Every James Bond Movie, Ranked Worst to Best
With this month's arrival (finally!) of No Time to Die, there have now been 25 official films in the EON-produced James Bond film franchise based on author Ian Fleming's British spy character. In the gallery on this page, we rank every one of those films—plus two additional Bond features from outside producers—from worst to best based on their Metascores, which represent the consensus of a group of top professional film critics.
Right now, it's fairly easy to find most of the Bond films on streaming services (and if it's not on the streaming service you have, it likely will be shortly, as the films are deleted from and re-added to various services every few months). That could change in the future thanks to a recent deal by Amazon to acquire MGM, which currently holds the home video rights to most of the Bond catalog, though there are no definitive plans to make Prime Video the exclusive home of 007 ... yet.
All photos courtesy Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios except Casino Royale (1967) by Columbia Pictures and Never Say Never Again by Warner Bros.
The year: 1962 (UK) / 1963 (USA)
The 007: Sean Connery
The (non-UK) location(s): Jamaica
The theme song: "James Bond Theme" performed by the John Barry Orchestra
The first film adaptation of Ian Fleming's 007 character—though, oddly, it adapts Fleming's sixth James Bond novel rather than the first, Casino Royale—Dr. No is a relatively quiet, slow, and low-budget affair, but it would establish the template for all of the films to follow in the series.
Among the aspects of the film that would go on to become standards in the series include Bond's choice of cocktail (vodka martini) and weapon (Walther PPK), his use of exotic automobiles, a graphically vibrant opening title sequence with the iconic gun-barrel imagery, an unusually named "Bond girl" (here, Honey Ryder, who is portrayed but not voiced by model Ursula Andress), the existence of the criminal organization SPECTRE, and the main "James Bond Theme," composed by Monty Norman and arranged by the John Barry Orchestra.
Unusually for a Bond film, Dr. No does not have an opening pre-title action sequence or an opening credits song with vocals performed by a pop star (though it does segue from the standard Bond theme into a calypso version of "Three Blind Mice"), it also lacks 007's usual gadgets (which would be introduced in the following film), and it provides a rare look inside 007's residence.
“All of the elements of the formula are there, but in pleasing moderation.” —Dave Kehr, Chicago Reader
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