My verdict: I felt like the second film with Daniel Craig as James Bond lagged behind Casino Royale, but this film is back up to snuff. Most of the actors do a great job. Sometimes Craig was too emotionless, but he still plays a better Bond than Pierce Brosnan. The action is often relentless, but the film gets almost introspective at the end (which reminded me of the ending of Taking Lives [1]).[2] It was interesting to get some backstory for Bond, but it felt a little forced. The cinematography of Scotland was fabulous. The new villain seems to be styled after Julian Asange. He often sets up elaborate scenarios when simple ones will do; this actually diminishes how sinister he seems.[3] I can't say I guessed any of the plot twists, but none of them felt like plot twists. The music was a little too derivative of the music from Goldeneye, in my opinion. My biggest complaint: the introduction, where Bond seems to have been killed and goes into hiding, didn't really serve much purpose. If they were trying to suggest that Bond was conflicted about his loyalty to M, they didn't do a very good job. Or maybe it was Craig's emotionless acting.
Notes:
[1] Read my review of that film (as edited for television) here.
[2] I was going to complain that they had a rooftop chase, but they actually managed to give it a fresh take: it was a rooftop chase with motorcycles.
[3] I told Leann it would've been great if the villain were played by Pierce Brosnan. But that's a lie. The concept is intriguing, but the execution would've been…cheesy.
Image attributions:
Scotland Countryside is by RG Harvey, available at http://www.fotocommunity.com/pc/pc/display/29070072.
I happened to watch another movie (I'm trying to remember the name) just before I saw "Skyfall" (same day) and it was kind of interesting that it was filmed on the exact same rooftop as the rooftop motorcycle scene of 'Skyfall'. They were running on foot-it was another chase scene.
ReplyDeleteWas it one of the Bourne movies?
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