Mad Max (1979-2015) Series Retrospective

So as I’ve made it clear quite a few times already in the past year, I wasn’t really a ‘big’ fan of Mad Max: Fury Road when I first saw it in theaters. As I’ve also stated numerous times before, that doesn’t mean that I ‘hated’ the film. I just felt that the internet had severely overhyped the film for me prior to its release; that can happen sometimes and it’s also happened to me for films like Edge of Tomorrow and Deadpool. Obviously, though, not being a ‘huge’ fan of the film basically meant that I was in the minority as the internet went nuts over this film… though maybe a bit too much. You see, the internet has become much more critical in recent years towards film over certain practices like heavy CGI use and a deluge of sequels, reboots, and remakes. So whenever it comes across a film that a lot of film fans really, really love, it’s endorsed like it’s the only film worth watching that year. That’s exactly what happened when the new Mad Max was released and that actually kind of pissed me off because as soon as Fury Road came out, all I heard for weeks were people saying that it was the best film of the summer and that nothing else compared to it. And to put all of this into perspective, this was in May; the summer season had barely started and yet already a lot of people were acting like it was already done just because of one single film. As a result, I started to get rather mad (pun not intended) at the film for stealing the thunder of some of the other great summer films of 2015, including my favorite from not only that stretch but the whole year in general, Tomorrowland, which was released a week later and yet was completely overshadowed by the Mad Max hype train. Really the only advantage that Tomorrowland had over it was the fact that it did beat Mad Max at the box office that weekend… and then proceeded to gross more than $100 million less worldwide. How ironic that a film that promoted a more optimistic outlook on the future and challenged the craze of the post-apocalyptic genre got overrun by a film from the exact same genre it was addressing.

Well anyway, it’s been more than a year since the release of Fury Road and I’ll admit that I’ve calmed down in regards to me being angry at it for overshadowing its competition. While I may not have been a big fan of it like the rest of the internet, I did acknowledge some of its biggest strengths that made up for the issues that I had with the film, for the most part. But ultimately I vowed that I would give the film a second chance to see if I would warm up to it after a second viewing. This time, however, I decided to approach this situation differently compared to when I first watched it. When I first saw it, I hadn’t seen any of the previous Mad Max films beforehand. And while some did claim that watching the previous films first wasn’t necessary in order to enjoy Fury Road, I do feel that not doing so put me at a disadvantage going in because at that time I had never seen any of them and was generally unfamiliar with the franchise. So this time around, I’m doing this in a much more proper manner and watching all three of the original Mad Max films, starring Mel Gibson in the title role that was later taken on by Tom Hardy in Fury Road, before I do my second run-through of the newest film. So with that said, grab your flame-throwing guitars, your silver spray paint that makes you all shiny and chrome, and proclaim “Oh what a day! What a Lovely Day!” and join me as I look back upon the Mad Max film franchise, from the original 1979 classic that started it all to its even more beloved sequel to its not as beloved sequel and finally culminating with Fury Road.

MAD MAX (1979)

We begin in 1979 with the original film that started it all, Mad Max. It was the feature film debut of director George Miller, who prior to working on this film was a medical doctor in Sydney. This experience in the hospital would actually play a major part in the development of Mad Max as the injuries sustained by characters in the film were directly influenced by what Miller witnessed while on the job. As for the film itself, it’s a highly engrossing tale of revenge in which police officer Max Rockatansky (Mel Gibson) goes up against a vicious biker gang when they threaten both him and his friends and family. For a film that was shot on a low budget of under half a million dollars (and for the record, this is in terms of 1970’s Australian currency), it is very well-shot as it is full of great action sequences and also boasts an excellent production design based around its dystopian setting, something which of course would become a staple for the franchise. The landscapes of Australia also help serve as a perfect backdrop for all of this film’s chaotic action. Mel Gibson, in what was easily his break-out role, shines in the role of Max while Hugh Keays-Byrne, who of course would return to the franchise years later in another famous villain role, gives the film an excellent main villain in the form of the biker gang’s leader Toecutter. All in all, even though this film would eventually become fairly overshadowed in terms of scale by its follow-ups, it’s still an excellently directed, well-acted, and well-shot action thriller that fully immerses you into this world of madness.

Rating: 4.5/5

MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR (1981)

Although the original Mad Max proved to be a worldwide critical/commercial success, it actually wasn’t that big of a hit here in the U.S., at least from a commercial standpoint, due to its distributor, American International Pictures, going through ownership changes at the time. It may have also had something to do with a disastrous ‘American dub’ that was instigated because the distributor supposedly feared that audiences wouldn’t understand the cast’s Australian accents. So as a result, when the sequel was released two years later, it was renamed to The Road Warrior and its connections to the previous film were underplayed in the marketing. Regardless, the film did perform much better domestically this time around, which is deservedly so because like its predecessor it is another excellent post-apocalyptic action flick. In a way, this is the same great visceral and sharply constructed storytelling of the original but now with the added benefit of a larger budget. Like before, the action is terrific, especially the big chase at the end. I can definitely see how much of an influence this had on Fury Road, not just through the similarities of their ‘chases’ but also because the film relies a lot more on visual storytelling than dialogue. Mel Gibson is once again excellent as Max and the film has its fair share of memorable side characters, from Max’s ally the Gyro Captain (Bruce Spence) to the imposing gang leader Lord Humungus (Kjell Nilsson) to Humungus’ highly intimidating and vicious lieutenant Wez (Vernon Wells). It could be said that The Road Warrior was the film that really catapulted the Mad Max franchise into its prime spot in pop culture history and I can definitely see why. This is one of those rare sequels that is not only as good as its predecessor but may arguably be better.

Rating: 4.5/5

MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME (1985)

To put it bluntly, Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome is generally considered to be the weakest installment of the franchise. Part of it may have something to do with the fact that this wasn’t fully directed by George Miller, who instead shared co-directing duties with George Ogilvie, who had starred in the 1983 miniseries The Dismisssal that he produced, following the death of Miller’s producing partner Byron Kennedy in a plane crash in 1983. Miller ultimately ended up only directing the film’s action sequences. But the major reason why this film is generally not as well-received as the previous two films (as well as its subsequent sequel) is due to its second half. For the record, the film starts out pretty much exactly like what you would expect from a Mad Max film with its excellent production design and visceral proceedings, as Max finds himself in the sordid community of Bartertown. But then things change when Max ends up getting exiled from the town by its ruler, Aunty Entity (Tina Turner). He ends up coming across a group of children who believe that he was their ‘flight captain’ who was meant to take them to ‘civilization’. As many have pointed out, these kids are sort of like the ‘Lost Boys’ from Peter Pan and as a result of this, the film ends up taking on a much more kid-friendly tone. Now I’m not saying that I ‘hated’ this part of the film but the shift from the franchise’s traditional hardcore action to a more light-hearted and goofier adventure is still rather jarring. I should probably also mention that this is the only entry in the series to be rated PG-13.

But that doesn’t mean that there aren’t any ‘good things’ in this film. Gibson is of course excellent once again as Max and Tina Turner is actually pretty darn good in the ‘main villain’ role of Aunty Entity, even though the character is absent for a good chunk of the second half due to the change in plot. Of course there’s also a few noteworthy side characters as well, most notably the duo that is ‘Master Blaster’. Heck, even the kids do a pretty fine job acting-wise. The action is still pretty darn good as is the production design, with this film in particular having some pretty nice cinematography. As Doug Walker (AKA the ‘Nostalgia Critic’) pointed out in his review of Fury Road, this film may arguably even be the most quotable of the entire series, from Aunty Entity repeatedly calling Max a ‘raggedy man’ to the iconic ‘Two Men Enter, One Man Leaves’ rule of Bartertown’s Thunderdome arena. However, at the end of the day I do have to agree with the general consensus in that this is definitely the ‘weakest’ installment of the series. Don’t get me wrong I still think it’s a pretty darn good film on its own merits but as a Mad Max film it’s a bit underwhelming as a result of its jarring shift halfway through that introduces a plotline that doesn’t really mix with the whole storyline of Bartertown. Ultimately Beyond Thunderdome would end up being the final Mad Max film to feature Mel Gibson and it would be quite a while, three decades to be precise, before the series finally made its return to the big screen.

Rating: 3.5/5

And on that note, here’s the big one…

MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015) - SECOND OPINION

And finally here we are at the latest installment of the Mad Max series, Fury Road. This was the first time that I had watched it since seeing it in theaters last May. And of course, as I’ve already mentioned, the first time I saw the film… I wasn’t ‘too big’ on it. I did like it and gave it a 4/5 rating in my original review but in some ways I felt that the internet had severely overhyped it. So for months I was left wondering why this film was being treated like it was the second coming of Christ. It got to the point where I admittedly was this close to using that scary word that I hate to use… ‘overrated’. But after waiting until last year’s awards circuit was over, I finally made sure to give it another chance. And fear not, internet folk… I warmed up to it the second time around. Granted, I still have some issues with it but I cannot deny the great things about this film. The action, predominantly done with practical effects in the modern age of CGI, is incredible and the production design is just as great as you would expect from a Mad Max film. This film also sports one hell of an amazing color palette as everything is bright and vibrant, very much different compared to most films in the post-apocalyptic genre. Charlize Theron is ‘Sigourney Weaver in Aliens’ level fantastic in the role of Furiosa, the ‘true’ main character of the film. But actually my favorite character in the film ended up being Nux, played by Nicholas Hoult. I thought Nux had the most interesting arc of them all; at first he’s a loyal War Boy of the Immortan who aspires to die historically on the Fury Road knowing that he’ll be ‘awaited in Valhalla’. But by the end, he ends up helping Max, Furiosa, and the Wives escape from Immortan Joe and I won’t lie… his death at the end of the film is a pretty damn emotional one.

But like I said, there are still a few minor issues that I have with the film and, like I said in my previous reviews of the film, they mainly stem from the writing. Now let me be clear, I’m not saying that this film needed a very complex plot. Not every film needs that and this film more than works without it because that’s obviously not the main intent of the film; instead it’s a visceral and kinetic action extravaganza and it very much succeeds in that regard. However, at the end of the day, this really is just ‘get from Point A to Point B… and then back to Point A again’ and Furiosa and Nux are the only major characters in the film that get any sort of major character development. While it’s really cool that Miller doesn’t make the Wives characters ‘damsels in distress’, to the point where even Splendid (Rosie Huntington-Whiteley), the pregnant Wife, gets in on the action and is even killed off halfway through (got to give the filmmakers credit for having the guts to pull off a ballsy move like that), only a few of them get much to work with, namely Splendid and Capable (Riley Keough), the latter of whom ends up having a sweet little ‘romance’ with Nux. And as for Immortan Joe, while he may be quite the badass-looking villain, I wouldn’t really say that he’s a badass ‘villain’. Sure he’s got a great intimidation factor, primarily emphasized by both his menacing look and his ability to lead his army of devoted War Boys, but at the end of the day he really doesn’t do much in the film other than drive around, make some speeches, and have what is admittedly a pretty awesome and gnarly death scene. As far as the villains that Hugh Keays-Byrne has played in the Mad Max series are concerned, I think the better of the two is still Toecutter from the original Mad Max.

And then there’s Tom Hardy as Max and… I still think he’s quite underused in this. Now like The Road Warrior, Max is more of an ‘outsider’ in the plot. Furiosa really is the main character of the film and that’s a great thing. While there have unfortunately been some fanboys who have been rather critical of this, the film deserves a whole lot of kudos for its strong feminist themes. However, the film really should’ve just been called Furiosa: Fury Road because Max really doesn’t factor at all into much of this. And while I am a fan of Tom Hardy and I do think that he does a good job with what he had to work with, ultimately I prefer Mel Gibson’s Max as I feel that there was more to his version of the character, particularly in the first film. Hardy’s Max is more of a blank, and arguably even a bit emotionless, slate. But despite the issues that I just laid out, I’ll fully admit it… I did warm up to Mad Max: Fury Road upon re-watch. It really is one of those films that gets better with repeat viewings. George Miller was in his late 60’s when he made this; one of the most insanely awesome action films of all-time. That’s amazing. And even though I do have some minor issues with the writing, this film truly delivers when it comes to the action and production design. Simply put, it is a finely-tuned and gorgeous looking action thrill ride.

Rating: …Yeah, I’ll bump my original rating up to a 4.5/5

So to finish this post, here are my rankings of the four films.

4. MAD MAX: BEYOND THUNDERDOME

3. MAD MAX 2: THE ROAD WARRIOR

2. MAD MAX: FURY ROAD

1. MAD MAX

Be sure to sound off in the comments below with your own rankings of this iconic post-apocalyptic action franchise.

BOND MONTH: Top 10 Favorite Bond Theme Songs

(Disclaimer: The majority of this post was written before the release of the main theme song for ‘Spectre’, ‘Writing’s on the Wall’, performed by Sam Smith. To keep things fair, and to enforce the main ground-rule that I set of not having anything related to the newest Bond film included in these Bond Month posts, this new song will not be featured anywhere in this forthcoming Top 10. But before I get on with the main list, here’s a quick little sum-up on my thoughts towards the new Bond theme. Ultimately it seems that, contrary to popular opinion, I really like this song. While I’ll admit that I’m not completely onboard with Smith’s falsetto vocals, the song does still have that classic Bond aura, with a romanticized feel that mirrors that of classic Bond songs like ‘For Your Eyes Only’ and ‘The World is Not Enough’. Do I like this better than, say, ‘Skyfall’? No not really but it certainly isn’t as bad as some people on the internet are putting it out to be. Ultimately I will say this; kudos to you Sam Smith for doing a solid job with this new song and I am very much looking forward to see it paired with Daniel Kleinman’s sure-to-be-amazing opening titles for ‘Spectre’. Now on to the main event…)

Aside from the Bond girls, the villains, their henchmen, and of course Bond himself, one of the most important parts of any James Bond film, well to be specific almost every Bond film since ‘Goldfinger’, is the main title song that plays over the opening credits. And for the most part, a lot of the main title songs for the Bond films have been really, really good as they do a great job in enveloping you in the world of 007 with their grandiose compositions that can either be slow and idyllic or fast and bombastic. Yeah there have been a few stinkers over the years but I do think that the good has outweighed the bad so far. So today, as part of Rhode Island Movie Corner’s second annual Bond Month, I will be listing my Top 10 personal favorite Bond title songs of all-time. For the record, that only accounts for the songs that were performed by artists and not the themes that were solely instrumental scores. So as a result, that means that you won’t be seeing ‘Dr. No’, ‘From Russia with Love’, and ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’ on this list. Though I do want to note that I absolutely love the music for all three of those title sequences. Of course ‘Dr. No’ debuted the iconic Bond theme by Monty Norman (which, let’s be honest, would’ve been Number 1 on this list) but then there’s also ‘James Bond is Back’ in ‘From Russia With Love’ as well as John Barry’s excellent main motif for ‘On Her Majesty’s Secret Service’, which was even featured in the most recent trailer for ‘Spectre’. But first, before we get to the Top 10 best, here are my Top 5 ‘least favorite’ Bond title songs… I say least favorite because I don’t really ‘hate’ any of these songs but still these are my picks for the weakest Bond themes.

5. TOMORROW NEVER DIES- SHERYL CROW

Now my main issue with ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ isn’t really with the song itself. I like the melody and music for the song and I do feel that it definitely sounds like a Bond theme in that regard. My main issue with it is actually in regards to who they chose to perform the song, Sheryl Crow. Quite simply I think that she was the wrong choice to be the main artist for the song. This song features quite a few high notes, primarily during the main chorus, and whenever Crow does those notes, I feel that she comes off a bit too whiny. Then there’s also the fact that this wasn’t even originally the main theme for the film. At first, it was going to be the song ‘Surrender’ (previously named ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’), written by composer David Arnold and performed by k.d. lang, that would open the film. Heck, it was even implemented into Arnold's score. But apparently the studio wanted a more ‘popular’ artist to perform the song and so ‘Surrender’, which to be perfectly frank is a much better song, was relegated to the end credits. But like I said earlier, I’m fine with the song for the most part. Ultimately it’s just due to the choice of singer that prevents me from listing this as one of my favorite Bond themes.

4. MOONRAKER- SHIRLEY BASSEY

As much as I hate to do it, unfortunately I have to list a Bond theme song from the legendary Shirley Bassey amongst the worst in the series and it’s no surprise then that it comes from one of the least popular entries in the series, ‘Moonraker’. Though I will admit that upon re-watch, I’m actually a lot more positive towards the film compared to the first time I watch it. Hell, I think it’s a little underrated. But I’m getting off track here… as for the title song, Bassey unfortunately can’t save this from being the weakest of the three title songs that she performed for the Bond franchise, the other two being ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Diamonds Are Forever’. I do like that the song has a nice calm and soothing feel to it, which is a nice contrast to some of the bolder Bond themes, and Bassey of course is great as always performance wise. But this song’s biggest issue comes with its lyrics, which has to implement the term ‘Moonraker’ into the song. Seriously, what is a ‘Moonraker’? Now for the record, Bond theme songs have never really been known for having ‘great’ lyrics anyway but this is one of the rare cases where it’s really noticeable. Shirley Bassey may have performed some of the most iconic themes in Bond history but unfortunately she had to close out her tenure with the franchise (at the moment) on a very weak note.

3. THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN- LULU

This seems to be one of the more polarizing Bond themes as I’ve heard quite a few people say that they either love it or hate it. For those who do like it, I’ve heard them say that they’ll even go as far and say that it’s one of the only good parts of the ‘The Man with the Golden Gun’ aside from Christopher Lee as Scaramanga. As for me, though, this one just isn’t a Bond song that I’m particularly a big fan of. Heck, even John Barry didn’t like it. He even went as far as to say that it was the ‘weakest’ of all of his compositions. To be honest, there’s not much else I can say about this song. I do kind of like the rock-style beat of the song, and it’s rather interesting to note that is considered to be one of the more ‘risqué’ Bond songs in terms of its lyrics, but it just didn’t stand out to me that much compared to other theme songs from the series.

2. ANOTHER WAY TO DIE (QUANTUM OF SOLACE) - JACK WHITE/ALICIA KEYS

While this will always have a place in franchise history, being the first major Bond theme song to be performed as a duet, it’s also one of the weakest of the series. The main reason is quite simple; when you listen to it, it doesn’t really feel like a ‘Bond theme’. It feels like a song that’s more suitable for a different action film. I mean sure, in a way it does kind of reflect the edgier style of Craig’s Bond but it still doesn’t really have that grandiose feel to it like many other Bond themes do. And just like ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, this song was selected at the expense of better songs. But unlike that film, these particular songs didn’t get the honor of at least being put in the end credits. There was the song ‘Forever, I Am All Yours’ by Eva Almer, which even featured the quote from ‘Casino Royale’ in which Bond tells Vesper that ‘he had no armor left’, which would have been a great way to connect to the main plots of Craig’s first two Bond themes. And then, for the second time in franchise history, there was also a song written by David Arnold (following the aforementioned ‘Surrender’) that got ignored that was actually performed by none other than Shirley Bassey. Seriously, wouldn’t it have been cool to see Bassey come back for one last Bond theme song, especially if it meant that her career with the franchise could’ve concluded on a better note than ‘Moonraker’? But ultimately that was not the case and we got stuck with a rather mediocre Bond theme for a very lackluster Bond film… hmm in that case it’s kind of a perfect fit, actually. But ultimately the ‘worst’ Bond theme comes from, fittingly enough, one of the series’ weakest installments…

1. DIE ANOTHER DAY- MADONNA

Well this one is a rather obvious pick, isn’t it? Usually it’s either this or ‘Another Way to Die’ that dominates the conversation when it comes to people listing their picks for the ‘worst’ Bond theme of all-time though usually this gets brought up more. While I’ll admit that I don’t ‘hate’ this song as much as a lot of people do, to the point where I’ll embarrassingly admit that I have it on my IPod (don’t ask…), at the same time it is by no means a ‘Bond theme’. That’s ultimately the major issue with it in my opinion. It doesn’t really have the right feel to it that would make it a proper Bond theme. It sounds too much like a pop song, which is fitting in the sense that it’s done by ‘the Queen of Pop’ but not fitting for a James Bond film. Where’s the grandeur and class? Instead, all we get is a techno beat that, like ‘Another Way to Die’, seems better suited for a non-Bond action film. With no disrespect towards Madonna, it’s clear that she wasn’t the best choice to be the artist for a Bond theme. It was because of this song, and partially ‘Another Way to Die’ as well, that almost made me fearful that ‘Skyfall’ was going to turn out the same way… thankfully that wouldn’t be the case.

And now… onto the Top 10…

10. FOR YOUR EYES ONLY- SHEENA EASTON

There are three types of Bond Themes; fast and upbeat, grand and majestic, and slow and romantic. ‘For Your Eyes Only’ by Sheena Easton is perhaps my favorite case of the ‘slow and romantic’ style of Bond themes. The film ‘For Your Eyes Only’ did sort of have a rather romanticized feel to it so the song does fit pretty nicely with it. If you recall last week, I listed this film’s title sequence as one of the weakest in series history. Sure it did have the distinction of actually featuring Easton within the sequence but ultimately I feel that it came off a bit awkward in terms of its overall execution. But as for the song itself, it’s great. Easton is solid in her performance and, as a result, her song is easily one of the best parts, hell maybe even the absolute best part, of Roger Moore’s 5^th James Bond film.

9. GOLDENEYE- TINA TURNER

A lot of times, Bond composers like John Barry and David Arnold have been able to implement the main title song into their scores. But in the case of ‘GoldenEye’, composer Eric Serra was unable to use the film’s title song in the score because the producers didn’t collaborate with the songwriters, Bono and the Edge. Though ultimately I think it really would’ve helped the score out if it was able to utilize the title song because unfortunately Serra’s score is one of the weakest in the franchise; it’s probably the only gripe that I have with the film as a whole. This is mostly due to the fact that there are quite a few instances where it goes a bit too melancholy, feeling rather unfitting for a Bond score. But as for the title song, ‘GoldenEye’ is definitely a classic Bond theme. It’s very much reminiscent of ‘Goldfinger’ and Tina Turner definitely has that Shirley Bassey vibe in her performance of the song. Pair this with a classic opening titles sequence and you have one hell of an opening for one of Bond’s best adventures.

8. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS- A-HA

Now it’s time to delve into some of the more upbeat Bond themes and starting things off at #8 is A-ha’s ‘The Living Daylights’. To be honest, there’s not actually that much that I can say about this song other than that I just like the melody, the beat and its energy. ‘The Living Daylights’ in general did have a pretty nice soundtrack to it, which included this and the song ‘Where Has Everybody Gone?’ by the Pretenders, which the character Necros constantly listens to on his Walkman. And as I noted a few weeks ago, the latter song was even implemented into John Barry’s score, resulting in probably one of his most energetic scores of the franchise. I do like that when Bond composers implement a Bond film’s title song into the score itself.

7. A VIEW TO A KILL- DURAN DURAN

So basically the origin of this song was a result of Duran Duran’s bassist John Taylor, who for the record is a major Bond fan, approaching series producer Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli at a party and asking him, while fairly drunk, ‘when was he going to get someone decent to do one of his theme songs’. And ultimately that led to Duran Duran collaborating with John Barry, resulting in one hell of a Bond theme and another one of the great energetic themes of the franchise. Obviously I’ve made it clear already that I really don’t like ‘A View to A Kill’. But to its credit, it does at least benefit from not only a pair of memorable villains, but one of the series’ best themes paired with an equally memorable title sequence.

6. LIVE AND LET DIE- PAUL MCCARTNEY AND WINGS

This was arguably the first Bond theme that I ever heard and that’s because it might just be the most popular theme in the entire franchise. For the record, this is if we’re solely talking about how many times you’re likely going to hear it on the radio compared to most of the other Bond themes. After all, this was performed by one of the Beatles. This is easily the most iconic ‘upbeat’ theme of the series. It starts off slow and then immediately launches into its speedy and bombastic refrain. Like many other Bond themes, I also liked that it was implemented into the film’s score, done here by ‘fifth Beatle’ George Martin instead of John Barry, though part of me also feels that perhaps the decision to primarily utilize the bombastic refrain wasn’t such a ‘good’ idea. Still you really can’t go wrong with this classic part of the Bond franchise’s musical history. Speaking of iconic themes…

5. GOLDFINGER- SHIRLEY BASSEY

Really, what more can be said about this song that hasn’t been said before? ‘Goldfinger’ is musical royalty as far Bond themes are concerned. It was, after all, the very first Bond theme that was sung by a musician after both ‘Dr. No’ and ‘From Russia with Love’ only featured instrumental themes. So it’s no surprise then that it’s featured on this list. It did a phenomenal job of evoking the grandeur of the franchise with its orchestrated background score and of course Bassey’s amazing performance of the song. It seems to me that when it comes to Bassey’s first two Bond themes, fans of the franchise either prefer this or ‘Diamonds Are Forever’. For the record, I do like ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ but ultimately when it comes to the one that I think of more when it comes to definitive Bond themes, the honor always goes to ‘Goldfinger’.

4. NOBODY DOES IT BETTER- CARLY SIMON

Speaking of iconic franchise tunes, ‘Nobody Does it Better’ is another Bond theme song that definitely stands as one of the most iconic themes in the entire franchise. After all, it was the second Bond theme (after ‘Live and Let Die’) to be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song. It may not have won (that honor would end up going to the next film on this list) but it’s still a classic song that pretty much sums up the character of James Bond in a nutshell. And as noted last week, it led to one of the most perfect combinations of themes and title sequences ever.

3. SKYFALL- ADELE

Like I said earlier, I’ll admit that I was initially a little hesitant about this theme song because I thought that it would be like ‘Die Another Day’ or ‘Another Way to Die’ and come off a bit too much like a pop song and not like a real James Bond theme. Though with that said, I have liked most of Adele’s music and I guess you could say that you wouldn’t really classify her primarily as a ‘pop’ artist. But then when it was released, I was glad to see that my fears were laid to rest because holy crap this song is amazing. ‘Skyfall’ is what ‘Die Another Day’ should have been like. A soulful tune that also perfectly captures the grandeur of the franchise and one that more than deserved all of the praise that it got upon release, including an Oscar for Best Song, a Golden Globe for Best Song, and a Grammy award for ‘Best Song Written for Visual Media’.

2. THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH- GARBAGE

Basically ‘The World is Not Enough’ was ‘Skyfall’ 13 years before ‘Skyfall’ was ever conceived. Similar to both ‘Skyfall’ and another Brosnan-era Bond film theme, ‘GoldenEye’, this perfectly captured the spirit of the Bond franchise with its sweeping instrumentals and Garbage lead singer Shirley Manson’s crooning vocals. And would you believe that, unlike with ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, this was a case in which the theme written by David Arnold was actually used as the film’s title theme. It seems like Arnold’s contributions as the series’ main composer from ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ to ‘Quantum of Solace’ have been rather polarizing amongst Bond fans but if you ask me, Arnold has contributed some of the best music of the modern Bond era that I would argue stands toe to toe with some of the series’ more classic melodies. And as this title song proves, he can create one hell of a Bond theme. So it’s very much fitting that for my #1 favorite Bond theme of all-time, I’ll be going with another Bond theme that he helped create.

1. YOU KNOW MY NAME- CHRIS CORNELL

I have to admit that it was hard to pick what my favorite Bond theme of all-time was. At first I thought that it would ‘Skyfall’ but ultimately I decided to go with the first Bond theme of the Daniel Craig era; ‘You Know My Name’, performed by Soundgarden lead singer Chris Cornell, from ‘Casino Royale’. My personal favorite of the ‘fast and upbeat’ Bond themes, I particularly loved how David Arnold implemented ‘You Know My Name’ into the score of ‘Casino Royale’. It wasn’t until the end of the film when we finally heard the classic Monty Norman Bond theme so until then, Arnold utilized the song into ten tracks of the film’s score basically as a replacement theme and it works perfectly, especially in the track ‘Aston Montenegro’. It’s sort of like with Michael Giacchino’s amazing motif for the J.J. Abrams directed ‘Star Trek’ films. It may not be like anything we’ve seen from the franchise but it just works so well that we can ignore that. There’s sort of a swagger to the theme, which does fit rather well with the edgier Bond that Daniel Craig portrayed. And that is why ‘You Know My Name’ is, to date, my favorite Bond theme.

NEXT WEEK: I list my Top 10 personal Best and Worst Moments in Franchise History