It’s hard to believe that it’s been five years since the last James Bond movie released. However, fans of the British super-spy are buzzing ahead of the release of No Time To Die which, if its first trailer is anything to go by, looks set to give us one hell of an action-packed adventure.
It will also be the 25th movie in the franchise which, when you consider it started with Dr. No all those years ago, is rather astonishing. But which movies are the best? We now take a look at the top 10 Bond movies based on their Rotten Tomatoes audience score.
Casino Royale: 89%
Back in 2006, James Bond returned after a four-year absence with Daniel Craig replacing Pierce Brosnan in the role. And Craig’s tenure as the spy got off to a successful start with Casino Royale seemingly regarded as the pinnacle of the movies within the franchise to date.
Bond falls in love with Eva Green’s Vesper Lynd, battles against a formidable enemy in Le Chiffre and gets into many fights and scraps along the way. It’s scored at a huge 89 % by Rotten Tomatoes, which makes it the joint-best blockbuster in the series.
Goldfinger: 89%
It’s the movie best-known for Pussy Galore, Oddjob and one of the worst deaths imaginable. And Goldfinger scores the exact same rating as Casino Royale, coming in at an impressive 89%
Bond is charged with the task of stopping powerful tycoon Auric Goldfinger, who attempts to mastermind a break-in into Fort Knox and destroy anybody who stands in his way. He drowns a girl in gold in what, to this day, is one of the most-iconic movie deaths of all time. Bond manages to stop Goldfinger from succeeding but is pushed to the limit in this thrilling adventure.
Skyfall: 86%
Many were unimpressed with Daniel Craig’s second outing as Bond, entitled Quantum of Solace. However, the release of Skyfall in 2012 saw many fans return to the franchise and witness one of its best outings to date.
Craig is forced to go up against Javier Bardem’s evil Raoul, who is hellbent on getting revenge on MI6 after being tortured and left to die while in their employment many years before. He has a personal vendetta against Judi Dench’s M and, in a stunning twist, succeeds in killing her at the movie’s end. This also was a mini-reboot of the franchise with Naomi Harris as Miss Moneypenny and Ralph Fiennes replacing Dench as M, head of the spy organization.
From Russia With Love: 84%
From Russia With Love is remembered as two things. Firstly, being a great movie, and secondly, because it has a video game that actually manages to do the story justice. That game, which released on the PlayStation 2 And Xbox, remains one of the best the series has had to offer to date.
And the blockbuster is a belter, too, with Sean Connery producing one of his best-ever acting performances. Bond is pitted up against Spectre, an evil crime syndicate who are determined to snatch a decoding device called the Lektor. Knowing Bond has a tendancy to get involved with women, villains Rosa Klebb and Kronsteen enlist the help of the seductive Tatiana in order to succeed but Bond, eventually, manages to save the day.
Goldeneye: 83%
Pierce Brosnan’s first outing as Bond is arguably his finest, with Goldeneye another remembered as a great movie and, if possible, an even better video game. In this adventure, Bond is forced battle against former MI6 agent Alec Trevelyan, who fakes his death at the beginning of the film.
Trevelyan is determined to obliterate many lives by using a space weapon and, as all villains do, has a faithful sidekick in the form of the dangerous Xenia Onatopp. Brosnan’s character is able to stop both in the end, though, clocking up quite the body count along the way and ensuring Trevelyan’s dastardly scheme fails.
Dr No: 82%
Dr No was the movie that kickstarted it all, releasing way back in 1962 with Sean Connery instantly becoming an icon for many around the world.
Bond has to stop the villain and mysterious Dr. No from destroying the US Space Programme and enlists the help of Honey Ryder in order to do this. Dr. No is eventually stopped and the movie proved to be so popular that 23 sequels, soon to be 24, have released in the time since.
Spy Who Loved Me: 76%
When you think of Roger Moore, you can’t help but think of Jaws as well. The duo almost go hand in hand, appearing in two movies together. And the first of those was The Spy Who Loved Me, which released back in 1977.
Bond embarks on a globe-trotting adventure and gets up to all sorts - including driving a car underwater. While the movie didn’t score as highly as others within the franchise it was still popular due to the big action sequences involved. As well as Jaws 007 has to stop a nuclear attack on New York City being carried out by the villainous Karl Stromberg and he only just succeeds.
Thunderball: 73%
Thunderball was actually going to be the first James Bond movie released, with the film based off the book by Ian Fleming. However, because of legal disputes over copyright issues, it instead came out after Sean Connery had already made the character of 007 famous with stellar displays in Dr No and From Russia With Love.
The villain isn’t exactly memorable, with Connery’s character forced to stop one-eyed mastermind Emilio Largo - albeit with some help from Largo’s girlfriend. The antagonist’s evil group Spectre threaten to spark nuclear war after stealing two warheads from a NATO plane but, as ever, Bond is able to save the day.
You Only Live Twice: 68%
It’s extremely rare that Bond needs help in order to stop villains, no matter how dire the circumstances. But, in order to stop the evil Blofeld from ensuring tensions between the US and Russia come to a head, the British spy decides to enlist assistance in the forms of Tiger Tanaka and Aki in You Only Live Twice.
Together, they manage to stop Blofeld but the villain manages to get away. He’d later return in many blockbusters over the years and, to this day, is regarded as the best bad guy the franchise has ever offered.
The Living Daylights 66%
When you sit down and try and reel off the actors who have played James Bond over the years, there are usually two you forget due to the fact they barely appeared in any blockbusters. The first is George Lazenby, who did On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. And the second is Timothy Dalton.
Dalton makes his debut in the thrilling The Living Daylights, where he’s only just able to take down stop rogue agent Georgi Koskov. 007 has to contend against Russian spies and questionable characters before reigning supreme at the end, having initially being tricked into believing that KGB head Leonid Pushkin was the threat. Koskov, though, is successfully eliminated.
