10 Best James Bond Movies for Franchise Newcomers, Ranked

The James Bond franchise is one of the highest grossing film series of all time. With over $7 billion grossed across 25 official films, the spy who audiences love continues to bring them into theaters. As a franchise that spans generations, new viewers are being introduced to the agent with a licence to kill every day, but with a loose continuity that connects six distinct movie eras of the character, it can be difficult to know where to start.

Six actors have donned tuxedos and tucked a Walther PPK beneath their arm to play the iconic spy, and each of them, and their respective films, have varied wildly in tone and approach. From Roger Moore’s cheeky, and horny, take on the character, to Timothy Dalton, who brought gritty realism to the franchise, there truly is a Bond for every fan. These are the ten Bond movies perfect to introduce new viewers to the franchise and upgrade their status to 00.

10

‘Dr. No’ (1962)

Starring Sean Connery

Where better to begin than at the beginning. The first film appearance of James Bond (skipping over the 1954 television adaptation of Casino Royale that featured Americanized spy “Jimmy” Bond), stars Sean Connery in the role that would shoot him to stardom. An adaptation of Ian Fleming’s sixth novel, the film establishes many of the signature Bond elements, such as the gun barrel opening, stylish main title sequence, and the iconic James Bond theme. Connery, too, is instantly iconic in the role, rolling the character’s signature introduction line off the tongue with panache.

What prevents Dr. No from being the perfect way to introduce the character to new viewers is that the film itself doesn’t feature much of the slick action the franchise would become known for. The plot follows Bond as he investigates the death of a fellow MI6 agent in Jamaica, which eventually leads to him to the titular villain and his underwater lair. It’s a slower-paced film, much of it devoted to Bond’s actual investigation and the mystery, which certainly makes it stand out, but also isn’t as representative of the film franchise as a whole. It still introduced the world at large to the spy, and six decades later, it remains a fundamental James Bond movie.

9

‘The World Is Not Enough’ (1999)

Starring Pierce Brosnan

One of the things about the Bond franchise that makes introducing new viewers to it so easy, is that the films, at least in the pre-Daniel Craig era, are not firmly connected. Characters and other plot lines may carry over occasionally from film to film, but each individual movie generally serves as its own stand-alone mission. This was especially true of Pierce Brosnan’s run with the character.

The World is Not Enough is something of a black sheep in Brosnan’s Bond filmography. It isn’t as beloved as GoldenEye or as despised as Die Another Day, but it definitely divides fans. The plot is convoluted, and it features some cringe-worthy dialogue, most of it surrounding Denise Richards’ nuclear physicist Christmas Jones, but the movie is also deliriously entertaining. The villain is one of the best of the franchise, and prior to the Craig films, this was the best showcase for Judi Dench’s M, who figures prominently in the plot. If nothing else, The World is Not Enough illustrates just how wildly inconsistent the franchise can be while still delivering high-octane entertainment.

8

‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ (1969)

Starring George Lazenby

George Lazenby’s one and only outing as 007 was initially very coolly received, but in recent years has undergone a reevaluation, and its influence on action cinema is apparent, with Christopher Nolan even calling it his favorite Bond film. The action is top notch, and sees Bond in familiar snowy Swiss territory as he takes on Blofeld, here played by Telly Savalas, in a plot involving biological warfare.

Other than an ill-advised fourth wall break near the beginning, the film doesn’t dwell on the differences between Lazenby and Connery. Even though he may not be the best actor to take on the role, Lazenby actually acquits himself nicely in many of the film’s more emotional moments. This was truly the first time that Bond showed real vulnerability, as he falls in love and eventually marries Bond girl Tracy Di Vicenzo, played by the inimitable Diana Rigg, only to lose her in the film’s tragic final moments. This is essential Bond viewing, and the softer edge it gives to the spy makes it a nice starting point for new viewers. It’s also secretly a Christmas movie, and what better holiday gift than the gift of Bond?

7

‘The Living Daylights’ (1987)

Starring Timothy Dalton

After Roger Moore had well out-aged the role, EON productions decided to cut back on the campiness that had come to define the character and give Bond some of his edge back. The Living Daylights is an underrated Bond reboot, and one that swiftly introduces Timothy Dalton’s more book-accurate depiction of the character. Dalton only got two goes at the character, and while Licence to Kill has its devoted fans, that film is more of an over-the-top 80’s action movie with Bond inserted into the middle.

The Living Daylights is a purer Bond adventure, as the spy takes on KGB villains in a very Cold War-centered plot. Fans were definitely shaken by Dalton’s take on the character, and as a consequence, his time under her Majesty’s Secret Service was cut unceremoniously short. That shouldn’t deter new viewers from watching either of his films, which were certainly ahead of their time in offering a moodier, modern Bond.

6

‘Skyfall’ (2012)

Starring Daniel Craig

Daniel Craig’s time as Bond saw a greater emphasis on continuity for the character than ever before, which makes many of his later films more impenetrable for first-time Bond viewers. Skyfall does not have that problem, offering a deeper examination into the character’s past than had ever been explored while also being one of the most entertaining Bond movies ever made.

Director Sam Mendes manages to pay tribute to the character’s past without falling into nostalgia bait, and also brings back a couple classic supporting characters that had been absent in Craig’s previous two films. Both Moneypenny and Q, two of Bond’s best allies, make triumphant returns here, and the film’s ending is a perfect primer to send viewers off to discover more of the spy’s exploits. The biggest hurdle here is that the film also acts as a send-off to Judi Dench as M. As a stand-alone, the movie does a fine job of executing the emotional impact of the character’s end, but for maximum effect, viewers should really watch Dench’s contributions from start to finish.

5

‘From Russia With Love’ (1963)

Starring Sean Connery

Connery’s second time out as Bond is the film that solidified him in the role and also the character’s place in pop culture. From Russia With Love is often cited as a favorite of the franchise, including by several Bond actors. The plot sees SPECTRE seeking vengeance against Bond as he escorts a supposed Soviet defector, and it’s one of the best Cold War classics made during the actual Cold War.

Unlike Dr. No’s more languid pace, From Russia With Love is filled with spectacular set pieces and action sequences, including a train fight that is an ultimate James Bond moment. The film is also the first time Desmond Llewelyn would appear as Q, a role that the actor would play in a total of 17 Bond movies, giving him the honor of being the actor to appear in the most entries in the franchise. One of the best ways to start watching Bond movies is to start with one of the best ever made.

From Russia With Love is currently available to rent on Prime Video in the U.S.

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4

‘The Spy Who Loved Me’ (1977)

Starring Roger Moore

No actor has played Bond more than Roger Moore, having notched 007 separate installments as the secret agent. Moore’s time as Bond started with two less than stellar entries in Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun, but his third effort, The Spy Who Loved Me, is the one that is often brought up by fans who call Moore their favorite Bond. This globe-trotting adventure, which is easily the most rewatchable of Moore’s films, sees Bond join forces with a female KGB agent to stop a villain who wants to create a new world order, under the sea.

Perfectly balancing both humor and heart, the film is one of the most flat out entertaining of the franchise. Moore is at his peak here, and he’s in good company with Barbara Bach giving solid support as Agent XXX who’s on the receiving of some of Bond’s best innuendos. Megalomaniac Karl Stromberg is also a memorable villain and even more memorable is Jaws, the steel toothed-henchman so nice they used him twice, with the character reappearing in Moonraker. Add in Carly Simon’s all-time classic theme song, and this is the Bond recipe simmered to perfection. Nobody does it better, indeed.

3

‘GoldenEye’ (1995)

Starring Pierce Brosnan

Aside from inspiring one of the best video games based on a movie ever, GoldenEye gave the world a brand new Bond in the form of the dashing Pierce Brosnan, who proved that the character could still function in a post-Cold War world. For 90s kids, Brosnan was their Bond, and much of that love is due to the success of this first film.

Under Martin Campbell’s muscular direction, the movie is action-heavy without losing sight of the character. The ingenious casting of Judi Dench as M allows the film to acknowledge the misogyny and sexism of the franchise’s past, while still letting Bond be Bond, romancing Izabella Scorupco as a brainier love interest, and fighting it out with Famke Janssen as a Bond villainess with cinema’s deadliest thighs. While the following installments would fall back on the franchise clichés, GoldenEye remains an essential Bond movie.

2

‘Casino Royale’ (2006)

Starring Daniel Craig

Campbell would return to the franchise as director once more to introduce another new Bond, as the franchise would set a torch to everything that came before and reboot the character back to his very first mission as a 00. Casino Royale serves as a perfect entry point for new Bond viewers as an origin story for the spy. Daniel Craig embodies the assassin as a blunt instrument who experiences a true character arc through the film, coming out on the other end fully formed as Ian Fleming’s Bond, James Bond.

Adapted fairly faithfully from the source novel, while sanding off some of Bond’s less progressive edges, Casino Royale gives real stakes to the character by putting him into one of his best romantic subplots. Eva Green as Vesper Lynd embodies all the best Bond girl qualities while being well elevated above mere eye candy status. If first-time viewers can’t find something to love in one of the best spy movies of the last 25 years, then maybe Bond just isn’t for them.

1

‘Goldfinger’ (1964)

Starring Sean Connery

James Bond is a problematic character. That may be a bitter cyanide pill for some fans to swallow, but the character’s attitudes and behavior towards women is something that needs to be addressed when discussing his cinematic exploits (though he’s an absolute feminist in comparison to his depiction in the original novels). That doesn’t mean that all of his films still can’t be enjoyed, but if any new viewers are going to have a fully rounded perspective on the character, they need to experience him warts and all. Goldfinger is a movie that doesn’t hide any of the character flaws of Bond while also being an absolutely classic spy thriller.

This is the Bond film that set the standard by which all subsequent Bond films would be judged. The car, the girl, the villain, the henchman, the theme song. It is all on full display here in a movie so successful it revolutionized the film industry. From iconic scene to iconic scene, there is no other film in the franchise that fully embodies the ideal of a Bond movie more than this one does. If any new viewer needs more convincing, they should just take the word of the most recent Bond himself, since Daniel Craig called it the best James Bond movie.