Skyfall - what I liked and what I didn't (spoilers)

I had my second viewing of SKYFALL earlier today and enjoyed the film much, much more this time round.

The Scotland finale now works for me. I still have a few gripes with SKYFALL, but they're mostly to do with the first half hour or so, which I find pretty sluggishly paced compared to what comes after. I like the PTS a lot more than I used to, although I still think the subsequent ROCKY BALBOA subplot with Bond battling to regain his fitness in the face of his colleagues' scepticism is fairly extraneous and badly handled.

Alcoholic Bond, who stands there in M's flat clutching a bottle, is a wee bit on-the-nose, as is some of the dialogue (for example, M's "I'll find whoever did this" as she stands alongside the coffins - this scene calls for a silence that's both dignified and menacing).

While this isn't really a legitimate criticism of the film (because Mendes and co. are, after all, free to interpret the characters as they please), I do wish that we had a Tanner other than Rory Kinnear. I find him rather wooden, and I fail to detect any suggestion that he and Bond are friends. Aren't they supposed to be close in the Fleming novels? In QUANTUM OF SOLACE and SKYFALL, Bond and Tanner seem to be people who give each other the time of day but that's about it. It seems a missed opportunity to take things closer to Fleming.

SKYFALL is about half an hour too long. It doesn't really get going until Bond goes to Shanghai (man, I love that animated jellyfish), but fortunately once it does get going SKYFALL is a real grabber.

I'm still not ready to call SKYFALL a great film, and I still think CASINO ROYALE is superior.... but there's certainly quite a bit of near-greatness going on in this flick. When SKYFALL is good, it's really good.

And I know I've said this before, but it bears repeating: Craig is superb. He gives us a cool, charismatic and physically imposing 007 who's terrific in action scenes, and he also also portrays Bond's vulnerability and inner turmoil in a very interesting way, without ever coming across as melodramatic. Terrific actor and a terrific Bond. It's hard to see SKYFALL working half as well without him.

Probably would have been better if you had waited until you had seen Skyfall twice before laying into it; seems to be a film that demands at least two viewings. It's not yer average Bond.

Erica Ambler wrote:

Probably would have been better if you had waited until you had seen Skyfall twice before laying into it

Well, I did put the following disclaimer in my initial post in this thread:

It may be that in time I'll look more favourably upon SKYFALL (I certainly hope so - after all, I'm a Bond fan and want to really like it). I've changed my mind before on Bond films - my initial reaction isn't always definitive and lasting.

I see nothing wrong with us airing our initial reactions, be they positive or negative or mixed, and regardless of whether we go on to change our minds. How many of us posted opinions on SKYFALL only after two or more viewings and much deliberation? Few of us, I imagine.

Loomis wrote:

I see nothing wrong with us airing our initial reactions, be they positive or negative or mixed, and regardless of whether we go on to change our minds. How many of us posted opinions on SKYFALL only after two or more viewings and much deliberation? Few of us, I imagine.

Ambler did. He's a model for all mankind.

That was because I was taken aback by how different it is. I believe Khan is waiting until he has seen it twice as well.