Bond Ranking:
Connery
Craig
Brosnan (as mentioned, for just Goldeneye alone, but I liked him in most, other than Die Another Day which was just..no good)
Dalton
Moore
Lazemby
Best movies of each:
Connery - Goldfinger
Lazemby - Uhhhh
Moore - The Spy Who Loved Me
Dalton - The Living Daylights
Brosnan - Goldeneye
Craig - Casino Royale
And for your entertainment, The intro to "The Spy Who Loved Me" narrated by Alan Partridge
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"Correction, it's not your leg son. It's Liverpool's leg" - Shankly
Moore will always be my favourite, I think his movies embraced the fact that Bond is a silly man living in an absurd world. I always felt that the serious Bond movies came screeching to a halt when things got too unbelievable or fantastic, but put Moore in clown makeup and have someone attack him with a buzzsaw yoyo and the movie doesn't miss a beat.
So this thread inspired me to rewatch some Bond this weekend. I chose The World is Not Enough, mostly because I remember being a little ambivalent towards it.
For the Pierce Bonds, the consensus is Goldeneye is far and away the best, and Die Another Day is utter trash, and the other two fit somewhere in the middle.
After becoming a fairly large Bond fan over the years, re-watching World I was able to catch a lot more fan service in the movie. It really is an homage to the Roger Moore bond. The intro where bond belays out of the bank window is something you would see Roger doing. Then the boat chase, right down to driving the boat through the streets (though no pigeon double take this time). Then continuing the chase in the hot air balloon...it doesn't get more Bond than that. Garbage's theme in the credits is also one of my favourites. Later there is also a skiing sequence, complete with paratrooping snowmobiles.
Of course, the biggest flaw in the movie is Dr. Christmas "I've heard them all" Jones. Sure, Denise Richards wasn't good, but most of the lines she gets are awful, and it is hard to believe they couldn't get a better take out of her.
But anyway, all together, a pretty solid Bond flick. It's a Bond movie for Bond fans. I think now I would rate it higher than Tomorrow Never Dies.
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The worst part of Tomorrow Never Dies was the villain. He was like a more crazy Rupert Murdoch. The idea of a manufactured war wasn't bad but having it set in motion by a nerd with no charisma sucked. And I like Jonathan Pryce.
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Craig - if you read the books, he's the closest characterization. I had my doubts, but by the end of the first act of "Casino Royale" he was Bond. When he delivered 'the line' in the last scene of CR, it was a done deal, no contest.
Connery - he's the face of the role, but he lacks a bit of the ferocity Bond should have.
Dalton - if you use the books as a reference, he's number 2
Lazenby - i break them into two groups... the 'tough' Bonds, and the 'suave' Bonds. He's the last of the 'tough' Bonds. It's a shame he didn't get a fair shake.
Brosnan - had the "Remington Steele" issue not arisen, he could have replaced Dalton. Instead he was a bit too old and polished by the time he was Bond. And too many silly gadgets.
Moore - the 70's... he's Bond Lite, the comedy Bond. No gravitas, and far far from what Fleming wrote.
It's funny because Roger Moore was always my favourite Bond growing up - mostly because the first few Bonds I ever saw were all Moore era (pretty sure Live And Let Die was my first). I was also a kid and it was the early 90s so the cheese probably didn't seem as obvious at the time.
To be fair Bond has always been pretty cheesy, even the Connery era.
