We’re celebrating the upcoming release of Spectre, the 24th official James Bond movie, with a 007-themed bracket game! We’ve paired up sixteen of the best Bond has to offer and letting you sort out the winners from the losers. It’s Connery vs. Craig, Dalton Vs. Lazenby and Moore Vs. Brosnan in a battle of the Bonds!
Yesterday’s match was our final Roger Moore face-off of the first round.
Today we’re skipping ahead a little to the Brosnan era. We’ll double back and fill in the Timothy Dalton-sized blank soon. Originally, Brosnan was supposed to assume the role of James Bond once it was vacated by Moore. But since he couldn’t get out of his commitment to the TV show, Remington Steele, Brosnan wasn’t available until the 90’s.
Following the disappointing box office of Licence to kill, the 007 franchise went into limbo for a while. This had more to do with untangling the legal rights than concerns about the viability of James Bond. But that was a factor too. People wondered if the Cold War hero was still relevant. That attitude is reflected in Judi Dench’s criticism of Bond in GoldenEye.
After a six year absence from the big screen, James Bond returned in GoldenEye. There was a new star in the tux. After waiting roughly a decade for his turn, Brosnan finally got to claim to be “Bond, James Bond”. As Bond debuts go, GoldenEye was up there. You had Sean Bean playing Bond’s former partner and Famke Jensen as a Bond bad girl who squeezes men to death between her legs.
Izabella Scorupco is an under-rated Bond good girl and the supporting cast includes Joe Don Baker, Robbie Coltrane, Alan Cumming and Dench as the new M. Minnie Driver even shows up as a nightclub singer.
Tomorrow Never Dies was Brosnan’s follow-up to GoldenEye. I don’t expect many people to argue with me when I say it’s not as good. Generally speaking, each of the Brosnan Bonds got a little bigger, louder and dumber than the one before it. If I had stuck to the top Rotten Tomato scores as a criteria for out game, GoldenEye would be the only Brosnan bond in the top 16. But I couldn’t let Dalton have twice as much representation as the former Remington Steele. So I let TMD sneak in.
While not a great movie, I think TMD is somewhat underrated. Jonathan Pryce plays a villain who is essentially Rupert Murdoch smooshed together with Ted Turner. His plan isn’t to take over the world so much as it is by getting rich by starting a war and then covering it on his news outlets. This just may be the most plausible Bond villain scheme of all times – which admittedly isn’t saying much.
Terri Hatcher, at the peak of her Lois and Clark fame, was touted as the movie’s main Bond girl. But she actually has relatively little screen time. Instead, Bond partners up with a fellow spy played by Michelle Yeoh. While the chemistry between Brosnan and Yeoh is lacking, it’s fun to see Yeoh get a chance to kick a little ass. TND may not be among the best Bonds, but it’s got more going for it than I think it gets credit for.
If nothing else, it looks like Goldfinger compared to Die Another Day.
Not like we don’t know how this one is going to play out, but go ahead and vote for your favorite Brosnan Bond anyway.
It’s not just that Pierce Brosnan had big shoes to fill going into Goldeneye. Sean Connery will always be THE quintessential James Bond, and any actor who ever says they like a martini shaken, not stirred on screen will be compared to him, and typically lose. That is something that Lazenby, Moore and Dalton had to deal with, to varying degrees of success. That alone would intimidate most actors even thinking of signing on. Second, even though Roger Moore found success with Bond, the last couple mid-80’s Moore films were kind of duds. And the Dalton films of the late… Read more »
I think you laid out the stakes rather well. I remember reading an article in Entertainment Weekly before Brosnan was cast where they asked Hollywood types whether or not they should even attempt to continue with the series. There was a pretty evenly divided field of reactions. I remember one guy suggesting casting Sharon Stone as a gender swapped 007. Pre GoldenEye, the future of Bond was very uncertain.
THE BROSNAN AGE: GOLDENEYE
http://haphazardstuff.com/TheBrosnanAgeGoldenEye.html
Retrospective / Review – Goldeneye (1995)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tadWhRoifK8
(Podcast Special) Goldeneye Commentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAgxAn58iAA
The CineFiles – The James Bond 007 Films (1995-2006)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rhHxoAZKWE
I think you’re right about Tomorrow Never Dies. First of all, Johnathan Pryce is just wonderful as the main villain. He’s a terrific character actor and he just chews up the scenery. I just love when he states of next morning’s expected news, “The Empire WILL Strike Back.” I first took notice of Pryce in 1992’s Glengarry Glen Ross, and if you ever want to get a sense of Pryce’s range as an actor, just watch these two films. Or just watch Glengarry Glen Ross as it’s a truly great film. But I digress. Tomorrow Never Dies doesn’t come close… Read more »
The Hatcher character is problematic and I think the reason why explains some of what happened with TND. When Hatcher was cast, she was the main Bond girl. Or at least her part was much bigger. Somewhere along the lines, it got pared down to an extended cameo. TND clearly got hacked up at some point. But what remains are some pretty spectacular action set pieces even if the movie doesn’t hang together as well as you would like.
8 Worst Bond Girls Of All Time: http://whatculture.com/film/8-worst-bond-girls-of-all-time.php/2 Paris Carver (Teri Hatcher) – Tomorrow Never Dies Small world dept: Monica Belluci, who plays Lucia Sciarra in Spectre, auditioned for this role back in 1997 and was turned down in favor of Teri Hatcher, who was then coming off Lois & Clark: The New Adventures Of Superman. Given how history played out, the producers must’ve regretted their choice. At the time of the film’s release, there were rumors that Hatcher’s screen time was reduced after negative feedback from test audiences, which if it isn’t true, should be. Paris Carver exists only… Read more »
Teri Hatcher’s character was in effect, the lead Bond Girl in an previous, unseen Pierce Brosnan era Bond adventure (presumably in-between “GoldenEye” and “TND”). I’ve heard rumors that Hatcher and Brosnan didn’t get along when making “Tomorrow Never Dies”. There have been rumors forever regarding Hatcher’s alleged difficulty to work with. Also, Hatcher was pregnant around the time of shooting, so from my understanding, they had to shoot a lot of her stuff in a hurry before she started to “show”.
http://www.sitcomsonline.com/boards/showthread.php?t=328239
THE BROSNAN AGE: TOMORROW NEVER DIES
http://haphazardstuff.com/TomorrowNeverDies.html
(Podcast Special) Tomorrow Never Dies Commentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOJwFz2vSUY
Pros and Cons: Tomorrow Never Dies
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/45328/pros-and-cons-tomorrow-never-dies/
This is the first vote in this game I have to think about just a little. Tomorrow Never Dies is an action fan’s dream. It’s fast-paced, with the shortest running time of any Bond film since You Only Live Twice. The action sequences, from the pre-credits “White Knight” set piece to the final battle on the stealth ship, are all first-rate, with David Arnold’s score providing terrific accompaniment. And of course there’s Michelle Yeoh–it looks as though the filmmakers figured out that the way to introduce a “female counterpart to Bond” character and have her be credible was to cast… Read more »
I’m glad to see a little appreciation for TND. I have seen more than one Worst-to-First type ranking which named it the worst film in the series. I don’t think that is anywhere near true. There are some terrific action scenes in TND. Yeoh is a different kind of Bond girl in that she is somewhat Bond’s equal. I just wish that Yeoh and Brosnan either had better chemistry or she hadn’t been forced to fall for him in the Bond girl tradition. But at the end of the day, it doesn’t measure up to Brosnan’s first and best outing.
Wow–people who rate TND the worst Bond film of all? Worse than Diamonds are Forever or Man With the Golden Gun? Maybe they live on a planet where half of the Bond films were never made or something.
And yes, the hint of romantic relationship between Yeoh and Brosnan in the film definitely comes across as arbitrary; it would have been more convincing had they kept their relationship purely professional–friendship and respect between them, yes, but no romance.
I really liked seeing Michelle Yeoh in TMD because she is one of the only true female action stars to be in a Bond film. I’d probably rank it above a lot of the Bond films, however, in this case Goldeneye is definitely the better film so it gets my vote.
TND is better than at least 2 Bond movies; The World is Not Enough and Die Another Day.
I think Sean Bean is an underrated reason of why Goldeneye works so well, just to single out one reason of many. For all intents and purposes, Sean Bean’s 006 is the dark side version of James Bond. He’s also very quick with the witty quips and sly remarks, as capable and dangerous as Bond is. When Goldeneye begins, 006 and 007 almost seem like two peas in a pod. Some Bond films aren’t fully cooked because they fail to offer a worthy enemy, but Bean’s 006 is every last bit 007’s equal. And Bean’s 006 knows Bond all too… Read more »
The problem with Bean’s character and the reason I think he is so easily overlooked is that he is presumed dead for much of the movie’s runtime. But yeah, totally agree.
Agreed. Sean Bean sure does make the most of his limited screen time here. Just in general, he’s one of those character actors that whenever I see his name in a cast, I do take note.
I take note and prepare myself for his untimely death which should be coming in 3…2…1…
The real question is, who is better at dying on screen, Sean Bean or Gary Busey? They both have been killed in virtually everything they have worked on.
Having recently watched Silver Bullet for the Stephen King piece I was more than a bit surprised when Busey was still alive when the credits started.
Pros and Cons: Goldeneye
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/44922/pros-and-cons-goldeneye/
I like Pierce Brosnan, and as Bond, but I’ve only liked two of the Bond films that’s he’s in, and they’re right on this page here.
When he was Bond, I felt like he had potential to take the crown from Connery. He got off to such a great start. But when his reign was over, I had to reevaluate his tenure based on the fact that half of his movies are really bad and only one is great. But I do feel TND is solid and underrated.
I vote for Sean Bean over Gary Busey, since I feel Bean has played more rugged and intimidating characters who really need to be eliminated since they are so destructive. I was glad to see Busey’s Joshua (excuse me, Mr. Joshua) character get his just desserts in “Lethal Weapon” though. It’s just that most of the time Busey makes me chuckle with his general goofiness, while Bean is stone cold serious on a regular basis.
Somehow, every time Bean dies, I’m surprised. I’m usually waiting for Busey to get himself killed.
A fact I find interesting: Tomorrow Never Dies was released in America on the same day as Titanic, Dec. 19, 1997.
I actually like all 4 of Brosnan’s outings. Yes, they got more and more ridiculous as they went along, but so what? Remember DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, LIVE AND LET DIE, MOONRAKER, etc.? So he drove an invisible car once. Big deal. All of his movies were entertaining, and each one became the highest-grossing Bond movie (unadjusted gross) once their theatrical runs were over. So, apparently, people really liked them. Incidentally, each Craig movie has built upon the previous film’s gross as well. 007 movies are about being entertained. I think Brosnan gets a bad rap.
You just named three of my least favorite Bond movies (DAF, LALD and MR). So yes, I lump TWINE and DAD in with them. 😉 I don’t mind some absurdity in my Bond. It’s a fantasy, for sure. But there’s a limit. The invisible car plus the atrocious CGI surfing scene are really hard to overcome for DAD. The Bond films were built on a tradition of stunt work. Not this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w6FV8P7HXg Never that. That has no business in a Bond movie. I’ll take the damn slide whistle over that. Not to mention the bad guy who goes from Asian… Read more »
I didn’t say they were perfect. The CGI surfing scene in DAD was atrocious. The invisible car was ridiculous, but overall I just thought it was a fun piece of junk. Unfortunately, the picture you posted isn’t showing. I’m not sure what it is.
It was a clip of the surfing scene. Thanks for letting me know I posted it wrong. It has been fixed.
I don’t hate DAD. Even the worst Bond film is still watchable if you’re a fan. But DAD is among the worst the series has to offer.
“Die Another Day” in a sense feels like a crass, bloated self-parody or smug, cynical self-congratulation w/o the charm or sense of class of the earlier, also decidedly campy ones from Roger Moore.
http://haphazardstuff.com/DieAnotherDay.html
Pros and Cons: Die Another Day
http://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/45226/pros-and-cons-die-another-day/
That was the Bond equivalent to the “Nuking the Fridge” scene from “Indiana Jones 4” or the “Bat-Credit Card” scene from “Batman & Robin”.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HavaLKpYivs
I don’t know, for myself, my father was a a HUGE Bond fan (between Frank Sinatra and Bond, that was his bag; when you install a front machine gun button in your vehicle, you have to be a devotee), and he seemed to check out after the first Daniel Craig film (liked it, but quit after that). Anyway, I guess I have an emotional attachment to the Bond character in a way. Like with my father in general situations, we agreed & disagreed on what we liked and what we didn’t (I liked Timothy Dalton more than he did, but… Read more »
I got into Bond through my dad too. He grew up on Goldfinger and Thunderball. To him, Thunderball was the pinnacle. After that, he lost interest. I don’t think he’s ever watched any Bond other than Connery. But I remember watching the Connery Bonds with him on TV which was a very rare thing when I was a kid.
Yeah, my father was more 100% Sean Connery; It seemed like the Roger Moore films were too cheeky for him, and he thought Timothy Dalton was too serious (what I liked about him, he didn’t). I can respect sticking with the original though!