Rank the James Bond films
 

Top 5 (in no particular order)

*Casino Royale - Quite possibly the best Bond film. I definitely prefer the harder, grittier take on Bond to the campiness of the Moore films and the later Connery films. Had great action, settings, and even the minor characters were memorable.

*The Living Daylights - A great and underrated film. This was a huge improvement over the campy Moore films, and it managed to be a serious film while maintaining just the right amount of humor and gadget-oriented scenes from the earlier films. Plus it has one of the best and most underrated henchmen (Necros) in the series, and an interesting and underrated villain (Brad Whitaker - rogue American arms dealer with a "general" complex).

*Skyfall - Another likely candidate for the best Bond film, has easily one of the best villains, and manages to take Bond back to its routes (by reintroducing Q and Moneypenny, and the tricked-out Aston Martin) but without becoming a huge gadget fest, and still mantaining the harder and gritter mood of the other Craig films.

*GoldenEye - Definitely the best Brosnan film - has a great villain, possibly the best opening theme song, and plenty of great action. What's not to like?

*The Spy Who Loved Me - The best Moore film - even though I'm not big on the campy style of most of the Moore films, this film kept the cheesiness to a reasonable level, enough for you to still take the interesting plot and villain seriously.

Bottom 5 (in no particular order)

*Octopussy - Has Bond swinging from vines while yelling like Tarzan, dawning a Gorilla suit, and ending up in a clown costume. Enough said.

*The Man with The Golden Gun - Christopher Lee played a great villain, but that's all this film had going for it. Most of the film didn't even focus on "The Man with the Golden Gun himself", but on hokey martial arts scenes, an annoying comic relief character (Sherrif Pepper). and a midget sidekick who ends up locked in a suitcase at the end. No thanks. Not to mention the final duel between Bond and Scaramanga was very anticlimactic.

*Tomorrow Never Dies - The plot and setting is just too outlandish to take seriously. Apparently a world-famous media mogul is able to house a personal army of machine-gun wielding thugs in major office buildings (not some remote secret base under the ocean). Not to mention in the action scenes, Carver's men engage in large-scale firefights in the streets in major cities like London and Hong Kong in pursuit of Bond - and not a single person ever takes notice (in the age of the internet no less, where anyone with a cell phone can upload stuff to the net) - not to mention he apparently has dozens of reporters and senior officials in his company in on his conspiracy without anyone blowing the whistle. To me the plot of Moonraker was less outlandish than this.

*Live and Let Die - A mediocre cheesy film (I'm shocked that Moore managed to remain for 6 more films after this travesty). This film's most notable moments are the introduction of the annoying Sherrif Pepper, the first supernatural Bond henchman (who is pointlessly resurrected with Voodoo in the ending scene), and ends with the stupidest death scene in any Bond film (the villain swallowing a gas capsule, inflating like a balloon and exploding - is this James Bond or Austin Powers?)

*Diamonds are Forever - Features Ernst Blofield in drag, Bond's girl hiding a cassette in her bikini bottom, a pair of gay assassins/lovers, and some truly awful special effects at the climax of the plot, sorry I'm out.

Most underrated films

*Licence to Kill - Has plenty of great action, along with a memorable and diabolical villain and henchman. Not to mention it attempts to show a more personal side of Bond, which is a nice touch. I will admit though that it's definitely the least "Bond-like" of the film series, and feels more like a typical 80s action film. (Nevertheless the concept of Bond going rogue and seeking revenge for a murdered friend is actually based on one Ian Fleming's Bond stories if I'm not mistaken).

*The World is not Enough - The majority of flak I see directed at this film is over Denise Richards' role as the Bond girl - and that's it. I'll admit she was a terrible actress (but still not as bad as the Bond girl from A View to A Kill) and not at all believable as a "Nuclear Scientist" (the Moneypenny character in this film would've been more believable in that role). But aside from that single nitpick this film is definitely passable - it has good action scenes, a badass villain, and some creative plot twists (such as M's abduction, and Bond's former romantic interest in the villain's sidekick).

*A View to a Kill - This is another film where I hear most of the gripe fixated on a few small nitpicks, most of which is based off of Roger Moore looking too old for the role. Personally this doesn't bother me (the guy ages well, much better than Harrison Ford in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull for sure) - and he was only 2 years older than he was in the previous film anyway. On the whole this film was a huge improvement over the campier Moore films, since it actually tried to be halfway serious. Not to mention it featured Christopher Walken as one of the best Bond villains in the series. The only other gripes about the film worth mentioning are the Bond Girl (the worst and ditziest in the series - her screaming during the action scenes is infamously annoying, and she sounds like she's stoned for most of the film), and the choice of "California Girls" by the Beach Boys as a theme song in an opening chase scene. Regardless this film makes Octopussy and the Man with the Golden Gun look like Citizen Kane.

Most overrated films

*Dr. No - This film just has a very low-budget feel to it - sure it was the first film in the series (and the creators obviously didn't predict it would become a multi-billion dollar franchise), but overall this film just felt drab to me, and the plot was too unambitious for a Bond film (so the villain wants to disrupt a lame rocket test flight - wup de doo). I sometimes see this film picked as the best in the series (though this usually goes to Goldfinger or From Russia with Love) and I definitely disagree, and think this is coming from bias simply because of the fact that this film was "the original". (The same goes with the Bond girl Honey Ryder, I often see her selected as the best Bond girl - but to me she's rather forgettable).

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

My top five of what I've seen goes

1. Skyfall
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. Goldfinger
4. Casino Royale
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Worst one I've seen is Die Another Day by far.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

1. Goldfinger
2. Casino Royale
3. From Russia With Love
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. Dr. No

Didn't actually mind Die Another Day as much as some people did - I'd still rank it in the bottom half though - it was way too heavy on the GCI and special effects

The only ones I haven't seen completely are OHMSS and You Only Live Twice

Top 5

1. Licence to Kill: A terribly underrated film in the series, but for my money it's the best. Timothy Dalton is phenomenal as Bond, although he had the bad fortune to try to make the role a serious again one a couple of decades before Daniel Craig would make a similar direction popular. Robert Davi is one of the best villains in the series, with his Franz Sanchez being the best villain since Telly Savalas' Blofeld in On Her Majesty's Secret Service. And, although she gets far too much criticism, Carey Lowell is a terrific Bond girl.

2. From Russia With Love: Connery is terrific as Bond here, in a story that stays relatively faithful to the Ian Fleming novel on which it is based. Robert Shaw proves to be one of Bond's most formidable henchman with his Red Grant character, with the the close-quarter fight between him and Bond being one of the highlights of the series.

3. The Living Daylights: Dalton's debut is classic Bond. A great, sweeping tale with a great performance from the new Bond as well as some great globetrotting action.

4. Dr. No: The first is still one of the best after 50+ years. Connery creates the greatest film spy ever with a confident performance. The film is decidedly the most low-key of the 23 films, but its emphasis on Bond's detective work rather than the Rambo-esque action sequences or eyebrow raising one-liners help it stand out above most of the competition.

5. Quantum of Solace: Casino Royale was great but its sequel bests it. A much tighter film that comes it at a much shorter run time than its predecessor, Quantum of Solace features a near-perfect performance by Daniel Craig as Bond. It also features some of the best visuals in the series as well as some great set pieces (Tosca, the Perla de las Lunas).


Bottom 5 (no particular order)

The Man with the Golden Gun: Never cared for this one. It doesn't seem to know what kind of film it wants to be, with some of the series most juvenile humor while also featuring some very serious and misogynistic scenes in the series as well.

Diamonds are Forever: Maybe not a total waste of time when viewed for simply what it is, but as a sequel to On Her Majesty's Secret Service, it misses all the marks.

Die Another Day: Probably the worst. Terrible CGI, weak second-half, and bad performances all around.

The World is Not Enough: Too melodramatic. Seems more like a daytime soap than a serious Bond film. A lot of wasted potential with this one.

Goldfinger: Always hailed as the best, but I've never gotten into this one. Good villain, but Bond doesn't really drive the action (or do much of anything, really). An exciting climax at Fort Knox doesn't make up for the rest of it.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I watched all Bond films (multiple times) and this is my Top 5:

1. Goldfinger - It's the ultimate spy film. It has a perfect opening scene and the most memorable opening theme of all the Bond films. Connery is brilliant as our beloved hero, the villain is awesome, the Bond girl is a lesbian that gets "converted", there's a girl that gets painted gold and there's a Japanese guy that kills people by throwing his hat at them. What do you need more?

2. Dr. No - It's more minimalistic than most other Bond films and that's what makes it so unbelievably charming. Bond doesn't need gadgets yet. Connery's charisma and detective skills are more than enough to make him the coolest guy in the world.

3. The Spy Who Loved Me - The film with the best Bond girl, in my opinion. It's also just a very entertaining film and plot, but I think Barbara bach is the main reason why this is one of my favorite Bond films.

4. From Russia With Love - Just like Dr. No, this one is much more minimalistic than later Bond films. It's good old, vintage detective work.

5. TIE between License To Kill and Golden Eye - Just two wildly entertaining films, in my opinion. License To Kill is very dark and gory and the plot is really intense. The villain is also one of the most memorable and dangerous of the series, in my opinion. For me it worked. GoldenEye has awesome side characters and Brosnan is at his best and coolest. It's also a film that works on a more personal level for Bond, which is always interesting.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Well that's the first time I've ever seen someone like Quantum of Solace over Goldfinger. What is this world coming to:p

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I do like On Her Majesty's Secret Service too. It's different and is a very fun watch. Skyfall was a great visual appeal too.

I guess there's always a first for everything. :)

While Quantum of Solace has its faults, mostly due to the writer's strike, it has a lot going for it, notably some great cinematography, David Arnold's best Bond score, terrific performances, and a plot that's much better than it's given credit for. I think that if the writing duties on set weren't left up to Daniel Craig and Marc Forster, but rather a professional screenwriter, the film would have been widely regarded as one of the best.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Quantum of Solace and Die Another Day would be my bottom two. The first one is just plain boring and doesn't feel like a Bond film AT ALL and Die Another Day is just ridiculously over the top.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

1. Licence to Kill
2. GoldenEye
3. The Spy Who Loved Me
4. The Living Daylights
5. Goldfinger
6. From Russia with Love
7. Casino Royale
8. Skyfall
9. Tomorrow Never Dies
10. On her Majesty's Secret Service
11. You Only Live Twice
12. For Your Eyes Only
13. Live and Let Die
14. Dr. No
15. Moonraker
16. Diamonds are Forever
17. The World is Not Enough
18. Thunderball
19. Die Another Day
20. The Man with the Golden Gun
21. View to a Kill
22. Octopussy
23. Quantum of Solace

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I don't like any of them.


If I was to write a non-biased review, the highest would probably be Moonraker but wouldn't get higher than 60%, which is at most.


All of Pierce Brosnan's outings would be between 1-10%, which is . The World Is Not Enough is the worst of an awful bunch from Brosnan and would be a 1-2% film for me. That boat chase at the start just destroyed the entire film.


Connery's outings would be between 50% and 60%, - and wouldn't go past 60%.




They're awful movies. Badly acted, badly written generic tat... I find myself bored stiff while watching them. I say watching them, what I mean is, trying to watch them.
And when I do keep my attention I find myself thinking "Oh come on, really? Really? Pfft!" at every scene.






Synopsis for every Bond film ever made:
*Bond gets a new gadget at start of the film that has never been seen before and he has never had a use for before and then finds a use for it within 30 seconds. Trained enemy spies and trained enemy assassins who are women find him sexually irresistible. He steers a boat on dry land*
:rolleyes:

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Yeah, they're pretty average for the most part (and a good chunk of them are downright terrible) but every once in a while they make for half-decent action films. They've definitely got their problems (especially the sexism in damn near every film and also the racism of all the older films). Also, I'll defend the first four films I listed to a point.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Dr No
From Russia With Love
Goldfinger
Thunderball
You Only Live Twice
On Her Majesty's Secret Service
Diamonds Are Forever
Live And Let Die
The Man With The Golden Gun
Spy Who Loved Me
Moonraker
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
A View To A Kill
The Living Daylights
License To Kill
GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World Is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Casino Royale
Quantum Of Solace
Skyfall

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Rodent= :facepalm:

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Surprised at you Raul... with a Top 10 like yours... and you then say that you like James Bond...


rauldc14 = :facepalm:


:D

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Yeah. Haters will hate on my top 10. Fine by me :p

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

To be fair I did have the Bond films at 46th in my Top 50 Marathons, so at least I acknowledge their existence.


I think that's the only time I've ever included a Bond film on any list I've made.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Not hating the Top 10... I meant your top 10 is solid... but then you shoot yourself in the foot by saying you like James Bond.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

It's like saying "The Shawshank Redemption, Casablanca and Unforgiven are three of the best films ever made... but I also like Uwe Boll's entire filmography and The Garbage Pale Kids Movie is one of my favourites"

Wow, that's some serious hatred for Bond.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Not really, as a lot of James Bond are critically acclaimed and it's recognised globally as one of the best franchises ever created, where as Uwe Boll is generally accepted to be a bad filmmaker.

Plus North by Northwest is very Bond like, well a lot of Hitchcock stuff is.

I don't get why you hate them so much, what spy films or similar do you like? They're hardly trash like you paint them, they have strong production values and are crafted very well for most the part, most people would agree with that, I think even if you don't like them it's a bit odd to give them all pretty much 2 stars or under.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Not sure if I like the Spy thing tbh.


Bourne wasn't bad but it's nothing I'd go out of my way to buy on DVD.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

http://img1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb2..._-_Profile.jpg

The best Bond. :cool:

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Some of them aren't cinematic masterpieces by any stretch of the imagination, but some of them ARE. Goldfinger is a very well rounded film and is critically acclaimed as one of the best spy movies of all time. Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Spy Who Loved Me, and Casino Royale are all great films too. Heck, even the ones that aren't great are still enjoyable and fun to watch.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I am often surprised when people dislike Casino Royale. By far the best new Bond for me, they get everything right and I think as a stand alone film its great as they go back to the beginning. One of the best of the 21st century for me.

I can't really rank them all at the moment, as I have to rewatch loads, I watched them all numerous times in my childhood though. When I watched Skyfall when it came out I thought it was great, but in retrospect and after a few more viewings I don't think it's as great butt still very good and top tier Bond.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Nah, i'd say the worst Bond films are still pretty terrible, whether they're completely over-the-top (View to a Kill, Die Another Day) or totally bland (Quantum of Solace) or somewhere in between (Octopussy).

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Die Another Day is laughably bad, and has so much wrong with it. As you say Quantum of Solace is bland, I wouldn't flat out say it's a terrible film, but it's one of the most disappointing, forgettable and messy Bonds, so it goes near the bottom of the list.

A lot of the older, 'bad' Bonds, still have a likable campy appeal to me, at least, so I could never really hate them.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

The Brosnan films are not very good, but aside from those, I like the good majority of the rest.

My top five is probably:

5. THUNDERBALL (1965)
4. GOLDFINGER (1964)
3. CASINO ROYALE (2006)
2. GOLDENEYE (1995)
1. SKYFALL (2012)

My top 10:

1.Goldfinger
2.From Russia With Love
3.Goldeneye
4.Dr.No
5.Moonraker
6.Casino Royale
7.For Your Eyes Only
8.You Only Live Twice
9.Thunderball
10.The Spy Who Loved Me

Top 5:

1. From Russia With Love
2. Dr. No
3. Skyfall
4. Casino Royale
5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

1. Licence To Kill
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. The World Is Not Enough
4. Goldfinger
5. Skyfall

I'm not a Bond fan and those are the five that I like/can tolerate. Goldeneye, the one most people expect me to like because my taste in movies, is one of the most badly paced, boring movies I've ever seen... and it's still better than most of the Connery films.

Top 5:

1. From Russia w Love
2. Gold finger
3. You Only Live Twice
4. Sky fall
5. Dr No

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

My rank -
1. Casino Royale
2.Skyfall
3.GoldenEye
4.The Living Daylights
5.The Spy Who Loved Me

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Top 5


1. You Only Live Twice
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. Goldeneye
4. Goldfinger
5. Live and Let Die

1. For your Eyes Only - it has everything. A good story, humor, one of the most beautiful and nicest Bond girls Carole bouquet, whom I was surprised not to see at all in the other forum, music, great landscapes and unlike Moonraker, it's warm. And it has Roger, my fav.

2. Moonraker

3. Octopussy

4. The Spy Who Loved Me

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wy-c8aAntWA

5. Live And Let Die

6. On her Majesties secret service

7. Diamonds Are forever

8. You Only Live Twice

9. Goldfinger

10. From Russia with love

11. Thunderball

12. Dr. No

13. The Living daylights

14. Goldeneye

15. The Man With The golden gun

16. A View to A Kill

17. Licence To Kill

18. Casino Royale

The rest I'm not to wild about.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

All movies with Craig the plumber - down. In top series with Connery.

Not a huge fan of the Bond franchise, but there is definite entertainment value there, though I will admit that I'm more old school where Bond is concerned. My favorites:

Goldfinger

From Russia with Love

Dr. No

On her Majesty's Secret Service

Live and Let Die

The Spy Who Loved Me

Never Say Never Again

A View to a Kill

The Living Daylights

Casino Royale

Great: Casino Royale, Dr. No, Octopussy, Goldfinger, License to Kill, The Living Daylights

These are the most entertaining and unique. Flaws are minimal.

Good: On Her Majesty's Secret Service, You Only Live Twice, Live and Let Die, Quantum of Solace Goldeneye, Skyfall

Overall solid bunch of films. They have some flaws, but not nearly enough to the point of concern.

Decent: From Russia With Love, The Spy Who Loved Me, Thunderball, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough, For Your Eyes Only

These movies have some serious flaws, but the good definitely outweighs the bad.

Mediocre: Spectre, A View to a Kill, Die Another Day, The Man with the Golden Gun, Diamonds Are Forever

They're not bad, but for every good element, there's also a major flaw.

Still have a lot of re-watches planned, but for now here's my top 16 Bond Movies:

Rodent ur overcritical.my friend...over critical

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

It's hard to rank them but my list would go something like this:

1. Casino Royale
2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
3. Licence to Kill
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. Goldeneye
6. The World Is Not Enough
7. From Russia With Love
8. Goldfinger
9. Skyfall
10. Dr. No
11. For Your Eyes Only
12. Tomorrow Never Dies
13. Moonraker
14. Die Another Day
15. Octopussy
16. The Living Daylights
17. Live and Let Die
18. You Only Live Twice
19. A View to a Kill
20. Never Say Never Again
21. The Man With the Golden Gun
22. Diamonds are Forever
23. Thunderball
24. Quantum of Solace
25. Spectre

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

@The Rodent my friend,i say it again,ur over critical , no one would give such ratings to those bond films,some of them are amazing

I made that post 6 years ago, dude :D


But, just for that, knock half a popcorn off each rating I originally gave :p

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I kind of respect how the only one he likes is Moonraker (I can only assume it's because it goes full sci-fi with the space travel).

I meant to run the series again in the lead-up to No Time to Die and then put together a ranking then, but I've delayed that for reasons that should be obvious.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

My gf has never seen a James Bond movie before, so I thought if she is going to watch her first one with me, I might as well go all out and show her Moonraker, as her first, but now she won't watch any others, so maybe that was a mistake :).

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Gotta admit that the question of which one a person should watch first is a good one - I just kinda grew up watching them and don't remember which one exactly I watched first. I guess Goldfinger is the quintessential example of the Bond formula even if you could argue that, say, The Spy Who Loved Me could go up against it in that regard - and Casino Royale distances itself from the formula quite a bit but it's also one of the best in the franchise. Decisions, decisions.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Yeah. A lot of people say Goldfinger is the best one, and it is good, but it feels like it's just starting out and still in it's infancy, kind of vanilla, doesn't it?

For serious Bond, Casino Royale might be the best entry point (though I'm not a big fan of Craig as Bond and the film is one of my least faves in the franchise).


For campier Bond, The Spy Who Loved Me might work.


For "in-between" Bond, Goldfinger and GoldenEye might be the ones.

For personal motive, I won't post my franchise ranking here, however I might post a Top 5 later.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

01. Licence to Kill
02. From Russia With Love
03. The Living Daylights
04. For Your Eyes Only
05. Dr. No
06. Quantum of Solace
07. Casino Royale
08. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
09. Skyfall
10. Octopussy
11. The Spy Who Loved Me
12. Thunderball
13. GoldenEye
14. Tomorrow Never Dies
15. Goldfinger
16. A View to a Kill
17. Moonraker
18.You Only Live Twice
19. Live and Let Die
20. Diamonds are Forever
21. The World Is Not Enough
22. Die Another Day
23. The Man With the Golden Gun
24. Spectre

Agreed, it would depend very much on the individual person (and if they're younger, their tolerance for older films- whether they can contextualise attitudes as being of their time). I think Goldfinger is the quintessential Bond formula, so probably best to show that one to someone who you think will like your 'typical' Bond film.

I think Goldeneye is quite a good starting point in that it follows the Bond formula whilst having the twist from Judi Dench. It is very much an attempt to be a modern Bond film, whereas Casino Royale consciously turns away from being a 'Bond film'. Casino Royale is the best of Craig's films by a country mile but where do you go from that, if you want them to be interested in the series? I think Licence to Kill is a good starter for serious Bond as there's still some Bond campiness but it has a darker vibe. It's also the blueprint for basically all of Craig's films: Bond lets his personal feelings get in the way of business and then goes rogue.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I wanted to get some friends interested, but not sure which one to show them. Goldeneye is an interesting choice, because if that is their first one, they will not be aware of the Judi Dench casting being a twist of course...

But Goldfinger, although good, feels like it's in it's infancy, like it's just starting out. Perhaps something like On Her Majesty's Secret Service may be better as it's sort of Goldfinger, mixed with Casino Royale, or maybe it's not really?

Goldfinger is definitely the first Bond film to turn it into a genre; you have all the classic elements. The diva title song, the shameless innuendo of the Bond girl's name (yes, I know Honey Ryder also counts but this cements it), the iconic death, camp villain with evil master plan. On Her Majesty's Secret Service is a great film but is particularly powerful in that it isn't a typical Bond film; I would save that one for if they dismiss the films as too formulaic because it makes the emotional punch hit all the harder.

Even if they already know Judi Dench is M, the way she enters and her speech shows that she means business. We still have frivolous Bond girls but her M balances it out.

I also enjoy Tomorrow Never Dies- great Bond girl that really does get involved in the action, a memorable plot that has obvious modern relevance. Probably my favourite Bond theme tune of the Brosnan era.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Oh okay I thought that Judi Dench's speech was possibly too on the nose and trying to be forced social commentary maybe. When you say we still have frivolous Bond girls, how are they frivolous exactly?

(redcacted, updating my list)

Bonds that people generally don't like but I like:

Octopussy
The World Is Not Enough
For Your Eyes Only
A View to a Kill
The Man with the Golden Gun / Diamonds Are Forever

I've been slowly rewatching the franchise during the last years and I've already seen all of the Connery ones, except one. Beyond that, it's been too long since I've seen the Moore/Dalton ones, so I'll skip those...

1. From Russia with Love
2. Casino Royale
3. Goldfinger
4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
5. GoldenEye
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Spectre
8. Skyfall
9. Dr. No
10. Quantum of Solace
11. Thunderball
12. The World Is Not Enough
13. You Only Live Twice
14. Die Another Day

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

After watching all the Bond movies, I have to say these two are right in the middle between good and bad Bond movies, and it's hard to decide on them.

The problem I have with YOLT is that the middle section drags, and Bond getting married makes no sense to the plot whatsoever. The movie is too bogged down with Japanese culture and tries to force it into the movie instead of being about the mission. The two Japanese Bond women are also way too much alike, without much characteristics to set them apart, and makes me think why didn't they just have one instead of two therefore…

LALD has the opposite where as with YOLT has a dragging problem, LALD is too rushed and the whole story of the movie is just rescusing solitaire from being kidnapped, and that's it… There is no other plot besides that. The villain introduces his plan about giving away all this free heroin, but after he explains it, the movie instantly forgets about it, and it's never continued, unlike other villain plots in the series. So the movie has no real plot and is on autopilot in service of action sequences and is thus just a basic kidnap and rescue action romp. So the stakes aren't as high therefore.

But the two women are technically stronger in a way, in the sense, that they have more characteristics. So I feel that both movies have their pros and cons.

But what do you think for a ranking?

I totally agree with this. The whole marriage thing was stupid, even by Bond standards, and ultimately irrelevant to the plot. The change from one Bond girl to the other was also unnecessary, particularly when the first one, Aki, had proved herself to be a resourceful and skilled companion.

Yeah. But at least YOLT has the little moments that LALD does not such as a big climatic villain plot or a Q scene to set up the gadgets, etc.

I'm surprised that you'd watch every Bond film if all of them are 1's or 2's for you.


Wouldn't you conclude after watching like 10-15 of them and not liking any of them, that you're just not a Bond fan and lose interest in the others?

It's true I'm not a fan...
But as a cinephile though and being from the UK, it's James Bond. Got to at least give them a watch.

I need to check out Live and Let Die. I'm pretty sure I must've seen it when I was a kid, but I don't remember it at all.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Oh okay, for sure. Also three Bond movies I like which hardly anyone else seems to are Octopussy, The World Is Not Enough, and Die Another Day. I would not put these ones near the bottom like most do, and feel they are the most underrated ones.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Licence to Kill deserves more love imo. Top 10 for me.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Well it's hard putting them in order, but I guess my order would go something like this although I keep flipping some of them around quite drastically:

1. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2. The Spy Who Loved Me
3. Casino Royale
4. Goldeneye
5. The World is not Enough
6. Licence to Kill
7. From Russia with Love
8. Goldfinger
9. Dr. No
10. Skyfall
11. For Your Eyes Only
12. Tomorrow Never Dies
13. Octopussy
14. Die Another Day
15. Live and Let Die
16. A View to a Kill
17. The Man with the Golden Gun
18. Never Say Never Again
19. Moonraker
20. The Living Daylights
21. You Only Live Twice
22. Diamonds are Forever
23. Thunderball
24. Spectre
25. Quantum of Solace

I haven't seen No Time to Die yet.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I watched and ranked all these films earlier this year I think but this thread reminded me to watch the new one. Updated ranking here:

01. From Russia with Love
02. Thunderball
03. The Spy Who Loved Me
04. Diamonds are Forever
05. Moonraker
06. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
07. Licence to Kill
08. Tomorrow Never Dies
09. The World Is Not Enough
10. Dr. No
11. The Man with the Golden Gun
12. Octopussy
13. A View to a Kill
14. For Your Eyes Only
15. Die Another Day
16. Spectre
17. Live and Let Die
18. You Only Live Twice
19. The Living Daylights
20. Quantum of Solace
21. No Time to Die
22. Casino Royale
23. Goldfinger
24. Skyfall
25. GoldenEye

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

These films are all a blur to me now. I am honestly impressed that the rest of you are able to rank them.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

1. Skyfall
2. Skyfall
3. Skyfall

A+: Casino Royale, Goldfinger, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, Skyfall, Goldeneye
A: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, No Time to Die, License to Kill, Quantum of Solace
B: The Living Daylights, Octopussy, Live and Let Die, The Spy Who Loved Me, You Only Live Twice
C: Thunderball, The World Is Not Enough, Moonraker, Die Another Day, For Your Eyes Only
D: Tomorrow Never Dies, Spectre, Diamonds Are Forever, The Man with the Golden Gun, A View to a Kill

Ranking them from favorite to least favorite:

Spectre (2015) & No Time To Die (2021)

These two movies have some of my favorite action sequences in them, including the opening car chase scene in No Time To Die. Visuals in Spectre are some of the best of any Bond film.

Casino Royale (2006)

The most sylish and classy of these 5 films, downplaying the action but well done and nicely written, a close 2nd for me.

Quantum of Solace (2008)

At first I wasn't too impressed with this film because of the long waits between action scenes and after a while you get desensitized to these huge sequences, but in hindsight, after seeing Skyfall a 2nd time, I realize that this film wasn't so bad as it seems.

Skyfall (2012)

This film has all the cat and mouse and spy movie tropes packed into a single episode. They let each other go so many times it starts to look like a dance. Bond disarms his foes at point blank many times in this and it seems like everything is sort of half-assed. I remember though anticipating this movie and seeing all the hype around it, and truly, compared to what was in theaters there wasn't much else to get excited about.

My IMDb ratings don't reflect this ranking so next time around I will need to re-adjust my numbers and watch them all together for better comparison. As Bonds go, Daniel Craig does a fine job and fits the role nicely. His tone is more serious than the other Bonds and he seems to exert more in his physical performance than other Bond actors. But on the whole these movies seem much longer and filled with more actionless space.

Play it again, Sam.

Thunderball
Casino Royal
On Her Majesties Secret Service
Goldeneye
Diamonds Are Forever
Goldfinger
From Russia With Love
Moonraker
Skyfall
Living Daylights
You Only Live Twice
Quantum of Solace
The Man With the Golden Gun
The Spy Who Loved Me
For Your Eyes Only
Octopussy
Specter

I've always found the ascetic flagellant tendencies of cinephiles to be odd.

Thou shalt not judge a film without having seen the whole film.
Thou shalt not judge an artist without having viewed their entire oeuvre.
Thou shalt not watch at any speed other than 1x.
Though shalt not view in anything other than the original aspect ratio.
Thou shalt not terminate thy viewing of a film before the film has ended.
Thou shalt not let thy liking of a film interfere with the viewing of it.

Thus, Rodent has to take 16 helpings of Bond before he may conclude that they're 1 star. Myself, I'm not watching all the Fast the Furious movies. I've seen enough. I don't need to go on a holy completionist quest to see all the various ways Vin Diesel can scowl and intone growly peans to familial duty betwixt CGI car chases.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

Top 5
- Goldfinger
- From Russia With Love
- Casino Royale
- Dr. No
- Skyfall

Bottom 5
- A View To A Kill
- Octopussy
- The Man With The Golden Gun
- The World Is Not Enough
- Moonraker

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

I know it's not the best Bond Movie, but I have to recognize my main man Sir Christopher Lee. I love Man With the Golden Gun so much. This is a Bond fan's Bond movie, all the cool Bond shit is there. It's thrilling when it needs to be, goofy when it needs to be. Christopher Lee's Scaramanga is objectively way cooler than 007, but we know Sir Roger Moore's Bond has that dash of silliness that will prevail in the end.


https://i.ibb.co/HC2kx0p/017a2d1b3fa...1169c871e3.jpg






Best Bond is Casino Royale, man that movie slaps.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

This was how my ranking shook out when I ran the whole series in preparation for No Time To Die.

1. GoldenEye

Admittedly, a good chunk of this is down to the Nintendo 64 game, but even so it goes very well by the standards of the Bond films that make it part of their mission statement to update Bond for a new generation (especially the post-Soviet era).

2. From Russia With Love

My favourite Connery, still kind of raw and not quite a Bond Film™ - but this is a film that works that to its advantage.

3. Casino Royale

Perhaps the quote-unquote "best" Bond film, though not necessarily my favourite.

4. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

A little on the long side and I'm not totally sold on Lazenby as Bond, but there's no denying how this gets the balance right between the franchise's capacity for adventure and its capacity to be something more (especially with a gut-punch ending that not even Craig's run could ever truly match).

5. The Spy Who Loved Me

The only genuinely good Moore one, but at least he got one that stands out as one of the finer examples of what the series is about.

6. Licence to Kill

Dalton might actually be my favourite Bond and it's a shame he never got more of a chance to prove that, but I especially dig this unrepentant exercise in chasing the lurid '80s thrills of Miami Vice.

7. Goldfinger

This used to be in my top 100 movies ever but I've long since revised this, anyway it's still a fun watch but one I respect more than enjoy these days.

8. The Living Daylights

Between this, LTK, and OHMSS, it might actually be better if Bond actors don't last more than, say, three films each. Another good "reinvention" installment.

9. Tomorrow Never Dies

Dalton may be my favourite Bond, but Brosnan is the one I grew up on and this one has plenty of extra factors - Michelle Yeoh kicking ass, Jonathan Pryce hamming it up - to make sure it holds up.

10. Dr. No

The original and the...most OK of them all.

11. You Only Live Twice

This is where things start getting dicey. In some ways they've got the Bond film down to a science - exotic scenery, elaborately-designed locations and props, memorable villains - but in other ways it dates itself horribly (disposable women, yellowface, etc.). Having Tetsuro Tamba as Bond's Japanese counterpart is a plus, though.

12. Quantum of Solace

I once called this one of the worst movies I'd ever seen, but surprisingly it's grown on me as a decidedly necessary continuation of Casino Royale's gritty reboot, actually daring to underline the severity of Bond's quest for revenge in a way that is relatively impressive compared to its allegedly superior successors.

13. Die Another Day

The Escape From L.A. avatar should indicate that I have a relatively high tolerance for goofy nonsense (as is the fact that I've seen all these movies multiple times) and this is very much true of the Bond movie so goofy that they really went overboard trying to course-correct for it.

14. Skyfall

The paradox of modern Bond movies comes in how they are supposed to address his flaws without compromising his appeal as a character, so this one really leans into the idea of him being an old and busted relic of the past a mere six years after he got a reboot - and then it sets him up with all his classic allies (Q! Moneypenny! A male M!) in an effective restoration of the status quo anyway. In this context, Deakins can only do so much.

15. Moonraker

Yep, the space one. Definitely bears the mark of a shamelessly rushed and rehashed production trying to capitalise on the popularity of Star Wars, throwing sense to the wind quite a bit even for this franchise. At least it's not obnoxiously silly.

16. For Your Eyes Only

Despite ostensibly being made with the intention of getting the series back-on-track after the extremely goofy Moonraker, this only ends up being a lateral move as it tries to go back to basics with its more traditional Cold War spycraft.

17. A View To A kill

Moore was too old for these movies when he started and he looks even worse for wear in his last one, though at least you have some of the best individual aspects in here (Walken, Jones, Duran Duran) to keep it from being too terrible.

18. No Time To Die

The attempt to not just reboot Bond but give him a clearly-defined arc from beginning to end reaches a bloated and anticlimactic conclusion here, once again harping on Bond raging against his apparent irrelevance while also trying to get more blood from the stone that is his all-consuming romance with an iconic character like *checks notes* Madeleine Swann.

19. The World Is Not Enough

Despite having a fairly novel approach to how it characterises its villain (I wonder if it influenced The Dark Knight Rises), this is a largely dull entry. At least Die Another Day is memorably goofy.

20. Spectre

The four-minute oner that starts the film is the perfect metaphor for the whole thing - it's long and technically impressive, but ultimately amounts to nothing.

21. Thunderball

The underwater stuff is neat and all, but there's nothing about it that wasn't done better in other Connery entries.

22. Live and Let Die

Somehow more racist than You Only Live Twice and it throws in that annoying sheriff character on top of that. The alligator-hopping stunt is cool, though.

23. Octopussy

Maybe they gave it that name to distract from how boring it actually is.

24. The Man With The Golden Gun

If I were ranking these in terms of how good the villains were, Christopher Lee's Scaramanga would easily catapult this into the top 5. However, the rest of the movie effectively guarantees it's in the bottom 5 (except for that car stunt - and even that has a slide-whistle over it for some reason).

25. Diamonds Are Forever

This is the Rise of Skywalker of Bond films. Yeah, I said it.

Re: Rank the James Bond films
 

My favs... in order of preference:

The Spy Who Loved Me
From Russia With Love
Dr. No
Goldfinger
Live And Let Die
Skyfall
GoldenEye
Casino Royale
Thunderball
The Living Daylights