2. Casino Royale
Until the next entry came along, for me this was the quintessential Bond. I dont like all of Flemings books, but Casino Royale is one of my favourite novels, and this was a solid adaptation. Martin Campbell was a solid choice to return and introduce a new Bond to a post-9/11 world, my oh my, we get one hell of a replacement for Brosnan. Again, this is a sweeping romance with a lot of darkness. Craig just owns the role from the second he utters his first lines. Theres a healthy amount of globetrotting, one of the series best Bond girls in the vein of Teresa di Vincenzo, and very unsettling villain who weeps blood, and the best action the series had seen in years- the construction site chase, the aston martin flipping, the chase on the Miami international runway, the fall of a house in Venice Theres a reason its the most successful entry in the series so far, and was universally adored. Bond is a series that needs to be rebooted every so often, unlike many Hollywood franchises, and in the same space of time that gave us a new Batman, the return of Doctor Who, a new Zorro, Robin Hood and two new Sherlock Holmes, Bond shows hes still important and can give you a blood good time at the flicks. Exciting, intense, serious, kinetic its everything the Bourne films could never be.