I’ve been chatting with someone over on Facebook about Skyfall as compared with Iron Man 3. There was criticism over the fact the first half of the movie is about chasing after a hard drive, and that’s when it struck me. The hard drive is just a McGuffin, not just for the movie, but for the villain as well. The hard drive is the bait to get people to come after him and incarcerate him in London so he can go after his real target — M.
That is classic Second Stage Rocket. You think it’s about the names of agents on a hard drive, but then you find out it’s much, much worse than you knew. Your enemy is five steps ahead of you, and he’s gunning for someone that Bond actually cares about.
They also did a lovely job of having the personal story lines for both Bond and Silva echo each other, and intensify the emotions that are driving these two men. There is just so much going on in that movie. It’s about loneliness and isolation and seeking validation. The more I think about the film the more I like it.