Brosnan Bond double bill.
GoldenEye. (12A) 1995. Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Brosnan, Sean Bean and Famke Janssen. 130 mins. /The World Is Not Enough. (12A) 1999. Directed by Michael Apted. Starring Brosnan, Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau and Denise Richards. 128 mins.
There has been some rather Stalinist re-writing of history with regards to Pierce Brosnan 's era as Bond. During his time as 007 he was regularly hailed as a great Bond with people even suggesting that he might be the best ever. His interpretation was an amalgam of all the best bits of the previous versions, with just enough of each to appeal to everyone. But ever since Daniel Craig came swanning into the role people have decided that, actually, they'd never really liked him and that he was a safe and bland Bond. But Brosnan WAS a Great Bond. After a six and half year gap he brought the films back and made them popular again and he did it with the lamest selection of Bond films any actor had to deal with.
Oh yes, Craig's is a bold and innovative incarnation of the role but he is greatly helped by having films of the quality of Casino Royale and Skyfall to do it in. (He didn't look so clever when he had to do it in a Question Of Sport.) Every Bond actor has at least one great Bond movie – even Lazenby. Brosnan must've been a great Bond because just look at what he had to work with.
That said GoldenEye is a passable entertainment. Typically of BrosBonds its starts well enough and kind of slips away in the second half but there are a couple of memorable sequences – the opening Dam bungee jump and the tank chase through St Petersburg. Mostly though its pleasures are those of a new broom wisely applied. The first post Cold War Bond was the cue for a total revamp. This is the first time that the real MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall were identified in the film, there is a new Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) and, above all, this is the film that introduces Judi Dench as M. She has the famous speech calling Bond a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur, which was effectively laying out the series' ongoing manifesto: that Bond is an anachronistic figure whose nostalgic associations we are too fond of to give up on. It was an astute move, and it gave the character an impetus to go for another two decades..
GoldenEye was followed by Tomorrow Never Dies, another film that has a good first hour and then tails off into nothing. By the time we came to the third film I remember hopes being really high that this would be the one where Brosnan's incarnation really took hold. It had a strong cast, it was his third film (which tradition dictates is the best) and the title was the Bond family motto as revealed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Instead The World Is Not Enough is the point when you gave up on Brosnan Bonds, and probably before you reach the opening credits. The boat chase down the Thames had been hyped as this big deal and boat chases are historically a thing Bonds do well (From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die.) Instead though we get this pedestrian pursuit down the Thames, both boats struggling through the choppy waters, towards the gimmicky plug for the Millennium Dome.
A major failings of Brosbond are their woeful selection of villains, played by British actors. Sean Bean, Jonathon Pryce and Toby Stephens all underwhelmed but nobody was quite as disappointing as Robert Carlyle. You expected the fury of Begbie from Trainspotting but instead got this puppy dog, meekly doing Marceau's bidding. Another aspect of Brosbonds was to have two main female characters, one of whom would have a good strong role – Janssen, Michelle Yeoh, Halle Berry and here Marceau - counterpointed by a weak, almost embarrassing role – Teri Hatcher, Rosamund Pike and most of all Denise Richards.
It does have one tremendous moment, but even that is a negative. Desmond Llewellyn bowing out as Q was always going be a poignant moment – that he was going to be replaced by John Cleese just made it more so. It is handled and performed perfectly and as he disappears into the floor it is genuinely moving. Genuinely touching moments are rare in Bond films – just two in twenty three films but, perhaps due to their scarcity, when they come they are quietly devastating.
GoldenEye. (12A) 1995. Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Brosnan, Sean Bean and Famke Janssen. 130 mins. /The World Is Not Enough. (12A) 1999. Directed by Michael Apted. Starring Brosnan, Robert Carlyle, Sophie Marceau and Denise Richards. 128 mins.
There has been some rather Stalinist re-writing of history with regards to Pierce Brosnan 's era as Bond. During his time as 007 he was regularly hailed as a great Bond with people even suggesting that he might be the best ever. His interpretation was an amalgam of all the best bits of the previous versions, with just enough of each to appeal to everyone. But ever since Daniel Craig came swanning into the role people have decided that, actually, they'd never really liked him and that he was a safe and bland Bond. But Brosnan WAS a Great Bond. After a six and half year gap he brought the films back and made them popular again and he did it with the lamest selection of Bond films any actor had to deal with.
Oh yes, Craig's is a bold and innovative incarnation of the role but he is greatly helped by having films of the quality of Casino Royale and Skyfall to do it in. (He didn't look so clever when he had to do it in a Question Of Sport.) Every Bond actor has at least one great Bond movie – even Lazenby. Brosnan must've been a great Bond because just look at what he had to work with.
That said GoldenEye is a passable entertainment. Typically of BrosBonds its starts well enough and kind of slips away in the second half but there are a couple of memorable sequences – the opening Dam bungee jump and the tank chase through St Petersburg. Mostly though its pleasures are those of a new broom wisely applied. The first post Cold War Bond was the cue for a total revamp. This is the first time that the real MI6 headquarters at Vauxhall were identified in the film, there is a new Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) and, above all, this is the film that introduces Judi Dench as M. She has the famous speech calling Bond a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur, which was effectively laying out the series' ongoing manifesto: that Bond is an anachronistic figure whose nostalgic associations we are too fond of to give up on. It was an astute move, and it gave the character an impetus to go for another two decades..
GoldenEye was followed by Tomorrow Never Dies, another film that has a good first hour and then tails off into nothing. By the time we came to the third film I remember hopes being really high that this would be the one where Brosnan's incarnation really took hold. It had a strong cast, it was his third film (which tradition dictates is the best) and the title was the Bond family motto as revealed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.
Instead The World Is Not Enough is the point when you gave up on Brosnan Bonds, and probably before you reach the opening credits. The boat chase down the Thames had been hyped as this big deal and boat chases are historically a thing Bonds do well (From Russia With Love, Live and Let Die.) Instead though we get this pedestrian pursuit down the Thames, both boats struggling through the choppy waters, towards the gimmicky plug for the Millennium Dome.
A major failings of Brosbond are their woeful selection of villains, played by British actors. Sean Bean, Jonathon Pryce and Toby Stephens all underwhelmed but nobody was quite as disappointing as Robert Carlyle. You expected the fury of Begbie from Trainspotting but instead got this puppy dog, meekly doing Marceau's bidding. Another aspect of Brosbonds was to have two main female characters, one of whom would have a good strong role – Janssen, Michelle Yeoh, Halle Berry and here Marceau - counterpointed by a weak, almost embarrassing role – Teri Hatcher, Rosamund Pike and most of all Denise Richards.
It does have one tremendous moment, but even that is a negative. Desmond Llewellyn bowing out as Q was always going be a poignant moment – that he was going to be replaced by John Cleese just made it more so. It is handled and performed perfectly and as he disappears into the floor it is genuinely moving. Genuinely touching moments are rare in Bond films – just two in twenty three films but, perhaps due to their scarcity, when they come they are quietly devastating.
