Skyfall thoughts: James Bond, a hero?

[boot_the_grime]

I watched Skyfall last night - I’m not a fan of the Bond franchise, but I did like Casino Royale, and this one got great reviews for some reason… Why, I really don’t know. The story is deeply unsatisfying and even more problematic than The Dark Knight Rises. What I get from this story is that Bond doesn’t care about saving people other than his

Comments

[local_max]

Yesss to this, definitely. I would love it if the movie really committed to this interpretation (though I am not entirely sure how well it fits with Casino Royale -- or Quantum of Solace which I haven't seen); I do think that, depending on how QoS went, one could make the case that Bond's ability to connect to anyone besides M got shattered in Casino Royale and that what we have left is...nada. Skyfall even supports this interpretation, ish, by having Silva point out the very things you mention (and that I mentioned), or at least some of them, but the movie again seems to believe/suggest that M and Bond, or the film itself or something, have offered a counterargument which they never have. I doubt I'll watch the next movie, but I do think that it's possible that the franchise could work with this darker interpretation, but it's hard to believe they would go that way -- especially because I doubt they would want to retroactively paint Judi Dench's character in a negative light.

[red_satin_doll]

uses women and treats them like shit and is ready to let them die,

I admit to not having seen any of the Daniel Craig films but - you're familiar with the original iterations with Sean Connery and Roger Moore, right? LOTS of dead girls. (I still can't shake that image in Goldfinger of the girl lying dead in his bed, suffocated to death by being completely covered in gold paint. Although he did seem to actually care a little in this instance but then he actually brought her back to his room to begin with. Which, for Bond, is like marriage.)

The best part of the film, by far, is the amazing opening title sequence and Adele’s theme song, and I can’t help thinking it would work much better for some other, better story.

Which was pretty much true for all of the Roger Moore films, as I recall.

[boot_the_grime]

I'm familiar with the Connery/Moore/Brosnan versions of Bond, though I haven't seen many of them. They are basically callous escapist male fantasies. But the new movies with Daniel Craig have been trying to be darker and "grittier" and more serious, and instead of having the perpetual nonchalant smirk, Craig's Bond is portrayed as a cold-blooded killer and rather messed-up guy. (Which, really, Bond obviously is if the movie is taking his character seriously at all.) Without going too much into spoilers, Casino Royale was a sort of origin story, showing Bond in the relatively early stages of his career, already fed up with the life he's leading and wanting to leave it all behind, but then what happens in that movie makes him even colder and more cynical and guarded and ties him even closer to his job and his boss. They're also bringing up his background more - that he's an orphan with no relatives, and stressing that he's got no meaningful human connections outside MI6