All the James Bond movies ranked, from No Time to Die back to the start – CNET

In No Time to Die, Daniel Craig takes one last shot at playing James Bond.

No Time to Die is the final movie to starDaniel Craigas James Bond, and it's a huge box office hit. It's an "epic, explosive and emotional swan song," says Richard Trenholm in CNET's No Time to Die review, "that throws everything it has against the wall for a genuinely unique entry in the series." So let's see where this newest 007 adventure falls in the list of best and worst Bond movies of all time.

Across a total of 27 movies and six decades, the Bond franchise has provided us with countless thrills and more than a few groans. Your personal favorite may depend a lot on when you started watching, and who was starring -- the '90s with Pierce Brosnan? The '70s withRoger Moore? Not everyone's been watching since 1962 when the 007 series got going, but those Sean Connery outings have largely held strong in the court of public opinion. Whatever: It's always fun to look back, seeing how Eon Productions made the superspy an emblem of the times, an avatar of style and aman of many gadgets.

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See also: Being James Bond: How 007 movies got me into intelligence work

If you don't know where to start with the Bond films, be sure to check out our recommendations and full rundown on big-screen Bond. Or you can check out theseJames Bond movie rankings below, from worst to best. It's based on an aggregate of movie reviews, specific to when the movies came out, as compiled by CNET sister site Metacritic. The list accounts for every theatrical 007 release, not just the 25 from Eon Productions but also two non-canonical entries: the 1967 version of Casino Royale, a trippy turn with multiple actors playing Bond (David Niven chief among them), and 1983's Never Say Never Again, featuring Connery in his second comeback.

See also:James Bond villains build the best lairs, from volcanoes to space

It doesn't, however, include the 1954 version of Casino Royale, a 50-minute TV playhouse production that introduced Ian Fleming's hero to the world as "Jimmy" Bond, an American secret agent. You can find that on YouTube, if you're curious.

Otherwise, we've got the whole roster of actors who've played Bond in the official franchise -- besides Connery and Craig, that's Moore, Brosnan, Timothy Dalton andGeorge Lazenby.

27. A View to a Kill

According to the critical consensus, Roger Moore isn't just the star of the worst James Bond movie -- this snowboarding 1985 entry -- he's the star of the worst James Bond movies, period. When combined and averaged, his 007 films produce a franchise-low Metascore of 53.7.

A View to a Kill was Moore's seventh and final 007 movie. His co-stars included Christopher Walken as gleefully murderous villain Max Zorin and Grace Jones as Bond baddie (and eventual ally) May Day. The plot that Bond has to foil: Zorin's scheme to destroy Silicon Valley so he can control the market for computer chips.

"The James Bond series has had its bummers, but nothing before in the class of this one," Pauline Kael wrote for The New Yorker.

Metascore: 40

26. The Man With the Golden Gun

As far as critics are concerned, this 1974 installment, Moore's second outing as 007, is another bottom-dweller in the James Bond franchise. "If you enjoyed the early Bond films as much as I did, you'd better skip this one," Nora Sayre wrote in The New York Times.

The Man With the Golden Gun, featuring Christopher Lee as the Bond villain and rival marksman Scaramanga and eventual Fantasy Island star Herve Villechaize as his henchman Nick Nack, grossed $97.6 million worldwide, the weakest box-office performance by any of the Roger Moore 007 films.

Metascore: 43

25. Casino Royale (1967)

This offbeat, comic entry features a multitude of actors as James Bond. But more 007s do not make things merrier -- or better. Variety called this version of Casino Royale "a film of astounding sloppiness" and "an insult to the Bond name."

This is one of the two noncanonical, non-Eon films in our rundown. (And for Bond completists -- sorry, we're not including the 1954 television production of Casino Royale, which portrayed our hero as Jimmy Bond, and an American to boot.)

1967's Casino Royale, featuring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles, grossed a Bond-worst $41.7 million worldwide.

Metascore: 48

24. Tomorrow Never Dies

The first of the four Pierce Brosnan Bond movies in this list gets credit for giving Michelle Yeoh an early Hollywood showcase -- but for little else. According to Salon's Charles Taylor, this 1997 movie "scores zero in suspense, wit or class."

When averaged, Brosnan's four James Bond movies post a 57.5 Metascore, the second-lowest among 007 actors who have starred in at least four movies.

At the box office, Tomorrow Never Dies, featuring Jonathan Pryce as villain Elliot Carver, grossed $339.5 million worldwide. That's on par with, but on the low end of, the other films of the Brosnan era.

Metascore: 52

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23. For Your Eyes Only

Critics are kinder, if still cool, to Roger Moore's fifth 007 adventure. In the Chicago Sun-Times, critic Roger Ebert wrote that the 1981 film "is a competent James Bond thriller. But it's no more than that."

Aside from its reviews, For Your Eyes Only is a success of the Roger Moore era: It earned an Oscar nomination for its Sheena Easton-crooned title song, and it grossed $195.3 million worldwide -- the second-best box office showing for a Moore installment.

Metascore: 54

21 (tie). The Spy Who Loved Me

Nominated for a franchise-best three Oscars, this 1977 Roger Moore adventure nonetheless rated mixed reviews from critics. "After the opening sequence," Newsweek's Maureen Orth wrote, "much of the action in The Spy Who Loved Me is somewhat downhill."

The Spy Who Loved Me, featuring the first of two franchise appearances by Richard Kiel as the villainous Jaws, grossed $185.4 million worldwide, making it one of the biggest box office hits of its release year.

Metascore: 55

21 (tie). Live and Let Die

Roger Moore's first James Bond movie is, well, another middling effort -- at least per the critics. In retrospect, this 1973 film may have suffered by comparison with the just-concluded Sean Connery era.

"Even the art direction -- long the Bond films' real secret weapon -- seems to have fallen to a shrunken budget," the Chicago Reader's Dave Kehr wrote. "Not much fun."

At the box office, Live and Let Die, co-starring Geoffrey Holder as the voodoo-practicing henchman Baron Samedi and Yaphet Kotto as head bad guy Katanga/Mr. Big, and featuring the hit title song by Paul McCartney's Wings, was a big step up from the Sean Connery film that preceded it, Diamonds Are Forever. Live and Let Die grossed $161.8 million worldwide.

Metascore: 55

20. Die Another Day

The final Pierce Brosnan James Bond film may have introduced the invisible car, but critics think of this 2002 filmas a retread, not an innovator. "Surely it will not be giving things away to tell you there's absolutely nothing new about the latest episode," Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post.

Co-starring then-reigning Oscar winner Halle Berry as Bond girl Jinx Johnson, with Monty Python's John Cleese as Q, and featuring the hit title track by Madonna, Die Another Day grossed more money than any other Pierce Brosnan 007 film: $431.9 million worldwide.

Metascore:56

19. The World Is Not Enough

This 1998 film is the third Pierce Brosnan James Bond film. "This keeps one reasonably amused, titillated, and brain-dead for a little over two hours," Jonathan Rosenbaum wrote in the Chicago Reader.

The World Is Not Enough grossed a solid $361.7 million at the worldwide box office. It co-stars Robert Carlyle as the villain Renard, who feels no pain; Sophie Marceau as the strikingly conflicted Elektra King; and Denise Richards as a nuclear physicist.

Metascore: 57

17 (tie). Licence to Kill

The second -- and final -- James Bond movie of the Timothy Dalton era gets good marks as an action movie, but not necessarily as a 007 movie. "James Bond might as well be any of a dozen movie cops," the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Joe Pollack wrote of this 1989 entry.

Licence to Kill, featuring Robert Davi as the drug lord villain Sanchez, Carey Lowell as Bond girl Pam Bouvier and a young Benicio del Toro as a henchman, grossed $156.2 million worldwide -- a big drop at the box office compared with Dalton's debut 007 film.

Metascore: 58

17 (tie). Quantum of Solace

To date, this 2008 film is the worst-reviewed of the 007 Daniel Craig era. "Quantum of Solace may be explosive with images of fiery infernos," Film Threat's Jay Slater wrote, "but it's convoluted and confusing."

On the whole, the Craig-led Bond films boast a Metascore average of 69.8, making his movies the second-best reviewed 007 movies of all time.

On one hand, Quantum of Solace, co-starring Mathieu Amalric as Bond villain Dominic Greene, is the fourth-biggest-grossing James Bond movie of all time, with $591.7 million in worldwide ticket sales. On the other hand, the film is the lowest-grossing James Bond film starring Daniel Craig.

Metascore: 58

16. Diamonds Are Forever

The lowest-ranked Sean Connery film in this rundown is the Scotsman's sixth Bond project -- and the last one that the iconic star made before taking a 12-year 007 hiatus. According to critics, Diamonds Are Forever was evidence of a franchise in need of new blood.

The New Yorker's Pauline Kael called the film an "unimaginative Bond picture that is often noisy when it means to be exciting."

Diamonds Are Forever co-stars Charles Gray as arch-villain Blofeld and Jill St. John as Bond girl Tiffany Case, and features Putter Smith and Bruce Glover as the archly menacing Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint, respectively. Among the Sean Connery 007 installments, the movie grossed a middling $116 million worldwide.

Metascore: 59

14 (tie). Spectre

This 2015 Daniel Craig adventureis "filled with big sets, big stunts, and what ought to be big moments," Matt Zoller Seitz noted for RogerEbert.com, "but few of them land."

Spectre co-stars Christoph Waltz in a new take on the old reliable Bond villain Blofeld, with Ralph Fiennes taking over as M, and like Skyfall, delves deeper into Bond's origin story. It grossed a whopping $879.6 million worldwide, the second-biggest take for the franchise.

Metascore: 60

14 (tie). The Living Daylights

This 1987 Timothy Dalton entry, the first of his two turns as James Bond, wins points from critics for not being a Roger Moore entry. "After the fizzle of the later Roger Moore Bonds," Empire's Kim Newman wrote, "The Living Daylights brings in a new 007 who manages the Connery trick of seeming suave and tough at the same time."

The Living Daylights outgrossed its predecessor, Roger Moore's A View to a Kill, by nearly $40 million, for a worldwide box office total of $191.2 million.

Metascore: 60

12 (tie). On Her Majesty's Secret Service

This 1969 film, which marks George Lazenby's lone outing as James Bond, is a pretty good 007 entry, per critics. While the New Yorker's Pauline Kael found its star "quite a dull fellow," she called the movie "exciting."

On Her Majesty's Secret Service broke new ground: It featured a James Bond wedding, with Diana Rigg as 007's feisty but ill-fated bride, Tracy di Vincenzo. At the box office, though, the film fell flat with an $82 million worldwide gross.

Metascore: 61

12 (tie). You Only Live Twice

This 1967 entry marks Sean Connery's fifth outing as James Bond. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert saw signs of wear: "Connery labors mightily," Ebert wrote.

For a Sean Connery James Bond movie,You Only Live Twicegrossed a so-so $111.6 million worldwide. The film is nonetheless influential: Its cat-petting iteration of Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasence), complete with villain's hideaway in a volcano, inspired the Austin Powers franchise's Dr. Evil.

Metascore: 61

11. Octopussy

According to critics, this 1983 film is Roger Moore's second-best James Bond movie. "It soars, all right, but it does it on automatic pilot," wrote Jay Scott for Toronto's Globe and Mail.

Octopussy, co-starring Maud Adams in her second franchise outing (after The Man with the Golden Gun), as the titular character, grossed a solid $187.5 million worldwide.

Metascore: 63

10. Thunderball

According to critics, this 1965 film is a lesser Sean Connery 007 entry, but a worthy entry overall. Wrote Empire's Kim Newman, the movie "effortlessly plies the glory Bond years, concluding with a stunning underwater battle."

Thunderball is the top-grossing Sean Connery 007 movie of the 1960s and 1970s: It took in $141.2 million in worldwide ticket sales. It also provided the template for Connery's final James Bond outing nearly two decades later, Never Say Never Again.

Metascore: 64

9. GoldenEye

The first Pierce Brosnan Bond movie is the best Pierce Brosnan Bond movie, per critics. "New Bond man Brosnan can't be faulted for much," Desson Thomson wrote in The Washington Post. "In this new venture, he's appropriately handsome, British-accented and suave."

GoldenEye featured Sean Bean as a double-0 agent turned bad guy, Famke Janssen as Bond girl Xenia Onatopp and Judi Dench in her first turn as Bond boss M. It grossed a then-huge $356.4 million worldwide. Pent-up demand may have helped: The 1995 film was the first James Bond movie since Timothy Dalton's License to Kill, released six years prior.

Metascore: 65

8. Moonraker

Released in 1979, two years after Star Wars changed just about everything in Hollywood, the fourth Roger Moore James Bond film sees 007 sent to outer space. Critics non-ironically cheered. "Moonraker is a satisfying blend of familiar ingredients," wrote The Washington Post's Gary Arnold.

Moonraker, co-starring Lois Chiles as astronaut Holly Goodhead (yes, really), is the ninth-biggest-grossing James Bond movie of all time, with $210.3 million in worldwide ticket sales.

Overall, Moonraker is the best-reviewed Bond movie of the Moore era.

Metascore: 66

6 (tie). Never Say Never Again

The top-grossing Sean Connery Bond movie, this 1983 film is also one of the better-reviewed Bond movies.

Never Say Never Again marked Connery's final 007 appearance and, from a critical standpoint, seems to have benefited from having been released during the reviled tail end of the Roger Moore era.

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All the James Bond movies ranked, from No Time to Die back to the start - CNET