by What are the best James Bond movies? Ask 100 different people and you’re likely to get 100 different answers. While we haven’t asked quite that many people, we have rewatched every 007 adventure to rank all 25 Bond movies and polled the Total Film and Games Radar+ teams. Seeing as how all the James Bond movies are available to stream on Prime Video this month, you might be in the mood for some 007 action. Most of the MI6 agent’s big-screen missions, though, are only on Amazon’s streaming service for the next two months. So, time is of the essence. With that in mind, we’ve ranked the absolute best James Bond movies you should be checking out first. If you want to go a little deeper into Bond’s extensive body of work, we’ve listed every James Bond movie from worst to best, from 007’s debut in Dr. No right up to No Time to Die.
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1. Die Another Day Is Die Another Day truly bad? There won’t be any revisionism here: it’s a painful watch with very few redeeming qualities. Yet, it’s still fun in a terrible sort of way: a ridiculously overblown fencing scene (inexplicably featuring Madonna), an invisible car, and Pierce Brosnan’s Bond going windsurfing on a tsunami are all groanworthy standouts. The story is also a grab bag of ideas, meandering and unfocused. Bond is on the warpath, falsely accused of giving up confidential information in North Korean custody. That journey leads him to lock horns with British entrepreneur Gustav Graves in an ice palace of all places – all while Halle Berry’s Jinx (and Graves’ whitewashing plot twist) feel like relics from another era. Die Another Day’s biggest selling point is its legacy: the campy, gadget-laden tone of Brosnan’s swan song as 007 led to a shift to a grittier, nastier James Bond with Daniel Craig and Casino Royale.
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2. A View to a Kill Roger Moore’s seventh James Bond movie, A View to a Kill proved one too many. While an older 007 is an intriguing concept, Moore’s age (57 at the time of filming) was largely ignored. In its place, an actioner that, suitably, feels the most dated of the lot. Leaning far too heavy into its ‘80s backdrop, loud hairstyles, microchips, and the death rattle of the Cold War all take center stage here. It’s an odd curio, but nothing more. By this point, the Bond formula was wearing thin and Moore’s smarmy charm could only get him so far. Throw in some low-energy set-pieces and a scarcely believable final battle atop an airship and it finds itself in a predicament where not even Christopher Walken’s scenery-chewing villain Max Zonin or Grace Jones’ iconic May Day can save it. All told, it has all the makings of a ludicrous film that neatly reflects the boom-and-bust era in which it’s set. Banging song, mind you.
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3. Moonraker Moonraker is often the go-to laughing stock of the franchise – and with good reason. The franchise often takes cues from movie trends of the day – Craig’s Bond is more Bourne, Connery’s home turf was terse thrillers – and so it was that Roger Moore’s 007 headed to outer space in a post-Star Wars world. But not even Bond is that malleable. A space shuttle going missing is one thing, but Hugo Drax’s plan to create a new master race among the stars is beyond the pale. There are some highlights: the Venice-set chase sequences are still surprisingly good, while Jaws’ face turn isn’t as awful as it sounds. Yet, Moonraker can’t shake the feeling that the final frontier was one small step too far for the MI6 agent, and the laser gun-heavy final battle is a low point in the series’ history.
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4. Octopussy No snickering at the back. Yes, the most memorable thing about Octopussy is its name, one we only dare Google with Safe Search on. It’s a shame, too, as the premise – another 00-agent is murdered on foreign soil, leading to the theft of a nuclear weapon that could trigger World War 3 – is one rich with potential. But it goes off the rails pretty quickly, with the movie grinding to a halt thanks to an interminable train sequence and circus sub-plot that goes on forever. The coup de grace, a ticking clock, is usually Bond’s forte. Not so here. With Octopussy’s help (and caked in clown makeup), Moore’s agent manages to defuse a nuclear warhead in West Germany in a far-from-breathless finale. Only Bond diehards – and curious deviants – should check out this movie.
5. Live and Let Die Roger Moore’s debut as 007 may shine in places, but is deeply uncomfortable in others. Shedding the excess of the later Connery years, Live and Let Die sees Bond head to Harlem to ward off a street-level conspiracy involving a whole host of ugly stereotypes and criminal masterminds. Worse still, Bond’s creep-o-meter ticks over as he (literally) stacks the deck in his favour in order to sleep with Solitaire in a later scene. Despite those seriously misguided missteps, Moore is immediately comfortable as a cooler, more charming James Bond – and elevates a silly story with his wry smile and buttery-smooth one-liners. Fast forward through the 30-minute-long Bayou boat chase and you’ve got a passable Bond flick weighed down by being a product of the times.
6. For Your Eyes Only The white bread of James Bond movies, For Your Eyes is most notable for two moments that bookend the movie: Bond unceremoniously dumping Blofield down a chimney in its pre-credits sequence, and a (fictional) Margaret Thatcher showing up at the end. The rest is largely forgettable fare (perhaps understandable given this comes right after the fever dream of Moonraker) that sees 007 entangled in a web of personal vendettas that, oddly, don’t really involve him. At least the settings stand out, with Bond going on a sun-kissed mission in Italy that sees him tasked with recovering a MacGuffin weapons system and ends with him scaling a mountainside monastery. It’s one of Moore’s most daring escapades – and sandwiches in a genuinely thrilling snowbound chase halfway through – but oh-so-rarely gets out of first gear in a by-the-numbers adventure.
7. The Man with the Golden Gun James Bond facing off against the world’s best assassin (played by Christopher Lee, no less) should have all the makings of a classic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t quite work out that way.In truth, Lee’s innate charisma as Scaramanga hides much of the film’s shortcomings, including a yawnsome plot involving energy resources and the unshakeable feeling that Bond has clocked up too many air miles even by this point for anything to feel truly fresh and exciting. By the time Moore’s 007 reaches Scaramanga’s island and snatches back the Solex, you’ll want it all over and done with – not least in part by the baffling return of Sheriff Pepper, a character who actively sucks the life out of any Bond film he’s in.
