8. Thomas Newman's Score
Thomas Newman certainly doesn't need to be told how to score a film, but his score marks another aspect of Skyfall that feels like a compromise - a brilliant one - between the Bond values of old and the newer, more popular styles of cinema. Though Skyfall has the classic Bond trumpets and indelible notes - as well as, at one point, the actual Bond theme itself - Newman's score at points absolutely feels like it has drawn inspiration from Hans Zimmer's work on the Dark Knight Trilogy, what with its greater focus on booming drums especially this time around, enhancing the bombast considerably after Forster's more pared-down film. The score generally has a somewhat more sombre tone than previous Bond films, indulging those memorable Bond flourishes, but also involving itself more in drawn-out notes which emphasise the film's patient, deliberate approach and its devotion to character and consequence over disposable thrills.