The James Bond series is one of the most iconic film series in the history of cinema. It has been going pretty much for over six decades. There is a lot of mediocrity to be found in these films, but some of are quite good. It was also genuinely quite surprising to see which ones I liked and disliked. I spent a long time going back and watching all these. Enjoy.
This is one of the most goddamn boring movies ever and by far one of the worst Bonds. Beyond a handful of chuckles and a few decent stunts, this film is absolutely nothing. What a dull follow-up to the great Moonraker!
25. Live and Let Die [1973]
Holy fucking shit. Even by James Bond standards, this stands out as one of the most wildly unpleasant racist and sexist movies. I mean. Holy shit. There could be a whole column devoted to all the ways in which this movie is racist in both big and small ways. I feel like the only succinct way of describing just how racist this movie is, is to point out that a cringe-inducing first half sequence involves James Bond going to Harlem and meeting black people. And by the end of the film, it is positively quaint in comparison to what you experience afterwards from watching the whole film. The most generous thing you can say about Live and Let Die is that the film represented an awkward transition from the tone of the Sean Connery era to the Roger Moore era and somehow ended up here.
24. Diamonds Are Forever [1971]
After the underwhelming performance of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, the band got back together. Connery is back. Guy Hamilton, the Goldfinger director, is back. The racism, in full force is back. The sexism, in full force, is back. While the Lazenby film was flawed in many ways, even watching this film for the first time in fifty years felt secondhand embarrassing. The lone highlight of the film are these two nitwit assassins, Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, who felt very different from what we usually got from Bond up until this point and very modern in their presentation. Everything else about this was tired and pathetic. One of the worst James Bond films ever.
Thunderball feels like the first James Bond the negatives outweigh the positives. The filmmakers feel a little too high on their own supply. The racism and sexism are ratcheted up. And for what? A vague takeover the world plot with SPECTRE again? With a flat female lead and an uninspired villain, this movie was always going to have a hard time standing out. It basically just has the charisma of Sean Connery to make it watchable.
22. Octopussy [1983]
Man, this one is gets uncomfortably racist even by James Bond standards. Some of the film is filmed in (and most of the film set in) India, and I really do not even need to describe what specifically happened for you to understand why it was racist. But I will describe one moment just really hammer home how bad it was. They managed to doubled down and created a whole new kind of racism where at one point James Bond is racing through a jungle, starts swinging on trees and does the Tarzan howl. It is also the most pro-nuclear bomb James Bond movie. As the scheme involves a rogue Soviet general try to create a false peaceful disarmament in the hopes of leaving Europe vulnerable – thus pushing the idea that nuclear bombs are a necessary deterrent to war. It takes a lot for a James Bond film to be uniquely profoundly evil, but Octupussy is up to the challenge. It is actually kind of a shame too, because there was a lot of ambition with the set pieces and there was a great deal of variety to the various villains at work which made for a nice smorgasbord. In many ways, this felt like the MOST James Bond movie but the queazy feeling far overwhelmed the fun that could have otherwise been had.
21. Never Say Never Again [1983]
12 years after saying he never would play Bond again, Sean Connery returned to play James Bond one final time. It was only the second James Bond film not produced by Eon; There was some screwy rights issue that allowed someone else to have the rights to Thunderball so they adapted it again but this time with an aging James Bond character. The key to the film being interesting is that it attempts to grapple with the idea of Bond and Connery aging and no longer being able to be what it once was. But then the tension arises when the film cannot help but play the old hits that people associate with Connery and his Bond. It is quite fascinating. The second half of the film really does not follow through on this dynamic setup sadly, but I still would argue it is one of the more fascinating Bonds at bare minimum.
20. You Only Live Twice [1967]
After the wildly underwhelming and mildly boring Thunderball, the James Bond movies threatened to get back on track with this very busy film with a number of fun sequences. This movie though is frankly just to shockingly racist even in the context of James Bond to really recommend in good faith. Like, in many ways, it’s a much better done version of what a Sean Connery James Bond can be than some of his films. And there is a sincerity to the racism that makes it a true and accurate representation of the awfulness that James Bond represents. But it’s just too much.
19. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service [1969]
It would be easy to scapegoat Lazenby for this film but it would overall be unfair. The movie is is just plain weird and never fully comes together. At times, it feels like a Batman ’66 movie. Then they start taking their action set pieces extremely seriously. Then there will be a stretch where it seems like they want the film to be a genuine romance film with Bond and Diana Rigg despite doing none of the heavy lifting to earn it. At times, it feels like the film is designed as a push back against some of the weakest and gross parts of the Connery era. But then also they sometimes cannot let go of the Connery tropes which undercuts that entirely. I don’t know. The movie has a zaniness and chaotic energy that I cannot help but admire. It just did not quite work and the biggest attribute the film has is you can say it’s not boring. This movie kinda feels like a template with what they did (way more successfully) with Daniel Craig’s James Bond. Out with the old, in with the new. Only Casino Royale was Actually Good. And this was not.
18. License to Kill [1989]
I did not dislike this film. In fact, I appreciated how much they fine-tuned the Dalton characterization and really zeroed in on how to make this series tailor-made for his strengths. I think this film just got bogged down in too many characters and plot, and I sort of just stopped caring even if I never stopped appreciating its strengths. These two films were a HUGE leap forward for the series in a variety of ways. Dalton’s brief time reminds me of the Craig era in the best way. They just did not quite stick the landing here.
17. The World Is Not Enough [1999]
The third Brosnan Bond entry is just way too mid to care about all that much. The only real good idea they had for this film (besides casting Sophie Marceau) was making M a part of the action. The villain wanting to get revenge on M is something Skyfall cribbed to great success and acclaim. In fact, the old MI spy intent on revenge that was the villain in Goldeneye was basically combined with this film’s villain’s motivation. Really, instead of watching Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough, you should just watch Skyfall twice.
16. Die Another Day [2002]
The final Pierce Brosnan Bond film is a tale of two films. On one hand, the firs half of the film is extremely tight. Bond is excommunicated for being blamed for secrets being leaked at the same time he is locked in a North Korean prison. Bond being heartbroken for being accused of betrayal and being off on his own is a great hook. Things got better when it seemed like the villain was gonna be this young Richard Branson douchebag that effectively demonized billionaire assholes being annoying – a type of asshole that seems even more common now than it was when this film came out. Then the film got cold feet, and brought Bond back into the MI:6 fold and revealed the secret villain was actually just North Koreans all along. Very weak sauce. This film also tried to do some CGI/VFX work that they were not ready for, and the tacky-looking special effects really clash with the general darker tone of the film. It was pretty compelling though to see the film start off in a more serious and grim direction only to try to come closer to Roger Moore Bonds for the final hour.
15. Goldeneye [1995]
I have a rule that a new James Bond is always worth watching. This is Pierce Brosnan’s debut, and he mostly feels acceptable in the role. He has the unfortunate duty of being sandwiched between two of the best Bonds though and pales in comparison. This movie is VERY weird though. Even on the James Bond scale, the politics are bizarre. They jump right back into the Cold War after taking a one-film break, they dive right back in, and somehow even involve Guantánamo Bay at the end? They also force Brosnan still act like a sex pest occasionally but have women calling him out on it in one breath and then worshipping him in the next. It is all really bizarre and oddly compelling (if not for making a good movie).
14. From Russia With Love [1963]
From Russia With Love does a great job of following up on Dr. No and establishing some dynamics that the James Bond movies could count on to remain successful, fresh, and engaging over multiple decades. There are certain elements about James Bond stories you will be able to count on but there is also always going to be just the right amount of changes film to film to prevent the series from ever being completely repetitive. In the long run, the choices to make this film distinct from the first entry will pay off, but the filmmakers did not always execute the changes as well. The biggest issue was probably making SPECTRE such an unknown quantity with the main onscreen villain being a henchman who did not talk until his final sequence.
13. Dr. No [1962]
It is the very first Sean Connery James Bond film and for that historically significant reason alone the film is worth watching. While Connery’s Bond and the series in general would certainly top this in the years to come, Dr. No is more than solid enough on its own. There is a tight story, a compelling villain, and Connery just dominates the screen in such a compelling way. He is a force of nature from the first moment he appears, and he keeps you hooked until the very end. The other real notable thing about this film is just how unusual it feels sixty years later. There is a relatively small hint of the original Star Wars in here in just how weird some of the scenes are. There is an awkwardness to some of the fights and shootouts that just no longer exists in a world of action films anymore.
12. Tomorrow Never Dies [1997]
This is by far the best Pierce Brosnan James Bond film and just a fun film in general. They cracked the code with how to make Brosnan work as Bond, they had a very funny villain with an insane plan (use tech to trick world powers into war to get ratings for his new cable news company and to sell papers), the best Bond Woman ever, and just a bunch of fun shit happening from beginning to end. It also did not hurt that that they managed to trim some fat from the film and get the first Bond film in under two hours in quite some time.
11. A View to a Kill [1985]
A View to a Kill was Roger Moore’s final James Bond, and it was overall a fine note to go out on. Moore was steady as he goes in this role and did not phone this one in. Christopher Walken walked the fine line of being megalomaniacal without being a cartoon just right. They had some goofy but funny set pieces that in many ways felt different than had come before in the series. It was just rock solid.
This is Daniel Craig’s Logan. Craig has been desperately trying to escape James Bond for the last decade. While Skyfall would have been a better and bolder goodbye to Daniel Craig, No Time to Die is a satisfying goodbye all the same. If nothing else, this film certainly captures the strengths and weaknesses of the Craig films. These films have been simultaneously going Prestige TV Mode (aka doing the serialization shit that no one asked for) and also went Jason Bourne Mode (aka absolutely drowning under the weight of their own obsession with James Bond LORE). On the bright side, the thing that this movie has going for it is Daniel Craig’s pitch-perfect characterization of James Bond. Even when the movie itself is bogged down in bullshit, he manages to rise above it always.
Oh no, I like this so much more years later than I ever thought possible. It is truly embarrassing. I remember watching it shortly after it came out on streaming and just being so underwhelmed. I loved Skyfall and was so excited the team was getting back together to make the follow-up. So what was different this time? The biggest thing was recognizing that I just sort of enjoyed hanging out with Daniel Craig’s James Bond and his ever-so-slightly aimless attempt to solve a mystery that Judi Dench’s M left for him. Sure, eventually there is a take-over-the-world bad guy, some tacked-on subplot about some soulless twit causing the government and corporations to get in bed together to spy on everything, and there is a humiliating amount of exploration of the James Bond lore. But ultimately, all of that felt very insignificant in comparison to the fun of Daniel Craig being on an adventure.
8. The Living Daylights [1987]
The first film for a new James Bond is pretty much worth watching by definition. It is such an iconic role (for better or worse) that seeing what someone else does with it is always going to be interesting. This film has the added the benefit of having James Bond team up with the Taliban to take on the Soviet Union which is the type of unintentionally hilarious geopolitical plot that you can only dream happens in a James Bond movie nowadays.
This movie has the reputation as being very goofy even by Roger Moore standards, and that reputation is not unfounded (to say the least). But what feels so notable about its goofiness is how sudden the tonal shift comes about in the second half of the film after the first hour, and then the film just becomes absolutely insane. Jaws turns babyface and falls in love. James Bond and Dr. Goodhead fly to space. The marines show up and have a space laser fight. It is absolutely bananas. And it kind of works? I don’t know. The worst thing a James Bond film can be is boring, and this was not that. I would rather watch this Bond than most of them.
6. The Spy Who Loved Me [1977]
This film is notable for two things. Firstly, it executes all the core elements of James Bond well. Moore is good. The main female character is a human being and in the thick of things (such great heights, I know). The villain is not SPECTRE. All the elements were in place and a fun time was had. Secondly, the film really kicks off a more zany tone for the films for the foreseeable future. I can see why someone might not respond well to the antics (for wont of a better term), but the kooky nature of this film frankly is safer territory for the films than the semi-serious/rapey tone of the Connery years.
5. The Man with the Golden Gun [1974]
This Bond has a big advantage: the villain is not trying to take over the world. Sure, Christopher Lee is certainly trying to get rich and not merely a humble hitman, but at its core, this movie is a feature-length standoff between two world class killers. It makes the film seem more intimate and personal, and that is something that is often missing from James Bond. The end-of-the-world stakes that you would consider a staple of James Bond films is also one of the weakest elements the films have to offer. Thus making, despite the standard amount of racism and sexism that this film had to offer, The Man with the Golden Gun one of the better James Bond films ever made.
When I think of the Sean Connery era of James Bond, my mind goes straight to Goldfinger. It has one of the best villains. The first real insane name for a woman. An iconic henchman. They manage to continue to solidify the biggest elements of the series while offering enough wrinkles to make the film seem fresh even today. One of the best films in the whole series.
3. Quantum of Solace [2008]
Quantum has the unmistakable signs of being a rushed-out sequel to capitalize on the buzz from Casino (and during a writers’ strike no less), but that should not color our feelings on the actual film. This is a kick-ass chase movie where James Bond has to go rogue to save Latin America from Elon Musk and the CIA. It is an immediate follow-up on Casino Royale in a way no James Bond film had been previously. Given the results here and in the films to come (and given the wildly inconsistent results from the previous forty years of Bond films), I think it is safe to say that was a good direction to go in.
2. Skyfall [2012]
This is very clearly one of the very Bond films ever, and it is honestly kind of mystifying to me that that is a contentious opinion. Great action. Great villain. Foregoes the weakest element of Bond (the Bond Woman). It has lots of sexual tension between Bond and women and Bond and men. Sam Mendes does not have a good track record of releasing quality films, but he scored big here. I am not sure why everything worked out so well here – but it did.
1. Casino Royale [2006]
This is not only very obviously the very best Bond film ever, but it’s also one of the best films of the decade. This is the type of film that makes you wonder why all big action spectacle films are not good. I am being deadly serious. The writing. The characters. The casting. The set pieces. The look. They are all top fucking notch. I am not even really sure what else to say. This is one of the most fun and exciting big budget films ever made.
The Reel World 