The first trailer for Skyfall, the 23rd James Bond movie, has a curious role to fulfil. On one hand, as the first Bond outing for four years, it has to meet a certain amount of expectation. Then again, since Quantum of Solace was so unapologetically woeful, the Skyfall trailer could simply consist of Daniel Craig clattering into the side of a shed again and again and it'd invariably be seen as an improvement.
Until now, the only information we've had has come in the form of promotional images (teaching us that Bond's penchant for horrible swimwear has now been augmented by a fondness for creepy leather gloves) and a poster (telling us that Bond still likes to dress up in his Sunday best to shoot people in tunnels). However, the Skyfall trailer is now with us, which means we now know more than ever about what the film holds in store.
The trailer opens with an awkward, po-faced game of Mallett's Mallet between Daniel Craig and an unidentified government psychologist behind a two-way mirror. "Country?" the psychologist asks. "England," replies Bond. Then "Gun?" "Shot." Then, as we catch our first glimpse of Bond without a top on: "Agent?" "Provocateur." For a moment, you suspect that Skyfall might in fact be a terrible James Bond/Rocky Horror cross-dressing hybrid.
But then Bond is asked "Skyfall?" and one of his eyes momentarily narrows, making him look like Thom Yorke if Thom Yorke was a nightclub bouncer. Just as the psychologist is about to smack him across the head with an oversized foam hammer, Bond gets his act together and replies: "Done."
The question of the trailer, then, is: what is Skyfall? A place? An operation? The rest of the trailer commits itself to offering clues. We cut to Shanghai, where a woman in a nice dress is gazing at the Bund. Then Bond walking into a room firing a gun. Then some coffins. Then a fiery river parade. Could Skyfall be Chinese? Before we have time to figure it out, we see Naomie Harris tenderly shaving Bond's face – perhaps because he's been crying in the shower fully dressed again, as he's done an awful lot since Daniel Craig started playing him.
A few quick impressionist shots of helicopters and men falling into water later and – because this is a trailer for a film to be released in 2012 – the dubstep kicks in. There's a tube crash. Another fall. A shot of Bond and Judi Dench peering at a hill. And then a man in silhouette – presumably Javier Bardem's villain – doing his best Joker impression as he strolls away from a fire.
The Skyfall trailer ends with Bond intoning, "Some men are coming to kill us. We're going to kill them first," before we're hit by a final barrage of explosions and gunfire and more dubstep and some Volkswagens being smashed up. And that's all there is, at least until the next trailer comes along to offer us a little more in the way of exposition.
So what is Skyfall? On the basis of this trailer, it might be Asian in origin. Or it could just as easily be Scottish. Or the name of a particularly hard-to-find Skrillrex remix. There's honestly no way of knowing at this point.
Still, at least James Bond is finally back. And, if nothing else, he can't be as bad as he was last time.
I didn't know Javier Bardem was in it??
__________________
Tobias Fünke: So what are your plans for this evening? Bob Loblaw: I thought that maybe I would stay in and work on my law blog. Tobias Fünke: Ah, yes. The "Bob Loblaw Law Blog". You, sir, are a mouthful.
Last edited by ella luciana; 05-21-2012 at 03:47 AM.
Reason: Damnit, embedding!
Yeah, I really liked Casino Royale (I'm not really a big Bond fan, I liked how it just kind of arrogantly said '**** the haters, this is how Bond is now') but Quantum of Solace... oh god. That was pretty bad. I don't think I could ever sit through it again. Like... what was it about? Underground water reservoir? Meh.
The whole thing could have been improved by this:
__________________
Tobias Fünke: So what are your plans for this evening? Bob Loblaw: I thought that maybe I would stay in and work on my law blog. Tobias Fünke: Ah, yes. The "Bob Loblaw Law Blog". You, sir, are a mouthful.
Is he in it?! Apparently all I've heard about this film is that it's called Skyfall.
__________________
Tobias Fünke: So what are your plans for this evening? Bob Loblaw: I thought that maybe I would stay in and work on my law blog. Tobias Fünke: Ah, yes. The "Bob Loblaw Law Blog". You, sir, are a mouthful.
Linear Mode
