Review: Skyfall

The latest chapter in the Bond series marks the 50 year anniversary of the franchise.  "Skyfall" has been one of my most anticipated movies in the last little while, and is probably my second most anticipated film of the year, after "The Master."  I have been stoked for this movie for a while.
It did not disappoint.
"Skyfall" is a perfectly executed action film.  I think it is one of the best action films ever.  It kicks off with an incredible chase featuring one of the best train sequences in film (someone should make that list sometime).  The movie progresses with a perfectly paced balance of concise, emotion driven story and big, heart-pumping set piece action.  Every action scene is well choreographed, well executed and well filmed for maximum impact.  High speed chases, tense stealth, fisticuffs, and a variety of shoot outs all impress.  And it's all beautifully filmed by DP Roger Deakins, who is well known for his work with Mendes in the past and as a frequent collaborator with the Coen brothers.
Javier Bardem can add this to his growing list of brilliant performances as he produces what is probably the best James Bond villain ever.  A drastically different character than "No country's" Anton Chigurh, and no less compelling and no less terrifying.  Really stellar performance.

The film explores the conflict between the modern and the traditional as a running theme.  One of the plots main tensions is the gap between relevance and the old fashioned.  The movie is well aware of it's 50 year heritage and uses that history as part of the theme with interesting references to past Bonds while still forging forward in all the contemporary themes and gritty presentation of this chapter in the Bond saga.  That duality frames nearly every aspect of the film and sets it apart from all other James Bond films.  There is an acknowledgement of the history of the franchise and at times a willing suspension of it, which often subverts our expectations.  So somehow it is both a quintessential James Bond film - with beautiful Bond girls, exotic locations, dazzling spectacle, a casino, a classic Aston Martin complete with ejection seat - and at the same time an anti-Bond film in some ways, for example the plot that starts grand and grows more intimate as it progresses.  The films conclusion deliberately sheds the usual world-threatening scheme and ends with what is probably the most personal and emotional stand-off of any film in the series.
There is more that can be said, and more will be said elsewhere, but this is all that needs to be said now for the sake of this review.  "Skyfall" is terrific.