Launching with the immense success of Dr. No and Sean Connery’s fantastic early portrayals of 007, the James Bond franchise is one of the biggest titles in cinematic history. Capable of adapting to contemporary audiences, the saga, at its best, has offered everything from camp escapist fun to gritty action blockbuster thrills and even enticing Cold War commentary. However, for all the sensational Bond films, there have been some awkward missteps in the franchise as well, but that doesn’t make them any less watchable.
From the most ambitiously adventurous Bond flicks that take sci-fi detours to some that can only be described as utterly ludicrous, these Bond movies have established a place in the hearts of many audience members for their unintentional sense of fun. Ranging from some of Connery’s later installments to Daniel Craig’s weakest outing and some of Roger Moore’s and Pierce Brosnan’s low points, these Bond movies are the epitome of so-bad-it’s-good cinema.
10 'A View to a Kill' (1985)
Directed by John Glen
One of several Bond movies that peaked with its opening credits sequence, A View to a Kill is universally regarded to be one of the weakest Bond movies of the franchise. With an appropriately ridiculous premise, it follows Bond as he works to prevent Max Zorin (Christopher Walken), a tech billionaire, from instigating an environmental disaster that will destroy Silicon Valley, thus eliminating all of his competition.
In addition to the boisterous story and the nefarious, diabolical villainy, the film also featured a 58-year-old Roger Moore, who was clearly past his action-hero best. Even Moore himself stated that he was too old for the part. However, the movie maintains the Bond franchise’s appetite for explosive action and revels in the sarcastic and camp aura that made Moore’s era so distinct, giving it plenty of perhaps unintentionally enjoyable moments throughout.
A View to a Kill
- Release Date
- May 24, 1985
WHERE TO WATCH
- Cast
- Roger Moore, Christopher Walken, Tanya Roberts, Grace Jones, Patrick Macnee, Patrick Bauchau
- Runtime
- 131 minutes
- Writers
- Ian Fleming, Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson
9 'Diamonds Are Forever' (1971)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
While Sean Connery’s Bond movies always maintained a cheeky sense of camp quaintness, Diamonds Are Forever marks the point where the adventurous fun crosses over into a state of total ridiculousness. While investigating a diamond smuggling ring, Bond uncovers a dastardly plot from Ernst Stavro Blofeld (Charles Gray) to use the precious gems in a laser satellite to use against the world.
Despite being somewhat aged, Diamonds Are Forever is revered as a thoroughly enjoyable Bond film, if somewhat unambitious, that coasts on Connery’s charms, witty dialogue, and some great action set pieces. That being said, it is still largely derivative of the movies that came before it, a quality which gives it an underlying whiff of parody to modern viewers only familiar with Connery’s biggest titles in the franchise, like Goldfinger and From Russia with Love.
Diamonds Are Forever
- Release Date
- December 17, 1971
WHERE TO WATCH
- Cast
- Sean Connery, Jill St. John, Charles Gray, Jimmy Dean, Bruce Cabot
- Runtime
- 120 Minutes
- Writers
- Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz, Ian Fleming
8 'Tomorrow Never Dies' (1997)
Directed by Roger Spottiswoode
Following the triumphant entry of GoldenEye, Pierce Brosnan’s tenure as 007 was largely marred by poor writing and an exaggerated emphasis on action spectacle and end-of-the-world narrative. While it is an underrated installment in the Bond franchise, Tomorrow Never Dies still exhibits many of the Brosnan-era pitfalls in abundance, particularly the excessive and bombastic action and the pun-heavy, double-entendre-laden dialogue.
However, Tomorrow Never Dies does genuinely excel with its story, following Bond as he works with Chinese operative Wai Lin (Michelle Yeoh) to prevent a manic media mogul from inciting a third world war. Like many of the worst Bond movies, it is exceedingly hammy to a fault, but Jonathan Pryce's villainous news magnate and the byplay between Yeoh and Brosnan make Tomorrow Never Dies an easily enjoyed so-bad-it’s-good movie with some glimpses of genuine brilliance as well.
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Tomorrow Never Dies
- Release Date
- December 19, 1997
WHERE TO WATCH
- Cast
- Pierce Brosnan, Jonathan Pryce, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Ricky Jay, G?tz Otto, Joe Don Baker, Vincent Schiavelli
- Runtime
- 119 Minutes
- Writers
- Bruce Feirstein, Ian Fleming
7 'Spectre' (2016)
Directed by Sam Mendes
Daniel Craig’s best Bond movies are among the greatest the franchise has to offer, but he still had a couple of slip-ups along the way. Struggling to maintain the new Bond’s re-defined grittiness while uncovering the despicable plotting of Blofeld (Christoph Waltz), Spectre is a tonally unbalanced mishmash of intense action intrigue, eccentric villainy, and bizarre subplots.
Stuck somewhere in between what Craig's Bond had become and what the franchise once was, Spectre is a middling Bond film that, at the end of the day, is entertaining because of its elements that don’t quite fit. While criminally underused, Waltz chews the scenery as a quintessential Bond bad guy, the glimpses of gadgetry provide some old-fashioned fun, and the dialogue is as comedic as it ever was in Craig’s era. The result is an underwhelming Bond movie that can be appreciated for embracing many of the elements the Craig era left behind, even if it does impact the overall quality of the film.
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Spectre
- Release Date
- November 6, 2015
- Cast
- Ben Whishaw, Lea Seydoux, Ralph Fiennes, Monica Bellucci, Christoph Waltz, Daniel Craig, Andrew Scott, Dave Bautista
- Runtime
- 158 Minutes
- Writers
- John Logan, Robert Wade, Neal Purvis
6 'The World is Not Enough' (1999)
Directed by Michael Apted
While 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies has its redeeming qualities, the third film of Brosnan’s tenure, The World is Not Enough, is less glamorous, to say the least. It follows 007 as he is tasked with protecting the daughter of an oil tycoon following her father’s assassination. The plot thickens, however, when Bond discovers that the heiress is working with the terrorist assassin, leaving Bond to work with a nuclear weapons expert to thwart a plot that would decimate much of Europe.
Beyond Sophie Marceau’s underrated outing as Elektra King, the Bond franchise’s only major female villain thus far, The World is Not Enough is a low point in the franchise as a whole. Torn between purposefully corny humor and a more intense yet poorly executed action story, it misses the mark on several occasions. Still, at times, The World Is Not Enough is laughably bad and thus best enjoyed as a so-bad-it’s-good picture with a few laughs here and there.
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The World is Not Enough
- Release Date
- November 19, 1999
WHERE TO WATCH
- Cast
- Pierce Brosnan, Sophie Marceau, Robert Carlyle, Denise Richards, Robbie Coltrane, Judi Dench
- Runtime
- 128 minutes
- Writers
- Neal Purvis, Robert Wade, Bruce Feirstein, Ian Fleming
5 'Octopussy' (1983)
Directed by John Glen
While it is a cruel moniker to give, Octopussy is chief among the Bond movies when it comes to laughably bad flicks that entertain for all the wrong reasons. The sixth and penultimate Roger Moore Bond movie follows 007 as he investigates a jewel smuggling operation overseen by the enigmatic Octopussy (Maud Adams). His findings uncover a planned nuclear attack on a NATO airbase.
Beyond the film’s inventive and quite brilliant action sequences, it tends to sway from the completely unmemorable to the woefully bad. Bond is reduced to a cruel joke, displayed at his anachronistic worst in a film that blends comedy and action in a cringe-worthy fashion. Widely regarded to be the single worst and least rewatchable Bond movie, Octopussy can only be watched by viewers willing to revel in how bad it truly is without necessarily enjoying it.
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Octopussy
- Release Date
- June 10, 1983
- Cast
- Roger Moore, Maud Adams, Louis Jourdan, Kristina Wayborn
- Runtime
- 131 Minutes
- Writers
- George MacDonald Fraser, Richard Maibaum, Michael G. Wilson, Ian Fleming
4 'Die Another Day' (2002)
Directed by Lee Tamahori
The last of Brosnan’s four Bond films, and quite possibly his most ridiculous as well, 2002's Die Another Day is infamous for its sporadic eccentricity, peculiar plot twists, and camp wackiness. While it opens in intriguing fashion with 007 captured by North Korean forces and enduring torture for over a year, it soon loses momentum. Barred from MI6 but desperate for revenge on the agent who sold him out, Bond finds himself investigating a diamond baron designing a destructive weapon and travels to Iceland to confront him.
While the opening sequence and the fencing duel are memorable for the right reasons, Die Another Day also has some quite memorable flaws, such as the revelation of the villain’s true identity and some of the CGI sequences. Heavy-handed on the gadgetry and special effects, Die Another Day abuses Bond tropes. It becomes defined by its most glaring flaws, guilty pleasure qualities, and complete lack of restraint.
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Die Another Day
- Release Date
- November 22, 2002
WHERE TO WATCH
- Cast
- Pierce Brosnan, Halle Berry, Toby Stephens, Rosamund Pike, Rick Yune, Judi Dench
- Runtime
- 133 minutes
- Writers
- Ian Fleming, Neal Purvis, Robert Wade
3 'You Only Live Twice' (1967)
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
As the fifth of Connery’s Bond outings, You Only Live Twice set up many icons of the franchise, but it is also arguably the Connery Bond film that has aged the least gracefully over the years. Tensions between America and Russia rise when both nations have advanced spacecraft go missing, a mystery that leads Bond to the Sea of Japan for answers. Faking his death and securing help from local Secret Service agents, Bond learns that SPECTRE is behind it and works to unveil their sinister scheme.
From the exotic locales to Donald Pleasance’s cat-rubbing villain, the film has plenty of memorable elements, but it does have a few glaring missteps as well. While the eccentricity of the story can garner amused laughs, Bond’s infamous Japanese disguise is more likely to receive shocked chortles. “Bad” is too harsh a word to describe You Only Live Twice, but to call it so-dated-it’s-good would not be an exaggeration in the slightest.
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You Only Live Twice
- Release Date
- June 13, 1967
- Cast
- Sean Connery, Akiko Wakabayashi, Mie Hama, Tetsur? Tanba, Teru Shimada, Karin Dor
- Runtime
- 117 minutes
- Writers
- Ian Fleming, Harold Jack Bloom, Roald Dahl
2 'The Man with the Golden Gun' (1973)
Directed by Guy Hamilton
Another candidate for the worst Bond movie of all time, The Man with the Golden Gun is famous for Christopher Lee’s villainous turn and infamous for practically everything else. It sees Bond work to retrieve an advanced solar cell that can solve the world’s energy crisis but has been stolen to be turned into a weapon. Meanwhile, he is targeted by the world’s best assassin, who views 007 as the perfect hit.
Beyond Lee’s Francisco Scaramanga, The Man with the Golden Gun is the epitome of the franchise at its cheesy and chauvinistic worst. Overburdened with double entendres and a borderline offensive objectification of its female characters (even by '70s Bond standards), it more closely resembles a spoof movie than a Bond thriller. Within that, there is a definite so-bad-it’s-good appeal to The Man with the Golden Gun that, alongside Lee's performance, has defined the movie ever since its release.
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The Man with the Golden Gun
- Release Date
- December 20, 1974
- Cast
- Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Britt Ekland, Maud Adams, Hervé Villechaize, Clifton James, Richard Loo, Soon-Tek Oh, Marc Lawrence, Bernard Lee, Lois Maxwell, Marne Maitland, Desmond Llewelyn, James Cossins, Charlie Chan Yiu-Lam, Carmen du Sautoy, Gerald James, Michael Osborne, Michael Fleming
- Runtime
- 125 Minutes
- Writers
- Richard Maibaum, Tom Mankiewicz, Ian Fleming
1 'Moonraker' (1979)
Directed by Lewis Gilbert
Bond in space! Moonraker is undeniably James Bond’s most ridiculous and implausible adventure to date, following the MI6 agent as he ventures into space to investigate a hijacked American space shuttle. Assisted by the CIA’s Dr. Holly Goodhead (Lois Chiles), Bond unearths the diabolical scheme of a power-mad industrialist, Hugo Drax (Michael Lonsdale), who hopes to destroy all human life on the planet so he can recreate it with his master race.
To call the movie ridiculous would be an understatement, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it is unwatchable. In fact, many would herald Moonraker as the peak of Bond’s camp entertainment value. Imaginatively brilliant and containing some of the most inventive set pieces in the Bond saga, Moonraker will be viewed as the perfectly ambitious Bond movie to some fans, while others will have to enjoy it as a so-bad-it’s-good sci-fi departure from what the franchise ought to be.
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Moonraker
- Release Date
- June 29, 1979
- Cast
- Roger Moore, Lois Chiles, Michael Lonsdale, Richard Kiel, Corinne Clery, Bernard Lee
- Runtime
- 126 minutes
- Writers
- Christopher Wood, Ian Fleming, Gerry Anderson
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