Independence

Overall, David Arnold’s score for Casino Royale is absolutely fantastic, even if it isn’t quite on the same over-the-top action wavelength as some of his previous compositional entries in the franchise. Indeed, you’d think the very sporadic use of the iconic Bond theme would make for quite a dull score, but Chris Cornell’s You Know My Name steps into those rather large thematic shoes almost effortlessly, and that combined with Vesper’s motif, some excellent orchestration and several mind-blowingly crafted and enjoyably lengthy action cues makes the score overall (at least in my opinion) one of the best James Bond scores around. That's why the best Bond movie has to be one that is abstracted from the series' heyday and all its attendant cultural gravy; one that was required to succeed not just as a great Bond film, but as a great film in its own right. One that many might argue was rather better for eschewing many of the tropes that people connect with the series, and one that on a critical level revived a franchise that most reviewers regarded as long past its sell-by date.