Movie Moan: Gun - Shot, Heart - Target, Skyfall - Crap?
Mon, November 12, 2012
What a difference two weeks can make. Myself and Robert Meyer Burnett danced out of the movie theatre in London on the opening day of 'Skyfall'. We had some issues here and there but I assumed that he loved the film as much as I do and this week's show would be 90 minutes of adoration for Sam Mendes' vision.
Fate has other ideas.
So join me and Jamie Williams (who at least agrees with my perspective so I have some back-up) as our wonderful friends Robert Meyer Burnett and Roger Lay Jr. team up for the first time on Movie Moan to discuss why 'Skyfall' is actually a very bad example of a Bond film, where the hero accomplishes nothing, the women are treated shamefully, and the plot makes zero sense.
Don't worry though, you're still allowed to like it.
Reader Comments (5)
Just saw Skyfall. Some very mixed feelings about it. Looking forward to the audio version of the podcast when it is availible. The link is bad and I've always had issues with blip.
Coming out of Skyfall, I felt something was a bit off. Thinking about the film more and listening to the podcast, it was clear the film suffered from Superman Returns syndrome. You want to love the movie, but due to its many flaws the most you can do is like it a lot and admire its visual splendour.
For years I was telling folks that Michael Bay didn't invent objectifying women in films with fun silly and unrealistic plots. He just didn't do it under the pretense of "class", perhaps now the fans of bay and his ilk won't be made to feel small everywhere outside of the theater.
I rate Skyfall below due to a surfeit of expected Bond action set pieces.
Everything else was very well done.
My take on the movie differs from those of your esteemed guests. One cannot apply normal Bond standards to this film. This is a movie about the fractured relationships between a mother and her two prized progeny. In that light, everyone's motivations and actions were crystal clear to me.
One specific, the gun/whiskey scene was played true. We had just been given Bond's evaluation scores - no way he could hit the whiskey glass.
I really enjoyed the humanization of Bond in this one.
I didn't like "SKYFALL" at all. Not one bit. The movie was plagued with plot holes. It's portrayal of the female characters were insulting. Are we really supposed to believe that "M" came off as an impressive female figure in this film? I certainly didn't think so. And Daniel Craig spent most of this movie posing in front of the camera. There were times I thought I was watching a photo shoot for "GQ" magazine. Moneypenny goes from field agent to secretary . . . really? Especially after the movie failed to convince me that she was an incompetent field agent? I don't think so.
I had bought all of the claptrap about this being one of the best James Bond movies in years. Looking back, I now realize that Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson had overreacted to some of the negative press over "QUANTUM OF SOLACE", which I actually enjoyed despite its flaws. The fans could not deal with a dark and grim follow-up to "CASINO ROYALE", and the two producers reacted by delivering a movie that could not make up its mind on whether it was a grim espionage tale or a typical Bond fantasy adventure. It tried to be both and failed in the end . . . at least for me.