Questions Worth Asking – James Bond Edition

Is Skyfall the best James Bond movie so far?
Rotten Tomatoes gives it 91 percent fresh critic rating, but some people think it veres a little too close to some recent action thrillers. Which leads to the next question:
Is Skyfall too much of a remix of the Dark Knight movie storylines?
Movie blog Ropes of Silicon seems to think so, as does my friend and sometimes guest blogger Charley Reed.

Wired discusses 10 ways in which Skyfall borrows ideas from the Dark Knight series.
Does Skyfall’s director acknowledge the influence of Nolan’s Batman movies?
Sports blog Deadspin has a review that points to an article at The Playlist in which director Sam Mendes says that he took inspiration from Nolan’s Batman, but in an article linked to through the Wired piece (at UK’s Metro) Mendes says the influence was limited to seeing how a dark, gritty terrorism story could make a lot of money.
What do I think?
I dunno. I’m seeing Skyfall tonight. But I’m not particularly bothered by similar story lines in big time movies. That’s been going on for a long time. And Trickster stories have a centuries long history…. As do hero’s journey stories… And orphans as heroes…