Film

Diamonds Are Forever

Sean Connery's final official Bond film is a glittering, slightly camp romp through Las Vegas and the diamond trade. It's the moment the series pivots toward spectacle and self-aware fun, with Connery—visibly enjoying himself—presiding over a movie that knows exactly how silly it is. For Bond fans and anyone who loves seventies excess.

TMDb rating3.2

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Live and Let Die1973

Roger Moore's debut as Bond brings charm and humor to the formula. The voodoo mysticism and New Orleans atmosphere feel fresh, and the opening theme is iconic. It's the tonal bridge between Connery and what Bond becomes.

But Moore's lightness can feel evasive if you prefer Connery's weight. The film occasionally tips into territory that hasn't aged well.

Live and Let Die poster

Goldfinger1964

The quintessential Connery Bond: witty, dangerous, perfectly calibrated between thrills and humor. The plot is ingenious, the villainy grand, and Sean has never been more magnetic. This is what the template looks like when it's flawless.

But It's the obvious choice, which can feel like homework. If you want to be surprised, start elsewhere.

Goldfinger poster

The Spy Who Loved Me1977

Peak Moore-era glamour with an enormous, preposterous plot involving a mad submarine commander. It leans fully into the visual spectacle and one-liners that Diamonds Are Forever pioneered. Jaws is an unforgettable henchman.

But The plot is silly even by Bond standards. The emotional stakes are gossamer-thin.

The Spy Who Loved Me poster

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Modesty Blaise1966

Both films abandon spy-story realism for playful fantasy worlds where the look and tone matter more than sense. Modesty Blaise is the avant-garde experiment Diamonds Are Forever secretly admires.

Joseph Losey's psychedelic spy caper predates the camp Bond pivot by years. It's a kaleidoscopic, deliberately artificial world where the rules don't matter and style is everything. Monica Vitti is magnetic, the color palette is intoxicating, and it's genuinely weird in a way nothing else is.

But It's aesthetically jarring—deliberately so. The plot dissolves into surrealism. If you want narrative clarity, this will frustrate you.

Modesty Blaise poster
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Casino Royale2006

Daniel Craig reinvents Bond as a blunt instrument—lethal, damaged, sexual in a way that feels dangerous rather than flirtatious. The parkour sequence is brilliant, the poker game is tense, and Craig's exhaustion is the point. Modern Bond actually works.

But It discards the playfulness entirely. If you love Bond partly for the jokes and gadgets, this is a gut-punch rejection of that.

Casino Royale poster

From Russia with Love1963

Connery's second outing is leaner and grittier than Goldfinger—more thriller than fantasy. The chess match with SMERSH feels genuinely dangerous, and the famous train fight still thrills. This is Bond as spy, not superhero.

But It moves slowly by modern standards. The villains lack the showmanship of what came after.

From Russia with Love poster

The Man with the Golden Gun1974

Moore faces an assassin with a pointless superpower and a third nipple. It's bonkers in the best way: Thai locations, a duel on a floating island, and a car that flies. Unambitious but deeply, weirdly fun.

But The plot is tissue-thin and occasionally incoherent. It knows this and doesn't care.

The Man with the Golden Gun poster

On Her Majesty's Secret Service1969

George Lazenby, in his sole Bond outing, is underrated—earnest and genuinely vulnerable. The film takes itself seriously in a way the others don't, and it's the only Bond that ends with real emotional consequence. Gorgeous Swiss locations.

But Lazenby lacks Connery's charisma and confidence. The film's seriousness can feel out of step with the series' usual tone.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service poster

Skyfall2012

Craig's third film is shot like a Kurosawa picture—all shadow and color and architectural beauty. It's a meditation on aging, loyalty, and what Bond even means anymore. The villain is motivated by genuine grievance, not just megalomania.

But It's slower and more introspective than a Bond film 'should' be. Some find the pace contemplative; others find it sluggish.

Skyfall poster

Octopussy1983

Moore in his element: a circus, a nuclear bomb, a woman who runs an all-female army. It's ridiculous and energetic and knows what it is. Better than its reputation because it commits fully to the absurdity.

But The title and some plot points land awkwardly. The logic is Swiss cheese.

Octopussy poster

Barbarella1968

Both are films from the late sixties/early seventies that treat their genres as excuses for visual excess and humor rather than constraints. They're in love with their own silliness.

A film that shares Diamonds' conviction that a spy/sci-fi story can be gorgeous, campy, and completely unserious without apologizing. Jane Fonda in space, costume design that's pure art, and a movie that winks at you the entire time. It's joyful.

But The sex-positive seventies aesthetic will seem quaint or uncomfortable depending on your sensibility. The narrative is almost nonexistent.

Barbarella poster

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Both films are about moral debts paid in exotic settings. Where Diamonds Are Forever is a glittering heist, Sacred Deer is a cold reckoning—same architecture of consequence, opposite temperature. They're the same story told in opposite registers.

Yorgos Lanthimos's nightmare about a man whose family is slowly destroyed as punishment for a past sin. It's methodical, ritualistic, and hypnotic—every scene is shaped like a mathematical proof. Utterly committed to its own logic, however grotesque.

But It's glacial and deeply uncomfortable. There is no catharsis, no good option, and no mercy. The violence is clinical. This is the opposite of escapism.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer poster

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