Don’t hit that ejector button, because it’s time to look at the (00)7 most underrated James Bond movies…
Every fan has their favourite Bond films. Regular staples which appear high up in those lists include Goldfinger, From Russia With Love, GoldenEye, Casino Royale and Live and Let Die. There have also been some franchise howlers, including Die Another Day.
However, I’ve enjoyed the majority of the franchise’s 25 films, with only the aforementioned Die Another Day and Spectre being ones I struggle to watch. There have also been a few films in the iconic spy’s run which haven’t been revered as much as perhaps they should have. Sometimes it’s down to a declining star, or a less popular incarnation of Bond. Other times it can be a film that just gets overlooked, perhaps coming too close to a standout film. Let’s take a look at the most underrated Bonds…
Moonraker
Ah, the old rug pull as an opening gambit. Yes, I really am suggesting Moonraker is underrated. Here’s the thing: by any metric, it’s not a particularly good film but this is often placed right down in the lower reaches of Bond rankings and if not for Pierce Brosnan’s embarrassing final fling (Die Another Day) would probably prop up the franchise worst lists more than any other.
There are films held in slightly higher regard which I’ve often been slightly baffled over. Spectre is one, but even the iconic Sean Connery’s You Only Live Twice and Diamonds Are Forever are a bit of a tired slog with Connery seeming decidedly bored. For all its faults and near Austin Powers-level spoof, Moonraker is actually a lot of fun. It’s ludicrous and it’s a really misguided (but enjoyably so, for me) attempt to latch onto the Star Wars craze of the time.
With lasers, dated sci-fi jumpsuits and Jaws in love, Moonraker is the kind of misfire that’s so wide of the mark it becomes endearing. It sure beats watching a more same-old, same-old entry into the canon.
The Living Daylights
I recently sung the praises of The Living Daylights in great detail but to summarise here, it’s the first of Timothy Dalton’s very enjoyable and highly underrated double whammy as Bond. Having narrowly missed out on the role twice before (beginning with Diamonds Are Forever) he finally secured the tux and the PPK.
The Living Daylights had something of a crisis of identity. On the one hand, we have a darker, more brooding Bond, laying the foundations of what Daniel Craig would do later. On the other, the film still has a lot of hangovers from Roger Moore’s era with cheesy jokes, and comical gadgets (some of which are set up but never get a payoff). What the film does have in its arsenal though, are brilliant set pieces. The cello sledging is classic Bond, and the finale has some superb stunt work that’d make Tom Cruise jump a sofa with joy (how’s that for an old pop culture reference?). Dalton is cool and brings a great smorgasbord of elements from Connery, Craig and the odd dash of Moore (though those feel a little at odds). Maryam d’Abo (star of Flickering Myth’s upcoming horror feature film The Baby in the Basket) is delightful too and one of the more memorable Bond girls of the decade.
Licence to Kill
Dalton’s era really does get glossed over too much. He didn’t hit a point as high as Moore’s best and his debut wasn’t as iconic as Live and Let Die for example. Likewise, Brosnan’s opener, GoldenEye is superior (albeit marginally) to Dalton’s two.
Daylights had all the classic Bond tropes and hit all the expected notes. License to Kill felt a little different though, and this is where the film’s legacy has picked up a mixed response. I know a few people who’d have it right up near the top tiers, if not the top. There’s something that feels a little less like a classic Bond film and more like an American action film of the era. The villains feel like they’d be more at home in a Schwarzenegger film, or maybe even a Steven Seagal or Chuck Norris opus.
Still, Dalton’s intensity is dialled up. He’s brilliant once again and there are also some great set pieces and a brutality about the film rarely seen in the franchise. A villain with a tank of ravenous sharks feels less Blofeld, and decidedly more fearsome.
SEE ALSO: Revisiting Timothy Dalton’s Underappreciated James Bond
The Man With The Golden Gun
The Man with the Golden Gun saw Roger Moore return as James Bond after a pretty stellar debut. No, it doesn’t match up or have quite so many unforgettable moments (like croc jumping) but The Man with the Golden Gun is a film I’ve always dug. It’s effectively Bond against a rival who can do what he does. Scaramanga isn’t like Blofeld (or Goldfinger), a Machiavellian overlord who has a henchman do all the physical dirty work. Scaramanga is a ruthless and brilliant assassin in his own right who has a third nipple.
Christopher Lee as per usual, is a superb villain oozing presence. Moore has fun and the film has plenty of memorable moments. Perhaps one reason the film gets overlooked is because it’s sandwiched between Moore’s two best films (the next film was The Spy Who Loved Me). Plus, players of the N64 GOAT game, GoldenEye will know there’s no better weapon than a golden gun.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service
In recent times the adoration of On Her Majesty’s Secret Service has risen. Yet for many, it still gets unfairly overlooked. There are even Bond aficionados who haven’t even gone near it because of the unwarranted reputation George Lazenby has as the weakest Bond. If this fact is true, it’s merely a mark of how excellent his predecessor and successors have been at their best in the role.
Likewise, when it comes to character arcs, this was the first film that sought to carve an extra dimension into Bond and inject the character with a little more humility. Some may argue he’s best left with rugged mystique of course. The set pieces here are also way ahead of their time, with Lazenby certainly proving physically adept in the fight sequences to hold his own against Connery (perhaps the best exponent of Bond’s masculinity). His performance is also better than many gave him credit for. Famously, the remote snow set villain’s lair (shot in Switzerland) and surrounding set pieces were a major source of inspiration for Christopher Nolan’s Inception. This is easily a top 5 Bond film.
Thunderball
For me, Sean Connery’s first four Bond films are all great. It goes without saying that Goldfinger is one of the franchise’s big dawgs, cocking its leg and peeing all over much of the competition and Thunderball as the follow-up suffered as a consequence.
Fans of Ian Fleming’s source material felt the film didn’t do the book justice (more so than Connery’s prior three). It isn’t as good as that opening trio, but it’s also way better than You Only Live Twice. Connery is still relishing the role and the film has some of his most nonchalantly cool moments, including managing to look badass in sky-blue casual shorts and a t-shirt.
Thunderball saw Terence Young return to the director’s chair after Guy Hamilton stepped in to direct Goldfinger. Young had a great knack for elevating Connery’s game and the fight sequences in his films were always excellent. He and Hamilton were the best of the bunch during the 60s and 70s.
For Your Eyes Only
After a highly divisive and disappointing Moonraker, Wilson and Brocolli decided Bond needed to go back to basics again and that saw Moore returning to a more meat-and-potatoes spy film that didn’t have sci-fi jumpsuits and lasers.
Moore by this stage still carried the trademark charismatic swagger but was getting a little bit too long in the tooth. In franchise legacy terms, many feel like Raker killed Moore’s run and he never recovered and the franchise slowly drifted downhill in need of galvanizing. However, For Your Eyes Only is a really decent Bond film (View to a Kill also narrowly missed the list). It’s got loads of the classic staples you want and John Glen (who helmed the whole 80s run after promotion from the editing suite) really did kick the franchise up a gear with the set pieces, which now had to keep par with the carnage of Sly and Arnold films. There’s more than a dash of whimsy in the set pieces, whilst the cast is boosted by Topol and Julian Glover.
What is the most underrated Bond film? Let us know on our social channels @FlickeringMyth…
Tom Jolliffe is an award-winning screenwriter and passionate cinephile. He has a number of films out around the world, including When Darkness Falls, Renegades (Lee Majors and Danny Trejo) and War of The Worlds: The Attack (Vincent Regan), with more coming soon including Cinderella’s Revenge (Natasha Henstridge) and The Baby in the Basket (Maryam d’Abo and Paul Barber). Find more info at the best personal site you’ll ever see here.
