5 Best Bond Films (& 5 Worst), Ranked According To Rotten Tomatoes – Screen Rant

When British writer Ian Fleming created the fictional spyJames Bond in 1953, there's no way he could've envisioned that 007 would become one of the most popular and well-known characters in the history of fiction. Though Fleming himself only wrote 14 novels featuring Bond, the dashing MI6 agent has been picked up by a few authors since - with the authorization of the estate, of course.

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On top of that, Fleming's works have been adapted for other media, starting with a one-hour television adaptation ofCasino Royale which aired in 1954. For that adaptation, CBS paid Fleming only $1,000 (about $9,000 in today's money). Needless to say, the value of 007 has since gone up, with the collective Bond franchise having grossed $7 billion at the box office.

Not every Bond film is a winner - thoughmany have been critically acclaimed. Here are the 5 best (and 5 worst) movies featuring James Bond, according to Rotten Tomatoes.

The second film to feature Pierce Brosnan as 007,Tomorrow Never Dies follows Bond as he attempts to prevent a media mogul from starting World War III. As all of Fleming's existing material had been adapted, screenwriters were forced to start from scratch - and principal photography began while they were still hard at work.

Despite mixed reviews, the film was by no means a failure, grossing $333 million on a $110 million budget. Michelle Yeoh joins Brosnan as Chinese spy Wai Lin, acknowledged by some to be one of the most interesting and well-written Bond girls in the entire franchise.

Skyfall,the third film to star Daniel Craig as Bond, grossed more than a billion dollars worldwide, accounting singlehandedly for one-seventh of the franchise's earnings. It was perhaps destined for greatness from the get-go, helmed by Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes (American Beauty, 1917), withcinematography by frequent collaborator Roger Deakins.

It follows 007 as he investigates an attack against MI6's headquarters and becomes embroiled in M's checkered past. French actress Brnice Marlohe appears as Bond girl Svrine, though she has a reduced role compared to past Bond girls.

Pierce Brosnan portrayed Bond in four films - more than some other actors - but his stint is generally acknowledged to be the worst of the bunch.The World Is Not Enough, his third film as 007, finds Bond racing to prevent the assassination of a billionaire's daughter, while also skirting a nuclear meltdown in Istanbul.

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The Bond girls in this film are especially lacking in terms of character, though Denise Richards, who playsnuclear scientist Dr. Christmas Jones, believed her role had a lot of depth. Fans didn't seem to mind either way - the film grossed $362 million worldwide.

Though it was the first-ever film in the James Bond franchise,Dr. No holds up nearly sixty years later. Bond, portrayed by Sean Connery, goes to Jamaica to investigate the disappearance of a fellow MI6 agent and becomes involved in a deeper plot by supervillain Dr. No to sabotage an American space launch.

Ursula Andress joins Connery as the original Bond girl, Honey Ryder. Andress' first appearance in the film, emerging from the ocean in a white bikini, is regarded as one of the quintessential Bond moments- though what most people don't know is that her accent meant she had to bedubbed by another actress.

LikeDr. No,The Man with the Golden Gun is actually adapted from one of Ian Fleming's novels. UnlikeDr. No, it met with mixed to negative reviews. The blame was placed on both the script and Roger Moore's acting, with the only element to emerge unscathed being Christopher Lee's performance as antagonist Francisco Scaramanga.

The film borrowed heavily from the martial arts genre, which was popular at the time. Though it returned $97 million on a $7 million budget, it was the fourth lowest-grossing Bond film of all time, and some even suspected it would spell the end to the franchise.

The second film in the series and the second to star Sean Connery,From Russia with Love finds 007 attempting to help a Soviet agent defect in Turkey. But it's not all romanticescapades with Bond girl Tatiana Romanova - SPECTRE, Bond's nemesis, is also out for blood, looking to avenge the killing of their operative Dr. No.

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It's rumored that Connery himself chose Italian actress and Miss Universe runner-up Daniela Bianchi for the role of Tatiana Romanova. Though she began learning English in order to take on the roll, her lines were ultimately dubbed over - just like Ursula Andress.

Octopussywas Roger Moore's sixth Bond film, and the thirteenth overall. Ittakes its title, but not itscontent, from Fleming's short story collectionOctopussy and The Living Daylights,and it's a bit of an odd bird, released the same year as another Bond flick-Never Say Never Again.

Due to a complicated legal snafudating back to the 1960s, a film company besides Eon Productions had retained the rights to one of Fleming's novels,Thunderball. And they'd also poached Sean Connery right out from under Eon's noses so that heand Mooreboth got to grace the silver screen as Bond in the same year.

Four years after Brosnan's swan song inDie Another Day(2002), Daniel Craig emerged on the scene as a fully-rebooted James Bond at the beginning of his career, inCasino Royale. Praised by many as the best Bond film hands-down,Casino Royale sees Bond sent to Monaco on a mission to bankrupt terrorist financier Le Chiffre in a high-stakes poker tournament.

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This film features one of the most beloved and nuanced Bond girls of all time - Vesper Lynd. Played by Eva Green, Lynd is the girl who affects Bond more than anyone ever has, with her death - as well as her life - playing a large part in the origin of the Bond audiencesknow and love.

The last film to star Roger Moore as 007,A View to a Killfeatured a title track by Duran Duran and an on-screen debut by superstar Dolph Lundgren (Rocky IV, The Expendables). Though it drew fire in critical circles for Moore's advanced age - he was 58 at the time of the film's release - the film grossed $152 million worldwide, and represented a comeback for the franchise.

Moore is joined on-screen by Tanya Roberts as Stacey Sutton and Grace Jones as May Day, two very different Bond girls. But even a great soundtrack and an iconic performance from Jones weren't enough to save this film from critical failure.

Based on Fleming's novel of the same name,Goldfingeris all about atomic number 79. It finds Bond, played by Connery, investigating the gold smuggling activities of gold magnate Auric Goldfinger, and his plans to contaminate the United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox. With so much gold in the mix, it's not surprising this film clocks in at number one.

Honor Blackman is theiconicBond girl Pussy Galore, alongside Shirley Eaton as the less well-known Jill Masterson. The film also features Harold Sakata as Goldfinger's manservant Oddjob, arguably the most famous henchman of all time.

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Lindsay's greatest aspiration in life is to write a Qui-Gon Jinn solo film.

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5 Best Bond Films (& 5 Worst), Ranked According To Rotten Tomatoes - Screen Rant