Alright, Let’s Settle This Once and For All — What’s the Best James Bond Movie?

Alright, let’s settle this once and for all. What’s the best James Bond movie?

While we wait for the next actor to be cast, let’s do what Bond fans have been doing for six decades: argue about which one is actually the best.

I’ll go first. It’s “Casino Royale.” And more broadly, it’s the Daniel Craig era, the only stretch of this franchise that feels like it was made in the world we actually live in. I’m not the biggest Bond fan, and I find many of the movies silly and nostalgia-driven, but as far as I’m concerned, this was the peak.

I know, it’s sacrilege, but Craig changed everything. From the black-and-white bathroom fight that opens “Casino Royale,” you can feel the difference. Bond bleeds. He makes mistakes. The action is visceral and messy. It also came at the right time. Post-9/11 and post-Bourne, the franchise was revitalized, and Craig was the guy who made it believable.

My top five: “Casino Royale,” “Skyfall,” “Goldfinger,” “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service,” “From Russia With Love.”

“Casino Royale” has so many highlights, yet the best sequence is not an action scene; it’s a poker game. A bunch of guys sitting around a table, and it’s more gripping than anything Brosnan did in four movies. Craig and Mads Mikkelsen just stare each other down for what feels like an hour, and I was on the edge of my seat the whole time.

“Skyfall,” my #2, is the art-house Bond, and I mean that as a compliment. No, it doesn’t play like a Béla Tarr movie — you know exactly what I mean. It’s Sam Mendes and Roger Deakins making a movie about aging. Javier Bardem is a great villain, and Judi Dench’s M gets a wonderful send-off. It’s also the best-looking Bond, one that genuinely looks like a Roger Deakins movie, because it is one.

Which brings me to my #3. Look, I’m not a monster. Connery was great, and the msot playful 007. “Goldfinger” is the greatest Bond movie of the classic era, and it might very well top this poll. It’s the template every film since has borrowed from: the gadgets, the Aston Martin, Oddjob’s hat, the laser, Shirley Bassey. Does it feel like the real world? Not remotely. But it’s the purest version of Bond as fantasy, and the blueprint the series (mostly) followed right up until Brosnan’s last film.

Next up, “On Her Majesty’s Secret Service” is basically a Craig movie made in 1969. It’s romantic and vulnerable, and it ends in grief. No wonder it’s aged better than almost anything from its era. Whereas “From Russia With Love” is a classic spy thriller, colder and more mechanical, yes, far less ambitious, but enormously entertaining. The train sequence alone makes this a classic.

Now the hot takes. Craig starred in the two best Bonds, but he also starred in two of the worst. “Spectre” is the weakest, mostly because it succumbs to old-school nostalgia. “Quantum of Solace” is a mess as well, and many point to the 2007–08 WGA strike as the reason why. I thought “No Time to Die” was just okay.

The Moore films are pure camp. And Dalton deserves more credit than he gets. The Brosnan years? Fun relics of the ’90s. Another hot take: “Die Another Day” is the best Brosnan movie. I know. Invisible car, Madonna cameo, CGI surfing, all of it. But it’s the one where Brosnan finally looks like he’s having fun, and it works as pure, dumb escapism. “GoldenEye” is overrated, propped up by nostalgia for the N64 game. Sue me.

Your turn. Am I right that the Craig era is the peak? Or are you a Connery truther? Post your thoughts in the comments, and vote in the poll! Maybe this write-up will motivate you to watch, or rewatch, one of the 25 official Bond movies released so far.