Every Bond Girl Ranked - Worst To Best

Michelle Yeoh’s beautiful and deadly warrior of martial artistry is among the very best examples of a Bond Girl demonstrating her prowess and competence solely through their actions. We don’t need the script to state a heroine’s case as “Bond’s equal” through unconvincing dialogue about how tough and witty they are, we simply need Bond Girls to walk the walk and prove their worth.

Wai Lin does so on a frequent basis, whether posing as a reporter to infiltrate the villainous Carver’s circle (and doing a much more convincing job than Bond who all but screams “I’m a spy!” in Carver’s face) or single-handedly taking care of a gang of Saigon thugs.

She’s completely believable as a more than capable, savvy and strong agent who doesn’t need to talk about her achievements and accomplishments, but simply earns respect at every turn. Her playful, but firm, rejections of Bond’s romantic advances consistently demonstrate both her unique charm and her wilful independence.

Her insistence that she works alone is never grating, instead feeling natural and inviting comparisons to Bond as an equal in an entirely organic way. By the time she and 007 are co-operating to foil Carver’s mad scheme, it’s a culmination of gradually gained mutual trust and respect. Similarly, the traditional climactic surrender of the Bond Girl to 007’s charms feels earned, rather than trite and sappy.

Best moment: “Don’t get any ideas!” says Lin as she’s forced to straddle Bond on a motorcycle so as to shoot at the armed henchmen in pursuit, with the pair finally teaming up in one of the film’s best set-pieces.

Worst moment: Fun is poked at her expense in the form of Carver’s schoolboy-like mocking of her kung-fu moves, rightly considered a low point of the film.