINO ROYALE, Craig's Bond wins the DB5 in a poker game from one of the bad guys. In SKYFALL, the DB5 is one of the "gadgets" used by the old MI6 back in the 60's, before Bonds time (an obvious tip of the hat to the Connery films where the DB5 appeared, like THUNDERBALL and GOLDFINGER). The continuity of the timeline is messed up because of this. Bond just happened to win a DB5 of the same exact color as that stored in the old MI6 warehouse? It's goofy and probably shouldn't have been left in the script because of the scene from CASINO. Or, the DB5 could have been used, sans the gadgets, if the film showed that it was Bond's car--the same one he won in CASINO. Another thing I didn't buy about the film is the location of the climax. I do like the revalation that "Skyfall" is the name of Bond's family home. This is akin to Ian Fleming's estate in Jamaica, which was named (in real life) "Goldeneye" (or, even, Bond's fictional Jamaican estate given to him by author Raymond Benson, "Shamelady"). What I can't believe is that, as smart and bad-ass as M and Bond are, the two of them, together, can't figure out a way to get some help from MI6? They're in freakin' England, for chrissakes! We couldn't have a scene where Tanner or Moneypenney or Q or even the new "M" couldn't figure out how to help them out? Script-wise, this could have been fixed, easily. Bond and M had too much time on their hands. The bad guy should have been hot on their heels with NO TIME for the MI6 cavalry to arrive. Of course, if that had happened, then we wouldn't have the Ewok's vs. The Emperor's top troops scene where the the bad guy attacks, in waves, and Bond has to MacGuyver make-shift booby-traps. This is part of the script-tightening I mention above. I thought Javier Bardim did an excellent job as a Fleming-esque, Bondian villian. All of the villians in the Craig series, so far, have had 5 stars handed to them by me.  But, again....wasn't Bardim just a little too akin to The Joker from The Dark Knight? Every time he'd hoot and hum, use his toys, and try to show how mad he was, I kept seeing Heath Ledger's should-have-won-an-Oscar Joker staring back at me. C'mon, you didn't think that when Bardim flicked the switch and the transit tube fell on Bond? I could easily see the Joker climbing that ladder and Batman ducking from the crash.     I could go on, but I think this will give a taste of why I thought the film was just "OK" and did not live up to Craig's previous two films.     EDIT:  Above, I say, "They're in freakin' England, for chrissakes! We couldn't have a scene where Tanner or Moneypenney or Q or even the new "M" couldn't figure out how to help them out?"  Although I make the same comment, I need to correct that they're in Scotland.  That's the "American" in me coming out.  We think of that entire region as "England" and forget the differences in the terms "Britian" and "England".  My apologies.  Still, Bond and M should have had some help, or they should have been rushed so that help had no time to arrive--maybe even with Q watching the events via satellite, unable to do anything about it or with shots of him looking at the clock, knowing that the helo with the Marines on it won't get to Skyfall in time to make a difference in the fight.</blockquote>

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