Argo (2012)
Ben Affleck turns a declassified CIA rescue into a tense, funny, immaculately controlled escape thriller, and confirms he is the real director in the family. 8.5/10.
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Skyfall (2012)
Sam Mendes turns the third Daniel Craig Bond into a film about loyalty, age and the old machine, and it is the most handsome entry the series has produced. Admired a little more than loved. 8/10.
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Looper (2012)
Rian Johnson takes a clever time-travel premise and refuses to let it stay a chase. Stylish, confident and emotionally braver than it needed to be, even if my admiration runs a little ahead of my affection. 7.5/10.
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Dredd (2012)
A second crack at the 2000 AD lawman, stripped down to a single tower block and ninety-five lean minutes. It keeps the helmet on, keeps the violence honest, and is far better than the box office will tell you. 8/10.
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The Bourne Legacy (2012)
A Bourne film without Bourne, handed to the man who wrote the others and a new lead who earns the job. Critics call it a side-door; I call it the most rewatchable thriller of the summer. 9/10.
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The Dark Knight Rises (2012)
Nolan ends his Batman trilogy not with a victory lap but with a city under siege and a hero who has to be broken before he can finish anything. Sprawling, operatic, and built to be watched again. 9.5/10.
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Prometheus (2012)
Ridley Scott goes back to the universe he started, swapping the haunted-house tension of Alien for big questions about where we came from. The look is magnificent, the thinking is muddled, and it is the kind of frustrating I rather enjoy. 7.5/10.
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The Raid (2012)
A Welsh director, an Indonesian martial art and one tower block full of trouble. The story is a sliver, the action is wall to wall, and it is the most exciting thing the genre has produced in years. 8/10.
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The Avengers (2012)
Four years of separate films build to one team-up, and Joss Whedon lands it: a witty, well-balanced ensemble that proves the shared-universe gamble pays off. 8/10.
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The Hunger Games (2012)
A young-adult bestseller arrives on screen with a hard premise and a star turn from Jennifer Lawrence, and clears the genre's low bar by some distance. 8/10.
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