With all 23 Bond films under my belt and all 23 mini reviews written, the next step in my Bondathon is to reveal my order of preference. I had been keeping an order of preference every time I posted a mini review, but instead of slotting in Skyfall and then including it on my Skyfall review, I wanted to double check and make sure that it was my absolute order of preference. After all, I don’t think I’ll be watching all 23 in order again for a few years!
The eagle eyed among you may have already noticed that the list is quite a rainbow. In case you hadn’t worked it out, the colours denote which actor portrayed the debonair British spy – Sean Connery, George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. I thought it’d be interesting to see whether one actor’s films were grouped together or whether they were all spread out. I think the results speak for themselves…
So, without further ado, here they are with three words or a phrase to sum up each of them up plus the star rating I gave them. The eagle eyed may have also noticed that some films with a lower star rating actually rate higher than those with a star rating. I wanted to remain true to the original star ratings so have left them how they are though some, I now feel in hindsight, should have scored higher/lower.
Top dog: Goldfinger – ★★★★★
Laser, greed, bowler
Casino Royale – ★★★★★
‘A new beginning’
Skyfall – ★★★★½
Past, loyalty, resurrection
Thunderball – ★★★★
Sharks, underwater, warheads
Licence to Kill – ★★★★
Violence, tankers, drugs
The Man with the Golden Gun – ★★★★
Bullets, nipple, assassin
You Only Live Twice – ★★★★
Volcano, ninja, rockets
Dr. No – ★★★★
Shells, dragon, bikini
Tomorrow Never Dies – ★★★½
‘Megalomaniac media mogul’
The Living Daylights – ★★★½
Orchestra, KGB, globe-trotting
A View to a Kill – ★★★½
‘Screams the 80s’
The World is Not Enough – ★★★
Oil, bullet, betrayal
Octopussy – ★★★½
Exotic, elephants, circus
The Spy Who Loved Me – ★★★½
Submarine, nuclear, sailors
Live and Let Die – ★★★½
Voodoo, drugs, Caribbean
Goldeneye – ★★★
Turncoat, thighs, explosive
Diamonds Are Forever – ★★★
Smugglers, flamboyant, ditzy
From Russia With Love – ★★★½
Train, Soviet, complicated
For Your Eyes Only – ★★★
‘Absolutely zero chemistry’
Quantum of Solace – ★★★
‘Lost its way’
Moonraker – ★★½
Space, extravagent, far-fetched
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – ★★
Marriage, brainwashed, Switzerland
Last place: Die Another Day – ★★
‘Do not bother!’
What do you think – do you agree with my ordering, which are your top three? Leave a comment below and let’s get chatting.
You can read all my mini reviews and posts in my Bondathon series here.
Cinematic Delights 
Good list; interesting read, Claire!
Thanks, Mike!
Claire, I wish you were around when some awful little individual on Twitter made a rather nasty comment about my exclusion of the girl from For Your Eyes Only in my top 10 Bond Girls list. Your mention of “absolutely zero chemistry” reminded how wooden the actress is in that film…she looks half asleep throughout the entire thing. One of the big reasons I didn’t include her.
Well, she won’t be making my post about my top Bond girls post that’s for sure! 😛
…very interesting to read your thoughts on these films Claire. I’ve been doing my own little Bond marathon too but I’m seeing Skyfall tonight so have held back posting my top 10 until I’ve seen it. It has nine films in it at present so it is either Skyfall or You Only Live Twice (I think) that could take the spot.
I therefore won’t reveal my top 10 just yet…
As for worst Bond films – I agree Die Another Day is right up there. My other least favourites include Quantum of Solace, The World Is Not Enough, Tomorrow Never Dies and Moonraker (this used to be my favourite as a kid).
I’m also not sure about License to Kill – is it even a Bond film? It has a slightly different make-up to the story. I like Q’s involvement but the film felt too dark for me. I usually like things to be dark but Bond has always had a cartoonish quality about the violence/good-guy/bad-guy set-up. License To Kill went too far.
Thanks, Dan, I hope you enjoyed Skyfall!
I think one of the reasons that Licence to Kill stands out is because it’s much more personal to Bond. Instead of stopping X, Y or Z from happening he’s motivated by revenge. That’s not something that’s happened in any other Bond film. It could have happened in the film after OHMSS, but as you know that storyline was dropped.
Claire, I think your overall take is excellent, even though I have a few major differences in mine. I’m in the camp that thinks OHMSS is one of the best Bond films because it’s closest to the source material. Like Licence to Kill, it does seem like one of those that’s either loved or hated by most. I also am not a big fan of The Man with the Golden Gun, which is awkward despite having Christopher Lee in it. Finally, I’d definitely push Diamonds are Forever a lot further down the list. That one is just awful. Nice job!
Thanks for your comment, Dan. I think there’s definitely one or two ‘Marmite’ films – you either love them or hate them. To be honest, it’s only the bottom and top 5 that are set in stone, the others are pretty fluid. In a couple of years The Man with the Golden Gun could move down while some others might move up!
Nice work. I have ranked them myself in the past but keep changing my mind. Below is my probable ranking, more importantly I have grouped them based on what I think of them.
The Best
From Russia With Love – The archetype
Sky fall – Brave new world, Bond grows up
Casino Royale – rebooted and reinvented
Goldfinger – the classic
GoldenEye – a fun and welcome return.
Good
Live and Let Die – experimental but quite faithful to book
Thunderball – good fun but first glimpse of things getting silly
Licence to Kill – – Solid action adventure
The Living Daylights – 20 years ahead of its time
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service – great film hampered by terrible actor
The Spy Who Loved Me – fun but silly
Dr. No – humble but solid beginnings
The Man with the Golden Gun – pedestrian but elevated by great villain
Quantum of Solace – stunning looking and underrated
Not Bad
You Only Live Twice – silly but has good set pieces
Diamonds Are Forever – Connery should have known better
Tomorrow Never Dies – rubbish villain great girl (Yeoh not Hatcher)
Bad
For Your Eyes Only – forgettable at best
The World is Not Enough – has its moments
Terrible
View to a Kill – old Bond rubbish story
Octopussy – Bond joins the circus, need I say more
Die Another Day – terrible in every ay other than the car chase
Moonraker – feeble attempt to cash in on Star wars
Good ranking, Andy! I like the way you’ve summed them up.
Like I’ve said to Dan H, I think my rankings will change over the years. I think my top and bottom 5 will still the same, though.
Hi, Claire and company:
Being a guy who grew up in the 1960s and the introduction of Connery as Bond. His early trio of films always rise to the top.
Roger Moore always struck me as too clean and elegant to be a viable decent Bond. Relying more on gadgets which would later define him.
Dalton and Brosnan seemed in ways interchangeable. Though Dalton made the most of revenge in ‘Licence To Kill’. While Brosnan had cooler toys and an equal to take care of in ‘Goldeneye;
Daniel is the most popular Bond. Even though his mythos and back story have been flipped on its head.
Oddly, it was Connery’s last fling as Bond that turned me off the franchise for awhile. His Bond in ‘Never Say Never Again’ looked old and disinterested. Which puts that film very close to the bottom. Though, I thought George Lazenby’s Bond was quite serviceable opposite a less than stellar, thuggish villain in Telly Savalas in ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’.
I’m glad you pointed me to this write up – lovely read!
Our individual Bond rankings aren’t that far apart. We’ve both got Goldfinger and Casino Royale in the top spot, and we seem to agree on Die Another Day being a stinker. 😀
Ah, I’m so glad you checked it out! The ‘Bondathon’ was a labour of love.
I adore Goldfinger: it has everything a Bond film should have.
Glad we agree on Die Another Day too 😉