The 7 Best James Bond Movies To Watch With Your Evening Martini
There aren’t many names more closely tied to the action genre than Britain’s most famous fictional export, James Bond.
The debonair covert agent alternatively known by his 007 codename, James Bond has long held a special place in the hallowed halls of pop culture, his fame and popularity rivaling other notable creations like Han Solo, Indiana Jones, or John Wick.
As one of the longest-running movie series in cinematic history, James Bond has spanned dozens of films, video games, novel tie-ins, best-selling music albums, and a grand total of six different actors who have portrayed the character over the years. With 25 films making up its collective canon, it’s only fair to assume that certain James Bond films are far, far superior to the series’ other, lesser installments. From the series’ earliest outings starring Sean Connery to the latest Daniel Craig-led action extravaganzas, here are some of the greatest James Bond films we’ve seen yet, ranked in order from worst to best.
7. The Spy Who Loved Me
The Roger Moore years were . . . a disappointing time to be a James Bond fan. While Moore himself did a proficient job portraying the suave and charismatic gentleman spy, the films released during this period simply lacked the cohesion or underlying edge of the Connery-led 007 movies. Fortunately, Moore’s tenure did come equipped with one truly memorable outing. Returning to the classic combination of kitschy thrills and globe-trotting locales as the Connery years, The Spy Who Loved Me proved a return to form for the Bond series, distancing itself from the harebrained ridiculousness of Moonraker, Diamonds Are Forever, or the near-unwatchable The Man with the Golden Gun.
6. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
After Sean Connery stepped down from his role as 007, audiences waited with bated breath to see whether the Bond series could survive without its lead actor spearheading the films. While Connery’s hiatus wound up being incredibly short-lived, fans were nevertheless entreated to a fantastic solo adventure for George Lazenby’s iteration of the character. Despite appearing in a single Bond flick, Lazenby gave it his all as the tuxedo-clad British operative. Striking a fine balance between the slightly campier tone of Goldfinger and the layered action of You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service made for a fittingly action-packed spy film that never failed to hold viewers’ attention.
5. From Russia with Love
Dr. No may have been the first James Bond movie featuring Sean Connery as the titular character, but From Russia with Love solidified the protagonist as an instantly recognizable entity akin to Batman, Superman, or Spider-Man. While most of the earlier Bond films utilized a distinctly cartoonish atmosphere, From Russia with Love channeled a grounded narrative reminiscent of a Hitchcockian thriller, predating the similarly realistic tone of Daniel Craig’s Bond films. In this sense, From Russia with Love acted as a film well and truly ahead of its time, focusing more on characterization, story, and action than on hokey gadgets, outlandish villains, or improbable plans for world domination.
4. Casino Royale
GoldenEye certainly helped introduce audiences to Pierce Brosnan’s pluckish version of the character, but the film’s immediate follow-ups quickly left the creative direction of the franchise in serious doubt. Fortunately, just as GoldenEye itself rebooted the series in 1995, Casino Royale helped revolutionize the espionage genre with its release in the autumn of 2006. Capturing a more serious tone than almost every Bond film that came before, Casino Royale’s newfound level of realism won instantaneous renown among modern viewers, recapturing audiences’ interest in the series after Die Another Day’s disastrous critical reception.
3. GoldenEye
There is always a degree of uncertainty about whether James Bond can carry on whenever an actor leaves the series behind. But just as Daniel Craig revitalized the character with 2006’s Casino Royale, Pierce Brosnan showed the world that 007 was here to stay with the release of 1995’s crowd-pleasing epic, GoldenEye. Continuing in the same hard-boiled vein as its Timothy Dalton-led predecessors, GoldenEye found a way to combine sensational action with just enough camp to satisfy longtime fans of the Bond series. Through this, the resulting film felt like a long-awaited continuation of the Connery years, likening itself more to Goldfinger and From Russia with Love than to A View to a Kill or Octopussy.
2. Skyfall
The modern-day equivalent to Goldfinger or GoldenEye, Skyfall perfectly capitalized on James Bond’s brilliant return with 2006’s Casino Royale. Circumventing its tedious previous chapter Quantum of Solace, Skyfall once again drew on a higher level of realism in lieu of stylized action and quirky character presentation. What followed can only be described as James Bond’s version of The Dark Knight, The Empire Strikes Back, or The Godfather Part II: a stark, mesmerizing espionage epic that ranks among the very best 007 films audiences had ever seen.
1. Goldfinger
The fact that people still fondly reference, recall, and acclaim Goldfinger over 60 years since its release should serve as obvious proof of the film’s glistening high quality. Solidifying so many aspects that quickly came to be associated with the 007 series, Goldfinger somehow struck the perfect balance between buoyant action, tongue-in-cheek humor, and high-concept villains and side characters in the course of its nearly two-hour runtime. To this day, viewers still won’t be able to find a spy film that surpasses this one, with Goldfinger continuing to delight contemporary audiences to the same degree it had in 1964.
