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GoldenEye
Casino Royale
Quantum of Solace
Spectre
Die Another Day
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World Is Not Enough
2. QOS
3. SP
4. SF
5. TWINE
6. TND
7. GE
8. DAD
CR
SP
TND
SF
DAD
GE
TWINE
CR
GE
SP
QOS
TWINE
TND
DAD
2. GOLDENEYE
3. SKYFALL
4. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH
5. SPECTRE
6. TOMORROW NEVER DIES
7. QUANTUM OF SOLACE
8. DIE ANOTHER DAY
1. Casino Royale
2. Skyfall
3. Goldeneye
4. Tomorrow Never Dies
5. The World is not Enough
6. Quantum of Solace
7. Spectre
8. Die Another Day
2.) SF
3.) GE
4.) TND
5.) QoS
6.) SP
7.) DAD
8.) TWINE
the great:
1. CR
2. SF
the good:
3. GE
the mediocre:
4. QOS
5. DAD
the bad:
6. SP
the ugly:
7. TWINE
8. TND
2. The World Is Not Enough
3. GoldenEye
4. Die Another Day
5. Spectre
6. Skyfall
7. Casino Royale
8. Quantum Of Solace
Casino Royale
GoldenEye
Quantum Of Solace
Tomorrow Never Dies
The World Is Not Enough
SPECTRE
Die Another Day
2. Skyfall
3. GoldenEye
4. Quantum of Solace
5. Tomorrow Never Dies
6. The World Is Not Enough
7. Spectre
8. Die Another Day
GE
TND
QOS
TWINE/DAD/SF
SP
2) Goldeneye. It's a classic. What more is there to say.
3) The World Is Not Enough. This and Skyfall are very similar films but I prefer TWINE because, while it is a lot rougher round the edges and held back by their refusal to stray too far from the formula, it was also a lot more original. It's easy to forget how different a lot of this felt at the time. Very underrated film imo with a lot of cool and inventive ideas.
4) Skyfall. The magic fades a bit on rewatches but it's still very good. It's become fashionable to slag it off these days but 99% of us left the cinema buzzing and for good reason.
5) Casino Royale. Brilliant on paper but it's always been a film I admire more than I actually enjoy watching. Bit bloated imo and I struggled with the reboot idea at first.
6) Die Another Day. It's crap but it's fun. A genuinely brilliant start swiftly descends into a so bad it's good B movie. A complete trainwreck but very watchable because of just how mental it actually is and Pierce does an admirable job of somehow carrying it to the end.
7) Tomorrow Never Dies. It's actually a lot of fun right up until the HALO jump but what comes after that is so boring and generic that it drags the whole film down. At least DAD is memorable. TND just turns into a generic forgettable 90s action film by the end.
8) Quantum of Solace. Hate it. It's a rushed pretentious mess that's so busy trying and failing to do so many things in its "like a bullet" runtime that it forgets to actually try to be a Bond film. It's not the worst Bond film but I think it'll always be my least favourite.
1 CR
2 GE
3 SF
4 QOS
5 TND
6 SP
7 TWINE
8 DAD
2. SF
3. GE
4. QOS
5. SP
6. TND
7. TWINE
8. DAD
2. Casino Royale
3. GoldenEye
4. The World is Not Enough
5. Spectre
6. Quantum of Solace
7. Tomorrow Never Dies
8. Die Another Day
1-3 change quite reguarly
4-5 are films I get a lot of enjoyment out of and watch frequently
6-7 great fun but has noticeable problems
8 ...we all know
I pretty much stand by this, but I'll elaborate on each spot:
SF - Tops because I just find it the most riveting. Bardem is a joy to watch. Deakins photography ranks very high up in the best of Bond. It's a good farewell for Judi Dench, and I always appreciate when a Bond film can take the familiar formula and subvert it in new ways, like having the villains storm Bond's lair.
10/10 on the Bond scale
CR - It's a hell of a debut for Craig, who immediately commands the screen with the cynicism of Fleming combined with the machismo of Connery. I feel its weakest aspect is the sinking house climax, because I feel they should have taken a chance and done it the way it was in the novel. But this is a film made after over 40 years of cinematic Bond, so it can't just ignore what audiences expect. Oh well.
9/10 on the Bond scale
GE - Even if it doesn't say much that it's Brosnan's best film of his tenure, it's still a pretty good top tier flick with a good atmosphere, a memorable collection of villains, and an criminally underrated score by Eric Serra.
8/10 on the Bond scale
Now we're getting into mixed territory.
SP - For the most part, this works for me. I thought it was refreshing to see Craig play Bond at his prime where he's more the unflappable classic style Bond but in a way that works for Craig. His tenure doesn't give him a lot of chances to just play it cool like here, so I savor it. That said, the foster brother angle doesn't feel organic, as in you could easily edit out this aspect of the film and not lose a thing. I say if you're gonna go that angle, swing for the fences, otherwise it's just limp.
6/10 on the Bond scale
QOS - This feels like low budget Euro trash action cinema that would have starred an non-charismatic leading man like Gerard Butler. Abysmal editing. A very thin plot. They really should have postponed production in favor of trying to get the script fleshed out first thing. The only thing that carry's it is Craig's determination to make something out of what he's given. It ain't much, but I appreciate what he delivers. Easily his weakest film.
5/10 on the Bond scale
DAD - This film is big and dumb, but I can enjoy it on the level of it swinging for the fences. There's a pretty good Bond film in the first half, with Brosnan giving IMO his very best performance in the role. He feels in charge here in a way he never quite did in his previous three films. Toby Stephens is very much a mustache twirling villain, but he's fun to watch doing that with his abundance of snarls. That said, the second half of the film is just ass. If it had kept up the level of the first half of the film I think this could have easily been Brosnan's strongest film. But here we are.
4/10 on the Bond scale
TND - My main problem with the bottom two from this point on is that this is just BOOOOOOORING. It feels like the most generic Bond film, just hitting its beats out of obligation. It has a promising premise, but the film doesn't seem to be interested in doing more than it does with it. Jonathan Pryce is enjoyable in a hammy way, he seems to have a better understanding of what this film should be than anyone else. I've read John Woo was offered GE, but I think this would have been more suited for him. He would have taken the bare bones and given it a more fun flair to it. But no, EON had to hire the guy who did TURNER & HOOCH and STOP! OR MY MOM WILL SHOOT.
2/10 on the Bond scale
TWINE - As dull and boring as TND, but it ranks at the very bottom (even among all 24) because it's not only dull and boring but that it has a wonderful story concept that could have made for an amazing Bond film and falls flat over everything. People give Denise Richards a lot of flack, but I think Brosnan and Marceau are actually worse. Richards doesn't really do much other than spout out exposition about nuclear physics, whereas Brosnan and Marceau have to carry the emotion but they overact and have little chemistry (which is admittedly an issue Brosnan seems to have with all his leading ladies except Izabella Scorupco).
1/10 on the Bond scale.
2. SF - Solid Bond film.
3. QoS - Excellent Craig performance. Good tone.
4. GE - Average. Mediocrity in every detail.
5. SP - Craig lifts a flawed film.
TND - The first hour is great, the second is weak. Weak villain.
5. TWINE - Great pre-title sequence. Weak entry.
6. DAD - The low point of the series in every respect.
2. Goldeneye
3. Skyfall
4. Casino Royale
5. Spectre
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Die Another Day
8. Quantum of Solace.
2. Casino Royale
3. Skyfall
4. Spectre
5. Quantum of Solace
6. Tomorrow Never Dies
7. Die another day
8. The World is not Enough
SF
QOS
SP
GE
TND
TWINE
DAD
2. Quantum of Solace
3. The world is not enough
4. Goldeneye
5. tomorrow never dies
6. Skyfall
7. Die another day
8. Spectre
CR
SF
QoS
SP
GE
DAD (purely on entertainment value)
TND
TWINE
GE
SF
TND
TWINE
QOS
SP
DAD
CR
QOS
SP
SF
TWINE
TND
GE
DAD
2) Goldeneye
3) Tomorrow Never Dies
4) Quantum of Solace
5) The World is not Enough
6) Die Another Day
I judge the films by how likely I am to continue watching them when accidentally flipping channels and one of these is on. If there is too much cheesiness or other bothering issues, I feel embarrassed to admit that in principle I am a Bond fan. I guess I am a fan because of films like CR and GE and I shamefully hide behind the couch for DAD.
1. Casino Royale - My #1 Bond film. Craig's performance is tremendous, and he is surrounded by top-tier elements (Le Chiffre, Vesper, story, action, music, etc.). A perfect origin film, amazing adaptation, and just top-tier Bond outing all around.
2. Skyfall - Excellent middle entry for Craig. Silva is my favorite of the villains in his era. M's story was cool to see. I don't really have any major gripes with this one at all. I rewatch it pretty often and love it every time.
3. GoldenEye - A terrific debut for Brosnan. Like CR, all the elements just came together perfectly. Martin Campbell deserves to go down as one of the best Bond directors - probably second to Terrence Young IMO.
4. Quantum of Solace - A film that has gotten a lot more appreciation in recent times by many, including myself. Craig is great, the action is intense, and the score is one of my favorites in the series. It's a really great follow-up film to CR. CR, SF, GE, and QOS are all currently in my Top 10.
5. Tomorrow Never Dies - A fairly big drop-off between 4 and 5, but I still like TND plenty. The action is some of the series' finest, and Brosnan is at his coolest here. The only serious issue is that the third act is pretty weak, and the pacing could be better. I think this has aged the best of the recent films though with the news theme, which gives it a nice extra boost too.
6. The World Is Not Enough - TWINE is a film that could have been a lot better with some tweaking. Elektra is a great villain and Bond girl, but the film itself suffers from some dull moments and some of the series' weakest action at times. Christmas Jones also is probably my least favorite Bond girl. Still, the film has its moments, highlighted by an epic PTS.
7. Spectre - I loved SP a lot more when I first saw it, but its flaws stuck out more and more the more I watched it. Craig gives his least good performance by far, awkward in much of the film's intended humorous moments. The foster brother connection with Blofeld falls totally flat, and the retconning is quite forced too. There are still occasional highlights though, mainly concerning some good action here and there.
8. Die Another Day - My bottom-ranked Bond film. From the ice palace onward, DAD is the most painful of all Bond films for me, and it becomes quite unsalvageable before the climax is even reached. However, the first half isn't so bad, and there are some cool parts like the opening in North Korea and the sword fight. Brosnan gives a decent performance too.
The Barbara Broccoli/Michael Wilson era has been mixed overall. CR, SF, GE, and QOS all make my Top 10, while TWINE, SP, and DAD are some of the series' absolute weakest entries IMO. TND is a decent middle entry I would say. I have a more positive than negative outlook on the overall collection of movies though; after all, weaker Bond films are still great entertainment. I'd be thrilled if NTTD broke into my Top 5 of this bunch, and hopeful at least above the bottom 3.
2. QOS
3. GE
4. TND
5. SF
6. SP
7. TWINE
8. DAD
1) Casino Royale
2) Goldeneye
3) Skyfall
4) Tomorrow Never Dies
The next 3 are very close together:
5) Spectre
6) Quantum of Solace
7) The World is not Enough
And the nothing for quite a while before we hit
8) Die Another Day
SF
SP
QOS
GE
TWINE
TND
DAD
Yes, I prefer the Craig era. XD