Every James Bond Movie Ranked From Worst to Best

Few cinematic icons command the enduring appeal of James Bond. A cultural mainstay, reinvented several times to fit new actors and times, 007 has managed to remain relevant for more than 60 years – and with a whole new era of Bond ahead of us, we thought it’d be a good time to take a look at every James Bond film and rank them from the top tier all the way to the bottom of the barrel.

Whether you’re a fan of Daniel Craig’s stripped-back-yet-suave take on the character, prefer Connery’s rugged sophistication, Moore’s effortless charm, Dalton’s cold intensity, Brosnan’s smooth-talking style, or Lazenby’s singular depiction (and we do mean singular), there’s plenty to love across the full spectrum of 007 films.

Here, we’ve taken each Bond film’s critical reception across aggregator sites IMDb, Rotten Tomatoes, and Letterboxd – as well as our own tastes as 007 aficionados – and explained what makes the best the best, where the middle of the pack falls down, and what makes the worst films on the list struggle. And boy, do some of them struggle.

We know you’ll all have your personal favourites, but let’s hope this list leaves you stirred, not shaken.

Related: A Complete List of All James Bond’s 007 Watches

James Bond Movies Ranked, At a Glance

Rank	Movie	Year	Bond Actor	IMDb / Rotten Tomatoes
1	Casino Royale	2006	Daniel Craig	8.0 / 94%
2	Goldfinger	1964	Sean Connery	7.7 / 99%
3	Skyfall	2012	Daniel Craig	7.8 / 92%
4	From Russia with Love	1963	Sean Connery	7.3 / 97%
5	Dr. No	1962	Sean Connery	7.2 / 95%
6	No Time to Die	2021	Daniel Craig	7.3 / 83%
7	GoldenEye	1995	Pierce Brosnan	7.2 / 80%
8	The Spy Who Loved Me	1977	Roger Moore	7.0 / 82%
9	Thunderball	1965	Sean Connery	6.9 / 85%
10	On Her Majesty’s Secret Service	1969	George Lazenby	6.7 / 81%
11	Licence to Kill	1989	Timothy Dalton	6.7 / 79%
12	You Only Live Twice	1967	Sean Connery	6.8 / 73%
13	The Living Daylights	1987	Timothy Dalton	6.7 / 73%
14	Live and Let Die	1973	Roger Moore	6.7 / 67%
15	For Your Eyes Only	1981	Roger Moore	6.7 / 69%
16	Spectre	2015	Daniel Craig	6.8 / 63%
17	Diamonds Are Forever	1971	Sean Connery	6.5 / 64%
18	Quantum of Solace	2008	Daniel Craig	6.5 / 63%
19	Tomorrow Never Dies	1997	Pierce Brosnan	6.5 / 58%
20	The Man with the Golden Gun	1974	Roger Moore	6.7 / 40%
21	Moonraker	1979	Roger Moore	6.3 / 59%
22	The World is Not Enough	1999	Pierce Brosnan	6.4 / 51%
23	Octopussy	1983	Roger Moore	6.5 / 41%
24	Die Another Day	2002	Pierce Brosnan	6.1 / 55%
25	A View to a Kill	1985	Roger Moore	6.3 / 36%

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The Bottom Tier

25. A View to a Kill (1985)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.3	36	40	2.9

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1985
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: John Glen

A View to a Kill is a real shame – Christopher Walken and Grace Jones as Bond villains? Sign me up! The film is, unfortunately, let down by the fact that Moore had arguably gotten too old to play a highly-athletic super spy. This resulted in tepid action scenes with Moore involved, and an overuse of stunt doubles when the script called for something he couldn’t handle.

24. Die Another Day (2002)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.1	55	41	2.6

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 2002
• Who Plays Bond: Pierce Brosnan
• Director: Lee Tamahori

The film that proved Bond needed another reinvention, Die Another Day is a mess of early-2000’s CGI, bombastic stunts that would be impressive if they were real, and a lot of product placement. 

23. Octopussy (1983)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.5	41	47	2.9

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1983
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: John Glen

If you ever want to hear James Bond yell like Tarzan while swinging from vine to vine, or defuse a bomb while dressed as a clown, Octopussy is the film for you. If not, it’s a tonal mess that fails to live up the nuclear stakes set up by its story.

22. The World is Not Enough (1999)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.4	51	49	2.9

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1999
• Who Plays Bond: Pierce Brosnan
• Director: Michael Apted

The film that solidified the Brosnan era’s lack of direction following the huge success of GoldenEye, The World is Not Enough is simply not enough. Uneven writing, average performances and a paint-by-numbers story doomed this one, despite Brosnan’s solid portrayal and an intriguing villain in Elektra King.

21. Moonraker (1979)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.3	59	43	2.9

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1979
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: Lewis Gilbert

Moonraker is the moment the Bond series truly jumped the shark – putting Bond in space with laser-rifle wielding henchmen – in a seemingly-direct response to the success of Star Wars. While it’s not bad for a silly Sunday afternoon viewing, Moonraker took things just a bit too far to be anything more than an oddity.

Related: 25 Greatest Australian Movies of All Time, Ranked

The Middle Ground

20. The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.7	40	55	3.1

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1974
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: Guy Hamilton

A film caught in the transition between Connery and Moore (who hadn’t quite mastered the role yet), The Man with the Golden Gun is a bit of a tonal mess that is thankfully lifted by Christopher Lee’s golden-gun-toting assassin Scaramanga – an enemy of equal physical and mental skill to Moore’s Bond.

19. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.5	58	53	3.1

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1997
• Who Plays Bond: Pierce Brosnan
• Director: Roger Spottiswoode

Tomorrow Never Dies is, unfortunately, a movie largely ruined by a lack of direction: the film started filming without a script, and it shows. While Brosnan’s Bond oozes charisma and charm, and the film’s villain (a media mogul, rather than a straight-up evil supervillain) brings the plot into a more contemporaneous setting, those positives fail to outweigh the fact this film fails to have anything new to add to the conversation.

18. Quantum of Solace (2008)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.5	63	58	2.9

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 2008
• Who Plays Bond: Daniel Craig
• Director: Marc Forster

Craig’s sophomore effort in Bond’s shoes is, unfortunately, a frenetic movie. Spurred on by the success of Casino Royale, a new director stepped in and took the reins, deciding to deliver a narrative sequel to the deeply personal story of Royale, while also putting the focus away from the spycraft and toward high-energy action. The result is a bit of a mess, but Solace helps deepen the overarching narrative thread that ties all of Craig’s Bond films together.

17. Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.5	64	57	2.9

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1971
• Who Plays Bond: Sean Connery
• Director: Guy Hamilton

Despite stepping away from the Bond role after You Only Live Twice, Connery returns here for a final sendoff. The movie itself is a meat-and-potatoes Bond story, with nothing particularly notable to show for it beyond Connery proving one last time why he’s one of the greats. 

16. Spectre (2015)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.8	63	62	3.2

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 2015
• Who Plays Bond: Daniel Craig
• Director: Sam Mendes

Spectre had the unenviable task of both following up on the massively successful Skyfall and of reintroducing a new, modern take on Bond’s main antagonist – Ernst Blofeld – for Craig to contend with. It did both of those things, but expectations were high, and while Christoph Waltz’s take on Blofeld is solid, it doesn’t utilise his incredible talents as an actor to their fullest, and the once-refreshingly-simple revamped Bond setting was beginning to err closer to the pompous heights of Brosnan’s final days.

15. For Your Eyes Only (1981)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.7	69	64	3.1

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1981
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: John Glen

Born from a desire to return to a more ‘realistic’ story after the excess of Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only brings Moore’s Bond back to typical spy shenanigans, but it’s unfortunately also a run-of-the-mill affair.

The film hits everything you’d expect from Bond – an international crisis that threatens to alter the power balance, some schmoozing at a casino, and suffers from a particularly anti-climactic ending where Bond just destroys the thing everyone wants, and they all go their separate ways. Not the worst Bond story, but definitely not the best.

14. Live and Let Die (1973)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.7	67	64	3.2

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1973
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: Guy Hamilton

Setting aside the fact that one of the greatest songs ever written came from this movie, Live and Let Die is a really strange film in the Bond canon. For one, it features voodoo and occult rituals, as well as a focus on breaking up a Black drug trafficking ring rather than Bond’s usual work of taking on megalomaniacal supervillains. It was, however, Roger Moore’s first showing as Bond, and delivered a brand new take on the character that paved the way for his seven-film run.

13. The Living Daylights (1987)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.7	73	66	3.3

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1987
• Who Plays Bond: Timothy Dalton
• Director: John Glen

Timothy Dalton’s first foray as Bond is a decidedly stripped back affair when compared with the bombast of Roger Moore’s last few films, with Dalton leaning far more on Ian Flemming’s original characterisation of Bond than trying to recapture the work that previous actors had imprinted on the character. While we get a more ‘accurate’ Bond here, the shift in characterisation and lessening of Bond’s wry charm tends to turn some fans off.

12. You Only Live Twice (1967)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.8	73	69	3.2

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• Where to Watch:  Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1967
• Who Plays Bond: Sean Connery
• Director: Lewis Gilbert

The fifth Bond film released in five years, You Only Live Twice has some issues to show for it – namely a largely decorative story that merely serves as set dressing for a series of impressive displays of action. Connery isn’t exactly in top form here, and while the set design of Blofeld’s volcano lair is pretty incredible it also veers heavily into supervillain territory. Still, those action sequences are incredible, having paved the way for the huge set pieces that are fairly common in the third act of every Marvel movie.

11. Licence to Kill (1989)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.7	79	62	3.4

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1989
• Who Plays Bond: Timothy Dalton
• Director: John Glen

The final performance for Timothy Dalton as Bond, Licence to Kill sees the agent resign from MI6 on a revenge quest. After his friend and ally, Felix Leiter, is attacked at his wedding, resulting in the death of his wife, Bond takes it upon himself to track down the drug lord responsible. Bond is operating outside of the law here, and the film is a darker, bloodier affair for it – unfortunately, the whole thing doesn’t quite come together, and by this point the Bond formula was in dire need of the shake up GoldenEye would deliver.

The Pantheon of James Bond Greats

10. On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.7	81	64	3.4

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1969
• Who Plays Bond: George Lazenby
• Director: Peter R. Hunt

The only Bond film to feature George Lazenby, an Australian model and actor, in the title role, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service is undoubtedly the black sheep of the franchise.

While Bond attempts to understand and disrupt the latest scheme by arch-nemesis Blofeld, he also meets and falls in love with a woman – Tracy di Vicenzo, played by Diana Rigg. Things don’t often end well for women that Bond actually loves, though, so you can imagine how things end for the lovebirds.

While Lazenby wasn’t a seasoned actor at the time of filming On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and he opted not to continue on as Bond following the stress of the production, he puts in a solid performance as 007 – a performance that has been reappraised in recent years after decades of criticism for failing to be Sean Connery. What a sin!

9. Thunderball (1965)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
6.9	85	73	3.2

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• Where to Watch: Apple TV+, Prime Video
• Year Released: 1965
• Who Plays Bond: Sean Connery
• Director: Terence Young

Showcasing Sean Connery at the peak of his powers, Thunderball delivered a number of innovative action sequences that pushed the franchise forward. It delivers Bond in the Bahamas, tracking down two missing atomic bombs stolen by SPECTRE’s eyepatch-wearing Number 2 in order to hold the world to ransom.

While Number 2 is a memorable villain in his own right, the film is most remembered for the fantastic fully underwater penultimate action scene, complete with deadly spearguns and sharks galore – so many, in fact, that Connery almost got bit on set.

8. The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.0	82	77	3.5

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1977
• Who Plays Bond: Roger Moore
• Director: Lewis Gilbert

While GoldenEye was made for the post-Cold War period, The Spy Who Loved Me is through and through a story about the complex, interweaving world of espionage during the height of the Cold War. Here, Roger Moore’s Bond works alongside a KGB agent, Anya Amasova, in order to retrieve two missing nuclear submarines.

Adding to the tension is the infamous henchman Jaws, an imposing man with steel teeth, who has been hired to assassinate Bond on behalf of ocean-loving maniac Karl Stromberg. It’s a fantastic depiction of the politics of the day, with agents of opposing international allegiances forced to work together under threat of nuclear armageddon.

7. GoldenEye (1995)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.2	80	83	3.6

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1995
• Who Plays Bond: Pierce Brosnan
• Director: Martin Campbell

Beyond birthing one of the greatest couch co-op games of all time, GoldenEye signalled the beginning of Pierce Brosnan’s time as 007, and that James Bond as a character still functioned in a post-Cold War world.

And, as you can probably imagine, the answer was thankfully yes, but GoldenEye does this by changing the nature of the game: the villain of GoldenEye isn’t a Soviet supervillain, but a former MI6 comrade gone rogue. It’s a more complex story for Bond which reflects a more complex time – and served as a fantastic reinvention of the character for a totally different geopolitical time.

Brosnan also nails his first appearance as 007, revelling in the character’s wit and charm and updating the role for an increasingly action-heavy film industry.

6. No Time to Die (2021)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.3	83	88	3.5

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 2021
• Who Plays Bond: Daniel Craig
• Director: Cary Joji Fukunaga

The most recent Bond film as of writing, No Time to Die had the unenviable task of signalling the end of Daniel Craig’s tenure as 007. It was no secret that Craig was pretty much done with the role by the end, but his final turn is as emotional and personal a send-off as any version of Bond has had – though the ending is a bit too much for some fans.

The film follows an older, retired Bond, who is brought back in for one last mission to dismantle the work of a nanobot-wielding bioterrorist who happens to be utterly obsessed with Bond’s former love interest. It’s as big and bold as it gets for this modern Bond era, and while it doesn’t quite hit the highs of Casino Royale or Skyfall, it gets close.

Related: A Complete List of All James Bond Cars

5. Dr. No (1962)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.2	95	82	3.4

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1962
• Who Plays Bond: Sean Connery
• Director: Terence Young

The original Bond film, Dr. No delivers a surprisingly fully-formed rendition of the character from day one – complete with the iconic shooting-down-a-gun-barrel opening and title theme. Connery, while a somewhat controversial pick at the time, has gone down as one of the best actors in living memory and brought a hint of danger and sex appeal to the title character, helping him leap off the page of Ian Flemming’s original novels and into a new medium.

Add a memorable supervillain in Dr. No, a mad scientist with prosthetic metal hands, and you have yourself the beginnings of a successful film franchise. While Goldfinger laid down the path forward for Bond just two years later, Dr. No served as the proof of concept – introducing moviegoers around the world to Agent 007.

4. From Russia with Love (1963)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.3	97	84	3.6

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1963
• Who Plays Bond: Sean Connery
• Director: Terence Young

A direct sequel to the original Bond film Dr. No, From Russia with Love follows Bond as he is hunted by the shadowy criminal organisation SPECTRE, led by the mastermind Ernst Blofeld.

Seeking revenge on Bond, SPECTRE pulls out all the stops to ensure the secret agent is killed, and that the British intelligence agency is exposed. It’s a peak Cold War thriller, pitting Bond up against an elusive evil, and putting him in league with a Russian agent, leaving him unsure who he can trust.

While Connery’s Bond would be solidified a year later in Goldfinger, From Russia with Love is a tense affair that goes some way in detailing the circles 007 tends to find himself in – while still keeping Blofeld shrouded in mystery.

3. Skyfall (2012)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.8	92	86	3.9

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• Where to Watch: Apple TV+, Prime Video
• Year Released: 2012
• Who Plays Bond: Daniel Craig
• Director: Sam Mendes

Inarguably the most lucrative Bond film of all time – raking in US$1.5 billion in adjusted box office earnings – Skyfall was the right film at the right time. Launched in 2012 to co-incide with the 50th anniversary of the first Bond film, Dr. No, Skyfall enjoyed not only the added benefit of riding the hype associated with the momentous occasion (including Daniel Craig meeting Queen Elizabeth II), but also from the fact that it is a fantastic film in its own right.

Picking up after the somewhat lacking Quantum of Solace, Skyfall manages to find the balance between the severity that permeates the Craig-era of Bond with more intelligence and wit – with Craig potentially delivering his ultimate performance as 007 here. Skyfall ratchets up the action without derailing the more interesting aspects of what makes a spy thriller work: there are betrayals, faked deaths, and real deaths throughout. If you’re after a Bond film with stakes, here it is.

2. Goldfinger (1964)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
7.7	99	89	3.8

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video, Apple TV+
• Year Released: 1964
• Who Plays Bond: Sean Connery
• Director: Guy Hamilton

The most prototypical Bond film in existence, Goldfinger well and truly set the scene for everything this franchise would and could be for decades after.

Here, in his third outing, Connery finally nails down what makes 007 the wry, calm, and collected agent we all know him as – defining the character on screen in a way that simply hadn’t been accomplished to that point.

Even beyond Connery’s performance, Goldfinger also introduces the title character – a murderous, gold-obsessed smuggler – who first coined the now-overused retort of, “No, Mr. Bond, I expect you to die”, while our hero is strapped to a table with a laser trained on him. It’s one of those classic, albeit silly, moments that has been parodied to death at this point, but went a long way in determining the balancing act Bond films were capable of weaving: mixing the camp humour and imagination of the 60s with the secretive and explosive cold war espionage of the day.

If you’re only going to watch one Connery-era movie, make it this one.

1. Casino Royale (2006)

IMDb Ranking	Tomatometer	Popcornmeter	Letterboxd
8.0	94	90	4.0

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• Where to Watch: Prime Video
• Year Released: 2006
• Who Plays Bond: Daniel Craig
• Director: Martin Campbell

The foundational text for the modern James Bond franchise, Casino Royale was something of an oddity when it launched: with GoldenEye director Martin Campbell aiming to take what had been a fairly campy spy franchise into a gritty, more violent direction to stay relevant after waning interest in the previous few films.

To say Daniel Craig’s first outing as Bond was a success would be an understatement – it defined what the next 15 years of Bond would look like, and took the series back to a more practical grounding compared to the excessive CGI of the 90s.

Something of an origin story, Casino Royale takes us back to a more unrefined Bond – an agent who has literally just earned his wings and hasn’t yet gained the suave-yet-detached nature we know he will – and his first major mission: to disrupt the cash flow of a corrupt financier, Le Chiffre (played perfectly by Mads Mikkelsen), in a high-stakes poker game. What follows is Bond perfection, and serves as a springboard for what Craig would go on to do with the character, taking the “blunt instrument” seen in this film and refining him into someone more capable, more discerning, and perhaps less trusting.

Common Questions About The James Bond Movies