No Time To Die might have been delayed by a full year due to COVID-19, but it’s now only a few short months away from release. However, for fans looking for some classy spy movies to fill that James Bond shaped void, there’s still a ton of films to watch leading up to the movie’s release.
Whether it’s a sci-fi parody of the classic character, other similarly action-packed franchises to binge, or recent underrated spy movies that were shamefully overlooked, these are some of the best spy movies to get audiences excited for more Bond.
Mission: Impossible - Fallout (2018)
The Mission: Impossible series and James Bond series are slowly starting to become indistinguishable, as both franchises are seemingly trying to outdo each other on not only the stunt work, but also the cinematography and the globetrotting expectations of the movies. Mission: Impossible - Fallout features the biggest stunts, the most panoramic vistas, and the most over the top action sequences, and it’s one of the best action movies of the decade.
Kingsman: The Secret Service (2014)
Though the series may be in dire straights after a massively disappointing sequel, Kingsman: The Secret Service is an incredible spy movie that plays on the tropes of the genre that both parodies the movies and pays homage to them. The movie owes a lot of its creativity and ingenuity to the Bond series, but given the more serious take on Bond with the recent movies, being more fun than 007 is one of the reasons Kingsman set a high bar.
Spectre (2015)
Spectre might not be a perfect Bond movie, and many don’t think it’s even a good Bond movie, as its pacing is all over the place and it features arguably one of the worst villains in the series.
However, the movie still has plenty of classic Bond moments, including one of the greatest opening scenes of any movie in the series, as Bond makes his way through a Day of the Dead festival. And being the last movie to be released, it’s worth catching up before the release of No Time To Die.
The Bourne Trilogy
The Bourne Identity is James Bond without the novelty. There’s no glossy environments, no womanizing, no gadgets, just a super-spy at the top of his game on some wild globe-trotting missions. For the fans who watch Bond for the espionage aspects of the series, the first three Bourne movies are as perfect as a movie trilogy as it gets, and though it’d look a lot different if the movie was remade today, it sees Matt Damon in one of his best roles.
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (2015)
The Man From U.N.C.L.E. is one of the most recent spy movies to be released, and though it initially garnered mixed reviews and didn’t perform as well as expected at the box office, it has since garnered the reputation for being one of the most underrated movies of the decade. It sees Armie Hammer and Cavill team up in a fun reboot of the 1960s TV show of the same name, and it is expectedly and brilliantly full of Guy Ritchie-isms.
Burn After Reading (2008)
Though it isn’t the most obvious spy movie and doesn’t feature the classic tropes of Bond, such as globetrotting, tuxedos, and overt coolness, Burn After Reading is still a spy movie at its core and features one of the greatest movie endings for a spy movie. Directed by the Coen Brothers, the narrative is unsurprisingly twisted as it follows Brad Pitt, who plays a gym trainer, and finds the memoirs of a retired CIA analyst.
Moonraker (1979)
Being that there are a lot of differences between the movie and the novel, Moonraker is the polar opposite of the Daniel Craig movies, as the movie is the peak of Bond’s on-screen goofiness, but it’s great to see the wild differences between the two.
As we’re in the midst of everything being grounded in reality and every gadget has to scientifically make sense, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see a Bond movie like this again.
Munich (2005)
Mission: Impossible isn’t the only spy movie that Tom Cruise stars in. Munich, one of the most overlooked Steven Spielberg movies as it is the worst-performing movie of his domestically, is based on the 1984 book Vengeance, in which dramatizes the Israeli government’s retaliation to the Munich massacre at the 1972 Summer Olympics. Regardless of how it performed financially, it was still nominated for five academy awards.
The Conversation (1974)
The Conversation is another movie that doesn’t show the world of spying through heart-shaped glasses like James Bond does. In fact, the movie is just the opposite, as it follows Henry Caul, an overweight surveillance specialist who is constantly paranoid due to the profession he works in. The movie is a warped and skewed look at one of his operations that goes terribly wrong, and it's one of the best movies of the 70s.
Austin Powers: Goldmember (2002)
With an array of amazing parody-type characters including Wayne Campbell, Mike Myers takes it a step further by casting himself in four different roles in Goldmember. Not only does the comedian play the international man of mystery, but he also plays Dr. Evil, Fat Bastard, and Goldmember himself, and they are all based on James Bond characters. Austin Powers: Goldmember is without a doubt the best James Bond parody there has ever been.