My Top 10 Favorite Spy Films of All-Time Part 2

        The spy film genre, which is mainly the subgenre of thriller and action, deals with the subject of fictional espionage, either in a realistic way or as a basis for fantasy. So with that being said I'm going to bring you my top 10 favorite spy films of all-time. You can check out my other list here. These movies are ranked 11-20 so when you see number 5 it is actually number 15. So without further ado...





10. (20) Kingsman: The Secret Service


          This may be a more recent film, but it is still a great spy film. Kingsman: The Secret Service tells the story of a super-secret spy organization that recruits an unrefined but promising street kid into the agency's ultra-competitive training program just as a global threat emerges from a twisted tech genius. Kingsman: The Secret Service has a rating of 74% on rottentomatoes.com.

9. (19) Moonraker

        This is such a campy and fun Bond film.   James Bond (played by Roger Moore) investigates the mid-air theft of a space shuttle and discovers a plot to commit global genocide from the sinister Hugo Drax (played by Micheal Lonsdale). Moonraker has a rating of 62% on rottentomatoes.com.

8. (18) Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery

        This is the film that started one of the best trilogies of all-time. Austin Powers (played by Mike Meyrs), by day a hipster fashion photographer in mid-'60s swingin' London and by night a crime-fighting secret agent. Austin's wardrobe is pure Carnaby Street at its most outrageous, his vocabulary is crowded by the cool lingo of the day, and he's irresistible to women, despite the fact that he can be charitably described as "stocky" and has teeth that strike fear into any practicing dentist. When his nemesis, the arch-enemy Dr. Evil (played by Mike Myers), has himself cryogenically frozen and sent into space, Powers also has himself put on ice so he can be thawed out when Dr. Evil returns. Come 1997, Dr. Evil returns to Earth and is back to his old tricks, so Austin is thawed out and returned to active service -- though he soon discovers his style doesn't play so well 30 years on. Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery has a rating of 70% on rottentomatoes.com.

7. (17) The World is Not Enough

        This isn't the best Bond film by a longshot, but it is still a great and fun film. In the 19th Bond adventure, 007 (played by Pierce Brosnan) must resolve a potentially deadly power struggle between two unstable nations, with control of the world's oil supply as the ultimate prize. Bond is assigned as bodyguard to Elektra King (played by Sophie Marceau), the daughter of a petroleum magnate who was brutally murdered, and is trying to foil the fiendish plot of Renard (played by Robert Carlyle), a villain who was shot in the head with an unusual result: he cannot feel physical pain, an apparent failing that proves to be a considerable asset. The World is Not Enough has a rating of 51% on rottentomatoes.com.

6. (16) GoldenEye

        This is such a fun film and it was a really different take on the James Bond franchise. As the story begins, Agent 007 James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan) and his partner, Agent 006 (played by Sean Bean), pull a daring raid on a chemical weapons plant in the Soviet Union; however, they are captured by Russian troops, and while Bond is able to escape, 006 is not so lucky. Several years later, the Soviet Union and the Cold War are a thing of the past, but Bond is still at work ferreting out evildoers everywhere. Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen), a beautiful but vicious villain working with the Russian Mafia, spearheads the theft of the controls to GoldenEye, a high-tech satellite weapons system, and with her gunmen, she kills most of the soldiers and guards at a top-secret military facility in the process. Bond joins forces with Natalya Simonova (played by Izabella Scorupco), one of the base's few survivors, to help track down Onatopp's minions and the controls to GoldenEye, which can destroy all electronic circuits in a given area in a matter of seconds; however, in time, Bond discovers the true identity of the criminal mastermind who is behind this bid for unholy power and world domination -- none other than Alec Trevelyan, the man Bond once knew as 006. GoldenEye has a rating of 82% on rottentomatoes.com.

5. (15)  Austin Powers in Goldmember

        IMHO this is the best Austin Powers film in the franchise. Austin Powers in Goldmember continues the exploits of the swinging-'60s leftover Austin Powers (played by Mike Meyers), who, as the film opens, is busy critiquing a big-budget Hollywood production of his life story, replete with a 20-million-dollar star in the lead role and a slew of John Woo-style action scenes. But not far from the soundstage lurks arch nemesis Dr. Evil (played by Mike Myers), who has opened up a talent agency representing some of the industry's biggest stars -- all the while channeling their profits into a diabolical world-destruction plan with the unfortunate code name Preparation H. Dr. Evil presents a distraction to Austin by kidnapping his similarly swingin' father, Nigel Powers, and transporting him back in time to 1975. Travelling there to save his father -- and in turn win back his dad's sometimes-errant affection -- Austin comes across the alluring superspy Foxxy Cleopatra (played by Beyonce Knowles). The three of them travel back to the present day, where they join forces to battle Dr. Evil and his posse of nefarious evil-doers, including the trusty clone Mini-Me (played by Verne Troyer); his snotty son, Scott (played by Seth Green); the inimitable Fat Bastard (played by Mike Myers); and the eponymous new addition to the fold: the epidermis-obsessed, precious-metal-fortified Dutchman called Goldmember (played by Mike Myers). Austin Powers in Goldmember has a rating of 54% on rottentomatoes.com. Austin Powers in Goldmember has a rating of 54% on rottentomatoes.com.

4. (14) Dr. No

        This is the film that started one of the greatest franchises of all-time and had this film failed then we wouldn't have James Bond today. James Bond (played by Sean Connery)'s investigation of a missing colleague in Jamaica leads him to the island of the mysterious Dr. No (played by Joseph Wiseman) and a scheme to end the US space program. Dr. No has a rating of 98% on rottentomatoes.com.

3. (13) Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me

        This is by far the best Austin Powers film and it is very memorable for introducing one of the best characters in the franchise. Austin Powers -- fashion photographer, denizen of Swingin' London, international espionage agent, and bane of dental hygienists everywhere -- returns in his second screen adventure. Powers (played by Mike Myers), a 1960s superspy stranded in the 1990s, discovers that his nemesis, criminal genius Dr. Evil (played by Mike Myers), has somehow stolen his "mojo" (the secret to his otherwise inexplicable sex appeal) and traveled back in time to the 1960s as part of his latest fiendish scheme. Powers must also travel back in time to retrieve it, but if Austin doesn't quite fit into 1998, he's been there just long enough not to fit in in 1968 anymore, either. Powers also discovers that Dr. Evil has new allies this time: Mini-Me (played by Verne Troyer), a clone of Dr. Evil one-eighth his size but just as nasty; Fat Bastard (played by Myers), whose name describes him just fine; and vixenish assassin Robin Swallows (played by Gia Carides). Powers' lack of mojo also proves troublesome when he's paired with his new partner, saucy CIA operative Felicity Shagwell (played by Heather Graham). Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me has a rating of 51% on rottentomatoes.com. 

2. (12) Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol

 

         This is a spectacular and an amazing spy film This is not just another mission. The IMF is shut down when it's implicated in a global terrorist bombing plot. Ghost Protocol is initiated and Ethan Hunt (played by Tom Cruise) and his rogue new team must go undercover to clear their organization's name. No help, no contact, off the grid. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol has a rating of 93% on rottentomatoes.com.

1. (11) True Lies

        This is a fun and amazing film that I can enjoy over and over every time I watch it. By day Harry Tasker (played by Arnold Schwarzenegger) is a mild-mannered computer salesman with a wife and teenage daughter. But at other times, he is a high-ranking spy living on the edge. His wife hasn't a clue that he and his partner Gib (played by Tom Arnold) are constantly in danger. After Tasker begins to suspect her of infidelity, he uses every trick in the book to verify his suspicions. Everything blows apart when Helen (played by Jamie Lee Curtis), his wife finally learns the truth about her heretofore dull husband. True Lies has a rating of 72% on rottentomatoes.com.

        So ladies and gentlemen what are some of your favorite spy films and what do you think of my list? Let me know in the comments section below and let your voice be heard.

                                                                                                                           Jonah Sparks