Not only is Skyfall the highest-grossing James Bond film ever, it has also become the highest-grossing film of all time in the UK. While some critics considered Sam Mendes ‘too artsy’ to direct a blockbuster, he has proven himself just the man to make us all forget about Quantum of Solace. But as stylish and spectacular as Skyfall may be, your typical cinema-goer may have left the screening with a sense of deja vu…
Taking the reins of the Caped Crusader, Christopher Nolan may not have felt much pressure to live up to his predecessor (Joel Schumacher threatened to run the whole franchise into the ground; Batsuit, Bane and all) but nobody could’ve anticipated him reinventing the comic book movie adaptation.
In a number of interviews, Mendes has acknowledged Nolan’s achievements by referring to his trilogy (specifically The Dark Knight) as a ‘‘game-changer’’. And, like The Dark Knight, the real star of the show is the villain. While he has the mandatory megalomania you’d expect in a Bond film -practically a genre in itself- rogue agent Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem) is so damn mesmerising you almost want him to succeed. Almost.
So is Nolan’s reboot a direct inspiration? There are certainly enough theories to suggest so. Although it has to be said that Skyfall’s shoot ran parallel to that of The Dark Knight Rises and so, while comparisons are drawn, these are more often than not the products of coincidence. Here, with Skyfall stills in the header, are (double- oh) seven examples and just as many spoilers:
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9 Comments
Amendment to #5: The Tumbler falls from Applied Sciences, not the Batcave.
#5: Could easily say it took from Spiderman.
How can a movie borrow from another movie if they were released a few months apart. Was mendes on set during the dark knight rises? Oh! That’s right! He slept with Nolan to get all of his secrets on how to make a great film. Come on man, get serious.
True – it borrowed strongly from what Nolan did with The Dark Knight rather than …Rises
This is mentioned in the intro.
Why would anyone borrow anything from TDKR? The most overrated, bloated piece of cinematic excrement to ever have been perpetrated on the masses.
Number 7 ? Really ? Hey moron, that was paying homage to You Only Live Twice, a Bond novel that was written almost 50 years ago. This site provides constant amusement to me due to it’s constant misinformation and adolescent POV.
Skyfall and TDKR are two of the worst movies I have ever seen. That’s indisputable. I really couldn’t make it through the list because those two movies just piss me off. Skyfall may have have been a high grossing movie, but it was one of the worst movies I’ve ever seen.
Fair enough, that’s your opinion. I’m not much of a Bond fan but I was surprised by how good Skyfall was. And, like most people on this site (it seems), I was disappointed by TDKR. Yet I could spot similarities between the two franchises. Shame you couldn’t enjoy either.