It’s a good time to be a James Bond fan with an Amazon Prime Video subscription as all 25 of the super-spy’s official adventures are now available to watch on that particular streaming service. And with Oct. 5 marking James Bond Day — the 60th anniversary of the release of 1962’s Dr. No — now is the perfect time to revisit some entries in the legendary cinematic saga that perhaps don’t have the adoration they deserve.
Many of 007’s world-saving exploits from over the past six decades have achieved iconic status, with even those who’ve never seen a Bond film being familiar with the likes of Goldfinger (1964), GoldenEye (1995), or Skyfall (2012). Meanwhile, there are those movies that weren’t all that well thought of at the time of release but have become classics over time, such as 1969’s On Her Majesty’s Secret Service.
But what about those entries in the franchise that just tend to sit around the middle of people’s rankings due to unfair conventional wisdom dictating that they’re merely mediocre? Here are seven of 007’s most underrated missions that seriously need to be re-evaluated by either seasoned fans or any budding Bond binge-ers looking to revisit a few of the spy’s escapades on Prime Video.
Moonraker (1979)
The Roger Moore era took a memorable approach to keeping the saga fresh: just rip off whatever was popular at the time. See 1973’s Blaxploitation Bond Live and Let Die and kung-fu flavored The Man With the Golden Gun (1974). The most notorious fruit of this way of thinking, though, has to be 1979’s Moonraker, a very clear attempt to cash in on the Star Wars craze by sending 007 into space.
It’s often viewed as the nadir of the series’ goofier tendencies, then, not to mention criticized for essentially reheating the villain’s plot from preceding film The Spy Who Loved Me. While all that may be true that doesn’t stop Moonraker from being great entertainment, provided you approach it with the right mind-set. As long as you’re in the mood for a tongue-in-cheek sci-fi-leaning adventure film, and not a hard-boiled spy thriller, Moore’s fourth turn in the role is a rollicking good time.
For Your Eyes Only (1981)
Ironically, even though EON listened to the fans following Moonraker and followed it up with a much more “back to basics” Bond, folks still mostly responded with a shrug. But that has to stop as For Your Eyes Only is the perfect lesser-loved film in the franchise for anyone who wants something that is literally the exact opposite of Moonraker.
Proving that he can do more than just drop dubiously timed dad puns and raise his eyebrow suggestively, Moore hands in a surprisingly steely performance here, bringing the character’s darker, more ruthless edge to the fore for once. Meanwhile, Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet) is a solid female lead with a certain amount of agency, as she teams up with Bond to get revenge on villain of the piece Kristatos (Indiana Jones and Star Wars vet Julian Glover, aka the king of ’80s bad guys).
Just forget about the bizarre opening sequence, in which Bond (we think) finally kills his long-term nemesis, Blofeld.
The Living Daylights (1987)
Once Roger Moore finally hung up his tux for the last time in 1985, producers turned to Timothy Dalton to rejuvenate the spy for the remainder of the decade. While Dalton didn’t really catch on with general audiences, fans have since come to love his more serious approach to the role, harking back to Ian Fleming’s flawed anti-hero from the books.
Nevertheless, both of the films Dalton starred in remain underrated entries in the canon and while neither of them are top-tier Bonds, they definitely deserve something of a reappraisal. For starters, his opening hour, The Living Daylights, is a standout for the genuinely charming rapport between 007 and Kara Milovy (Maryam D’Abo), a cellist who gets caught up in Bond’s crazy world.
One unfortunate mark against the movie, though, is its incredibly dated international politics — in the Afghanistan-set finale, Bond actually teams up with the Mujahideen.
License to Kill (1989)
While The Living Daylights carries over a modicum of the sillier tone of the Moore movies, License to Kill is pure Dalton. Going head-to-head with Tim Burton’s Batman at the summer box office that year, the film was a huge financial disappointment, while fans didn’t particularly gel with its attempts to evoke tough-guy American action flicks.
But, looking at it now, License to Kill comes across as a proto-Daniel Craig Bond film thanks to its depiction of the hero as a loose cannon fueled by personal trauma. Here, Bond goes rogue from MI6 as he seeks out crime boss Franz Sanchez (Robert Davi) for feeding his best friend to a shark. Just as that sounds, there’s some gnarly action and grotesque kills in this one, plus a young Benicio del Toro eating up the scenery as a vicious henchman.
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Brosnan starred in four movies as Bond, but only two of them are remembered — his seminal starter GoldenEye and his dismal denouement Die Another Day. This is hugely unfair, however, as his middle two offerings are terrific fun in their own right. Take Tomorrow Never Dies, which apart from its nonsensical title (seriously? What does that mean?), has a lot going for it.
For one, there’s Michelle Yeoh as Wai Lin, one of the absolute best action Bond girls. She might not have the character development of certain others, but she’s easily one of the most independent and one of the few who genuinely feels like Bond’s equal in the field. And then there’s Jonathan Pryce having a blast hamming it up as Rupert Murdoch clone, media mogul Ethan Carver. Don’t be put off by the stupid name, go watch Tomorrow Never Dies today.
The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Ironically, The World is Not Enough is not enough for most fans, as it has a poor reputation due to the inclusion of one of the franchise’s most notorious Bond girls — Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist played by Denise Richards in Lara Croft cosplay. Honestly, though, Christmas is just your average underdeveloped B-Bond girl, and the hatred against her takes away the much more deserved spotlight from the movie’s actual leading lady, Elektra King (Sophie Marceau).
It’s hard to discuss TWINE‘s secret brilliance without getting into spoilers, so here goes… Though Renard (Robert Carlyle) appears to be the big bad, it turns out Elektra is the one really calling the shots. Yes, Christopher Nolan ripped off this twist for The Dark Knight Rises, but it’s done a whole lot better here. It makes Elektra the only female main villain in Bond history and she’s a fantastic foil to Brosnan’s Bond.
Quantum of Solace (2008)
When Casino Royale came out 16 years ago (wait, how long??), it reinvented James Bond from top to bottom and couldn’t have been a better relaunch for the then-withering franchise. Unfortunately, its follow-up, Quantum of Solace, failed to replicate that success and it took Sam Mendes’ 50th birthday party Skyfall to bring Bond back to the big leagues. With the benefit of hindsight, however, Quantum ain’t all that bad.
It’s certainly a notable entry in the saga for numerous reasons — at 106 minutes, it’s the shortest Bond film ever. Admittedly that’s partly a result of the 2007 Writers’ Strike impacting production but it also means Quantum never outstays its welcome, unlike the overwrought Spectre, for example. Likewise, it’s the first direct sequel, operating as a continuation of Casino‘s narrative that makes it compulsory viewing for Craig fans, even if later films somewhat swept it under the carpet.
It’s about time Quantum of Solace earned itself a little bit of… well, you get it.