You all know my thoughts on "Argo", which I refuse to back down from. Nevertheless, I recognize that not too many people agree with my assessment. On Friday, I went and saw another movie that everyone says is great, "Skyfall".
Meh.
I'm pretty surprised by the universal praise of this film. Even the audience in the theater I saw it in absolutely loved it. I don't get it. I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying it's not bad. It's not that great either.
SPOILERS AHEAD
Just 2 movies after James Bond was rebooted with Daniel Craig as a young, Jason Bourne badass, suddenly he's suffering from a midlife crisis. That was quick. One of the Hemsworth brothers better start warming up in the Bond bullpen at the rate this is going.
But okay, fine. It's not a bad premise. Unfortunately, it is never really played out. Unless you count the fact that Bond kills the bad guy with a knife, because that's "old school"...or something, it is basically dropped. There are a lot of references to him getting older, and M as well, but there's no payoff or meaning behind any of it.
Where does he struggle with this age thing? He doesn't pass a physical? Okay, well, he still kicks everyone's ass and shoots perfectly on target when he needs to. The villain gains no advantage from this supposed weakness.
The movie was going along great - cool opening, good setup, and a terrific scene when we meet the bad guy, played by Javier Bardem. He's the best part of the movie, and it's no surprise he can play creepy. A bigger surprise would be him playing a non-creepy person.
But right after this introduction scene is when things start to fall apart. First, we get the tired old gag where the bad guy gives himself up and all is well...but that's exactly his plan! I liked it the 73rd time, when the Joker did it in The Dark Knight.
It's straight out of every book on screenwriting and it's tired as shit. I'm not saying it can't be done anymore, but at least dress it up a little.
And after this guy's genius plan, of stealing a list that reveals all of the agents working undercover (previously seen in the first Mission Impossible and a bunch of other stuff), and manipulating the gas pipes via computer to blow up MI6, it suddenly becomes all about killing M.
That's it? What happened to that island you took over? What happened to the list? Nope, just a straight revenge killing. Which is fine, I guess, but that sure was a lot of setup for that. Also, earlier the girl said that Bond doesn't understand true fear until he deals with this guy. I liked the sound of that. And yet he turned out to be a completely inept killer. Where was the "fear?" I wanted the fear!
This brings us to the ending. Retreating back to a house and preparing it for the bad guys to come is something seen in just about every Steven Segal and Jean Claude Van Damme movie ever made. It's not the hack factor that bugs me though, it's that it is so boring.
Take, for example, the last Mission Impossible movie (which I loved). Think of the inventiveness of that scene in the parking garage. That was a massive, amazing set piece. Now compare that with basically an updated version of the ending of "Lost Boys".
It's no comparison. Mission Impossible went the extra mile with that sequence. Skyfall seemed to run out of either creative capital or capital capital. There was a great chase sequence at the beginning of the movie. Normally, you want your finale to match or hopefully exceed that. This wasn't even close.
As the credits began to roll, I thought to myself "well that ending sure was a big let down". And then I heard the people behind talking about how amazing it all was. That's when I realized that I have completely lost touch with the American public and what is considered good. Well, it was fun while it lasted! I'm officially out of the Hollywood's demo!
5 comments:
I couldn't agree with your review more. I saw it on opening night, and the crowd applauded at the end. What the hell? If it wasn't a Bond movie, would it have received a fraction of the praise? And if you're being protected by MI6, you may as well start planning your funeral. Also, why did M have to stay in the house with them at the end? Couldn't they have dropped her off literally anywhere else along the way while Bond sets the trap?
Yes Jay. Yes Irwin. A couple of thoughts --
If anyone was keeping score in this film, Bond and MI6 appear to be massive failures. They lost the list, MI6 got bombed, the villain escaped, and the whole reason for the movie - protecting M (a weird premise at best) was a failure. They SHOULD have fired M and fired Bond...the end only confirms that.
Now I know we have to suspend some belief when watching Bond films, I get that. However, you can't suspend ridiculousness -- are we to believe that MI6 would not be monitoring their DIRECTOR holed up in SkyFall and not intervening when they arrive in an attack helicopter? Are we really to believe 2 people would be dumb enough to use a FLASHLIGHT to escape? It's really hard to swallow.
And the underpinnings of the film are problematic. A good review explaining this http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/Skyfall-review-M-is-for-mommy-figure-4020528.php. I don't know why Mick gave it a 75 but whatever.
J
You're not wrong.
The opening is great, one of the best ever. The middle section is good but soggy in parts. And the entire third act feels like it's lifted from a whole other movie and just got stitched onto the end (ala Casino Royale - the movie ends. Then we get another half hour of stuff).
It had great promise. The opening 45 minutes or so were superb. And Javier Bardem (who doesn't show up until about 70 minutes into a 140 min film) could have been a great villain (if they'd given him more scenes and a better endgame plan). But the movie just lurched along from plot-point to set-piece.
And don't me started on the whole Moneypenny fan service (I saw it coming and groaned almost as loud as I did at the whole Robin thing in Dark Knight Rises) or the Not-Sean-Connery role played by Albert Finney.
If audiences and critics think this is a 9 or a 10, either their expectations are too low or they're high.
C'mon hack... change subjects and give us your take on the Patraeus scandal.
2 generals, 2 mistresses, and an FBI agent all tangled up together... you can't make that crap up.
Thank you!
I love Bond, so I tried to avoid all trailers and reviews, but I couldn't avoid hearing everybody saying that this was one of the all-time best Bonds, so I found myself getting super-excited...
What a let-down. It's a video game: just run, jump and shoot. The villain, unlike every actual villain in history, wants nothing for himself, just to hate on the heroes. He wants to kill them and they want to kill him and that's it. There's no real story here.
There's no espionage, no geopolitical intrigue, no double-crosses. Craig mumbles his way through the role. M is a rank incompetent. Ugh.
I totally understand your alienation. Every blockbuster I saw this year got sky-high rave reviews and left me totally blah, to the extent that I've begun to wonder where the disconnect is.
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