The seventh actor to play the iconic 007, Daniel Craig has cemented himself as one of the greatest over the course of 5 films. Borne of a post-Bourne era of action films, Craig’s contributions to the franchise feel completely different from what has come before; less focused on the gadgetry and gaudy cars and more so on no-holds-barred action and a deconstruction of what makes James Bond tick as a person, rather than the mythical, infallible spy of decades prior. With his final turn as the super spy No Time to Die hitting cinemas, we’ve assembled the definitive ranking of Craig’s Bond films, as well as a little something about each film’s theme song, arguably as important to the franchise as a shaken, not stirred martini. Let’s get into it.
5. Quantum of Solace (2008)
Quantum of Solace is a perfect example of why you don’t make a movie without a script. Notoriously rewritten as shooting was underway, Craig’s second outing as 007 is for the most part a confusing mess. Picking up straight after Casino Royale and following Bond as he attempts to unearth the organisation responsible for Vesper’s (Eva Green) death – Quantum – the film struggles to find a story worth telling; constantly referencing Vesper and Bond’s attachment to her but never furthering that exploration of character.
There’s a vaguely investing storyline involving Olga Kurylenko’s Camille exacting revenge on a corrupt colonel that wronged her family and the film sets the board effectively for Quantum to eventually morph into the iconic Bond organisation Spectre, but nothing that invests you in Craig’s portrayal of Bond any more than the phenomenal groundwork laid by Casino Royale. Still that opening fifteen minutes is something else; a visceral, pulse-pounding spectacle that the film never manages to top.
Theme Song: Another Way to Die – Jack White and Alicia Keys is a pairing almost as confusing as the film’s script, but somehow the warring sounds of White’s grungy guitar and Key’s silky piano come together to form a theme song that is incredibly rousing and energetic, even if it isn’t the most memorable.
4. Spectre (2015)
Sam Mendes’ second Bond outing, Spectre marked a shift in the Craig films, embracing the franchises storied history where it had previously been largely ignored in favour of a gritty realism. That meant more gadgets, a more cocksure, smarmier Bond than ever and the introduction of Christoph Waltz’ Blofeld, leader of Spectre. When it works it works well, but more often than not Spectre crumbles under the weight of everything it is trying to accomplish, unsure of the tone it is trying to establish and resulting in the rare Bond film that feels strangely anaemic and bereft of excitement, even during huge set-pieces.
The way Mendes ties Spectre into Bond’s history – all 3 previous film’s villains were on his payroll – is interesting and certainly adds instant weight to the threat of Blofeld, but doesn’t do much to change the fact that Bond is still carving his way through an endless supply of henchmen, none of whom feel particularly more dangerous thanks to the Spectre moniker. The exception here is Dave Bautista’s Hinx; a physically imposing mountain of a man that is easily the best right-hand man of any of Craig era villain and who makes for some downright brutal hand-to-hand fight scenes.
Theme: Writing’s on the Wall – The sweeping orchestral hook in Sam Smith’s Bond contribution is incredible, rightly forming a major backbone of the rest of the film’s score. The rest of the song is an appropriately smokey, hazy trip through elements of Bond’s character that hint at the spectre (see what I did there?) of death looming large in the form of Blofeld.
3. No Time to Die (2021)
Craig’s final outing as Bond might not send him out on as high a note as he deserves but it is nonetheless a thrilling, emotionally compelling ending to James’ story. After a failed attempt on his life leaves James questioning the loyalty of lover Madeleine Swann (Léa Seydoux), he retreats from the world for 5 years, only reentering for a chance at eradicate Spectre once and for all. The pivot from Spectre – the be all and end all of Bond foes and throughout Spectre very much built up as the end of the road – to an underwhelming new villain, Rami Malek’s Safin, doesn’t exactly feel organic, but given the (at one time) finality of Spectre, you can’t give director Cary Joji Fukunaga too much trouble for the attempt.
Other than that and a few hiccups in the humour department, everything else about the film is peak Bond. Chunky, hard-hitting fist fights bring the action back to the intimate level of Casino Royale and the relationship between Swann and Bond gives the film an unexpectedly emotional core; one that allows Fukunaga to reflect on the character of Bond and just how much he has changed from machismo cliché to a flawed, fully formed person craving an exit from his life of loneliness under Craig’s guidance.
Theme: No Time to Die – Like Adele before her, Billie Eilish’s skyrocketing career perfectly intersected with Bond, and her talents are put to good use here with an ominous, sombre piece that feels appropriate to wind down Craig’s tenure as 007. Like the film, it isn’t the best song to come out of Craig’s run but it is a solid addition to the playlist nevertheless.
2. Skyfall (2012)
Skyfall is neck and neck for the number one spot here, a beautifully shot deconstruction of the character of Bond and the loyalty he holds for his country and M (Judi Dench). After a mission goes awry and Bond is presumed dead, MI6 is thrust into chaos when the identities of all undercover agents are threatened to be leaked by Silva (Javier Bardem), a former agent himself with close ties to M. Forced to reenter the fray, Bond more than meets his match in Silva – a spy of the same vintage from a different time – forcing him to confront his own demons in order to come out on top.
Sam Mendes brings such a rollicking pace to proceedings – beginning with a white-knuckle chase that moves from foot to motorcycle to train – and doesn’t stop until the credits roll; always beautifully shot (the Shanghai fight) and laser focused on Bond in a way that Spectre isn’t, favouring spectacle over how the action affects the character. And that character is a far cry from his youthful, energetic debut. This is a beaten down, ageing Bond that struggles to get back into the swing of things. The charming taste for vodka martini’s has turned into an almost crippling alcohol addiction and the swagger and bravado has turned to world-weariness. This is where Skyfall truly earns its place; in going beyond those surface level Bond tropes and looking at the man beneath, what is important to him and why he does what he does. The result is a touching, breakneck rollercoaster only narrowly beaten out by…
Theme: Skyfall – The undisputed best theme of Craig’s Bond filmography, Skyfall is a throwback to classic Bond songs; a grand, foreboding opus that slowly builds to a catchy, instantly recognisable hook that has yet to be passed since. It says a lot that the song also ranks among Adele’s best, a superstar performer who has an extensive body of fantastic work behind her.
1. Casino Royale (2006)
It’s hard to imagine a time when Daniel Craig wasn’t universally praised as 007, but back in 2006 he was anything but the favourite choice to take on the role. That might be that little extra push that nudges Casino Royale past Skyfall into the number one position: how massively it overcomes the hurdle of audience expectations. Within minutes you’re sucked into this grounded, post-Bourne retelling of Bond’s rise to 00 status. Gone are the shiny trinkets and cheesy ice cap melting plots of Pierce Brosnan’s heyday, replaced with brutal bare-knuckle brawls and a not confident, but cocky Bond, eager to prove himself and earn respect. It’s a refreshing lens through which to view a cinematic hero as storied as Bond, especially the fresh take on his romantic relationship with Vesper Lynd (Eva Green), the result of which inches him that little bit further towards becoming the James Bond we know.
Chronicling his first mission with the infamous licence to kill, freshly instated 007 finds himself hot on the trail of Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen) – a financier for terrorist cells around the world – leading him to a high-stakes poker game in Montenegro, where Bond must keep his wits sharp if he is to survive the game and its deadly outcome. Mikkelsen’s Le Chiffre is the series’ best villain, a conniving, unscrupulous weasel of a man who plays the part of arch-villain well, but is really on the hook to those more frightening men financing his lifestyle. A Bond villain doesn’t get more menacing than a man who cries blood, yet Le Chiffre isn’t defined by this scary idiosyncrasy; a snivelling, scared man who has bitten off more than he can chew but must act the part if he hopes to survive his predicament.
The action similarly feels layered, only there where it furthers the story of Bond. Luckily for audiences, Bond is a particularly violent man and that means the action flows steadily throughout; a flurry of close-quarters encounters that Bond scrapes through by the skin of his teeth more often than not. That inexperience creates for some fascinating interactions between Bond and series staples like M (Judi Dench); unusually terse and tense scoldings that perfectly stage the adoptive mother-son relationship so brilliantly built upon in Skyfall. The poker scenes drip with tension; full of long, drawn out shots that have the audience looking for tells in the same way as Bond, before director Martin Campbell whips us away to a brutal staircase fight-scene and back to the table; exhausted and overstimulated in the same way as Bond. This is all after Campbell and Craig had silenced the doubters with the most thrilling action sequence of all 25 films: a frantic scramble through construction yards and up cranes that firmly established Daniel Craig as a new kind of Bond. James Bond.
Theme: You Know My Name – What better way to signal a shift in direction for the franchise than with the deafening guitar riffs from Soundgarden and Audioslave frontman Chris Cornell. The veteran rocker goes all out, with a soaring orchestral support backing up an already exhilarating hook. The perfect introduction musically to a totally different kind of Bond.