My Top 10: James Bond Films

The last few generations have experienced many timeless classics including some long-running film series. One that has become part of British culture is the James Bond franchise.

We have currently had seven actors occupy the iconic role of one of Britain's most well-known fictional character in the form of Sean Connery, David Niven (yes, I'm including him), George Lazenby, Roger Moore, Timothy Dalton, Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.

Even though the first film Dr. No was released in 1962, the character James Bond has been with us since 1953 in the first of 14 novels by author Ian Fleming. Since his unfortunate death in 1964, many more Bond novels have been published.

On a film-making perspective, there are not many that are that impressive. But that is not what James Bond is all about. It is all good fun, with the fancy gadgets, slick spy action and with a lot of disbelief needed for many action scenes for over 50 years.

I have seen all 24 official films as well as the 2 unofficial films. Here is my full ranking of every James Bond film with a more detailed review for each of my top 10:

27) Casino Royale (1967)

26) The Man With The Golden Gun
25) Moonraker
24) Die Another Day

23) The Living Daylights
22) Octopussy

21) Never Say Never Again

20) For Your Eyes Only
19) The World Is Not Enough
18) The Spy Who Loved Me
17) Quantum Of Solace
16) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
15) Tomorrow Never Dies
14) A View To A Kill
13) Spectre
12) No Time To Die

11) Live And Let Die

10) Licence To Kill - After a poor showing in The Living Daylights, Licence To Kill was a pleasant surprise and managed to be quite enjoyable.

We see Timothy Dalton in his second and last Bond film where he has gone rogue and on a revenge mission.

Some great villains and some brilliant action set-pieces that I think still hold up today.

9) Diamonds Are Forever - Sean Connery's last Bond film within the official series. His portrayal continues to show how strong he was as this character for it to still make it to my top 10.

Not as thrilling as Connery's previous installments, but still has an amount of fun that can make this a good time.

8) Thunderball - With Bond being as strong ever, Connery returns for his fifth installment.

With some ground-breaking gadgets and a lot of the film being set under-water.

It has great action scenes and Connery gives us some terrific moments, especially with his one-liners.

7) You Only Live Twice - Connery returns in the franchises most pivotal film in his era.
This is where we finally get to see who is stroking that white cat?

We see Bond team-up with the Japanese secret service to prevent a organisation trying to start a nuclear war.

May seemed dated now, but still great fun.

6) Skyfall - A terrific revival as director Sam Mendes celebrates the 50th anniversary of the franchise with it's most financially and awards successful film to date.

We see Bond's past in the most detail we have ever seen.

It has a perfect mix of homage moments to the franchise and brand new action sequences.

Well deserving of it's 2 Oscars.

5) Dr. No - The one that started it all.

We see Bond investigating the disappearance of a colleague and find out who is disrupting the American space program.

This changed the look of action films and saw the breakthrough of Sean Connery.

4) Goldfinger - Probably the most popular of Connery's Bond's that features some of the franchises most iconic scenes and villains.

We see Bond uncovering a plot to contaminate Fort Knox.

Great action that never gets old and the most iconic 'Bond girl' name.

3) From Russia With Love - A Bond film that really impressed me and what I think to be Connery's best.

Bond is on a mission to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by MI5's closest nemesis SPECTRE.

With some of the best villains including a haunting Robert Shaw, this is not just a great Bond film but a great action film.

2) GoldenEye - After a few years without Bond, director Martin Campbell gives us one of the most refreshing Bond's in the franchise.
This also sees the debut of Pierce Brosnan.

Helped by the success of the iconic video game, this brought Bond into the 90's with many memorable moments including a terrific villain played by Sean Bean.

1) Casino Royale (2006) - The start of Daniel Craig's venture and we get the grittiest Bond we've ever seen.
With the title referring to the first Fleming novel, we can get shown a truly exciting thrill ride with terrific writing.

Director Campbell returns and definitely cranks up the Bond franchise in ways we never imagined.