Craig and Connery are BOTH The Best Bond, According to Rotten Tomatoes

No Time To Die marks Daniel Craig’s fifth and final outing as James Bond, and while his 007 movies have better average reviews than Sean Connery, the original Bond actor’s Rotten Tomatoes score is still the best in the franchise. The discussion over which Bond is best is one of the hottest topics of conversation when it comes to the 007 movies, so it’s only fitting that an actual analytical look at their respective reviews would also offer a split judgment when it comes to ranking the best Bond actors.

James Bond is one of the biggest characters in film, largely because of the talented group of actors who have portrayed 007 at some point in their career. The movies in the Bond franchise cover a wide spectrum of quality and critical reception, but each era, and actor, has their own unique take on the character, meaning the ranking of which Bond actor is best is ultimately a subjective opinion, but even when we look to Rotten Tomatoes for some more definitive data, there’s no clean answer, with the ultimate result still depending on each individual viewer’s preferences and priorities (although Craig and Connery stand head-and-shoulders above the competition when ranking according to Rotten Tomatoes data)

The big problem is Rotten Tomatoes offers a variety of data, and it doesn’t all point to the same actor. If we rank strictly by average Tomatometer, Sean Connery has the highest average score, thanks to some of the franchise’s top scores, like Goldfinger, coming in at 99%. Overall, Connery averages 83% compared to Craig’s 79%; however, the Tomatometer is simply based on binary thumbs up or thumbs down percentage. When the actual review scores are evaluated, Craig comes out on top with a 7.2 out of 10 average compared to Connery’s 7.0 out of 10 average. After that, Timothy Dalton has a 76% average Tomatometer score and 6.4 out of 10, Pierce Brosnan is at 61% and 6.2 out of 10, and Roger Moore is 57% and 5.7 out of 10. George Lazenby is a bit of an anomaly at 81% and 6.9 out of 10, but with his short tenure, he’s not typically a hot contender for #1 Bond.

While Rotten Tomatoes gives a somewhat objective way to rank the actors, it is important to note a few issues with the metric. First, as we see here, the Tomatometer doesn’t necessarily match actual average reviews. Second, just because a movie is rated higher doesn’t mean it’s specifically because of the Bond actor. For example, many people love Pierce Brosnan as Bond, but aren’t as big of a fan of the actual movies he’s in. Third, while Rotten Tomatoes gives a solid metric to compare across all Bond movie installments, Rotten Tomatoes, or internet review aggregators in general, weren’t around when the older movies were released, so the scores on some Bond movies are retrospective and may not properly represent the sentiment on their initial release like the Daniel Craig Bond movies do.

Inconsistencies aside, Sean Connery is both the first Bond and the biggest star to have played the character, while Daniel Craig also benefits from being the only Bond actor to have a continuous arc dedicated to his character, giving him a proper beginning, middle, and end. As such, both of them are going to have a natural leg up on the competition, but their reviews being so much better than the movies from other Bond actors is also notable. Regardless, No Time To Die solidifies Daniel Craig’s status among Bond actors and raises the bar for Bond movie expectations, so the next Bond actor should have an uphill battle joining the ranks of 007 actors.

About The Author

Stephen M. Colbert
(628 Articles Published)

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Stephen has been writing for the site since 2016 and enjoys all manner of movies and TV, especially when it gives reason to obsess over minor irrelevant continuity minutiae.

Stephen has been infatuated with movie magic on screen and off since wearing out his VHS copy of The Making of Star Wars when he was 7. This passion continues in his work as a film journalist, whether it’s hunting down breadcrumbs about the Snyder Cut, breaking down box office trends, or obsessing over Rotten Tomatoes data, Stephen lives in the minutiae, as listeners of his podcast, Batman v Superman: By the Minute (with fellow-Screen Rant editor Andrew Dyce) know all too well.

When he’s not writing on the site, Stephen can be found obsessing over vintage camera lenses, chasing his tiny children around, or getting himself into trouble on Twitter @smcolbert.

Yes, that’s his real name.

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