SKYFALL or SKYFAIL?

On October 26, "Skyfall: 007" was released in European theaters. The theatrical release for USA is November 9. I've been reading some reviews for this film, and largely the criticism it receives it that MGM is trying too hard to mimic the style and success of Christopher Nolan's "Batman" series. Many fear that the reinventing of Bond that has taken place since casting Daniel Craig has broken too far from the more satirical roots of the series and is trying to establish a sense of realism that does not fit well with the sensational stunts that are consistently in Bond movies.

While I am not unaware that darker, grittier styles have grown vastly more popular after Nolan's success with the "Batman" series, those movies did not at all attempt any form of realism. This realism that critics claim the Bond movies are reaching for is something that I feel is purely an invention of opinionated writers. The sensationalism of Bond movies has largely been what decides wether an audience loves or hates the series as a whole. I'm not going to get into what defines "The Bond Universe" because that's an issue purely for fans of the series. Bond is a character that demands a suspension of disbelief, and that is maintained not by throwing around sex and explosions but by staying faithful to the character you are setting out to create.

Christopher Nolan's Batman certainly broke away from the goofy, more humorous, counterparts of the past. It didn't aim for any sense of realism. The world became more relatable to ours by focusing on the forces that drive the characters and how they grapple with forces beyond their control. Any sense of realism we gain as an audience is because we are shifting how we view heroes and seeing more of ourselves in the story. We are seeing heroes bleed, fall, and rise more because the characters are now becoming the centerpiece, and the stunts are more in service to the style and the fantasy. I'll have to see the movie this Friday to look for this "realism" the new director is searching for, and see if the reviews I read hold water or if they were just trying to be juicier read throughs.