007: Skyfall

People popped for the comeback (and the resurrection one) in my viewing. I agree — Daniel Craig's Bond has been stellar. I will say that I think he kind of lucked out and inherited Bond at a time when people were sick of the goofy dumb shit that had been going on for the movies prior. A lot of the stuff that makes these movies interesting is simply because it's such a great departure from the old Bonds (though they linked the franchise REALLY nicely in this movie — "I got in to some deep water").

Regardless, I think Craig is the best Bond. Dry, charming, strong and savvy.

The Pierce Brosnan era almost killed Bond for me. It was marked by forced adherence to every single tired Bond cliche ever...every film had to shovel in the stupid puns, the progressively sillier and sillier gadgets, the instant sexual conquests, the retardedly insane videogame stunts, the maniac-of-the-week determined to rule the world, the catchphrases...and, among it all, Bond himself never felt like an actual human being- just cold collection of established traits and mannerisms. He wasn't a character. Daniel Craig is, however, and as a result, he's a million times more engaging.

I haven't seen them all, but I really don't care for any of the Bond flicks except for Craig's Casino Royale. I really want to see Skyfall.

This was a great movie. It was great in the sense that you just don't see anymore in big-budget pictures. It was filled with great performances and exciting stunts. Just a fun picture all around.

Craig's first Bond picture, Casino Royale, was great but it was more of an "anti-Bond" picture. It was ostentatiously opposed to every Bond convention. Craig was fantastic, and I think Eva Green is the hottest Bond girl ever. But it was also very dark and brooding, and not all that action-filled. It's all about a Texas hold 'em card game tournament in Montenegro, for chrissakes. And it also suffers from origin story syndrome.

Quantum of Solace was interesting in that it continued the story of the previous picture, but that's really all I remember about it. Apparently they never really had a finished script when they shot it, according to the Rolling Stone article/interview with Craig that came out last month.

Skyfall mixes the gritty, interesting Bond persona from Casino Royale while smartly reintroducing all the fun elements from the classic Connery pictures. They even find a clever way to introduce an Aston Martin with ejector seats and machine guns.

Let me also say that I enjoy everything that Naomie Harris does. I've been a fan ever since 28 Days Later, and she was probably the best part of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. She was fantastic in this. I also love Albert Finney. I waited and waited for him to show up when I saw him in the opening credits, and when he finally appeared I was not disappointed.

Oh, shit, that was the chick from 28 Days Later? I didn't realize it was her.

As far as the Pierce Brosnon era goes, I think GoldenEye is a great Bond movie. It was what, 6 years or so after Timothy Dalton did License to Kill. He was dormant for awhile, I think that movie did a lot right. I liked his Bond, the writing just got out of control with each movie after that. The cars were nothing really that special, the villains dull and uninteresting, the Bond girls average at best. There were a lot of action movies outclassing what the Bond franchise was doing after Goldeneye.

That's probably why I'm not crazy about Bond, I started watching on the Pierce Brosnan movies, and most of them were kind of lame.

The best Bond since Connery got the worst films.
(but Roger Moore is the Bond i grew up with so he is my favorite, though i can acknowledge that he isnt the best)

I like Roger Moore a lot too. I should be seeing this on Saturday, I can't wait.

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Originally Posted by Rumpy

the Bond girls average at best.

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Denise Richards was awesome as Christmas Jones.