No Time To Die : All 5 Daniel Craig James Bond Films Ranked
Craig is done with Bond. How good are his five efforts compared to each other?
After what has come close to being the longest dry spell in the 007 franchise's fifty-nine-year history, No Time to Die has hit cinemas in the UK, with a worldwide release shortly upcoming.
Daniel Craig's fifth and final film as James Bond has been eagerly anticipated not only by devoted series fans, but generally by cinemagoers worldwide. Craig has spent more time as the secret agent than any of his five official predecessors, with a career spanning fifteen years. Even so, the frequency of films released during this period has only been, on average, one every three years, which is exactly half the frequency of Sean Connery's films.
Yet Craig, whom many consider to be the best portrayal of Bond outright, has favoured quality over quantity. Both his performance, and the thrills of spectacle which 007 once monopolised, have been consistent, though the films themselves vary vastly in quality. With the delivery of the crowning film of Craig's run, this is the perfect moment to rank all five of his James Bond adventures.
Please note there will be No Time To Die spoilers ahead.
5. Quantum Of Solace
To date the only 007 film that is a direct sequel, Quantum of Solace - like every sequel which tries to sustain itself purely on the merits of its predecessor - tries to imitate everything Casino Royale did well, but instead drives those concepts into a crashing failure, proving firmly that Bond is by nature, and should be kept as, an episodic franchise.
The result includes but is not limited to: a painfully contrived romance; a "villainous" scheme as thin as a string bean ("Water" is the clearest notion as to what the entire plot was actually about); a villain who is by equal measures forgettable and unfathomable; action that is indeed fast-paced and spectacular but also unfollowable; all neatly wrapped in a miserably drab tone which succeeds absolutely in depressing the audience.
Daniel Craig himself as Bond does his best with what's given to him, but even this one strong pillar can't uphold the film as a whole.
This is the only film of Craig's tenure which can be described as positively, irredeemably bad.