These 5 James Bond Movies Aren’t Considered Top-Tier (but They Deserve to Be)
James Bond is perhaps the most important fictional hero to emerge in the last hundred years because he almost exclusively belongs to the cinema. Even if Ian Fleming’s books had their legions of fans, Bond is most closely associated with his big screen adventures and the seven men who have played him. He isn’t a character like Robin Hood, King Arthur, or Tarzan who is defined by centuries of myth, nor is he a comic book hero who has been interpreted various different ways by various artists and writers. Bond has been modernized by each new iteration as a way to invoke what is going on in Britain at a given time.
Bond fans are very clear to point out what the best films in the franchise are, as a few stand out as definitive masterpieces. Both From Russia With Love and Goldfinger are acclaimed for helping to invent the tropes that would later come to define the franchise, and On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is remembered as being the subversive hit that took the character to a deeper level. Roger Moore’s run of films produced endlessly rewatchable adventures like The Spy Who Loved Me, and Pierce Brosnan helped to return the series to prominence with GoldenEye; of course, it was the Daniel Craig films Casino Royale and Skyfall that showed that Bond films were worthy of being taken seriously as prestige awards contenders. Nonetheless, there are also many Bond films that deserve to have their reputations restored, and are much better than some fans may have given them credit for. These are five James Bond films that aren’t considered to be top-tier, even though they should be.
5
‘Dr. No’ (1962)
Dr. No had a tremendous task in front of it, as outside of a television version of Casino Royale that few were aware of, Bond had yet to be seen on screen, and certainly not at the center of a major Hollywood production. Although the casting of Connery was genius, director Terence Young made a smart decision in blending real-life intrigue regarding the Cold War with a sense of wish fulfillment and extravagance that made the initial Bond adventure feel like a work of escapism. Instead of adapting Casino Royale, the first book in the series that gave a very dark origin story for 007, Young chose to make a film that showed Bond at the height of his powers, and paired him off against one of the franchise’s greatest villains with Joseph Wiseman as the titular antagonist.
Dr. No has aged very well because it is a product of its time, and the film understands that it’s intended to reflect the world events, social practices, and advancements in technology that were relevant at this specific point in history. It’s the rare Bond film that is entertaining for audiences of all ages, but doesn’t feel like it’s reducing any of the character’s magnetism. Although there are other Connery films that tend to get more love from the cinephile community, Dr. No deserves to be heralded as just as influential as a classic.
4
‘Live and Let Die’ (1973)
Live and Let Die has a tricky reputation because of how divisive Moore’s Bond films are. In an effort to ensure that he was not endlessly compared to Connery (as George Lazenby had been when he made On Her Majesty’s Secret Service), Moore developed a unique version of the character who was goofy, irreverent, but ultimately heroic. The Spy Who Loved Me and For Your Eyes Only are generally regarded as being his best, but it’s hard to deny the impact of Moore’s inaugural film. Taking Bond to New Orleans for an adventure with the criminal underworld was a bold stylization decision that has allowed the film to stand out, especially when many of the Bond films involving SPECTRE can feel interchangeable.
Live and Let Die has one of the best ensemble casts of any Bond film, as Jane Seymour had more personality and narrative impact than most Bond girls, and the great Yaphet Kotto remains one of the most creepy and memorable of the saga’s villains. Although there are some that would claim the film to be insensitive, Live and Let Die is such an over-the-top film that none of it should really be taken seriously, especially when it’s clear that Albert Broccoli and the other Bond producers have nothing but love for the blaxploitation classics that inspired it. Even for those more mixed on Moore, Live and Let Die is a total blast, and deserves to be heralded as a great film if no other reason that the all-time Bond theme song from Paul McCartney in one of his most memorable tracks post-Beatles.
3
‘The Living Daylights’ (1987)
The Living Daylights is a tricky film because it essentially had to serve as a soft reboot for the series after the later Moore films, Octopussy and A View To A Kill, had turned the series into a parody of itself. The Living Daylights introduced Timothy Dalton as a slick, yet brooding version of 007 who wasn’t quite as womanizing and hard-drinking as previous iterations; complications of the AIDS crisis lead to a slightly more conservative depiction of 007. While Dalton’s second film, Licence to Kill, is remembered as being the film that became a true revenge thriller with some of the saga’s most excessive violence, The Living Daylights is still a solid transitional film that featured some of the franchise’s best action.
The Living Daylights grounded Bond in a universe that felt more realistic, as it was appropriate to begin showing how the character would be relevant beyond the era in which he was created. Although it would have been easy to keep Bond retained in the Cold War forever, The Living Daylights acknowledged that he had to be a representative of what Britain was at the moment, and not an idealized version of the past. Even if it’s the weaker of Dalton’s films by default, The Living Daylights is everything an ‘80s action film needed to be.
2
‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ (1997)
Tomorrow Never Dies is awkwardly placed in the middle of Brosnan’s run as Bond; while Goldeneye is regarded as the masterpiece that brought the franchise out of a six-year hiatus, the series had become a bit too goofy and over-the-top by the time that The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day rolled around. Tomorrow Never Dies is pitched at a slightly lighter tone than GoldenEye, but it still presents a believable world threat with Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a corrupt media mogul who intends to use the power of “fake news” to initiate a global conflict.
Carver is one of the best villains in the franchise’s entire history, and somehow feels more realistic in today’s fractured media landscape than he did in 1997. Although Sean Bean’s Alec Trevelyan was a villain who emotionally challenged Bond, Carver was a character who could bring down the institutions of Britain, rendering M (Judi Dench) and all of MI6 irrelevant. Tomorrow Never Dies also holds up for its progressive inclusion of Michelle Yeoh as a Bond girl who was actually a special agent for China who became 007’s equal; in many ways, it set her up for one of the coolest action star runs in history when she later appeared in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
1
‘Spectre’ (2015)
Spectre was another Bond that had to serve as somewhat of a “reset,” as Skyfall had returned the series to a tone that was more reflective of the tone of Connery and Moores’ films. Even if Spectre does have a lot more fun than the previous Craig films, it’s still a topical adventure that examines the nightmare of an Orwellian future in which power over MI6 is handed over to an essentially oligarchian committee led by Andrew Scott’s C. Spectre doesn’t forget the emotional stakes of Skyfall, as it is by looking into the conspiracy surrounding Blofeld (Christoph Waltz) and the SPECTRE organization that Bond is able to honor the legacy of M. The film is also keen to give more essential roles to Mallory (Ralph Fiennes), Moneypenny (Naomie Harris), Q (Ben Whishaw), and Tanner (Rory Kinnear), all of whom bring real personality and likability to their respective roles.
Spectre is better than its reputation suggests because Sam Mendes is such an excellent filmmaker that he can’t help but make a visually arresting film, which captures the splendor of all of its locations. While it is a bit long, this is a blockbuster that is overwhelmed with ideas, and does not feel self-indulgent and disastrous in the way that other doomed franchise films like Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker or Zack Snyder’s Justice League did. Craig’s run as Bond was so consistently excellent that the fact that Spectre is considered to be a fairly “mid” effort shouldn’t be taken as a determinant to the film, but an indication as to why he is perhaps the most consistent and novel-accurate actor to ever take on the role.
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Spectre
- Release Date
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November 6, 2015
- Runtime
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148 minutes
- Writers
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Jez Butterworth, John Logan, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
