SPOILER ALERT: IF YOU HAVE NOT SEEN THE MOVIE YET, AND PLAN TO SEE IT, DON’T READ THIS REVIEW. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
SO, I watched the new James Bond movie, and I was unimpressed. Actually, I was quite disappointed and saddened. I wouldn’t normally write a movie review, but I am 39 and I kinda grew up with the bond movies. They were and still are a source of inspiration for me as a geek and gadget freak.
The people behind Skyfall have chosen to thoroughly break the James Bond formula, and they did so quite ceremoniously. To illustrate, imagine a villain taking all that we loved about James Bond, putting it in a bucket and defecating into the bucket, then taking a piss into the bucket, blending the whole thing for 10 minutes before throwing the concoction onto the public’s disgraced and disappointed faces.
Here’s a breakdown of the James Bond formula, and how each of those elements were raped and sodomized:
Gadgets
The new Q is a lame “hacker”, not only does he not give bond anything cool beyond a gun that only Bond can shoot, and a stupid GPS radio, he even tells Bond “What did you expect? An exploding pen? We don’t do that anymore!”. Argh!!!
Women – Part 1
There is only one really “beautiful” woman in the entire movie, and not only does Bond not sleep with her, he promises her he can help her, except he fails miserably as she gets killed in front of his eyes by the villain.
Women – Part 2
James Bond of the past is clearly an unrelenting womanizer. The new James Bond is perhaps secretly bisexual. The villain fondles James, and insinuates Gay sex as a form of torture, and that theres always a first time for everything. James Bond responds “How do you know it’s my first time?”. I have no issues at all with Gay men, or Gay sex, but this feels like an unnecessary step to try and seem more gay friendly. That’s bullshit. Gay men don’t need this kind of gesture, they are intelligent and can see through this feeble attempt.
Awesome Cars / Vehicles
What awesome cars? Theres no cool car anywhere. Very lame and disappointing. In fact, James Bond does not even drive the only Jeep in the movie during a pursuit. Money-penny drives the jeep, manages to break both visors, and with a snide comment from Bond thats all there is to it. Oh and there’s the really stupid bike scene where they drive above rickety roofs in Turkey. We are supposed to believe those roofs can hold more than a 10 year old child. Really?!
Grand weapons of mass destruction
The most dangerous weapon is some kind of massive supercomputer built by the villain. To a geek, It looks pretty cool at first; Like thousands of naked motherboards hooked up in a grid. It is apparently used to crack encryption and penetrated MI6’s firewalls. But we are not told anything about this computer or what it can do, which is pretty lame. The villain is supposed to be proud of his evil weapons. There is nothing threatening the general population of the world, and James Bond does not save anything other than MI6’s honor and mandate from a vindictive villain who is a product of the same agency(!).
The MI6 Agency
In all previous movies, the agency is portrayed as this cool secret government organization working against evil forces and rogue states who are looking to either control the world, or destroy it, or die trying. Children used to WANT to be a part of MI6. Not in this movie! In Skyfall, the villain is a product of MI6 and is on a mission to kill M. It is insinuated that the organization itself is dangerous and flawed in its very essence. It’s almost like the script writer is a member of Anonymous, nay, maybe the script writer is Mr. Julian Assange himself! The agency barely survives to the end of the movie, moving to an alternative underground location after the HQ was compromised (from which the villain escapes as well!), with M dying in the end and being replaced by a male M (So first you try to appease Gay men, and now you slap Feminists on the face?).
What can I say. This was a sad, sad movie to watch. It offered no more action than a typical Bourne Legacy movie or a Jean Claud Van-Dam movie. Is this what the Bond Legacy deserves?
4 responses to “Skyfall – The black sheep in the bond legacy”
Exactly my thoughts.
Hope they’ll do better next time.
If there is a next time.
I agree, however you are wrong on a few counts. (edit: Re reading what i wrote i should of said i disagree on a few counts, not you are wrong :P)
***SPOLIERS***
Woman Part 1 – He Ploughs her in the shower on that sweet yacht.
Awesome Cars – The DB9 is the greatest bond car ever.
What annoyed me is they made Bond out to be some over the hill ‘old’ agent, where as the in the scheme of things as far as story line goes he should still be young. I understand that it had to follow on the other 2 Craig bonds, but it just doesn’t stand up to them, especially the first one.
The only positive i took from the movie was that it wraps all emotional ties up as far as Judi Dench “M” is concerned so he can go back to be an assassin.
At times i thought the villain was quite well done, but others he was crap. Predictable from start to finish.
The movie could of started at the assassination scene in Shanghai and you wouldn’t have lost anything.
They tried to take Bond back to his roots even further, Fleming wouldn’t approve in my opinion.
Either I have seen an Americanized version (PG13?) where he does not plough her on that yacht, or it wasn’t really memorable enough.
About the Aston Martin, sure, but look what happens to the car – It is destroyed, blown to smithereens! Which brings me back to my point about how they systematically destroyed the realm of Bond.
It almost feels like the producer hated bond as a child, and decided to take his vengeance on all Bond lovers out there.
Bond cars are always blown up?
She gets on the yacht and thinks he didnt make it, then he surprises her in the shower.