A place for disappointed skyfall viewers

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  • Zekidk wrote:
    @JimThompson45
    The very last scene of SF sets things up nicely for Bond 24. Do you really want yet another Bond movie with Bond largely incompetent battling inner demons?
    Well, besides disagreeing with your characterization that the Bond in Skyfall and the other Craig movies is largely incompetent, I have no trouble watching and/or reading about a James Bond who questions himself, who occasionally feels disgusted with himself.

    But you never answered my question: Why do you have that feeling? What has been done over the past three films has, in the main, been generally well received critically and has been very profitable. Why would they chose to deviate from an approach which seems to be working?
  • DoctorKaufmannDoctorKaufmann Can shoot you from Stuttgart and still make it look like suicide.
    Posts: 1,261
    Okay, we might have gone a bit astray by talking about smoking and DAF, are we?
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    @Creasy47
    Yes, the character James Bond has been largely monotonous. But the movies haven't. There are so many things they can change, without changing who Bond is.

    CR was a great reboot and I love what they did, trying to set up the character. Six years and three movies later, I just think it's time to move on, instead of yet another reboot.
    Well, besides disagreeing with your characterization that the Bond in Skyfall and the other Craig movies is largely incompetent.
    Pasting from my review here:

    "Craig gets almost no opportunity, apart from a few scenes, to be Bond - competent, and resourceful in spite of the odds. Instead he is just incompetent: Silva wants to kill M, but Bond won't let that happen. It does. Bond won't let the agent list fall into enemy hands. It does. Bond won't let the suffering girl die. She does. Bond keeps shooting at the bad guy while he is climbing the latter to stop his escape. He misses every shot."
    But you never answered my question: Why do you have that feeling? What has been done over the past three films has, in the main, been generally well received critically and has been very profitable. Why would they chose to deviate from an approach which seems to be working?
    There's more to a (successful) James Bond movie, than the character James Bond. In SF he hits rock bottom and ressurects. My gut feeling tells me that we won't see the same thing happening in Bond 24.
  • Zekidk wrote:
    "Craig gets almost no opportunity, apart from a few scenes, to be Bond - competent, and resourceful in spite of the odds. Instead he is just incompetent: Silva wants to kill M, but Bond won't let that happen. It does. Bond won't let the agent list fall into enemy hands. It does. Bond won't let the suffering girl die. She does. Bond keeps shooting at the bad guy while he is climbing the latter to stop his escape. He misses every shot."

    Well, just as a point to sort of counter the whole, he intentionally missed every shot; he said so right in the scene.

    Anyway, I don't think we'll see Bond hit bottom again either, but that's not the same as suggesting we won't see a continuation of the more flawed, human Bond in the next film.

  • acoppolaacoppola London Ealing not far from where Bob Simmons lived
    edited November 2012 Posts: 1,243
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    The critics who hate SF are doing so because they have a preference for the superman Bond who just needs a change of clothes after a beating and shows no scarring from his experiences. Personally, they should watch Austin Powers instead. It ticks all those boxes perfectly.
    Yeah, all those people who are expressing criticism about SF and Bond being weak and flawed, should just go watch Austin Powers!

    Sorry, but I think that's a lame comment! You are disrespecting a lot of Bond fans here. Fans who actually like the original Bond as described by NicNac perfectly:
    NicNac wrote:
    But the reason everyone fell in love with the films in the first place was because Bond became this indestructible creature who could run, jump, shoot, ski, surf, drive, fly and parachute better than anyone else. He is a funny, charming womaniser who knows everything about sherry, caviar, exotic fish and butterflies.
    There is nothing Bond can't pilot, sail or drive when need be and that's why we love him, because he is so ridiculously clever and adaptable.

    I want my Bond to be that bit more amazing than any other man, it's why I watched them in the first place.
    You cannot have a Moore type Bond in an age when the Middle East is collapsing as well as all the other issues we face.

    And it's true. Those critics who hate Skyfall want a Bond that is no longer as relevant.

    Show where I disrespected fans? I was talking of the critics and as far as I know, the character of Bond should be different to Superman.
    1) IMO, you disrespect people criticizing SF, by telling them to go watch Austin Powers.
    2) Did I ask for a Moore-type Bond?
    3) Critics can't be fans?
    4) You can in fact have a "relevant" James Bond, without turning him into most other flawed action heroes dealing with personal issues. And...
    5) ...no one has argued that Bond should be a guy with special superpowers, like Superman.

    What many are saying though, is that don't like the flawed and self-pitying Bond we saw in SF. They want the classic archetype alphamale always on top of his game back, and I have a strong feeling that they/we will get precisely that for Bond 24.
    acoppola wrote:
    And those old films you refer to by being left in the era they were, gain more value. Because they are one offs perfectly suited to the time.
    Will suit me fine if SF also ends up as a "one off"

    I could easily say that you are in reverse disrespecting Skyfall fans and it's superb achievements. The box office does not lie. But you want a Bond who just needs to comb his hair after having his head kicked in and he is fine.


    Well Craig himself made the Austin Powers reference saying it has closed the door on that Bond you clearly want. The humour as well as fantasticalness. And too many film characters are copying Bond so Bond needed to step up his game as a franchise.

    All the classic Bond has been done to death. Why SF is so good is because it gives the franchise true new perspective. The Nolan Batmans are exactly huge because they went into new territory not seen in the comic book genre. And Bond now needs to measure up in quality for it's respective genre.

    I am not implying Batman is like Bond, but standards of same old are not going to cut it.

    Craig's Bond is alpha male to the tee. He has all those traditional qualities but with more introspection.

    Whether you like it or not I do not see the Craig era veering off the cliff into self-parody.

    The Bourne films for a while were seen as better than Bond. Bond was seen as very safe and regurgitating it's past.

  • acoppolaacoppola London Ealing not far from where Bob Simmons lived
    edited November 2012 Posts: 1,243
    Zekidk wrote:
    @Creasy47
    Yes, the character James Bond has been largely monotonous. But the movies haven't. There are so many things they can change, without changing who Bond is.

    CR was a great reboot and I love what they did, trying to set up the character. Six years and three movies later, I just think it's time to move on, instead of yet another reboot.
    Well, besides disagreeing with your characterization that the Bond in Skyfall and the other Craig movies is largely incompetent.
    Pasting from my review here:

    "Craig gets almost no opportunity, apart from a few scenes, to be Bond - competent, and resourceful in spite of the odds. Instead he is just incompetent: Silva wants to kill M, but Bond won't let that happen. It does. Bond won't let the agent list fall into enemy hands. It does. Bond won't let the suffering girl die. She does. Bond keeps shooting at the bad guy while he is climbing the latter to stop his escape. He misses every shot."
    But you never answered my question: Why do you have that feeling? What has been done over the past three films has, in the main, been generally well received critically and has been very profitable. Why would they chose to deviate from an approach which seems to be working?
    There's more to a (successful) James Bond movie, than the character James Bond. In SF he hits rock bottom and ressurects. My gut feeling tells me that we won't see the same thing happening in Bond 24.

    Bond is incompetent in SF? You must be dreaming. He clearly demonstrates he knows what he is doing.

    And Bond warns Silva at the station that in the next shot he won't miss. the first few shots were warnings. Bond was not expecting a crashing train to be coming for him.

    As for Craig getting no opportunity to be Bond? That one is a new standard of ignorant and talking from the b*tt! Who was he playing throughout the film? Miss Moneypenny or some other character?

    And he is incredibly resourceful considering Q did not give him convenient gadgets to save his ass.

  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    @JimThompson45

    For me (and many others) Bond movies are a fantasy. Escapist adventures, not social realism. Don't hold it against us.
    acoppola wrote:
    I could easily say that you are in reverse disrespecting Skyfall fans
    And exactly where do you see that?
    acoppola wrote:
    The box office does not lie
    What kind of an argument is that? So because most reviews are positive, you can't accept criticism? FYI: I actually do understand why it has gotten great reviews. It's a good movie. I just don't think it's a good Bond-movie.
    acoppola wrote:
    But you want a Bond who just needs to comb his hair after having his head kicked in and he is fine.
    Can you please argue against things I have actually written, instead of presuming what I want or don't want?
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond is incompetent in SF? You must be dreaming. He clearly demonstrates he knows what he is doing.
    So he wanted to lose the list, the girl and his boss?
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    How is it Bond's fault that the list was lost? That was mostly Eve's job, but she canned that. Bond couldn't stop Severine from dying without him dying too, and he made the effort to keep M out of the fight. We never wanted her to actually have to fight for her life. When the heavy fire came he told then to get out. Bond can't do bloody everything man!
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    Bond can't do bloody everything man!
    He used to ;-)
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Zekidk wrote:
    Bond can't do bloody everything man!
    He used to ;-)
    Which era are you referring to? I must have missed one.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Zekidk wrote:
    Bond can't do bloody everything man!
    He used to ;-)

    Moore's eyebrow would have Silva running for cover knowing very well he has just been beaten. ;)

  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited November 2012 Posts: 28,694
    SaintMark wrote:
    Zekidk wrote:
    Bond can't do bloody everything man!
    He used to ;-)

    Moore's eyebrow would have Silva running for cover knowing very well he has just been beaten. ;)

    Or prompt him to touch his knees again...
  • Posts: 3,167
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7
    He had help before. But he generally always came out on top, beating the odds. Even without an earpiece ;-)
  • acoppolaacoppola London Ealing not far from where Bob Simmons lived
    Posts: 1,243
    Zekidk wrote:
    @JimThompson45

    For me (and many others) Bond movies are a fantasy. Escapist adventures, not social realism. Don't hold it against us.
    acoppola wrote:
    I could easily say that you are in reverse disrespecting Skyfall fans
    And exactly where do you see that?
    acoppola wrote:
    The box office does not lie
    What kind of an argument is that? So because most reviews are positive, you can't accept criticism? FYI: I actually do understand why it has gotten great reviews. It's a good movie. I just don't think it's a good Bond-movie.
    acoppola wrote:
    But you want a Bond who just needs to comb his hair after having his head kicked in and he is fine.
    Can you please argue against things I have actually wrote, instead of presuming what I want or don't want?
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond is incompetent in SF? You must be dreaming. He clearly demonstrates he knows what he is doing.
    So he wanted to lose the list, the girl and his boss?

    Bond did not lose the list with the hard drive. It was already stolen and he did his best to get it back. You try saving a girl with guns to your head. Only Superman could.

    Considering he has a small army of Silva's men at Skyfall, I would humbly say he did his damn best in the odds. M's death was not Bond's fault.

    As for the box office, this has ushered in a new fan base for this Bond. My cinema manager told me Bond was as busy in it's fourth week as it was in it's first. In years he has not seen such an interest for Bond. He said it is because people like the new approach and more realistic take.

    Bond cannot be a unflawed hero and never was in the books. It is his flaws we love. His womanising as well as attitude is also a flaw of sorts. You just like the easily palatable flaws. But a Bond taking a piss or popping a pill is beyond acceptable to someone like you.

  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond cannot be a unflawed hero
    In fact he can. The franchise has survived succesfully for 40 years with Bond being mostly unflawed.
    acoppola wrote:
    You just like the easily palatable flaws. But a Bond taking a piss or popping a pill is beyond acceptable to someone like you.
    Really? You seem to know me better than I do!

    You didn't answer my questions, by the way.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    Posts: 28,694
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond cannot be a unflawed hero
    In fact he can. The franchise has survived succesfully for 40 years with Bond being mostly unflawed.
    acoppola wrote:
    You just like the easily palatable flaws. But a Bond taking a piss or popping a pill is beyond acceptable to someone like you.
    Really? You seem to know me better than I do!

    Have we seen the same films? Bond is flawed out his arse.
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    @0BradyM0Bondfanatic7
    That depends on your definition of "flawed." Can you give me just two examples from each era?
  • acoppolaacoppola London Ealing not far from where Bob Simmons lived
    Posts: 1,243
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond cannot be a unflawed hero
    In fact he can. The franchise has survived succesfully for 40 years with Bond being mostly unflawed.
    acoppola wrote:
    You just like the easily palatable flaws. But a Bond taking a piss or popping a pill is beyond acceptable to someone like you.
    Really? You seem to know me better than I do!

    You didn't answer my questions, by the way.

    I did, just that you have difficulty in reading as well as listening unless I agree with everything you say. Try and read what I wrote and the main points are as clear as day.

    Bond being mostly unflawed is exactly what sinks the franchise. That is called one dimensional. You say you liked CR, but your opinion makes me think otherwise.

    In CR he is deeply flawed and imperfect. If you don't like SF then there is no way I can see how you like CR. Because the Bondisms are more prevalent in SF than CR.

  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    acoppola wrote:
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond cannot be a unflawed hero
    In fact he can. The franchise has survived succesfully for 40 years with Bond being mostly unflawed.
    acoppola wrote:
    You just like the easily palatable flaws. But a Bond taking a piss or popping a pill is beyond acceptable to someone like you.
    You didn't answer my questions, by the way.
    I did, just that you have difficulty in reading as well as listening unless I agree with everything you say.
    No, you did not answer my questions, and if you really want me to "listen" to your arguments, the worst thing you could possibly do is to be rude towards me.

    So here again:
    You wrote the following: "Show where I disrespected fans? I was talking of the critics"
    I asked if critics can't be fans?
    You haven't answered that one.

    And then you wrote:
    "I could easily say that you are in reverse disrespecting Skyfall fans"
    I asked:
    "And exactly where do you see that?"
    You haven't answered that one either.

    Likewise you wrote: "The box office does not lie"
    I asked: "What kind of an argument is that? So because most reviews are positive, you can't accept criticism?"
    acoppola wrote:
    If you don't like SF then there is no way I can see how you like CR.
    It's two different movies, that's why. Fleming's great story arc and highly original story was already largely in place for CR. Not so for SF which relied on other factors like giving Dame Judy Dench a worthy exit (Fleming would never had made M centerpiece) and taking notes from Nolan. For me - CR just had much more depth, a more involving story and better wellrounded characters than SF. And a better score and better action setpieces.
  • Zekidk wrote:
    No, you did not answer my questions...

    Well, then you and he share something in common; I'm still waiting for you to answer the ones I asked over an hour ago.

  • acoppolaacoppola London Ealing not far from where Bob Simmons lived
    Posts: 1,243
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Zekidk wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Bond cannot be a unflawed hero
    In fact he can. The franchise has survived succesfully for 40 years with Bond being mostly unflawed.
    acoppola wrote:
    You just like the easily palatable flaws. But a Bond taking a piss or popping a pill is beyond acceptable to someone like you.
    You didn't answer my questions, by the way.
    I did, just that you have difficulty in reading as well as listening unless I agree with everything you say.
    No, you did not answer my questions, and if you really want me to "listen" to your arguments, the worst thing you could possibly do is to be rude towards me.

    So here again:
    You wrote the following: "Show where I disrespected fans? I was talking of the critics"
    I asked if critics can't be fans?
    You haven't answered that one.

    And then you wrote:
    "I could easily say that you are in reverse disrespecting Skyfall fans"
    I asked:
    "And exactly where do you see that?"
    You haven't answered that one either.

    Likewise you wrote: "The box office does not lie"
    I asked: "What kind of an argument is that? So because most reviews are positive, you can't accept criticism?"
    acoppola wrote:
    If you don't like SF then there is no way I can see how you like CR.
    It's two different movies, that's why. Fleming's great story arc was already largely in place for CR. For me - it had much more depth, a more involving story and better wellrounded characters than SF. And a better score and better action setpieces.

    Just like you took offence to me using the Austin Powers analogy, I could have easily using your barometer of offence said that how you described SF was insulting considering the scope of work that went into the film. You went as far as to misrepresent the film and make the wrong conclusions of Bond's competence.

    The box office for SF is because we have non Bond fans going in droves because they hear the series is finally after ages giving them some tangible and quality films.

    SF is not doing great at the box office because it is another run of the mill Bond. It is doing great because it is an excellent film even without the Bond label. This is a high octane thriller in it's own right. As good as anything Nolan has done for Batman.

    Critics can obviously be fans and that goes without me needing to answer that. I was talking about professional critics as fans are not in that category. Unless they get paid for their opinions on films?

    But the Austin Powers films means that Bond cannot ever go in a direction where it created it's own parodies that made Mike Myers so easily show how ridiculous they were.

    The action set pieces for Bond need to be clever and story appropriate. I thought the action in SF satisfied as well as CR. CR was not really an action film but a film of suspense.

    To be honest, the music in CR by Arnold was beginning to sound repetitive to his earlier work. The new score was appropriate for the sinister as well as sombre tone of the film. After all, this is the only time M dies and the score had to be different in this film.



  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    Zekidk wrote:
    No, you did not answer my questions...
    Well, then you and he share something in common; I'm still waiting for you to answer the ones I asked over an hour ago.
    You asked about my "feelings". Why I feel that we will get the classic archetype alphamale always on top of his game back for Bond 24.
    You didn't like my first question where I wrote:
    Zekidk wrote:
    The very last scene of SF sets things up nicely for Bond 24
    ... so you asked again. And then I replied:
    Zekidk wrote:
    There's more to a (successful) James Bond movie, than the character James Bond. In SF he hits rock bottom and ressurects. My gut feeling tells me that we won't see the same thing happening in Bond 24.
    Honestly, what more do you want? An analysis?

  • Zekidk wrote:
    [
    You asked about my "feelings". Why I feel that we will get the classic archetype alphamale always on top of his game back for Bond 24.
    I actually asked you what led you to believe they would so change directions since their current path seems so successful and well received...and you still haven't answered that. I'm just going assume you're conceding you we're wrong in some of your review's analysis.

  • edited November 2012 Posts: 3,167
    @acoppola
    I have never held it against anyone that they like SF. Me criticizing the movie, is not the same as criticizing the people that love it. We are all allowed to express our opinion here, and how boring this place would be if we all had to agree. So let's just agree to disagree.
    I actually asked you what led you to believe they would so change directions since their current path seems so successful and well received...and you still haven't answered that.
    I actually have. Three times now. But the answers didn't satisfy you it seems. Look, when you ask
    Why do you have that feeling?
    ... there needn't be a full explanation when asking about someones gut feeling. I said my piece. And me being "wrong" is not a fact - that's your opinion. Bond said he missed. He didn't say he missed deliberately.
  • Wow. You're really did create a story in your mind to fit the narrative you want to believe, didn't you?
  • Posts: 3,167
    Blame the scriptwriters ;-)
  • acoppola wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    acoppola wrote:
    Creasy47 wrote:
    @acoppola, I'm sure you enjoyed that cigarette after the film ended, though.

    I did and the drink too. Me not smoking is the highest praise because that was the first time in years I sat all the way through. And even Severine smoking did not get me off my seat.:)

    I never leave a theater to smoke, but seeing Severine take so many drags off of hers made me want to leave and have a cigarette, if the film wasn't so enjoyable.

    Hey I thought it was so cool seeing her smoke. It was very classic and film noir style.

    I would like to see Bond smoke too. He kills so what harm is a cigarette in comparison to killing someone. He is alcoholic too and a drink is too wet without a cig.:)

    That is my favourite casino scene since LTK. It was like the good old days. I love smoking in Bond films. Bond is not PC anyway.

    Agreed. Her smoking had me squirming a bit uncomfortably. A hot looking lady smoking a cigarette like she does always did turn me on. Being a cigar guy though, Onatopp was as good as it gets.

    Bond should never be PC but the producers no doubt think differently.
  • edited November 2012 Posts: 12,837
    @Zekidk likes a different kind of Bond film and that's fine.

    Be fair now guys (and this is from somebody who liked the film), this thread was made specifically for people who were disappointed in the film so people should be able to say why they were disappointed without others jumping on their backs and arguing with them.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 40,454
    @Zekidk likes a different kind of Bond film and that's fine.

    Be fair now guys (and this is from somebody who liked the film), this thread was made specifically for people who were disappointed in the film so people should be able to say why they were disappointed without others jumping on their backs and arguing with them.

    Exactly, just as we in the appreciation threads expect the same. If you can't have an adult conversation with others, don't sit and bicker like children. Let them have their say, just as we do.
  • Zekidk wrote:
    Blame the scriptwriters ;-)

    I would, had they actually done anything like the stuff you've been describing.

This discussion has been closed.