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James Bond has given us countless thrills and more than a few groans over the years. Your personal favorites in the 007 franchise may depend on when you started watching. The '90s with Pierce Brosnan? The '70s with ? Early  outings have held strong in the court of public opinion. Regardless, it's always fun to look back.
And now that Daniel Craig has bowed out, we're looking forward, too. At some point, we'll find out what new actor will star as the and lie ahead. Watching the older Bond movies will be a good way to get ready.

See also:

If you don't know where to start with the Bond films, be sure to check out our . Or you can check out the  movie rankings below, from worst to best. It's based on an , specific to when the movies came out, as compiled by CNET sister site Metacritic. The list accounts for every theatrical 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 (David Niven chief among them), and 1983's Never Say Never Again, featuring Connery in his second comeback.

See also: 

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 -- Connery and Craig, Moore and Brosnan, and short-timers Timothy Dalton and .

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James Bond movies ranked, from worst to best











Keith Hamshere/Getty Images





27. A View to a Kill














According to the critical consensus, Roger Moore isn't just the star of the worst James Bond movie -- -- 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.

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:





















MGM





26. The Man With the Golden Gun














As far as critics are concerned, , 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.

, 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:





















LMPC / Getty Images





25. Casino Royale (1967)














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.)

, featuring David Niven, Peter Sellers and Orson Welles, grossed a Bond-worst $41.7 million worldwide.

Metascore:





















20th Century Fox Home Entertainment





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, "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, , 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:





















MGM





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 "is a competent James Bond thriller. … But it's no more than that." p>Aside from its reviews, is a success of the Roger Moore era: It earned an Oscar nomination for its Sheena Easton-crooned title song, a 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 downhil

>, featuring the first of two franchise appearances by Richard Kiel as the villainous Jaws, grossed $185.4 millio may have suffered by comparison with the just-concluded Sean Connery

>"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 fu

>At the box office, , 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 p as 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 P

>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, g 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 Read

> 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

>, 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 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 69.4, making his movies the second-best reviewed 007 movies of all ti

>On one hand, , 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 was evidence of a franchise in need of new bloo

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

> 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, respect is "filled with big sets, big stunts, and what ought to be big moments," Matt Zoller Seitz noted for RogerEbert.com, "but few of them la

> 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. brings in a new 007 … who manages the Connery trick of seeming suave and tough at the sam
me
/p> outgrossed its predecessor, Roger Moore's A View to a Kill, by nearly $40 million, for a worldwide b, 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 "exc
g.
/p> broke new ground: It featured a James Bond wedding, with Diana Rigg as 007's feisty but ill-fated bride, Tracy di Vincenzo marks Sean Connery's fifth outing as James Bond. Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert saw signs of wear: "Connery labors mightily," Ebert
te
/p>For a Sean Connery James Bond movie,  grossed a so-so $111.6 million worldwide. The film is nonetheless influential: Its cat-petting iteration of Blofeld (played by Donald Pleasence), complete with v 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 a
ai
/p>, co-starring Maud Adams in her second franchise outing (after The Man with t 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
le
/p> 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 provid 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
e.
/p> 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 199 sees 007 sent to outer space. Critics non-ironically cheered. "Moonraker is a satisfying blend of familiar ingredients,"  wrote The Washington Post's Gary
ol
/p>, 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 worldwid 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 Moor
a.
/p>"It is good to see Connery's grave stylishness in this role again," Time's Richard Schickel wrote. "It makes Bond's cynicism and opportunism seem the product of genuine worldliness (and world weariness) as opposed to Roger Moore's mere twirpis
s.
/p>Despite the presence of Connery, who first embodied Bond on the big screen, this movie wasn't fr is the longest Bond movie of t
al
/p>"No Time to Die packs a quintessentially Bond punch while also taking huge risks with the aging character and decades-old formula," Richard Trenholm said in . "Every Bond film markets itself as a fresh twist, but No Time to Die i, released in 1962 (though it didn't arrive in the United States until 1963), is one of the best James Bond movies, per critics. "Sean Connery excellently puts over a cool, fearless, on-the-ball, fictional Secret Service guy," Variety p
ed
/p>, featuring Ursula Andress as original Bond girl Honey Ryder (yes, really), 온라인슬롯 was one of 1963's Top 10 box office hits. It grossed $59.6

w

e.Metascore:




















MGM





4. Casino Royale















The first Daniel Craig James Bond movie, blew away critics with its new take on the spy saga. "[Craig's] Bond is at least the equal of the best ones before him, and beats all of them in sheer intensity," The Wall Street Journal's Joe M

r

. The opening minutes of the film reveal how Bond earned his double-0 rating, and for fans of the Ian Fleming novels, it manages to both stay true to the 1953 book and adapt that story for audiences a ha

r

. The 2006 film grossed a then-franchise-best $594.4 mi

r

 Metascore:




















MGM





3. Skyfall















The top-grossing James Bond movie to date, with a worldwide take of more than $1.1 billion, this 2012 film is, according to critics, the best Daniel Craig 007 movie -- and

o

 " is one of the best Bonds in the 50-year history of moviedom's most successful franchise," James Adams wrote in Toronto



l.The film won the series' first two Oscars since 1964's Goldfinger; it claimed statuettes for sound editing and for Ade

l

 Metascore:




















LMPC via Getty Images





2. From Russia With Love















The second James Bond movie is, per the critical consensus, the second-best James Bond movie ever. The New Yorker's fabled Pauline Kael praised : "Exciting, handsomely s

n

.", featuring Lotte Lenya as Bond baddie Rosa Klebb and Robert Shaw as the SPECTRE assassin gunning for Bond, grossed $78.9 million worldwide, a take that represented significant growth over Dr. No, and firmly established 007 as a fr

t

. Metascore:




















Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images





1. Goldfinger















Here it is: This 1964 Sean Connery entry is, per the critical consensus, the best James Bond movie. It had all the elements we've come to expect: the megalomaniac villain with an outrageous and murderous scheme, the henchman with a quirky method for killing (Oddjob and his hat), big set pieces with extravagant action, Bond i

e

t."Larger than life, faintly ridiculous, completely cool, Goldfinger is the quintessential James Bond movie," Empire'

e

e.The film grossed a then-franchise-best $124.9 million worldwide, and won the franchise's first Oscar (for

f

 When Connery's seven 007 movies are taken together, the average Metascore comes in at 71.4, making his run the undisputed leader

n

s.Metascore:









James Bond movies in chronologi
order
>In the official Bond canon -- the films made by Eon Productions -- there are 25 films, including No Time to Die. Because of licensing issues, there were two other, non-canonical movies: the 1967 version of Casino Royale, and Sean Connery's final outing, 1983's Nev
ay Ne
Again.Sean Connery (1962) (1963) (1964) (1965) (1967)David Niven, amo
thers1967)
George Lazenby (1969)Sean Connery, first
eback
(1971) Roger Moore (1973) (1974) (1977) (1979) (1981)Sean Connery, second
eback1983)
Roger Moore, still o
s run
(1983) (1985)Timothy Dalton (1987) (1989)Pierce Brosnan (1995) (1997) (1999) (2002)Daniel Craig (2006) (2008) (2012) (2015) (2021)