Top 10 Most Overrated James Bond Movies

This is NOT a list of the worst Bond movies.

A movie can be good and overrated at the same time.

The majority of the films on this list are, in fact, good. But they're just overhyped.
The Top Ten
Goldeneye

Pierce Brosnan was great in the role, but this movie pretty much consists of the same generic Bond plot that many of the others do. Another villain with a giant laser. It's formula well done, but still formula.

The best of a terrible run. Brosnan seemed like a good idea on paper, but the reality was that he was wrong for the part.

This was the closest Bond has come to being an animatronic figure. After this, it was downhill FAST.

For me, this film is haunted by the ghost of Timothy Dalton's 007, for whom its script was originally written. I consider Dalton the most underrated Bond actor and a much closer onscreen representative of Ian Fleming's character than Brosnan ever was. I also never liked Eric Serra's very non-traditional score (where was John Barry when we really needed him?). Not one of the worst 007 films, but far from being one of the very best, in my opinion.

Skyfall

Yes, yes, yes. A thousand times, yes. It has some truly magnificent action scenes, standout moments, and wonderful performances, but an overly intelligent and metaphorical storyline that is arguably even sillier than Moonraker. And all it is, at its core, is a simple revenge story. Go see this movie for your eyes only, and you will understand what I mean about it being one of the most overrated films in the history of cinema.

Criminally overrated, simply because many critics these days think that dark and serious equals good filmmaking. This is a film for pseudo-intellectuals, and most critics are just that.

Maybe that's why they ignore the same type of climax they've seen and criticized in any Steven Seagal movie post Under Siege.

The Spy Who Loved Me

Moore, Bach, and Kiel do a great job in this one, but the plot is basically a rehash of You Only Live Twice. The pacing is slow, the length could have been shortened, and the score was dull.

From Russia with Love

While I don't think any of Connery's movies were bad, From Russia With Love was incredibly forgettable. Even after finishing it for the first time, I have no more than a vague recollection of its plot and scenes. I remember the train, the briefcase, and the fact that there's a scene with gypsies. Apart from that, it also has the single most anticlimactic villain death in the series.

The first half of this movie really drags.

Spectre

IMDB rated it above the majority of Bond movies. The plot of this movie is so bad that it even manages to ruin the canon of the previous films.

Thunderball

I could have done with about a half-hour less of scuba diving, thank you.

Great Bond, but yes, too much scuba diving.

Moonraker

It has a lot of haters, but it managed to sell really well and joined the annals of fantasy film history. However, it's essentially a copy of a copied plot, and the whole first hour is a waste of time.

Casino Royale

Most of the time when I call a movie "overrated," I still think it's at least a good movie. Not Casino Royale. Some moderately good action scenes don't save this train wreck of a movie from the fact that 50% of it is a boring poker game. For some reason, they thought it was a great idea to kill off the main villain halfway through the movie, leaving the rest of it devoid of any stakes until they shoehorn an action scene at the very end. This is quite literally the only movie where I have ever audibly said, "Where are you going with this?" while watching.

For Your Eyes Only

Agree that it's seriously overrated by critics of the film that immediately preceded it, aka Moonraker. It's competently made and reasonably entertaining, but the absence of a strong villain, the basically platonic relationship between Moore and the leading lady, and an underwhelming final battle make it feel more like a great episode of Moore's The Saint series instead of a great 007 film.

The Spy Who Loved Me is literally the only Moore Bond film worth watching, in my opinion. Live and Let Die and For Your Eyes Only are only considered good or decent because films like The Man with the Golden Gun and Moonraker set the bar so low.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service

The Newcomers

? No Time to Die
? The Living Daylights
The Contenders
Never Say Never Again

Yeah, this isn't great (except for the opening scene).

Doesn't deserve to be mentioned in the same sentence as Octopussy. Even if Connery is in it, the cast is forgettable, the stage setting is awful, the directing is pedestrian, and the soundtrack is bland.

Quantum of Solace
You Only Live Twice
Die Another Day

You can't overrate something that's already at the bottom. Even the camerawork and directing were subpar. It's too bad it carries the name and is included in James Bond marathons.

The Man with the Golden Gun

"Come, come, Mr. Bond. You disappoint me. You get as much fulfillment out of killing as I do, so why don't you admit it?"

Yes, it has Scaramanga, but the rest of the movie, aside from him, was just random gag scenes.

Bad, yet somehow awesome at the same time.

Goldfinger

It's an iconic movie, but I simply can't get past the fact that after the 20-minute mark, Bond does literally nothing of any importance beyond plot exposition and somehow convincing Pussy Galore to switch sides without showing the audience how. It's not bad, but it absolutely does not deserve the pedestal Bond fans place it on.

It is overrated, but it's also brilliant at the same time. It should be number one on the list, BUT I still love it.

Diamonds are Forever
Tomorrow Never Dies

The only reason I call this movie "overrated" is because people keep saying, "At least it's better than Die Another Day." It really isn't. Die Another Day wasn't good, but I'd still take it over this movie any day of the week.

License to Kill
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