Skyfall

[sophia_sol]

Just came back from seeing the new Bond movie with my dad this evening! (MAYBE I SHOULD ACTUALLY START CALLING IT SKYFALL INSTEAD OF "THE NEW BOND MOVIE"????)So that was a thoroughly enjoyable evening!

My thoughts, in point form, as they spill out of my head:
- M was the best part of that movie. But then isn't Judi Dench ALWAYS the best part of any movie she's in? THAT LADY IS A TREASURE is all I'm saying, and it's a tragedy she won't be around forever.
- Second best part of the movie is either Eve or Q
- Actually I WOULD GLEEFULLY WATCH A MOVIE ABOUT M, Q, AND EVE.
- The main character, whatever, he was an aging dude being all manly and whatever
- Although the one bit where I DID enjoy Bond was whenever he was interacting with Kincade.
- And whenever Bond did something particularly clever I couldn't help but like him a little more.
- Also there was one brief moment where the light caught Bond's hair in the right way and his hair just looked really great and I was like HMMM THAT BOND HE IS NONE SO BAD-LOOKING and then I remembered his face. (I KNOWWWWW I AM SO EASY FOR GOOD HAIR. His hair wasn't even that amazing! It was just that one moment!)
- I will not lie, the man looks good in a suit. Though anyone would look good in a suit so thoroughly tailored to one's body.
- The most attractive person in that movie is 100% Eve Moneypenny.
- The character of Severine was just -- SIGH, HAVE WE NOT MOVED BEYOND THIS YET. Also that shower scene: CREEPYCREEPYCREEPY, BOND; I DO NOT LIKE YOU. Though that line Severine says about feeling naked without her gun is GREAT. I like it when people have clever lines!
- And handily this is a movie THOROUGHLY EQUIPPED with clever lines! I like that in a movie.
- You know what I don't like in a movie? KILLING M.
- M WAS THE AWESOMEST
- And I'm sad now that the new M is just another aging dude.
- Q though! Q! That introductory scene where they're looking at the painting? Q IS IN TOTAL CONTROL OF THAT ENTIRE INTERACTION and it is glorious. And I was sporfling so hard over what Q says about the painting.
- And Eve! Clever! Capable! Full of witty banter! Does not take Bond's shit!
- Could have wished for Eve's decision that she's not suited for field work to be explored a LITTLE more -- there only had to be a few more words, really! But as it is, it reads too easily as "Eve doesn't have what it takes to do MANLY HEROICS like James Bond!"
- Oh man that shaving scene. I will not lie, I really enjoyed Eve holding a sharp implement to James Bond's throat and telling him what to do.
- Also that beginning chase scene, with the train and Eve's badass driving and all that. SO GOOD.
- There was some SURPRISINGLY BEAUTIFUL cinematography in this movie. There were a few moments where I was just like "OOOOOOH PRETTY." Job well done!
- I liked Bond's reaction to Silva coming on to him: "What makes you think this is my first time?"
- But having the only queer content of the movie being unwanted advances from the villain to the hero is just -- really? REALLY? We're still doing this?
- I enjoyed the rat metaphor. I enjoyed Silva drawing those connections between him and Bond, how they're none so different, how they've been moulded by their job into something that's no longer particularly good. The only reason Bond isn't a COMPLETE menace to society is because is loyal to his superiors.
- Still, the movie coulda done with less Bond. As I said: MAKE THE MOVIE ALL ABOUT M AND Q AND EVE AND IT WOULD BE THE BESTTTTTTT.
- OR EVEN JUST ALL ABOUT M. ILU M. JUDI DENCH, QUEEN OF MY HEART.
- No really, Judi Dench is brilliant in everything always.
- If Judi Dench were playing Edward Cullen I WOULD WATCH TWILIGHT
- ...actually that would be a really interesting movie
- I would FOR REALSIES watch it!
- Anyways
-Judi Dench for the next Doctor! Judi Dench for the captain in some new Star Trek thing! Judi Dench for Methos! Judi Dench for Granny Weatherwax! AND SO FORTH
- Yeah okay that's as good a place as any to end this.
-Oh wait no one more thing
-I came out of this movie shipping Bond/Q not at all, which is kind of hilarious given all the Bond/Q fic I've been reading. But actually what I really love is the almost tense working relationship between them, between the new kind of intelligence worker and the old, where Q is this bright young thing who knows he's better than Bond, because he is, and Bond is starting to get out of date
- I mean, I know the whole point of the movie was to argue for the continuing relevance of agents like Bond, and sure, there is still a place for people like him, but a much smaller one. People like Q are the leading edge.
- So now I want fic about Q and M, exploring that same sort of tension of new/old power
- But of course this is fandom so mostly people are writing gay porn. :P Well, it's a young fandom! It has time to grow in other directions
- And of course it's not like I'm going to STOP reading the Bond/Q fic, because not shipping something hasn't stopped me before!
-OKAY NOW I AM DONE
-Because my computer shuts down in just five minutes so I'D BETTER be done!
-I've rambled on here long enough!

Comments

[justice_turtle]

DAMMIT SOPHIA IF JUDI DENCH PLAYED EDWARD CULLEN I WOULD WATCH THAT TOO. :D And now I am very confused and trying to figure out how that would even go. Besides AMAZINGLY. :D

[sophia_sol]

I KNOW!!! If you do manage to come up with a hypothetical scenario of how it would work, LET ME KNOW because DUDE.

[aria]

Okay so in no particular order:

- I am only okay with them killing M because I think Judy Dench wanted out of the franchise? Which breaks my heart but is not a terrible reason.

- I remain UTTERLY BAFFLED by this Bond/Q thing because -- Q is great! I am very fond! But BOND/M SHIP OF MY HEART OKAY I HAVE AN UNREASONABLE OTP HERE.

- !!! How much do I need Judy Dench to play Granny Weatherwax!

...apparently I just want to yell about Judy Dench a lot. I feel this is a good life choice.

Judi Dench is worth a lot of yelling!

[sophia_sol]

- I was just talking this morning with one of my bosses about the movie, and apparently Judi Dench is BLIND these days and that's why she's leaving the franchise! idk, I'd have to google to verify facts but anyways I love that my boss is apparently super into the movie and up on the actors in it and everything.

- BOND/M IS JUST NO. For me anyways. I have issues with superior/subordinate relationships and the inherent consent issues! Also my instinct for this movie is to ship NOTHING. :P

- The moment I had the thought of Judi Dench as Granny Weatherwax I was just like WOWWWWW YES PLEASE

[sylvaine]

They killed off Judi Dench?! I AM NOT WATCHING THIS OH GOD. :((((

(Except I probably totally will anyway, but :((((( )

(Also JUDI DENCH FOR ALL THE CHARACTERS EVER)

[sophia_sol]

I KNOW! I could barely watch the entire second half of the movie because I was just RECOILING FROM THE INEVITABLE DEATH I KNEW WAS COMING. Judi Dench wasn't allowed to die! NOT COOL.

[toft]

I like your thoughts! I agree re: Judi Dench and I am EXTREMELY intrigued by M/Q.

[sophia_sol]

:D thanks!

and ahahaha I am not actually wanting M/Q but M&Q, but WHATEVER FLOATS YOUR BOAT. I am sure there could be very interesting things done with that, actually!

[rebeccation]

Belatedly, the good thing about Ralph Fiennes as M is that you know that man loves flawed, twisted tyrants. This opens up a whole world of possibilities for evil!M in the future: the enemy within, the government that exists to protect as dangerous, repressive, and destructive... Where Judi Dench's M is a competent woman who can coldly analyze the risks and costs of a situation and choose the greater good, I suspect Fiennes's M will just be chillingly--well, something. Which leaves "objective, calculating and competent" to Eve Moneypenny. If that's the way things are going, I'd much rather they do that to an M who is "just another aging dude", rather than dismantle the awesome image Judi Dench has created for her M. As you pointed out, the movie's about change, about the passage of time, about aging, about the contrast of new/old power. I thought her death, while disappointing, fit that pretty well.

But, yeah, a compelling but flawed movie that I'm somehow reluctant to let go of, too.

[sophia_sol]

OOOOH! I actually am pretty unfamiliar with Ralph Fiennes (though upon looking him up on wiki, I discover I am actually extremely familiar with his voice, because I have watched Prince of Egypt A LOT in my life). But the things you say are things that would be REALLY FANTASTIC if they come to pass. And you're right, they're things I wouldn't want to happen to Dench's M -- and you're also right that her death fits with the movie thematically.

"compelling, flawed, reluctant to let go of" -- that's this movie exactly.

[rebeccation]

Regarding Fiennes, maybe that's just my hopes for the direction they could take this in, rather than the actual stuff that's planned. But we can always hope, right?

[sophia_sol]

"That greatest of all gifts which is hope," as they say. :)

[lettered]

1. You're hilarious.

2. This: I know the whole point of the movie was to argue for the continuing relevance of agents like Bond, and sure, there is still a place for people like him, but a much smaller one. People like Q are the leading edge.

I got the first part, but for some reason the second part went over my head in the movie. I mean, not quite over my head. It was obvious Narcissa Malfoy I mean the Bureaucrat Government Official was saying that Bond was becoming irrelevant because we don't need undercover guys with guns these days; we do it all with tech, but what I mean is I missed the connection there that Q is the tech. I mean, obviously he is, I just missed the part where it's, "Q IS THE FUTURE. NOT YOU." Because . . . that's true.

Probably I missed it because I wasn't really that interested in Q. I was all about Silva, Bond, and M and they're twisted, incestuous little family. Buuuuuuuuuut would I read a fic where Bond flies out to Myanmar or somewhere to solve a case or whatever and by the time he gets there, Q's already solved it and this keeps happening? Yes, I would. A thousand times. Especially if Q is all blase about it and Bond wants to punch his face in. And especially if there comes a situation where Q is a hostage and Bond has to save him and Bond's like, "See? Still relevant! How 'bout them apples?" and then Bond gets hostage too and Q's like . . ."so about those apples." and Bond's like "Shaddup!" and Q has to save them both. WITH HIS MIND.

gah.

I agree with your other post too, btw. I don't know where all the awkward!Q comes from. It's not like I disliked Q, but I am so entirely uninterested in the version that appears to be proliferating that I kinda feel like what's the point of reading Bond fic.

[sophia_sol]

1. \o/ (I really am glad to hear that. I like being funny and it's good to hear I am occasionally successful!)

2. You know, the thing is I don't know that the movie WAS actually trying to go there. I think the movie's argument was thus: "people are thinking that spies are no longer relevant/important these days, BUT THEY'RE WRONG." I mean, the move introduced Q with all his confidence in his abilities, but then iirc he ends up not being the biggest help, because of course the plot has been engineered such that only Bond can save the day. For a given value of "save", of course, cf M dying....

Anyways, Q is, in the end, only another tool that Bond uses along the way, and it's Bond's talents that are lauded by the movie as being relevant.

Of course, I like my way of thinking about it better. CLEVER PEOPLE WITH CLEVER TECHNOLOGY TO THE RESCUE! And dude, I would read the hell out of that hypothetical fic of yours about Q and Bond. I WOULD READ IT SO HARD. I don't suppose I could convince you to write it? :D :D :D

[carmarthen.livejournal.com]

I think if the film was trying to argue for the continued relevance of Bond, it failed pretty hard (and yeah, Daniel Craig's face--well, I won't lie, part of why I love him is that he is kind of ugly, and has built a leading man career anyway. I think his face is interesting).

The most attractive person in that movie is 100% Eve Moneypenny.

WORD. Oh gosh, I love Naomie Harris.

I like the new M, as a character. I do not like him at all as a replacement for Judi Dench's M, and I kind of doubt he has what it takes to rein in Bond's more dipshitty urges, which is all of them.

This was very much a movie where I loved a lot of pieces of it, but the net whole left me disappointed and mildly angry.

[sophia-sol.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it didn't take me very long until after I posted this for me to think, "why did I say there was still a place for people like him?" Because yeah, the movie DIDN'T ACTUALLY HAVE ANY CONVINCING ARGUMENT on the subject.

Naomie Harris is awesome! I've never actually heard of her before. Although upon googling I learn that I saw her in the Pirates of the Caribbean movies as Tia Dalma. You learn something new every day!

You're right that Mallory as a character is interesting. But I am bitter towards him for replacing Judi Dench's M.

I'm still deciding how I feel about the movie. I think...I think my opinion is backwards from yours: I love the net whole, though a number of pieces of it leave me disappointed and mildly angry.