Ranking The Bond Films (Part 3/3): The Top Five

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the first film in the James Bond series. Directed by Terence Young, the movie established not only one of cinema's most enduring heroes but the entire action movie genre.

In commemoration of the series' beginnings, I have ranked all twenty-five films in the main series. If you haven't read Part One yet, featuring the movies ranked 25-16, you can do so here. Part Two, counting down the films ranked 15-6, can be read here. Spanning six decades and the tenures of six actors, the films are as fascinating in their own right as they are snapshots of the times in which they were made. One of the many great things about the series is that it offers so many entry points, with any one film having a wildly different tone to another, that there can never be a conclusive list of the best Bonds. This ranking is simply my own, and if you too are a fan, you will appreciate that disagreement is not just expected, but essential. Finally, here are my top five Bond films. Enjoy.

Ranking The Bond Films (Part 2/3): 15 - 6

Poster Credit: Sean Longmore

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the first film in the James Bond series. Directed by Terence Young, the movie established not only one of cinema's most enduring heroes but the entire action movie genre.

In commemoration of the series' beginnings, I'll be ranking all twenty-five films in the main series. If you haven't read Part One yet, featuring the movies ranked 25-16, you can do so here. Spanning six decades and the tenures of six actors, the films are as fascinating in their own right as they are snapshots of the times in which they were made. One of the many great things about the series is that it offers so many entry points, with any one film having a wildly different tone to another, that there can never be a conclusive list of the best Bonds. This ranking is simply my own, and if you too are a Bond fan, you will appreciate that disagreement is not just expected, but essential. Enjoy.

Ranking The Bond Films (Part 1/3): 25 - 16

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the release of Dr. No, the first film in the James Bond series. Directed by Terence Young, the movie established not only one of cinema's most enduring heroes but a whole new genre. If Alfred Hitchcock's North By Northwest laid the foundation for the modern action movie, it was Goldfinger which built the house with its focus on big-budget spectacle, a larger-than-life villain with an audaciously implausible plot, and a stylish, implacably cool hero helped by high-tech gadgetry and beautiful women. As much as the Bond films have always moved with the times, often chasing trends, it took decades - the action boom of the eighties - before the rest of the industry began to replicate the high-octane formula which made the classic Bonds so timelessly exciting.

In commemoration of the series' beginnings, I'll be ranking all twenty-five films in the main series. This excludes the unofficial and mostly terrible Never Say Never Again, released by a Thunderball producer who had clung onto certain rights to the story, and the fascinating trainwreck which is the 1967 'comedy' adaptation of Casino Royale. Both would be near the bottom of the list if included. The main series alone offers plenty to be getting on with: spanning six decades and the tenures of six actors, the films are as fascinating in their own right as they are snapshots of the times in which they were made. As a result, one of the many great things about the series is that it offers so many entry points, with any one film having a wildly different tone to another, that there can never be a conclusive list of the best Bonds. This ranking is simply my own, and if you too are a Bond fan, you will appreciate that disagreement is not just expected, but essential. Enjoy.

Movies: No Time To Die (no spoilers) review

FILM REVIEW

Review Scoring Chart - 10: Masterpiece; 9: Outstanding; 8: Very Good; 7: Good; 6: Above Average; 5: Average; 4: Below Average; 3: Bad; 2: Awful; 1: Reprehensible; 0: Non-Functional.

NO TIME TO DIE
Dir: Cary Joji Fukunaga

Stars: Daniel Craig, Léa Seydoux, Lashana Lynch, Rami Malek, Ben Whishaw 

Running Time: 163mins

No Time To Die arrives a year shy of the venerable Bond series' 60th anniversary and concludes the tenure of Daniel Craig in the lead role. Though all but Goldfinger of the original six films contained some degree of serialisation, Craig's time in the lead role has been characterised by plots more tightly interwoven with each other than ever before, all concerned with answering the question of who James Bond is, what role he has to play in the modern world, and what, if anything, that means.

If any conclusions can be reached from what No Time To Die has to offer, few feel satisfying and most outright misguided. Nine years ago, Skyfall - then a standalone film, since uncomfortably retconned into the increasingly incoherent Craigiverse continuity - delivered a self-assured and conclusive answer: Bond as the modern Arthur, an eternal defender forged in the best values of old but existing in a cycle of rebirth and evolution to deal with the threats of changing times. No Time To Die's version of Bond also exists somewhat in legend - one character refers to himself as a 'big fan' of the temporarily-retired spy - but looking at how he's characterised this time around, one can only wonder why.

BS With Friends Podcast: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

I was privileged to take part in a very enjoyable podcast about one of my favourite James Bond films, On Her Majesty's Secret Service, with resident hosts, Maxwell Roahrig and Xzyliac Ariel. We cover some recent entertainment news stories, Peter Hunt's borderline experimental editing, how Bond beat the Fast & Furious franchise to punch with a flying car (in addition to a double-taking pigeon), and On Her Majesty's gay influence, helped in part by writer Simon Raven, an old-school libertine who was expelled from school - and I quote said school's obituary - 'less for homosexuality than for the bravura with which he practiced it'.

 

Below the jump are links to articles I've written on this blog about Bond, including a set of film reviews and why OHMSS is the great unrecognised Christmas movie. Have fun!

On Her Majesty's Secret Service Is The Great Unrecognised Christmas Movie

UPDATE (23.04.21): For those interested, I've recorded a podcast with further discussion of Bond and OHMSS.

While online forum clever-than-thous are busy, yet again, trying to convince everyone that Die Hard is a Christmas movie rather than just a movie which happens to take place during Christmas, Bond fans have long rested merrily on the knowledge that the finest and most under-appreciated seasonal actioner of all rests within their favoured canon: On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969).

It's worth acknowledging, however, that while OHMSS is a great Christmas movie, the best Bond movie to watch at Christmas is undoubtedly Octopussy, a perfect post-lunch confection big on stunts, scenery and silliness, where any ten minutes are sufficiently entertaining in their own right that you can drift off for half-an-hour of turkey-induced slumber only to reawaken and slot right back into the fun, barely encumbered by a plot which, let's be honest, nobody has ever paid the slightest bit of attention to anyway. That many wrongly think it's one of the worst Bonds due to the title alone makes it even more of a pleasant surprise. Nevertheless, while Octopussy fits the circumstances, it's On Her Majesty's which captures the spirit and themes of the yuletide season.

Movies: Skyfall review

FILM REVIEW 
   

Review Scoring Chart - 10: Masterpiece; 9: Outstanding; 8: Very Good; 7: Good; 6: Above Average; 5: Average; 4: Below Average; 3: Bad; 2: Awful; 1: Reprehensible; 0: Non-Functional.

SKYFALL

Dir: Sam Mendes

Stars: Daniel Craig, Judi Dench, Javier Bardem, Naomie Harris, Ben Whishaw

Running Time: 143 mins

This review will be spoiler-free, making it one of the hardest I've ever had to write. Not only because I'm a Bond nerd of unhealthy magnitude, no doubt demonstrated by the Countdown To 007 feature running on this blog for the past nine days, but because many of Skyfall's biggest joys come from its celebration and repositioning of a fifty year cinematic legacy. That's not to suggest there isn't plenty for non-devotees to enjoy as well: these days, Bond follows the trend of the times, and the movie's central set-piece offers a very British take on The Dark Knight's formula for sprawling urban epics, before moving to the remote highlands for a climactic showdown which blends the 'Englishman's home is his castle' ethos of Straw Dogs with a strong nods to Ian Fleming's Spy Who Loved Me novel.

Those calling Skyfall a 'classic' Bond are wide of the mark, however. It is unlike any other entry in the series, driven by theme rather than plot and with a distinct identity to its visuals, soundtrack and direction. The Bond series' deliberate visual uniformity has given it a reputation as a no man's land for technical artists, but Skyfall is very much the amalgamated product of Sam Mendes' character-driven theatrical background, Roger Deakins' stunning use of colour and composition, and Thomas Newman's subtly evocative score. For the first time since the early Connery era, the people behind the camera represent top tier talent operating at the height of their powers, and it shows in every gorgeous frame.

  

Countdown To 007: Casino Royale, Quantum Of Solace

This Countdown comes to an end with Daniel Craig's two Bond movies under the microscope ahead of his third outing, Skyfall, released tomorrow in the UK and on November 9th in the US. The actor's powerhouse performance in Casino Royale was undermined by a big stumble in the under-developed, poorly shot Quantum Of Solace, and it will certainly be interesting to see whether the right lessons have been learnt. For all the untidness of the movie as a whole, there's real potential in some of Quantum's individual ideas and while Skyfall won't be taking them up, fingers crossed that future Bonds make the most of them.

My review of Bond's twenty-third outing will be going up tomorrow. Don't miss it.

  

Countdown To 007: The World Is Not Enough, Die Another Day

The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day represent Bond as endurance rather than entertainment: the former has some merits but is undermined by messy pacing and tiresome action sequences, while the latter drags the series to its lowest point to date. A shame, because despite the underwhelming quality of both movies, Pierce Brosnan does some of his best work.

These write-ups have been republished from Flixist's ongoing Across The Bond feature, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak and I go through the series one by one. The feature ends tomorrow with a look at Daniel Craig's two movies, before finding out on Friday whether his third time will be a charm for him as it was for Sean Connery and Roger Moore.

  

Countdown To 007: Licence To Kill, Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies

My Countdown To 007 introduces another new Bond today after Timothy Dalton departs in one of the series' most contentious entries. Licence To Kill is a personal favourite of mine, drawing more inspiration from Fleming than many detractors give it credit for and featuring an outstanding performance from the lead man. When Pierce Brosnan took over six years later, his run in the role was a mixed bag but his opening movie, Goldeneye, was a perfect reintroduction to the character after the series was put on hiatus by legal troubles at parent studio MGM.

These write-ups have been republished from Flixist's ongoing Across The Bond feature, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak (defiantly anti-Dalton) and I go through the series one by one. The feature will look at Brosnan's two remaining movies tomorrow, then Craig's two on Thursday before the Skyfall review on Friday.

  

Movies: Everything Or Nothing - The Untold Story of 007 review

FILM REVIEW 
   

Review Scoring Chart - 10: Masterpiece; 9: Outstanding; 8: Very Good; 7: Good; 6: Above Average; 5: Average; 4: Below Average; 3: Bad; 2: Awful; 1: Reprehensible; 0: Non-Functional.

EVERYTHING OR NOTHING: THE UNTOLD STORY OF 007

Dir: Stevan Riley

Stars: Daniel Craig, Barbara Broccoli, Pierce Brosnan, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton

Running Time: 98 mins
  
Running at a touch over an hour and a half, some might suspect Everything Or Nothing to be a glorified DVD extra given undue prominence and a limited UK release due to 2012 being the character's 50th anniversary year. The unconvincing 'recreation' with which the movie starts, featuring a faceless Bond figure getting dressed in black tie and loading a PPK, doesn't do much to convince otherwise, even with Daniel Craig's voiceover reminding us how the series has proven to its doubters a nasty habit of surviving against the odds. Then it cuts to a gunbarrel sequence where all six Bonds turn to fire at once in what will surely be the nerdgasm moment of the year, and its cinematic validity is proven beyond a doubt.

If anything, it's a surprise the documentary hasn't had greater exposure, given the producer credits for Simon Chinn and John Battsek, two of the most acclaimed figures working in the genre. Whilst largely a collection of talking heads, Everything Or Nothing may not quite be an 'untold story' for most serious fans, but extracts candid confessionals from its stars and for more casual Bond viewers will be a fascinating insight into the turbulent development of the longest running movie series in history.

   

Countdown To 007: Octopussy, A View To A Kill, The Living Daylights

Today's Countdown To 007 sees the Roger Moore era go to an all-time high, before bowing out on an all-time low and leaving it to newcomer Timothy Dalton to salvage the series' dignity by taking the character back to his literary roots. Dalton is my second favourite Bond - behind Connery, natch - but is controversial for many fans, who believe his two movies abandoned much of the levity which attracted them to the character in the first place. Leave your thoughts in the comments.

These write-ups have been republished from Flixist's ongoing Across The Bond feature, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak (defiantly anti-Dalton) and I go through the series one by one. The feature is leading up to my Skyfall review on Friday.

Countdown To 007: The Spy Who Loved Me, Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only

We're deep into the Moore subtropics now, where eyebrows twitch in the undergrowth, safari suits frolic across grassy plains and the treetops echo with the sound of inexplicable puns. These three movies represent different extremes of the Moore era: Spy Who Loved Me as a generally entertaining extravaganza, Moonraker taking that formula way over the top in every respect, then For Your Eyes Only taking Bond back down to earth in something approximating the shape of an authentic thriller.

These write-ups have been republished from Flixist's ongoing Across The Bond feature, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak and I go through the series one by one. The feature will continue on Monday with three movies including Timothy Dalton's debut, then culminate on Thursday with Daniel Craig's two previous movies ahead of my Skyfall review on Friday.

 

Games: 007 Legends review (via Hit-Reset)

GAME REVIEW 
   

Review Scoring Chart - 10: Masterpiece; 9: Outstanding; 8: Very Good; 7: Good; 6: Above Average; 5: Average; 4: Below Average; 3: Bad; 2: Awful; 1: Reprehensible; 0: Non-Functional.

007 LEGENDS

Platforms: XBOX 360 (version tested), PS3, PC, Wii U

Developers: Eurocom

Publishers: Activision

Players: 4 (plus 12-player online)

The final mission in 007 Legends is not included on the disc, but will be made available later as free DLC. Why, you ask? The official answer is to avoid spoiling the movie, which itself only raises the question of why the game wasn't released at the same time. A quick glance at the Call Of Duty: Black Ops II release date should provide your answer. In short, Activision have rushed out an essentially incomplete game to avoid a full version either cannibalising or getting lost in the wake of its flagship title. As it stands now, the game just stops at the end of the Moonraker mission, immediately cutting to credits from a cutscene which apparently leaves Bond floating in space without so much as attempting re-entry. If that weren't bad enough, XBox 360 owners will have to wait three weeks longer than PS3 owners before being able to finish the game, as Sony have exclusivity rights on the free DLC providing the game's proper ending. Sigh.

Unfortunately, that's pretty much the game all over, evidently rushed and showing few signs of being properly thought through. Replaying classic Bond missions in video game form isn't a bad idea, and while a little odd to see Daniel Craig using (obnoxiously branded) smart phones in the middle of Goldfinger, it shouldn't be an issue for anyone who played Eurocom's very respectable previous effort, GoldenEye Reloaded. More problematic is how little effort the game makes in tying its six scenarios together, despite spending an interminable amount of time plodding through the stories of each. The framing device is a scene from the pre-credits sequence of Skyfall, where Agent Eve (Naomie Harris) accidentally shoots Bond off the top of a train, rather than the enemy agent he's grappling with. As Bond plummets into the river below, his mind flashes back to past adventures.

Click here to read the full review at Hit-Reset
  

Countdown To 007: Diamonds Are Forever, Live And Let Die, The Man With The Golden Gun

Enter the Roger Moore era. Well, one Connery movie is covered here, but its broad humour and lazy plotting marks the beginning of the series taking on traits more commonly associated with the man with the twitchy eyebrows. If you were expecting me to lavish nothing but praise on the Bond movies based on the two previous articles, think again: classic Connery is long gone, and two out of the three movies covered today have a legitimate claim to being among the series' worst.

These write-ups have been republished from Flixist's ongoing Across The Bond feature, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak and I go through the series one by one. Later today, I'll be providing a link to my 007 Legends game review on Hit-Reset, so keep an eye out for that.

  

Countdown To 007: Thunderball, You Only Live Twice, On Her Majesty's Secret Service

In the second round of revisiting the classic Bonds for this Countdown To 007 feature, I take a look at three fairly contentious movies in the series: I like all of them, but many find Thunderball boring, You Only Live Twice excessive, and On Her Majesty's Secret Service too... Lazenby. In my opinion, Lazenby gave a fine performance in his sole outing as 007 and his movie is one of the series' most touching. Let me know what you think in the comments.

These write-ups have been republished from Flixist's ongoing Across The Bond feature, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak and I go through the series one by one. There'll be more Bond celebration to come on this blog. We have all the time in the world, after all...

  

Countdown To 007: Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger

In the buildup to my Skyfall review on its UK release date next Friday, I'm republishing here my contributions to Flixist's ongoing feature, Across The Bond, where fellow Bond nerd Matthew Razak offer our thoughts on each movie in the fifty year old series and their relation to Ian Fleming's literary oeuvre. Here, I'll be covering three movies per day, starting today with Dr. No, From Russia With Love and the iconic Goldfinger.

Of course, there'll be more to this celebration of Bond that that. I'll also be providing a review to my review of the upcoming Bond video game 007 Legends, set to be published on Hit-Reset on Friday, and a review of Bond documentary Everything Or Nothing is also on its way. In the meantime, let's get started with three of the strongest movies in Bond's illustrious cinematic history...