After a four year hiatus, Bond makes its triumphant return
It appears as if the only thing falling for “Skyfall” are box office records that came before it.
Shattering the $67 million Bond series precedent set by “Quantum of Solace,” “Skyfall,” took in close to $90 million in its first three days, with $30 million on opening night alone.
The critics haven’t been too harsh on the flick either. Rotten Tomatoes, one of the internet’s most popular movie critic website, rated “Skyfall” an 91 out of 100 in 222 reviews. The Colin Covert of the Star Tribune gave the movie four out of four stars in his assessment.
“(Skyfall delivers) all the kinetic satisfaction of a taut action thriller with a mature sophistication rare in popcorn blockbusters,” Covert said in his review.
Many Park students have already seen the movie. Junior Andy Haroldson went the movie the day after it came out. He said even though the movie’s focus was action, the character development made the movie great.
“It was the best Bond movie I’ve seen,” he said. “It had a backstory that revealed things about the characters past, and brought that into to the story.”
Haroldson said Bond movies have certain qualities that others don’t.
Haroldson said Bond movies have certain qualities that others don’t.
“There’s a feel to them thats different from other movies. They feels more familiar,” he said. “The characters felt more genuine than most action movies.”
As the series turned 50 earlier this year, its 23rd installment didn’t come without its challenges. After its production company MGM filed for bankruptcy, production was temporarily shut down for more than a year. The screenplay writer, Peter Morgan, bailed on the movie upon hearing the news.
Still, production resumed in 2010 and MGM announced the Nov. 9 release date in January 2011. After accusations that the film used much of Morgan’s original script, director Sam Mendes was quick to quell the controversy over whether the script was copied.
“Absolutely not. Definitely not. That’s a lie. I don’t want to make a big story about it, that’s just not true,” Mendes said in an interview with Film Journal International. “That credit grabbing is not fair on the writers.”
Still, amidst the controversy, Bond debuted to record sales. The question is whether the numbers will sustain themselves long enough to break the $508 million total revenue record (adjusted for inflation), by “Thunderball,” intact since 1965.
