I've been thinking about a couple of posts, and since my accounting teacher has failed to post the homework, I have a free lunch hour!
The first is, I saw Skyfall this weekend, at
mithras03's insistence this weekend. I'm not as nuts about it as she is, but I really kind find anything wrong with it at all. I mean, there's orientalism and objectifying of women, but--Bond--and it's nowhere near the rest of the films in the franchise on those scales.
What I mean is, I agreed with every single storytelling choice. There was never a point where I felt like they'd dropped the ball or chosen a less interesting story arc than they could have.
Two things really stood out to me:
- It is gorgeous. It's one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen, full stop. It has this one fight sequence that was just stunning. And they do some low light stuff that film hasn't even been capable of really capturing until recently. I can think of a dozen shots in the movie off the top of my head that just grabbed me.
- The Bond franchise has a history of high camp. Mostly in the Roger Moore years. I love those movies, but they are about awful puns and ludicrous supervillains and impossible gadgets. The Craig reboot, from what I can tell (didn't see Quantum of Solace) is going for a much more gritty, Bourne Identity type of spy thriller. This movie manages to be just a little bit arch, but without it ever being jarring or overly winking at the audience. There's just enough of the heightened reality to make it clearly in the lineage of the franchise, but without lessening the stakes or moving into ludicrous at any point. And that, right there, is an incredibly hard balance to strike. The film deserves kudos just for that.
( spoiler cut contains spoilers )
The first is, I saw Skyfall this weekend, at
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What I mean is, I agreed with every single storytelling choice. There was never a point where I felt like they'd dropped the ball or chosen a less interesting story arc than they could have.
Two things really stood out to me:
- It is gorgeous. It's one of the most beautifully shot films I've ever seen, full stop. It has this one fight sequence that was just stunning. And they do some low light stuff that film hasn't even been capable of really capturing until recently. I can think of a dozen shots in the movie off the top of my head that just grabbed me.
- The Bond franchise has a history of high camp. Mostly in the Roger Moore years. I love those movies, but they are about awful puns and ludicrous supervillains and impossible gadgets. The Craig reboot, from what I can tell (didn't see Quantum of Solace) is going for a much more gritty, Bourne Identity type of spy thriller. This movie manages to be just a little bit arch, but without it ever being jarring or overly winking at the audience. There's just enough of the heightened reality to make it clearly in the lineage of the franchise, but without lessening the stakes or moving into ludicrous at any point. And that, right there, is an incredibly hard balance to strike. The film deserves kudos just for that.