How will SPECTRE compare to the legacy of the Bond franchise?

SPECTRE–the 24th film in the James Bond franchise–opens in theaters today. The trailers are promising and there seems to be anticipation among Bond fans that this will be an epic movie. Only time will tell, though, if SPECTRE is another Goldfinger, or another A View To a Kill.

The charts below summarize how the different Bond movies compare and how critics rank the various actors who have portrayed James Bond–Agent 007. The data is curated by prettyfamous.com and sourced from Gracenote.

I definitely agree that Goldfinger belongs on top. After that, though, my list might look very different. I grew up on Roger Moore as James Bond–and used to have debates with my best friend’s mother about why I liked Roger Moore more than Sean Connery. I have since refined my opinion of Agent 007 and gained an appreciation for Connery, but I still favor movies like For Your Eyes Only–the first Bond movie I ever saw–and Octopussy.

It turns out, though, that there may be a reason that my list differs from the critics. The critics have ranked Roger Moore as the worst of the James Bond actors. Roger Moore also made more James Bond movies than any other actor so far, though, so his rank may be affected simply by having more movies to weigh for or against him.

I’m planning to go see SPECTRE with my brother this afternoon. I don’t expect it to surpass Goldfinger, but I hope it at least ranks up at the top of the list for the James Bond franchise.