The best and worst James Bond movies: a ranked list

In celebration of the new Skyfall, we return to all 22 official James Bond films in search of the perfect spy cocktail, rating the best and worst Bond girls, 007 theme songs and leading actors with the licence to kill.

By David Fear, Joshua Rothkopf and Keith Uhlich Tue Nov 6 2012

SLIDE SHOW: View our Bond list as one slide show >>

Moonraker (1979)

Cashing in on the Star Wars craze, Bond heads to outer space to foil the plans of an apocalyptic industrialist (Michael Lonsdale) who wants to repopulate the world with Barbie and Ken dolls. Dozens of jumpsuited bad guys dangle from zero-gravity wires, yet the movie rarely gets off the ground—here’s where Roger Moore’s arched eyebrow becomes campier than a pitched tent. Still, the movie inspires awe in its massive metal sets, designed to be exploded (why have merely one space shuttle launching from a secret Brazilian hangar when you can have six?), while composer John Barry unleashes some of his grandest orchestral swells.

Theme song: After Kate Bush declined the gig (damn you, cruel world), Shirley Bassey returned to the franchise for her third outing, following Goldfinger and Diamonds Are Forever. Alas, she never gets the chance to truly vamp.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Lois Chiles, playing an undercover CIA agent, benefits from a flinty demeanor and some women’s-lib speechifying, yet she’s seriously undermined by her character’s name, Holly Goodhead.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: High above Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain, Bond and returning baddie Jaws (Richard Kiel) grapple while hanging from some shoddy-looking cable cars.—Joshua Rothkopf

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

Quantum of Solace (2008)

Daniel Craig’s second go as a more bruised and battered Bond suffers from being intricately connected to Casino Royale: Even though it’s a strict continuation, the movie is simply not as fresh. Out to avenge his beloved Vesper Lynd, Bond follows the trail to evil environmentalist Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric). Unlike the clean, cohesive Casino, the action sequences here look like jumbled rejects from one of Paul Greengrass’s Bourne movies (don’t get us started on that phony-looking parachute drop). And the aching emotional undercurrents that Craig brought to the role his first time out are almost entirely absent—the better, we suppose, for the character to laughably seduce the head-slappingly-named Strawberry Fields (Gemma Arterton).

Theme song: The individual elements of the Jack White–Alicia Keys duet “Another Way to Die” are catchy (throbbing drums, fluttering piano, pounding guitar), but make for strangely unharmonic bedfellows.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Olga Kurylenko’s score-evening Bolivian operative looks great next to Craig’s brooding Bond, but arm candy is as far as she goes.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: Judi Dench’s M: “Bond, I need you back.” Bond: “I never left.”—Keith Uhlich

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

The ass-cheek-laden poster was more memorable that the movie itself (those are a pair of panties worn backwards, actually). Still, after the space-junky Moonraker, there’s relief in this film’s return to the basics. Roger Moore’s Bond searches for a nuclear sub’s tracking device, lost in a wreck at sea. En route to reclaiming what looks like a portable Blaupunkt stereo, he skis over some innocent Italians’ picnic lunch, takes out thugs in a hockey rink and scales a mountainside in a windy suspense sequence. Few of the Bond movies approach this film’s sunny Mediterranean allure, with beautiful location work in Greece (plus Fiddler on the Roof’s Topol as a robust, pistachio-loving comrade).

Theme song: Equal parts synth cool and romantic gush, Sheena Easton’s title number fits the mold perfectly, subtly modernizing the gig for future New Wavers.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Fashion model Carole Bouquet is almost certainly the only Bond girl to have worked with Luis Buñuel. Moreover, she has a real character to play: a nostril-flaring hottie avenging the murder of her parents via her wicked crossbow skills.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: In a pre-plot amuse-bouche, the opening sequence has Bond dropping wheelchair-bound villain Blofeld from a helicopter into a factory’s smokestack.—Joshua Rothkopf

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

Licence to Kill (1989)

Timothy Dalton came into his own with his second and final take on Bond. Licence follows our determined operative as he goes rogue, hunting down a Latin American drug lord (Robert Davi) who literally fed Bond’s FBI confidant to the sharks. Dalton’s agonized performance (fueled by the character’s undying loyalty to his friend) anticipates the darker turn the series would take with Daniel Craig; this is one of the few entries where Bond seems truly physically and emotionally vulnerable as opposed to a pun-toting cipher. Almost every action scene—from the opening skydiving sequence to the finale’s gobsmacking truck-convoy assault—is cream of the crop. And a young Benicio Del Toro (playing a henchman) too? It’s a sorely underrated entry.

Theme song: The Empress of Soul, Gladys Knight, goes straight for our hearts with this soaringly goofy title ballad. Her attempt to out-Bassey Bassey is a sheer guilty pleasure.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Though hotly pursued by the drug lord’s concubine, Bond only has eyes for CIA informant and pilot Carey Lowell, whose salty vocabulary and way with a gun are her most distinctive traits.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: A slimy henchman meets a head-popping end in a ship’s decompression chamber.—Keith Uhlich

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

GoldenEye (1995)

Pierce Brosnan was originally set to take over 007 duties when Roger Moore was hanging up his Walther PPK in the ’80s, but he was unable to get out of his Remington Steele contract. When he finally did step into the role with this 1995 entry, the Irish actor immediately established himself as the perfect bridge between the old and the new: sophisticated enough to sell the franchise’s vintage martini-and-tuxedo concept of style, yet sleek and savvy enough for the cyberespionage age. Even the creaky plot involving rogue agents, Cold-War rejects and a remote-controlled satellite seems thrilling and fresh with Brosnan at the helm.

Theme song: Tina Turner does her best Shirley Bassey impersonation, but her contribution (cowritten by Bono and the Edge) is less than golden.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Never mind Izabella Scorupco’s mousy computer analyst; we’re all about Famke Janssen’s Xenia Onatopp and her killer thighs.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: Bond deftly avoids a ricocheting bullet without batting an eye—a single gesture that sums up Brosnan’s cool.—David Fear

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

Thunderball (1965)

Following up Goldfinger was no picnic, but Sean Connery’s fourth outing demonstrated the series’ durability, cementing a brash, Playboy-era formula that yielded huge box office (it’s still the highest-grossing Bond, adjusting for inflation). Return to it now, and the effort is painfully obvious: Yes, we love spooky underwater sequences involving the conveyance of stolen A-bombs, but must there be endless minutes of them? Regardless, you’ve got some essential stuff here: the electric chair that incinerates an underperforming villain at a meeting, the swimming pool with sharks, the widescreen luxury.

Theme song: Tom Jones, already riding high in 1965 with his theme for What’s New Pussycat?, croons an electrifying if schlocky spy song, heavy on John Barry’s brass and ominousness.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Stronger and more sun-kissed than most of her kin, Claudine Auger’s Domino represents an early evolution of the archetype, handy with a harpoon gun and a playful match with Connery.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: The effect is largely achieved via rear projection, but why do we watch Bond films if not for jet packs? This one launches our hero off a chateau, landing him only feet away from his Aston Martin.—Joshua Rothkopf

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

We don’t want to say that the Bond films were experiencing franchise fatigue by the time this ninth entry hit theaters. But given its concessions to in-vogue film fads—notably a martial-arts academy sequence lifted from Enter the Dragon—and the return of Clifton James’s embarrassing redneck from Live and Let Die, it’s clear that the series was beginning to show its age. The campiness that characterized much of the Moore era here becomes a fixture, slowed only by the presence of Christopher Lee as Scaramanga, the world’s deadliest assassin. He brings a sense of malevolence to his killer-for-hire that almost makes up for the film’s overall softness.

Theme song: When was the last time you started humming Lulu’s manic theme song? Our point exactly.
Martini rating:

The Bond girl: Maud Adams would deliver a better Bond-girl performance in Octopussy nine years later; thankfully, Britt Ekland’s Girl Friday picks up the slack.
Martini rating:

The killer moment: A final showdown in Scaramanga’s trippy funhouse ends its cat-and-mouse game with a Bond “mannequin” that springs to life.—David Fear

Watch now on iTunes Watch now at Amazon Instant Video

Your rating
Name *
Email *
Comment *
* mandatory fields

Comments & ratings

(9 ratings)

qckgherxcxen

many thanks for this jadhlierco <a href="http://www.lwnoilcpuzhr.com">click here</a> B| ucsgcimz, = About 2 days ago
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
qdovvmpblnwv

is this a themeforest theme? kzrvzsvbwm <a href="http://www.zmnjxgmltzpe.com">click here</a> 8| cyf About 2 days ago
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
wtovkzgzznmz

adoring the website nommmdlmde <a href="http://www.efublosipemk.com">click here</a> :( rjoby, :/ cr About 2 days ago
Rated as: 4/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
odffsyktornh

thank you for a great site yaatgigcja <a href="http://www.pbjhkxsnmewd.com">click here</a> :'( oht About 2 days ago
Rated as: 4/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
yhtitkuvilej

is this a themeforest theme? xsqcdzupvl <a href="http://www.hdizlrklynvx.com">click here</a> :-X vq About 4 days ago
Rated as: 1/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
qegitgjtcyho

magnificent post pyeyebqcct <a href="http://www.fcprgcanaisu.com">click here</a> =( mvrip, :D gemlz About 6 days ago
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
jesahpnxaiko

thank you for a great post crjhdzxbgw <a href="http://www.srbhoehrxmky.com">click here</a> >:o dvei About 6 days ago
Rated as: 2/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
xulvlctufcqb

woah, magnificent site thanks zlidznjded <a href="http://www.bbtndgabkbsq.com">click here</a> :( py About 10 days ago
Rated as: 3/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
It is typically applied thoroughly during meal market becoming an component to provide a fruity odor. Phentramin-d can reduce down your chances of obtaining diabetes, cancer, higher blood force, stroke and coronary heart disease too. A new weight loss pill was authorized by the Fda right now creating this the initially eating plan tablet in 13 many years to get the eco-friendly mild from this governing administration agency. It has turn out to be amazingly well known in the modern previous and fairly a couple of amongst individuals who have utilised it swear by it. Drink eight eight ounce eyeglasses of h2o each working day. I'm heading to present a Capsiplex review without the need of the unwanted hoopla, in purchase to enable you make an knowledgeable and smart determination if this solution is for you right before you invest in Capsiplex. Reports on Capsiplex have irrevocably established its performance in excess weight reduction. Also, include fish and seafood into the mix. Capsiplex is safe for the reason that it is created of nothing at all but pure components. Some all-pure sugars may very well burn off off utility speedier do, would like your bars to make guaranteed they are "excellent" carbs. Consequently hazard of heart ailment is enormously alleviated by Capsiplex use. The same post states that the mango can support velocity the breakdown of fats in the entire body and reduce the advancement of fats cells. It can be both equally bodily and psychologically distressing to have excessive body weight you want to get rid of. Use extra virgin olive oil and flax-seed oil in cooking. Switching all of a unexpected to these types of a very low calorie diet could possibly lead to nausea, vomiting and gastrointestinal difficulties initially. But the moment you convert your interest to the people today of Europe, the Mediterranean area in unique, you will see that citizens in this spot appear to be to reside a wholesome life style with rarely any work. She managed to get rid of roughly 4 stone in body weight adhering to her being pregnant many thanks to Capsiplex. Dark colored fruits and leafy inexperienced veggies are specifically great fibroid shrinking foodstuff but in basic, if you purpose to take in a "rainbow" (ie as many colour variants as achievable) you will be getting the beneficial nutrients on offer you. Capsiplex aids you control your appetite and improve your fat burning capacity,which in change translate in minimized overall body unwanted fat and greater calorie burning, culminating with excess weight reduction. Allergic reactions as effectively as a hypersensitivity that some men and women establish in the direction of gluten protein disturb the method of foods absorption main to gradual excess weight loss. And, vitamin C assists the expectant mother's human body take up iron. These are diseases your medical professional may possibly have forgotten when screening you. Our appetites all suffer at some position during our 7 days depending on our moods. All of the elements that are involved in Capsiplex are just one hundred % normal. If you are diabetics, you need to have to manage your meal program by preserving your blood sugar nicely in concentrate on array, when at the similar time permitting you to love your preferred meals.

Illilleromemy About 13 days ago
Rated as: 4/5
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *
I disagree with this horrible list on every level, How do u rate quantum of solace above octopussy????? Tht. Was actually 1 of my favorites, and tomorrow nvr dies was actually decent

Vincent Mon May 27
Report
1. Name *
2. Email *
3. Reason *