1. Casino Royale (2006)
Still, Skyfall would never have come to be were it not for Martin Campbell's outstanding reboot of the Bond series, Casino Royale. After sitting through so many execrable Pierce Brosnan Bond films - by not fault of the actor's; he was a great Bond saddled with a bad set of films - Royale felt like the shot of adrenaline into the heart that the series was desperately in need of. Stripping away the more extravagant and silly elements that had come to define the series - the daft humour, the over-the-top action and ridiculous gadgets - this was very much a back to basics approach, rooted in emotional, authentic characters, realistic action, and wry, witty humour as opposed to camp. And yet, Royale still feels like a classic Bond film in all the right ways; it has an imposing, memorable villain (played well by Mads Mikkelsen), opulent production design, excellent action, and of course, gorgeous women. It is the quintessential, near-perfect Bond film; it fully concedes the necessity of the character post-9/11 - in which a campy flippancy towards terrorism now seems tacky - while still sticking true to those core elements that have kept Bond popular and relevant for five decades. So, you've seen the best. Now click Next to see the worst.