I have the privilege of being blessed with a wife who loves
action movies. It was by her impetus that we watched all the Bourne movies
together. We saw all the Mission Impossible movies a couple years ago. And last summer, I
decided it was seriously time for her to watch some James Bond.
I originally got into James Bond as a teenager when my uncle
bought me Doctor No for my birthday.
In my sophomore year of college (13 years ago much to my dismay), my friends
and I watched every one of the movies (including the terrible Casino Royale parody from 1967). But one
forgets a lot in 13 years and most of my memories were just impressions of
specific scenes. There are a lot of good movies in the Bond franchise and a lot
of bad, cheesy movies too. So I thought I’d do a top 5 list of the best and most essential Bond movies for
those who can’t be bothered to sit down and watch all 23 films in the series
canon. Here they are:
1. From Russia with Love (1963)
This is the best Bond film ever made. The characters are interesting, the pacing is good, the adventure is big, and there are lots of exotic locations. Also, this one introduces Bond's longtime villain, Blofeld. And (this always ranks really high in my book) there were no ridiculous gadgets that are so often the bane of Bond movies.
2. On Her Majesty’s
Secret Service (1969)
Out of every Bond movie ever made, this is the most faithful to the book on which it is based. Contrary to popular prejudice, George Lazenby made a great James Bond. The story is great, Bond gets to be a real person for once, and there are, once again, no goofy gadgets.
3. Doctor No (1962)
This is the film that introduced Bond to moviegoers. Sean Connery is incredibly cool in his first iconic appearance at a card table with a cigarette in his mouth. As this is the first film, it had a lower budget, but was far better than some of the cheesier high budget movies that would come later. This one also improves upon the book. In the book, Bond battles a giant squid, which to me feels a bit too much like jumping the shark.
4. Skyfall (2012)
I'm a huge fan of what Daniel Craig has done with James Bond, bringing the series back to its roots. No exploding toothpaste. No car with a million buttons and guns attached. Just good honest spywork and fisticuffs. This one works as a tribute to the series as a whole, and is the best of the Daniel Craig movies so far.
5. The Living
Daylights (1987)
This was Timothy Dalton's first outing as Bond, and while some parts of the movie feel pretty dated, Dalton was a great Bond. He was, in fact, the only one of the Bond actors who was a fan of the books before playing the part in a film, so he was consciously trying to steer the character away from the travesty that was Roger Moore's portrayal. Audiences at the time didn't like it, but Dalton was essentially trying to do with Bond in the 90s what Daniel Craig is doing now. Also this movie felt like the biggest sprawlingadventure since From Russia With Love.
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