Everyone knows a superhero fanboy who could tell them which Marvel movies they needed to see . . . in which order . . . before they saw “Infinity War” and “Endgame”.
Now, someone at ScreenCrush.com has put together a list of the James Bond movies you should see . . . in what order . . . for the best overview of the franchise.
For example, “Dr. No” was the first Bond movie in 1962, but it wasn’t an origin story, and later 007 movies had a younger version of the character. So, they re-shuffled the movies, and highlighted the best . . . leaving out the “crummy Bonds.”
These 10 of the 24 movies . . . in this order . . . takes Bond “from rookie spy to emotionally- and physically-scarred veteran.” You’ll get a taste of all six Bonds, and walk away with a very good sense of the series.
- “Casino Royale”, 2006 . . . “Although it came some 40-odd years into the franchise, it makes the best possible cinematic introduction to James Bond.”
- “Dr. No”, 1962 . . . “There are also basically no gadgets in this one, which helps ease the transition from Casino Royale.”
- “From Russia with Love”, 1963 . . . “The focus on the Soviet Union and Cold War tradecraft all make this an obvious choice for an early part of your viewing.”
- “Goldfinger”, 1964 . . . “The tone and the style really make the most sense when viewed back-to-back-to-back with the first two Connery films.”
- “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service”, 1969 . . . “The lone Bond adventure starring Australian model turned actor George Lazenby . . . There’s an intensity to the movie’s fights and chases that’s on another level.”
- “The Living Daylights”, 1987 . . . “The best pairing with the intense, melancholic ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ is actually Timothy Dalton’s first Bond . . . They’re both relatively serious affairs with few gadgets or quips. “They both emphasize athletic stunts and practical effects, and there’s a clear kinship between Lazenby’s Bond and Dalton’s.”
- “The Spy Who Loved Me”, 1977 . . . “Once the darker Bonds are out of the way, it’s time to lighten up . . . and nobody played a fun Bond better than Roger Moore.”
- “Moonraker”, 1979 . . . “If you’re going to watch one movie to capture just how bugnuts crazy the Bond franchise got by the end of the 1970s, you won’t find a more illuminating example than this . . . “Moonraker owes more to Road Runner cartoons than Cold War espionage . . . [and] the series is almost indistinguishable from Austin Powers at this point.”
- “GoldenEye”, 1995 . . . “GoldenEye works best near the end of this kind of marathon, with all the accumulated misbehavior of the previous Bonds lingering in your mind.”
- “Skyfall”, 2012 . . . “Skyfall works as a lovely summation of the entire franchise. Although he’s just a few years removed from Casino Royale, Daniel Craig’s Bond looks like a hollowed-out shell of his formerly youthful self.”
(To be clear, these aren’t movies that you NEED to see before seeing the upcoming “No Time to Die”.)
(Although, now that the coronavirus has postponed the opening until Thanksgiving, you’d have plenty of time to do it if you wanted to.)
Image by Vitabello from Pixabay
