6. The Story Has Academy Award Gravitas
Skyfall isn't just a great blockbuster with a fantastic script, it's a great blockbuster that's loaded with gravitas and emotional resonance, two of the components that generally hold-back "mainstream" fare from landing in the Best Picture bracket. Though Skyfall functions primarily as a riveting actioner, John Logan carefully front-loads the screenplay with a number of compelling thematic concerns, such as the secret agent's relevance in an increasingly technocratic society, while ultimately reinforcing his stature as both a cultural and national relic. Similarly, the film's treatment of M casts a dark cloud over the film from early on, making it clear that she's either going to retire or die by film's end, such that when she meets her demise at the film's climax, the brief moment she shares with Bond is immensely poignant but never insipid or overplayed, as many similar films would likely have done. It is a perfectly composed moment, and one which gives it the necessary emotional thrust to land in the same sort of awards conversations as so-called "prestige pics" like Argo and Lincoln.