I've been in the midst of an apartment move these last few days with limited internet access so I'm a little behind on posting these trailers, but they're still worth sharing! Here's the new domestic U.S. trailer for Skyfall (coming in November) and the new slightly different new international trailer 9 (with the UK release date of October). I wish the MacGuffin weren't a list of agents (my least favorite spy MacGuffin, horribly overdone and not that realistic to begin with), but besides that, I think it looks absolutely fantastic! Looks like a return to classic Bond appropriately adapted to the Craig era... which is exactly what I want!
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3 comments:
The problem with a "list of spies" is that once it's gone, it's gone. It's not like a bomb or a killer satellite: "Pay me or I'll push the button!" Pretty much as soon as someone reads the list (which has obviously happened), the button's been pushed already; the damage is done, the genie's out of the bottle and there can be no "mad dash to stop catastrophe." All you're left with is retribution, which while potentially dramatic isn't necessarily hurried or urgent.
That said, the movie looks awesome. But I can't help but feel it was stupid to destroy any drama they might have gotten out of Bond's (very cool) "death scene" by spoiling it -- and the resolution -- in the trailer. A lot of time, money and talent obviously went into that stunt and giving it away before the film's even out undermines it as surely as the slide whistle did the MWTGG car jump. Now we can still admire the great cinematography and the talent of the stuntmen, but the whole "shock and awe" angle is gone.
Let's face it, there hasn't been a truly unique "maguffin" in a Bond film since Goldfinger tried to blow up Fort Knox. Be that as it may, "Skyfall" looks tantalizing but it's also maddening as hell. These are the most opaque trailers in the series history since I still don't know how Roger Deakins brilliantly photographed images come together as a story; as a Bond movie. Perhaps that is by design if Sam Mendes vision is still gestating and that could be a good thing. After all, the "Quantum of Solace" trailer rocked. The movie? Not so much.
At least we finally get a glimpse of Sam Mendes the action director and so far so good. A revelation I noticed of late is some directors are going back to basics and avoiding today's filmmakers slobbering love affair with CGI. I mean, that's a REAL back of a train being torn apart as Craig adjusts his cuff links (a nice touch).
Good points. Besides the toothpaste out of the tube effect, the other thing that really irks me about the NOC list conceit is that such lists generally don't ever exist! Most spy networks are meticulously organized so that not even the agents in the network know the identities of the other agents in the network, in case one of them is caught. But beyond that, everything you say is true too, AND it's just overused. It seems like an easy choice.
But, as Christopher points out, the MacGuffin isn't really that important in a Bond movie anyway! And the rest of it does, indeed, look awesome. I agree it's too bad they give away the death bit, but overall I don't feel like this trailer ruins the movie for me AT ALL! If anything, it leaves me with questions. LOTS of questions! And that's a GOOD thing.
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