1. The Climax
It's safe to say that Skyfall boasts one of the best, if not the best, showdowns of any Bond film to date, outdoing Casino Royale's barmy rescue sequence, and easily doing away with Quantum's decent if not-too-memorable finale. To give away what happens would be criminal at this stage, but to say it's an epic stage set, and of all films, borrows a little from Home Alone, is enough. It gives Mendes free-reign essentially to let loose in a way that we have never seen, playing with all manner of toys, and also giving Craig the chance to demonstrate his maximum level of intensity, and Roger Deakins to harness the destructive beauty of helicopters and gunfire in all their explosive glory. That it also has an emotional dimension only adds to its brilliance; this is probably the most moved you'll have been by a Bond film (but we shan't say anymore). Casino Royale was a welcome slap in the face in 2006, and again, Skyfall does very much the same, batting away any belief that the filmmakers may have gotten a little complacent after Royale. It's a marvellously inventive, indeed, awesome film, sure to go down extremely well with audiences of all kinds, which might be its most staggering achievement of all.