By now, every audience knows what a Bond film will involve; a discerning gent in a great suit with a small gun defeating his numerous heavily-armed adversaries and getting the girl. What’s interesting is seeing how each director (and every Bond) approaches this in such a thrilling, unique way. Would Mendes and Craig be a winning combination for Skyfall?

 

Elysium Magazine was able to see Bond in action for the 23rd installment and boy were we impressed! If you have been keeping up with our celebration ahead of the release of Skyfall, you will know we are already big fans. Here are Elysium Magazine’s thoughts on James Bond’s biggest movie to date…

 

Let’s start with Bond. Daniel Craig is simply extraordinary. This may be the most fallible, human and downright believable Bond we’ve seen on screen. He also looks terrific Tom Ford better get the pinstripe suits on pre-order! Expect to see many men also wearing a sky blue pocket square to match their shirt and sporting white braces under a smart dinner jacket. The off duty wear is similarly well handled – another Style Icon for the masses we think!

 

 

Bond movies are known for the product placements and the news of Bond enjoying a Heineken got a lot of fans upset! However, the product placement is not as prominent as you would think. There are Sony Vaios, a glance at an Omega timepiece, a conspicuous bottle of MacCallan Whisky, a few Coke Zeroes and two beers that cost Heineken around £14m each. Despite the outrage the placements are never obvious – if you want outrageous examples of product placements you only need to view a Rick Ross video, in comparison Skyfall is not a issue.

 

Skyfall has some fantastic locations, although all of the biggest scenes take place in key British locations. These include the National Gallery, on the London Underground and at a remote house in the Highlands. Let us not forget Shanghai as it provides some amazing backdrops for 007 although don’t try and book Bond’s hotel there – the pool he’s swimming in is actually in Canary Wharf!

 

 

We are sure Javier Bardem’s character will divide people – his character will gain a certain notoriety. He resembles a villain with a desire to destroy but maintains charm. Still, he lives up to Mendes’ description of him as “canny and witty and flirtatious in a disturbing way that even I didn’t expect”.

 

 

 

Ralph Fiennes is on of the new characters in Skyfall. He plays Gary Mallory and it works surprisingly well. He makes an unlikeable role – the government official who wants to keep both M and Bond in line – particularly watchable and without any unnecessary villainy. Ben Wishaw’s IT Crowd-esque Q and Judi Dench’s defiant M are also great, just as we expected.

 

We really did enjoy Skyfall, it is released on 26 October 2012 – check it out and let us know what you think.