This year should see the release of the 25th official James Bond movie and the fifth big-screen outing for Daniel Craig as the legendary British superspy. No Time To Die should have been released in cinemas back in April 2020, but due to the pandemic, its release has been delayed twice (so far). Over the Christmas period, we had the opportunity to go back and review the previous Craog Bond adventures so we thought we’d put together this quick feature ranking the movies from worst to best. Do you agree with us?
Quantum Of Solace (2008)
The shortest movie on our list, Quantum Of Solace was Daniel Craig’s second film outing as 007 and was a direct sequel to the events that took place in his debut, Casino Royale. We open to the streets of Siena in Italy where we soon discover that Bond has a hostage in the back of his car – the villainous Mr. White from the first movie. After delivering him to M (from where he eventually escapes), Bond is led to Haiti where he is put on the trail of new bad guy Dominic Greene, a philanthropist who is helping exiled Bolivian General Medrano to get re-elected – all in return for a mysterious chunk of the Bolivian desert.
The film didn’t set cinemas or reviewers’ opinions on fire, but after a brief rewatching of the 22nd 007 movie, it is nowhere near as bad as you remember. It feels short, a little unspectacular, and there are some very cheesy moments and some very cliched characters popping up (Gemma Arterton’s Strawberry Fields gets a lot of the familiar traits of the Bond girl of old), but it’s a decent halfway point to the much more positive aspects of the adventures which were to follow.
SPECTRE (2015)
Again, the most recent Bond movie to have been released is far from an absolute disaster but deserves it second from bottom spot on our list. This time, the action has been relocated to Mexico for arguably one of the best opening sequences from the Craig era. Director Sam Mendes sets up the opening moments in a film in a scene staged to look like it is one long continuous take. When Bond gets a message from M from beyond the grave, he heads to Rome to attend the funeral of the man he’s just bumped off in Mexico City. There, he gets led to a top-secret meeting of an organisation of businessmen with criminal and terrorist connections – SPECTRE.
The main issue with SPECTRE is its length. Running at a butt-numbing 148 minutes, the film still managed to attract audiences to the tune of $880 million. Featuring some brilliant villains, notably Dave Bautista’s henchman Mr. Jinx and then Christoph Waltz’s Oberhauser, the film does deserve its place in the series, and there are some nice subplots involving Moneypenny and Q, both of whom get tons more screen time in this thrilling sequel.
Casino Royale (2006)
Daniel Craig’s debut as 007 was originally set to take the mantle as our fave modern 007 adventure – but it’s a close second for this excellent version of the Ian Fleming novel. This world-building James Bond movie sees our hero have to head to Montenegro and to the world-famous Casino Royale casino to take an internationally renowned bad buy in a lethal game of Texas Hold ‘Em. These days – in our digital world – a poker game could take place online on a casino site like those listed at YggdrasilCasino.com – but this is Bond – and the high stakes game takes place in the real world. With tens of millions at stake, let alone his personal pride and the future of the world, Bond must defeat the villainous Le Chiffre in order for him to turn to Mi6 and sell out his bosses.
We love Casino Royale because it moves along at breakneck speed and reunites the franchise with Goldeneye helmer Martin Campbell. From free-running stunt sequences to an iconic scene featuring Bond coming out of the sea halfway in, Casino Royale is full of brilliant moments, and a wonderful scene-setter for the excellent movies that were to follow.
Skyfall (2012)
So, our favourite James Bond movie of the modern Daniel Craig era is, of course, Skyfall. Directed by Sam Mendes and shot by Oscar-winning cinematographer Roger Deakins, Skyfall is excellent from beginning to end. Largely set in London, though with brief moments in the depths of Macau and even Scotland, Skyfall sees 007 go after bad guy Javier Bardem as Raoul Silva, who has managed to hack himself into the computers of Mi6 HQ.
The film manages to present many elements of the Bond series in the Craig era for the first time – like Q, and notably Moneypenny, as well as a new ‘M’ and some pretty stunning, high-velocity storytelling – not to mention tons of stunts and the return of the classic, iconic Aston Martin. It is number one because it feels like Bond returned home, but in retrospect, it is because of its brilliant stand-alone storytelling, which we find out in the events of SPECTRE, are also absolutely relevance to the unfolding saga as a whole.
The 25th Bond movie No Die To Die Will be released in cinemas in April 2021.
