No Time to Die, the final movie to star Daniel Craig as secret agent James Bond, was a huge box office hit. The movie is an "epic, explosive and emotional swan song," says Richard Trenholm in CNET's No Time to Die review, "that throws everything it has against the wall for a genuinely unique entry in the series." As we wait now to see what comes next for the franchise, let's see where this newest 007 adventure falls in the list of best and worst Bond movies of all time.
Across a total of 27 movies and six decades, the Bond franchise has provided us with countless thrills and more than a few groans. Your personal favorite may depend a lot on when you started watching, and who was starring at the time -- the '90s with Pierce Brosnan? The '70s with Roger Moore? Most people haven't been watching since 1962 when the 007 series got going, but those Sean Connery outings have largely held strong in the court of public opinion. Whatever: It's always fun to look back, seeing how Eon Productions made the superspy an emblem of the times, an avatar of style and a man of many gadgets.
Speaking of looking back: At the 2022 Academy Awards ceremony last month, the Oscars paid homage to the 60 years of Bond movies with a fun montage: the tuxes! the cars! the gun-barrel signature moves! Meanwhile, Billie Eilish and Finneas for best original song for the theme song for No Time to Die.
See also: Being James Bond: How 007 Movies Got Me Into Intelligence Work
If you don't know where to start with the Bond films, be sure to check out our recommendations and full rundown on big-screen Bond. Or you can check out these James Bond movie rankings below, from worst to best. It's based on an aggregate of movie reviews, specific to when the movies came out, as compiled by CNET sister site Metacritic. The list accounts for every theatrical 007 release, not just the 25 from Eon Productions but also two non-canonical entries: the 1967 version of Casino Royale, a trippy turn with multiple actors playing Bond (David Niven chief among them), and 1983's Never Say Never Again, featuring Connery in his second comeback.
See also: James Bond Villains Build the Best Lairs, From Volcanoes to Space
It doesn't, however, include the 1954 version of Casino Royale, a 50-minute TV playhouse production that introduced Ian Fleming's hero to the world as "Jimmy" Bond, an American secret agent. You can find that on YouTube, if you're curious.
Otherwise, we've got the whole roster of actors who've played Bond in the official franchise -- besides Connery and Craig, that's Moore, Brosnan, Timothy Dalton and George Lazenby.
James Bond movies ranked, from worst to best
Keith Hamshere/Getty Images
27. A View to a Kill
According to the critical consensus, Roger Moore isn't just the star of the worst James Bond movie -- this snowboarding 1985 entry -- he's the star of the worst James Bond movies, period. When combined and averaged, his 007 films produce a franchise-low Metascore of 53.7.
A View to a Kill was Moore's seventh and final 007 movie. His co-stars included Christopher Walken as gleefully murderous villain Max Zorin and Grace Jones as Bond baddie (and eventual ally) May Day. The plot that Bond has to foil: Zorin's scheme to destroy Silicon Valley so he can control the market for computer chips.
"The James Bond series has had its bummers, but nothing before in the class of this one," Pauline Kael wrote for The New Yorker.
Metascore: 40
MGM
26. The Man With the Golden Gun
As far as critics are concerned, this 1974 installment, Moore's second outing as 007, is another bottom-dweller in the James Bond franchise. "If you enjoyed the early Bond films as much as I did, you'd better skip this one," Nora Sayre wrote in The New York Times.
The Man With the Golden Gun, featuring Christopher Lee as the Bond villain and rival marksman Scaramanga and eventual Fantasy Island star Herve Villechaize as his henchman Nick Nack, grossed $97.6 million worldwide, the weakest box-office performance by any of the Roger Moore 007 films.
Metascore: 43
LMPC / Getty Images
25. Casino Royale (1967)
This offbeat, comic entry features a multitude of actors as James Bond. But more 007s do not make things merrier -- or better. Variety called this version of Casino Royale "a film of astounding sloppiness" and "an insult to the Bond name."
This is one of the two noncanonical, non-Eon films in our rundown. (And for Bond completists -- sorry, we're not including the 1954 television production of Casino Royale, which portrayed our hero as Jimmy Bond, and an American to boot.)
1967's Casino Royale, featuring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles, grossed a Bond-worst $41.7 million worldwide.
Metascore: 48
20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
24. Tomorrow Never Dies
The first of the four Pierce Brosnan Bond movies in this list gets credit for giving Michelle Yeoh an early Hollywood showcase -- but for little else. According to Salon's Charles Taylor, this 1997 movie "scores zero in suspense, wit or class."
When averaged, Brosnan's four James Bond movies post a 57.5 Metascore, the second-lowest among 007 actors who have starred in at least four movies.
At the box office, Tomorrow Never Dies, featuring Jonathan Pryce as villain Elliot Carver, grossed $339.5 million worldwide. That's on par with, but on the low end of, the other films of the Brosnan era.
Metascore: 52
MGM
23. For Your Eyes Only
Critics are kinder, if still cool, to Roger Moore's fifth 007 adventure. In the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Roger Ebert wrote that the 1981 film "is a competent James Bond thriller. … But it's no more than that."
Aside from its reviews, For Your Eyes Only is a success of the Roger Moore era: 카지노사이트추천 It earned an Oscar nomination for its Sheena Easton-crooned title song, and it grossed $195.3 million worldwide -- the second-best box office showing for a Moore installment.
Metascore: 54
br /
br />
br /
br /
br /
br /
br />
br />
br />
br />
br />
br />
br /> LMPC/Getty Images
br /
br />
br />
br />
br />
21 (tie). The Spy Who Loved Me
br />
br />
br /
br />
br /
br /> <
br />
br /> <
br />
br />
br />
br />
Nominated for a franchise-best three Oscars, this 1977 Roger Moore adventure nonetheless rated mixed reviews from critics. "After the opening sequence," Newsweek's Maureen Orth wrote, "much of the action in The Spy Who Loved Me … is somewhat downhill."
The Spy Who Loved Me, featuring the first of two franchise appearances by Richard Kiel as the villainous Jaws, grossed $185.4 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest box office hits of its release year.
Metascore: 55<
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
Roger Moore's first James Bond movie is, well, another middling effort -- at least per the critics. In retrospect, this 1973 film may have suffered by comparison with the just-concluded Sean Connery era.
"Even the art direction -- long the Bond films' real secret weapon -- seems to have fallen to a shrunken budget," the Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr wrote. "Not much fun."
At the box office, Live and Let Die, co-starring Geoffrey Holder as the voodoo-practicing henchman Baron Samedi and Yaphet Kotto as head bad guy Katanga/Mr. Big, and featuring the hit title song by Paul McCartney's Wings, was a big step up from the Sean Connery film that preceded it, Diamonds Are Forever. Live and Let Die grossed $161.8 million worldwide.
Metascore: 55
>
>