Skyfall Teaser
Skyfall teaser
The teaser for the James Bond film Skyfall was released this week and I have a few thoughts about it.
First of all, as anyone who knows me is well aware, I am an enormous Bond fan and have especially liked the character based approach the films have taken since Daniel Craig first played the part in 2006. Bond is such a rich character that when the films focus more on his story than on plans to conquer the world the audience experience is more profound.
Skyfall was delayed for about a year due to MGM’s bankruptcy issues and the extra time seems to have given the principals time to polish the script, in much the way the four year wait between Die Another Day and Casino Royale benefited the latter. In 2009 the seventh season of 24 debuted a year late due to the writer’s strike of late 2007-2008 and the result was one of the best seasons ever. As a true Bond fan I value quality over quantity and I would far rather see a superb Bond film every four years, as Casino Royale was, than an average one every two years.
Sam Mendes is the director. He is not the first person I would think of for a Bond film but he has a strong visual sense and the three of his films that I have seen (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road) are dark stories with strong character conflicts and journeys at their core. Road to Perdition had some beautifully filmed gunfights and Daniel Craig was great as Paul Newman’s violently unstable son Connor. It was the first film I thought of when he was announced as the new Bond. At the end of Quantum of Solace, which I will write about one of these days, Bond had come to terms with his relationship with Vesper, understanding what had driven her to betray him and his country and had finished processing his loss of her. Quantum, the villainous organization with political and terrorist ties, had several members on the loose which Bond might come up against in the future. Apparently, however, they are not the villains in this story.
Craig sports a different look in this film. In Casino Royale he was very bulky and he was a little leaner in Quantum of Solace. In both films he had a typical Bondian haircut, relatively short, but a little longer in the front. In this film he looks even leaner and has a very short military-style haircut. The teaser begins with Bond in an interrogation room being asked a series of questions via some sort of word association. M is watching, along with Ralph Fiennes, who I suppose plays a government official, and off to the side, Tanner, M’s chief of staff introduced in Quantum. During these questions we see Bond standing in front a view of London, a firing range, someone, possibly Bond, running through what appears to be Hyde Park, and a few other images.
Interrogator: Country
Bond: England
Interrogator: Gun
Bond: Shot
Interrogator: Agent
Bond: Provocateur
Interrogator: Murder
Bond: Employment
This response indicates that this will continue to be a dark interpretation of Bond. The music, by Thomas Newman, a new composer to the series, is fairly dramatic. Up to this points Bond’s responses are strong and matter of fact.
The interrogator then says “Skyfall”. Bond tenses up and Craig’s face looks a little haunted. M visibly tenses up as well, Fiennes looks over to see her reaction and off to the site her assistant looks down in discomfort. There is an image, presumably a flashback, of Bond walking into a dark room with his gun out, looking beyond a dead man in a chair. Something horrible is related to this term. The interrogator then says “Skyfall” again and Bond’s jaw hardens and he says “Done” in a strong voice. He then gets up and walks out.
This of course leads to the question: what is Skyfall? Does this scene begin the film or end it? It may open the film and then everything that follows is a flashback leading up to it. Bond films rarely have flashbacks but it would be a welcome change to the structure. I know the story relates to Bond facing a threat from M’s past and perhaps Bond refuses to discuss the matter further to protect M. I am glad the filmmakers have opted to keep things secret since I enjoy a film much more if I do not know too much about it. I hope the release trailer also protects the film’s plot. I expect that it will.
Following this are several unconnected images, most of them striking, which should make for a strong visual experience, much better than the shaky cam approach of Quantum of Solace. Roger Deakins is the cinematographer, who boasts a strong resume, including The Shawshank Redemption and No Country For Old Men. Both the Coen Brothers and Sam Mendes have used him repeatedly.
The images include a shot of M standing in front of several coffins draped in the British flag, Bond running through downtown London, a shot of the Shanghai skyline, Naomi Harris as Eve, shaving Bond, Bond and M looking over an English or Scottish countryside in front of the classic Aston Martin, the other Bond girl played by Bérénice Marlohe, standing in a window and several action moments (a subway crashing through a wall, Bond shooting at people, Bond going through a dark tunnel). There is a shot of a man with long hair in silhouette walking away from a burning house at night. This is presumably the character Javier Bardem plays, who the filmmakers may not want to reveal just yet. At the end Bond says to someone, possibly M. “Some men are coming to kill us. We’re going to kill them first.”
I think it is a perfect teaser and I cannot wait to see this new Bond story.
The teaser for the James Bond film Skyfall was released this week and I have a few thoughts about it.
First of all, as anyone who knows me is well aware, I am an enormous Bond fan and have especially liked the character based approach the films have taken since Daniel Craig first played the part in 2006. Bond is such a rich character that when the films focus more on his story than on plans to conquer the world the audience experience is more profound.
Skyfall was delayed for about a year due to MGM’s bankruptcy issues and the extra time seems to have given the principals time to polish the script, in much the way the four year wait between Die Another Day and Casino Royale benefited the latter. In 2009 the seventh season of 24 debuted a year late due to the writer’s strike of late 2007-2008 and the result was one of the best seasons ever. As a true Bond fan I value quality over quantity and I would far rather see a superb Bond film every four years, as Casino Royale was, than an average one every two years.
Sam Mendes is the director. He is not the first person I would think of for a Bond film but he has a strong visual sense and the three of his films that I have seen (American Beauty, Road to Perdition, Revolutionary Road) are dark stories with strong character conflicts and journeys at their core. Road to Perdition had some beautifully filmed gunfights and Daniel Craig was great as Paul Newman’s violently unstable son Connor. It was the first film I thought of when he was announced as the new Bond. At the end of Quantum of Solace, which I will write about one of these days, Bond had come to terms with his relationship with Vesper, understanding what had driven her to betray him and his country and had finished processing his loss of her. Quantum, the villainous organization with political and terrorist ties, had several members on the loose which Bond might come up against in the future. Apparently, however, they are not the villains in this story.
Craig sports a different look in this film. In Casino Royale he was very bulky and he was a little leaner in Quantum of Solace. In both films he had a typical Bondian haircut, relatively short, but a little longer in the front. In this film he looks even leaner and has a very short military-style haircut. The teaser begins with Bond in an interrogation room being asked a series of questions via some sort of word association. M is watching, along with Ralph Fiennes, who I suppose plays a government official, and off to the side, Tanner, M’s chief of staff introduced in Quantum. During these questions we see Bond standing in front a view of London, a firing range, someone, possibly Bond, running through what appears to be Hyde Park, and a few other images.
Interrogator: Country
Bond: England
Interrogator: Gun
Bond: Shot
Interrogator: Agent
Bond: Provocateur
Interrogator: Murder
Bond: Employment
This response indicates that this will continue to be a dark interpretation of Bond. The music, by Thomas Newman, a new composer to the series, is fairly dramatic. Up to this points Bond’s responses are strong and matter of fact.
The interrogator then says “Skyfall”. Bond tenses up and Craig’s face looks a little haunted. M visibly tenses up as well, Fiennes looks over to see her reaction and off to the site her assistant looks down in discomfort. There is an image, presumably a flashback, of Bond walking into a dark room with his gun out, looking beyond a dead man in a chair. Something horrible is related to this term. The interrogator then says “Skyfall” again and Bond’s jaw hardens and he says “Done” in a strong voice. He then gets up and walks out.
This of course leads to the question: what is Skyfall? Does this scene begin the film or end it? It may open the film and then everything that follows is a flashback leading up to it. Bond films rarely have flashbacks but it would be a welcome change to the structure. I know the story relates to Bond facing a threat from M’s past and perhaps Bond refuses to discuss the matter further to protect M. I am glad the filmmakers have opted to keep things secret since I enjoy a film much more if I do not know too much about it. I hope the release trailer also protects the film’s plot. I expect that it will.
Following this are several unconnected images, most of them striking, which should make for a strong visual experience, much better than the shaky cam approach of Quantum of Solace. Roger Deakins is the cinematographer, who boasts a strong resume, including The Shawshank Redemption and No Country For Old Men. Both the Coen Brothers and Sam Mendes have used him repeatedly.
The images include a shot of M standing in front of several coffins draped in the British flag, Bond running through downtown London, a shot of the Shanghai skyline, Naomi Harris as Eve, shaving Bond, Bond and M looking over an English or Scottish countryside in front of the classic Aston Martin, the other Bond girl played by Bérénice Marlohe, standing in a window and several action moments (a subway crashing through a wall, Bond shooting at people, Bond going through a dark tunnel). There is a shot of a man with long hair in silhouette walking away from a burning house at night. This is presumably the character Javier Bardem plays, who the filmmakers may not want to reveal just yet. At the end Bond says to someone, possibly M. “Some men are coming to kill us. We’re going to kill them first.”
I think it is a perfect teaser and I cannot wait to see this new Bond story.
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