Good summary. Pierce Brosnan’s time as Bond was marred by terrible story lines, and he is somewhere between Moore and the rest of the pack.
Moore always played Bond the same way he play Simon Templar in “The Saint.”
Best bond movie Casino Royale
Best soundtrack OHMSS
Best Villain ...Auric Goldfinger
Best Bong Girl.Ursula Andress
Best Theme Tune ....You Only Live Twice
Best Bond car...Aston Martin DB5
If I recall, Moore spent some time as a stunt man and did some of his own stunts in Live and Let Die, the boat chase in Cypress Gardens in particular. I dont know now, maybe I am wrong. But his action scenes seemed good. It was when the scripts got campy and he tried to be too humorous than he failed as a Bond.
Bad scripts and trying to be too witty is a problem for many of the Bonds. Connery and Craig avoided that. Craig really stuck with the Flemming book character and hardly ever displays wit, more like cutting sarcasm. It fits the role better. Connery was good but not as dark as Flemming envisioned Bond. Craig is the cold/dark Bond.
All the Bonds besides Craig relied on too many gadgets. Bringing Q back to Earth in the Craig movies has been refreshing. I think the most gadget’y thing in the original books was the attache case used in From Russia with Love (hidden knife and gold coins).
Best scripts (JMHO) - Goldfinger, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Diamonds are Forever, Live and Let Die, Casino Royale, and Spectre. I can barely remember the ones with Brosnan and Dalton, they were that bad.
On reading your post, I was shocked to realize I’d forgotten about Brosnan. Guess that says enough. Like you said, somewhere in between.