The 5 Best James Bond Movies Ever

James Bond is one of the best characters in cinematic history and has been apart of some of the best action movies ever made. He also is one of the most well known and most quoted character ever from tirivial details from the way he says his name to the way he orders his vesper martini. With Skyfall being the 23 Bond film ever made, I have compiled a list of my favorite Bond movies. Seeing a I wasn’t born until the Brosnan era, my bias for the newer movies is clear. Given the promise showed by its trailer, I believe Skyfall will also be on this list come Friday

#5 You Only Live Twice

Doesn't quite have the same ring to it as YOLO, but You Only Live Twice was an exciting Bond film that even served much of the inspiration for the Austin Powers franchise. Bond fakes his own death before going to Tokyo to investigate the hijacking of an American spacecraft. Blofeld, the main antagonist, appeared in six in several James Bond movies and has a baldhead, scar along his face, and a cat. Does Dr. Evil ring a bell? It also marked the temporary retirement of Sean Connery from the role, before later coming back for two more films. 

 #4 Dr. No

Dr. No was the very first bond film ever made, setting the precedent for the rest of James Bond movies to come. Sean Connery was suave, sophisticated, and lethal in his first installment as the super spy. The movie included a great villain, in the titular Dr. Julian No and a beautiful Bond girl in Honey Ryder. Director Terence Young injected as much humor as he could into the script, making scenes including murder and sex much less offensive and every Bond film has followed suit since. 

 #3 Goldfinger

The third Bond movie ever made, Goldfinger was a major financial and critical success. Including a Bond girl named “Pussy Galore” and the infamous Oddjob, whose height was a critical asset in the Goldeneye video game, Goldfinger was the movie that introduced his famous use of gadgets as well as the infamous “shaken, not stirred” martini line. Bond also manages to escape death from lasers, Oddjob, and plane crashers all why stopping Goldfinger from stealing gold from Fort Knox. 

 #2 Goldeneye

Goldenyeye has everything a bond fan could ever want; intense action scenes, two beautiful women, and one excellent villain. Alec Trevelyan is one of the best bonds villains ever. Being ex MI6, he is Bond’s match is physicality and fighting and in the end, it’s Bond’s tenacity that propels him to victory. It was also the first time Pierce Brosnan played Bond, doing an excellent job and setting the tone for the next four films. Lastly, the opening scene where Brosnan rides a motorcycle off a cliff to skydive into a falling plane has to be one of the coolest cinematic scenes ever. It also spawned the best N64 game ever.

 #1 Casino Royale

The origin story fans deserved, Casino Royale showed a side of James Bond viewers have never seen. Not only was Bond making rookie mistakes on chases, but he was shown to vulnerable for the first time. He was ready to leave his life as a spy for one of love with Vesper and for a time being was everything bond was supposed to be not. From the very opening scene, the movie sets a serious tone and Daniel Craig shows that he means business as bond. He also packed on tons of muscle and choreographed fight scenes well for some of the most realistic fighting scenes across the entire series. 

The Best James Bonds: Ranking the Actors who played the Iconic Hero

James Bond is one of the longest living and adored characters in cinematic history. With the first movie coming out in 1962, Skyfall marks the 50^th anniversary of the world class British spy. Daniel Craig marks the sixth actor to play Bond and although his casting was panned, his performance was widely praised. In honor of Skyfall  coming out this week, I have ranked my favorite James Bonds of all time from worst to best. 

#6 George Lazenby

With only one film as Bond under his belt, Lazenby is the least popular and well-known Bond. He won the role due to his performance in a screen-test fight scene. In his only film, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, he had tensions with the director and Connery was eventually lured back to the role. 

#5 Timothy Dalton

Dalton was only cast as Bond only due to Pierce Brosnan’s lack of availability. Dalton did a great job in his first installment, The Living Daylights, which was both a critical and financial success. However, his follow up, License to Kill, was exceptionally lackluster and he rendered easily replaceable.

#4 Roger Moore

With 7 films under his belt, Moore is tied for the most Bond films of all time. A suave ladies Man, Moore is often remembered for his sexual exploits than his fighting style. He was a bit soft compared to some of his predecessors and successors, making him fourth in this list. 

 #3 Pierce Brosnan

Bronsnan averaged the most kills per film making him the most lethal Bond of them all. With four films under his belt, Brosnan was impeccably suave, sophisticated, charming and daring, establishing himself as an immediate fan favorite. The only blemish on his career was the poorly done Die Another Die, which lead the franchise to decide to go in a new route. 

#2 Daniel Craig

Although he is still new, Craig’s first two performances as bond were stellar and Skyfall could make him number one on this list. Craig is intense, ripped, and incredibly believable as the world class spy who manages to fight and survive every encounter he faces. By far the most believable fighter and spy, Craig was the first actor to be nominated for a BAFTA (the British equivalent to the Academy Awards) for playing bond. 

#1 Sean Connery

Having created the legend, the man is James Bond. Tall, dark, handsome, charming and suave, he created one of the most envied men in all of cinema history. Connery also had the broad build of a fighter, as he was an amateur bodybuilder who even competed in the Mr. Universe contest.  His portrayal received the blessing from Ian Fleming himself and is one of the reasons the legend of James Bond has lived on for 50 years. 

Trailer of the Week: Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad is this week's trailer of the week, showing an incredible story with great promise. Based on a true story, Gangster Squad follows the story of  Los Angeles cops going deep undercover to save the city from Mickey Cohen and an influx of eastern criminals. Starring Sean Penn as Mickey Cohen, and Josh Brolin and and Ryan Gosling as the leaders of the squad, this movie is star packed. The movie was pushed backed from a September release date due to re-shoots caused by the Aurora theater shooting. However, the newly edited trailer is epic, showing an epic shootout in Chinatown as well as a love triangle between Penn, Gosling and the red hot Emma Stone.  With Michael Peña and Nick Nolte rounding out the cast, Gangster Squad will surely be the best movie out this January.

Link to Gangster Squad Trailer