20 Spy Movies You Must See Before You Die

Well, here it is: the best spy film ever made. Martin Campbell's ludicrously entertaining, emotional, and endlessly rewatchable entry in the James Bond series, this is a spy thriller that blows its competition right out of the water.

Where to start? With that gorgeous black and white opener, perhaps, which breaks down the walls and paves the way for a brand new era of Bond. Then recall Casino Royale's devastating love story, which shifts everything we know about the famous spy, rendering him as a fully-fledged human being, as we, too, fall in love with Eva Green's actually three-dimensional Bond Girl, Vesper Lynd.

Casino Royale was intended as a "reboot" of the series, a picture more in line with the Bourne pictures than whatever Die Another Day, the canon's worst ever entry, turned out to be. Daniel Craig, a relative unknown, was cast in the role of the infamous agent, and from the very first action sequence - a mind-blowing parkour extravaganza - it's made apparent that he's a different breed of modern hero.

So whilst the actions scenes are phenomenal, the story is classy, and the tone is pitch perfect throughout, credit must go to Craig for managing to make this incarnation of Bond a proper human being without losing any of the playfulness associated with the role. Casino Royale has therefore established a benchmark to which the Bond franchise has since failed to reach, maintaining a careful restraint on franchise tropes such as one-liners and gadgets. They got it exactly right.

Die hard fans could argue a case for Dr. No, Goldfinger, or From Russia With Love, or even GoldenEye as the Bond entry most deserving of a place on this list. But it was here - with Casino Royale - that the series reached its potential as the optimum spy movie, as a premiere action franchise, and - finally - as a deft character study of a complex literary hero. No other 21st century Bond movie has even come close.