What's all the bloody hype?

Rating: 5/10 (2 November 2012)

"Old dog, new tricks" says Eve played by Naomie Harris and the movie pretty much sticks to that. But after starting off on such a high note with the Casino Royale, does that "old dog" and his "new tricks" live up to the hype and expectations? "SkyFall" directed by Sam Mendes is something that i could sum-up as a "wanna-be-Nolan-movie". Don't get me wrong here. The plot here is indeed dark but it never gets darker than the screen. The sense of intrigue and tension is near-to-absent and the background score makes it worse by playing the traditional bond tune that we are so used to by now thereby making it look somewhat silly at times.
On the bright side, the action sequences are spectacularly choreographed especially the first 10 minutes has some of the best action sequences seen in any bond film and an action piece involving a comodo dragon was totally fun to watch.
But what bothered me were the bloody boring gaps. There are way too many dry spells in between and it all could have been excused if I cared about the characters. But the screenplay just doesn't do justice to the actors.
There is humor, some intentional, some unintentional and there are a few good one-liners thrown in. However, they are far and few in between and all that dialog would have made sense if there was some layer/depth to the characters or the story.
In the acting department everyone's done a fair job but it's "Javier Bardem" who stands out for making a lamely written clichéd negative character look marginally interesting.
Conclusion: For me "Skyfall" is an overrated film that comes dangerously close to being an average movie. It's an uneven piece of work that probably wouldn't disappoint if you keep your expectations as low as possible.