So a buddy of mine and I tried this little exercise in comparative evaluation. We broke down each of DC's Bond films into ten parts. With CR, SF, and SP each running about 2hrs 20mins each, prior to end credits, that made for ten 14-minute parts. QoS, at 1 hr 40 mins, is broken down into ten 10-minute parts. We decided to rank each film within each part and get an average. (For fun and, well, conversation.) We mostly agreed and ranked them as such:
Part One
1. SP (PTS to mid-titles)
2, CR (PTS to the jump from the construction crane)
3. SF (PTS to mid-titles)
4. QoS (PTS, titles, middle of Mr. White's interrogation)
Part Two
1. SF (Mid titles to Bond in Turkey and then in M's apartment; "Shouldv'e called")
2. CR (Rest of parkour chase and embassy scene to Bond seeing CCTV footage of Dimitrios)*
3. QoS (Mitchell chase to Bond killing Slate and leaving his hotel room)
4. SP (mid-titles to Bond telling Q he’ll send a postcard)
*Note: CR loses a spot for a horrible Ford placement.
Part Three
1. CR (entire Ocean Club scenes to Bond killing Dimitrios)
2. SF (Bond at new digs, meeting Q)
3. SP (Rome scene, to our first glimpse of Hinx)
4. QoS (Bond tracks Camille to the docks and does an Evel Knievel impression)
Part Four
1. SF (Shanghai scenes, hotel with Moneypenny, arrival at the casino)
2. SP (Bond is discovered; car chase; finding Mr. White)
3. QoS (boat chase, Greene’s plane, Bond’s arrival at the opera)
4. CR (Miami airport; Solange is found dead; Bond is given instructions)
Part Five
1. SF (casino, arrival at the island)
2. CR (train, arrival in Montenegro; Bond meets LeChiffre)
3. QoS (Opera sequence; Bond sees Mathis and shows him pictures)
4. SP (Mr. White scene; clinic; middle of the plane-SUV chase scene)
Part Six
1. CR (poker begins; stairwell fight; Bond consoles Vesper in the shower)
2. SF (Introduction to Silva; Silva’s capture and removal of teeth and jawplate)
3. QoS (Meeting and sleeping with Fields; Greene Planet party, where Camille is nearly pushed off balcony)
4. SP (Arrival in Morocco; the secret room; Madeleine sees pictures of herself)
Part Seven
1. SP (Train fight; love scene; Silver Wraith shows up)
2. CR (Bond is poisoned and saved by Vesper)
3. SF (Silva escapes; subway train crashes)
4. QoS (Air chase; parachuting to safety)
Part Eight
1. CR (Bond wins, chases after Vesper; torture scene to “Die scratching my b@lls.”)
2. SF (Silva fails to shoot M; Bond takes M to Skyfall; M finds the hidden passage)
3. QoS (Bond and Camille get a bus ride; Bond finds Fields in oil and escapes from MI6 security)
4. SP (Bond and Madeleine at Spectre HQs; Bond is in the middle of being tortured)
Part Nine
1. QoS (Bond meets with Felix; “That’s why I drink the peppers;” Greene meets Medrano who signs the deal)
2. CR (Bond is saved, goes to Venice, learns of funds not transferred)
3. SF (Silva and his men attack the estate; M escapes; Bond chases after explosion)
4. SP (Bond and Madeleine escape; safe house in London; M confronts Max: “C is for careless”)
Part Ten
1. SF (finale: chapel scene; rooftop scene*)
2. CR (finale: Venice house destruction and vesper’s death)
3. QoS (finale: hotel destruction and Bond finds Yussef)
4. SP (finale: Bond saves Madeleine, decides not to kill Blofeld)
*This was the biggest argument we had, between SF and CR. But ultimately the rooftop scene, with the shot over Bond's shoulder, put it over the top.
And so here comes the really interesting part…
Average ranking across the ten parts (and this was NOT manipulated):
CR: 1.9
QoS: 3.1
SF: 1.9
SP: 3.1
CR and SF at the same level. QoS and SP at the same level.
I’ll leave it at that and give your own take.