20th Place: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Positioned at 20th with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 53%, Tomorrow Never Dies finds James Bond entangled in a deadly web spun by billionaire media magnate Elliot Carver.
Investigating Carver’s link to the sinking of the British Navy vessel, HMS Devonshire, Bond ventures to Hamburg. His mission: to charm Carver’s wife, Paris – an old flame of his, and infiltrate Carver’s media empire.
After purloining a GPS encoder and dodging Carver’s minions, Bond journeys to the South China Sea to uncover the mystery behind Devonshire’s sinking. Partnering with Chinese Agent Wai Lin, they salvage stolen missiles from the wreckage and narrowly evade capture in Saigon.
The duo unravels Carver’s scheme to incite conflict between Britain and China. Infiltrating Carver’s stealth ship to hinder his plans, they find themselves fighting side by side as the British Navy zeroes in on the now-visible stealth vessel, confronting Carver and his accomplice, General Chang.
Tomorrow Never Dies isn’t the best, but it’s peppered with memorable scenes, such as the high-speed chase through Saigon’s labyrinthine streets with Bond and Lin handcuffed together on a motorcycle, this is such a clever scene and really makes the movie.
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19 Place: The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)
Ranked 19th with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 55%, The Man with the Golden Gun sees James Bond in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse with the lethal assassin Francisco Scaramanga.
The chase is instigated by the arrival of a golden bullet engraved with ‘007’, believed to be sent by Scaramanga himself. From Beirut to Macau and ultimately Bangkok, Bond follows the breadcrumb trail left by Scaramanga.
On his journey, Bond forges an alliance with Lieutenant Hip and crosses paths with Scaramanga’s lover, Andrea Anders, who wishes for Scaramanga’s death. The pursuit leads Bond through a high-speed chase across Bangkok, culminating in a duel on Scaramanga’s private island.
Memorable moments in this movie include Bond’s audacious escape from Hai Fat’s martial arts school by leaping through a wooden window and an electrifying car chase through Bangkok’s hectic streets, culminating in Scaramanga’s car morphing into a plane.
18th Place: Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Positioned at 18th with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 57%, Diamonds Are Forever, often considered the weakest of Connery’s Bond performances, delves into an intricate diamond smuggling operation.
In this caper, Bond adopts the alias of smuggler Peter Franks, teaming up with with the seductive Tiffany Case in Amsterdam. There, he kills the real Franks and assumes his identity.
Bond and Tiffany then make their way to Los Angeles, where a near-fatal cremation for Bond is thwarted upon discovering the diamonds he carries are counterfeit. The trail then leads Bond to Las Vegas, where he encounters the memorable Plenty O’Toole.
Unveiling Ernst Stavro Blofeld‘s nefarious scheme to weaponize the diamond-laden satellite against Washington DC, Bond undermines the plan, decimating Blofeld’s oil rig lab by using the villain’s mini submarine as a makeshift wrecking ball. The movie culminates with Bond and Tiffany setting sail for Britain, only to be ambushed by memorable assassins Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, who are subsequently defeated.
It’s certainly not Connery’s finest, but the movie has some exciting moments such as the exhilarating car chase through Las Vegas’s bustling streets in the red 1971 Mustang Mach 1, which Bond puts up on 2 wheels to get away from the local police.
17th Place: Quantum of Solace (2008)
Securing 17th place with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 58%, Quantum of Solace, the 22nd installment of the James Bond saga, seamlessly continues the narrative of Casino Royale.
Daniel Craig, reprising his role as 007, ensnares enigmatic Mr. White and delivers him to MI6 for questioning. The plot thickens when M’s bodyguard, Craig Mitchell, is unmasked as a double agent, facilitating White’s escape.
Bond’s pursuit takes him to Haiti, where he crosses paths with Camille Montes, a woman hell-bent on avenging her family’s death at the hands of Bolivian General Medrano. Unraveling a sinister plot, Bond discovers that environmentalist entrepreneur Dominic Greene, affiliated with the clandestine organization Quantum, intends to monopolize Bolivia’s water resources.
In a symbiotic alliance, Bond and Camille infiltrate a clandestine meeting of Greene, Medrano, and Quantum associates, ultimately vanquishing their foes and delivering justice for Camille’s family. However, Greene doesn’t meet his end at Bond’s hands. Instead, he’s abandoned in the desert to reckon with the repercussions of his deeds.
The movie is punctuated with memorable scenes, including a heart-pounding opening car chase, an athletic rooftop pursuit in Siena, Italy, and a daring skydiving escapade into a sinkhole alongside Camille.
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16th Place: Spectre (2015)
Claiming the 16th spot with a Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score of 61%, Spectre finds James Bond embroiled in a quest for Marco Sciarra, amidst Mexico City’s Day of the Dead festivities. A hair-raising skirmish aboard a helicopter ends with Bond gaining possession of an enigmatic ring bearing an octopus motif.
Back on home turf, Bond’s unsanctioned mission is met with stern rebuke from M, who’s also wrestling with the looming threat of the 00 program’s termination. Undeterred, Bond proceeds with his mission, attends Sciarra’s funeral in Rome, and stumbles upon a global criminal organization responsible for developing the invasive Nine Eyes spy program.
Franz Oberhauser, the syndicate’s leader, is unveiled to be Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Shockingly, he is the puppeteer behind all of Bond’s previous calamities. Alongside Dr. Madeleine Swann, daughter of former foe Mr. White, Bond seeks to expose Blofeld’s devious machinations and bring him to justice.
Spectre came straight after Skyfall, so it was always going to have a hard time, but the movie is dotted with riveting moments. These include the high-octane pre-title sequence helicopter battle, and a nail-biting car pursuit through Rome’s labyrinthine streets.