Skyfall is no Chicken Little

Does Skyfall live up to its hype? Is Daniel Craig the best James Bond ever? How does Javier Bardem's 'Silva' stack up against 50 years of competition? Does the sky really fall in Skyfall?  These were my questions going into the theater yesterday, and I will now answer them.

SYNOPSIS
If you've seen any trailer for Skyfall, you know that Bond is shot as the climax of the first action sequence. Then Bond reappears to help MI6 in their most dire moments. He is badly damaged emotionally and physically but perseveres as one expects Bond to do. The twist is a villain that scares everyone, including Bond and the audience.

REVIEW
The acting was quite brilliant with Javier Bardem stealing the show (no surprise) and is hands down the BEST Bond villain ever. Bardem needs to play the Joker in a Batman movie someday. I liked Craig in Casino Royale more, but he still stands as the best Bond in my opinion. Judi Dench's M was as good as ever. And both Ralph Feines and the kid playing Q were great as well.

There was a lot of hype associated with the cinematography.  And I'm sorry to say that while it was good, it wasn't brilliant. It was the best shot Bond film ever, but not Oscar-worthy, IMO.

The normal musical opening montage was really good.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.

The story was good, but didn't feel like a Bond story for some reason.  I can't pinpoint what it was, but it just didn't feel Bondish.

The reason for the title of the film isn't revealed until later in the story, and I was a bit taken aback by it.  I won't spoil it here!

CONCLUSION
Skyfall was a great film. My expectations were really high because of the hype.  The folks that said that it was better than Casino Royale are smoking somethin'.  But it was a great spy flick nonetheless and a welcome addition to the Bond collection. 4/5 stars.