Skyfallen

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I haven’t seen the theatrical in many years so I was watching more or less with fresh eyes. The only places where I noticed changes were the weird fade in to Silva on the island, the change in theme song, and the lack of booby traps. I clearly got a general sense of Silva being toned down, which was appreciated, but the aforementioned fade in felt like a fan edit, so I’m assuming it was one. I can’t say I agree with the change of theme music. Swapping out Radiohead for Sam Smith in Spectre sure. But the Adele theme is one of the better themes in my opinion and the replacement isn’t as good. But I suppose that is personal preference. Finally, the omission of the booby traps I think works very well and is a welcome change. I'm not sure what the original video quality was. I had to convert to MP4 in order to watch on my Apple TV. But the quality was noticeably lacking. I didn't really deduct though because I can't be sure the quality issues were due to my Handbrake conversion.

On to the movie itself. I think this is one of the better Bond movies and for me it is the most beautiful to look at (@TM2YC is insane in his dislike of Deakins :P ). But it’s a movie that is clearly trying to raise the bar. And as such it needs to be judged that way. In my opinion it fails to achieve what it clearly set out to do. It wants to make you think about themes such as how expendable human capital is in military and intelligence, the changing nature of conflict in the world, among other things. But the movie merely pays them lip service and doesn’t rise to its own challenges. That’s why, for me, Casino Royale remains the best of the Craig Bond movies.

It's still one of the better Bond movies and LS's edit is an improvement in most areas.

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9.7
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10.0
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9.0
LastSurvivor does it again with his (hopefully NOT) final 007 fanedit. Highly recommended for Bond fans!

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Yes
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DVD
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9.1
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9.0
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10.0
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9.0
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9.0
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6.0
I could write an essay on the multitudinous reasons why I think 'Skyfall' is one of the worst Bond movies ever made. But I'll try to just confine myself to the things that LastSurvivor improved and the things he could have maybe fixed. You might be asking, why would I download an edit of a film I hate? It's a fair comment but LastSurvivor is great faneditor, so I wanted to see what 'Skyfallen' was all about.

First off the "Could have been improved" section...

The cinematography is absolutely hideous, so it would have been nice if LS had attempted to correct that a bit. However, I suspect that the colours have been pushed so far into the realms of insanity that they can't be brought back to reality. Oh look the silver Aston Martin is neon-blue, oh look that grass is neon-blue, oh look that guy's skin is neon-blue etc etc. As a Director, I can't stand Sam Mendes but at least his previous films usually have "They look nice" going for them.

Not a single element of the plot makes any sense and the attention to detail is totally absent. Just one example: When Bond is given his father's "old hunting Rifle"... it's not a rifle, it's a bloody shotgun! There are a few points where extra trims could have been made but to be fair, the only way to fix everything, would be to erase the film from existence.

Now the things that are improved...

The insane levels of 'immersion-destroying' product-placement have been toned down a lot. So the worst offenders like the VWs shout-out and Bond drinking a Heineken are gone. But Tanner can still be seen drinking a Heineken... while at work... just after his boss has been nearly asssasinated... because we'd all do that!

Adele's drab rhyming-dictionary title-song is gone and replaced by an inspired new piece. I was a few seconds into the start before I'd even realised it had been changed. Fantastic seemless work. The added/changed music throughout is genius and the joins are invisible. The music work is probably the best thing about the edit.

The cuts for pacing are also invisible but the improved feel of the film is obvious. Most of the 25 minutes that are removed will not be missed by anybody. Mendes making the longest-ever Bond movie out of such an action-free script was self-indulgence at it's worst. Thanks to LS, that is reigned in a lot.

Many of the key misjudged elements are removed, toned down or improved in some way. The uneasy "rapey" yacht scene is largely fixed, the CGI Komodo Dragons are gone (Shame the CGI Scorpion is still there though) and Bond being an a**hole after Severine is shot. The use of the gunbarrel opening is of course absolutely brilliant!

Lastly a few of things that didn't work for me...

The blur-crossfade into the first shot of Silva didn't look right. Since the audio carries accross the transition anyway, a hard cut would have looked so much more professional IMO. I felt too much of Silva was cut so his character lacked the impact that he is clearly supposed to have. Bardem's OTT camp performance was a rare highlight for me in the original film. The heavily zoomed shot of Bond just after Severine's death was a bit jarring (LS doesn't say if this edit was based on the Blu-Ray or DVD), I'd have thought that a zoomed HD shot would have cut quite well with the SD DVD presentaion. However the thing that got removed by this zoomed shot had to go, so it's easily forgiven.

In conclusion, if you love this film, this edit will be your go-to version. But also, if like me, you hate it, then it'll still be your go-to version. Because when I'm in the mood for a Bond-athon, at least I won't have to sit through the original cut ever again. I can pop in LastSurvivor's zippy upgrade.

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Yes
Format Watched
DVD
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Overall rating
 
9.5
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
Audio Editing
 
10.0
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9.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
Last Survivor's very welcome comeback edit does not disappoint. My biggest grip with Skyfall, that it's a Christopher Nolan clone with little personality of its own, can not be fixed by a fanedit, but otherwise I found this edit very preferable to the theatrical cut, and more "Bondian" too. The pacing is better and, with 25 minutes of fat removed, it never feels like anything is missing. If anything, I'd have cut a few more bits, like Eve telling Bond about the YouTube upload (we've already seen that in the previous M scene, never deliver the same info twice on a movie, we can assume Eve did tell him offscreen) or the GB bumper sticker on the Aston Martin, which not only makes a SECRET agent's car more identifiable, but also if this is the same car we've been seeing since Goldfinger, and I assume it is since it has the machine guns, a bumper sticker of a particular country renders the rotating international plates useless.

LS succeeds in making Silva more menacing and less over the top. I liked his new intro, yet I could have done without the blurring, one isn't likely to find that in a theatrical release. A simple video cut would have worked fine. The replaced music is great, it really increases the overall Bond feel that I find lacking in the theatrical cut.

Despite the editor's high opinion on the cinematography, I do wish he had done some color correction. Roger Deakins is a good DP who has made fine work, particularly with the Coens, but here it tends a bit too much to the generic teal-and-orange look that's everywhere these days. I wish it had been toned down.

I'm also glad we finally got the audio commentary. I enjoyed it a lot. And thanks for the name dropping! :)

Recommended to all Bond fans, regardless of their opinion on Skyfall. Mission accomplished!

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Yes
Format Watched
DVD
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Overall rating
 
9.7
Audio/Video Quality
 
10.0
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10.0
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10.0
Narrative
 
9.0
Enjoyment
 
9.0
This is a tough one for me to review, as I am not Daniel Craig as Bond fan.

Though I remember loving Skyfall when first seeing it in theatres, caught up in the energy of the movie, it's appeal has significantly waned for me on repeated viewings. The convoluted plot really makes no sense to me. All this nonsense just to get caught so Silva can get close enough to kill M? This guy is an evil genius. He blew up MI6. I am pretty sure he could have snuck into the country anytime he wanted and kidnapped or assassinated M. But then there would be no movie, would there? lol.

So despite this plot handicap, Last Survivor has again done a masterful job salvaging the best parts of this movie. The majority of cuts are seamless and effective. Silva's intro is still debatable. While it feels a bit sudden and left field, it is still better than the way over the top cartoonish performance of the original. The audio work is fantastic!!! Great new score and cues!

But as always, for me, the best part of any LS edit is his commentary. Insightful, funny, informative and passionate. You can hear his love for the subject.

This is still a flawed film imo due to the source material, but I think LS made the movie worthier of the Bond franchise.

Really good work. Thumbs Up.

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Yes
Format Watched
DVD
Owner's reply December 05, 2014

Hey Bob,

Thanks so much for your kind comments. Really glad you enjoyed it, and you're too kind about my commentary. Man, was it a struggle to get this one done!

Cheers!

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