The Brosnan Era: A Nostalgia Tour?
Doctor Who
Posts: 62MI6 Agent
I have come to feel like the Brosnan Era, while on the surface updating Bond for the 1990s, is kind of akin to an older music artist changing his look for a new era and tour while playing all of his old favorites. Brosnan is too slick, too perfect, too bland as Bond - He's basically "The Ideal Bond"; the films have a very "by the numbers" sort of feel to them - like they're a compilation of Bond's greatest hits, or perhaps better put, like a compilation of what every Baby Boomer/Gen Xer expects Bond to be. The Brosnan era offers little new, it plays it rather safe all things considered. His films don't really offer anything truly memorable or truly apart from previous offerings. His films just feel like the best bits of Connery's, Moore's, and Dalton's cobbled together, with Brosnan having Lazenby's pretty boy face.
Perhaps I'm not articulating it the best I can, but does anyone agree with my overall sentiment?
Perhaps I'm not articulating it the best I can, but does anyone agree with my overall sentiment?
Comments
What we got since 2006 is definitely not up to the standards we had from 1962 to 2002.
Brosnan is the best of Connery, Dalton, Lazenby and Moore. But he has owned the role completely, from the get-go to his last scene in DAD. So he has brought something "new" to the franchise. He was the perfect Bond for the nineties and early 00s.
Craig just tries to evoke Connery on every corner and fails most of the times. I wish we would get someone like Brosnan again for the next era.
Many of my friends (late 20s) regard Brosnan's films as the best and largely don't care or are unaware of the Bonds that came before it. I believe that for a certain age group, Brosnan's film's themselves are rated highly because of their own nostalgia.
"Better make that two."
In addition we were treated to a new Brosnan film every two years just as Cubby had always promised, and each film was highly successful. A lot of the success was due, IMO to nostalgia as many of the audiences were still old enough to have seen Sean as well as Roger in the cinemas. I thought it was a great time in the series' history and I wish we could get that feeling again.
I'm not a Dalton fan really but isn't the characterization of his era as a "failed experiment" a bit of revisionism? While they weren't the insanely huge box office smashes that Connery's films were, they weren't flops at the box office either. I mean, the last film that did within the Top 10 in America was Octopussy, six years and two sequels before.
To me, there's a paint-by-numbers approach in Brosnan's films that might have worked with better actors and directors. The template is there. But as I've written before, Brosnan tried to imbue his Bond with too much baggage, even as he looks like a fashion model pretending to be Bond, and it didn't work as well as if he'd just been the lighter, Moore-like Bond he was born to play. The films could've been fun while capitalizing on his strengths. Instead, they're rather thin while at the same time not buoyed by particularly memorable performances. Tonally, with the exception of Tomorrow Never Dies, they feel off. That film, though, suffers from a weak villain.
Craig made the character interesting again. His physical presence and unpredictability -- especially in Casino Royale -- put the focus back on Bond, the character, rather than Bond, the stereotype. I've written a fair amount criticizing Brosnan and the era, but I actually was pulling for him as Bond. I was interested when he was announced in the 1980s to be taking over the role, especially after I'd said to my parents while watching Remington Steele that he should play Bond. But they goofed it up. If you want to see how he should have played Bond, watch The Thomas Crown Affair remake. Imagine that characterization with a little more humor.
Better worded than me, kudos.
I also agree 100% on Brosnan. He just seems to play Bond as you expect Bond to be. He comes off an empty vessel/avatar rather than a fleshed out character. There's no "Brosnan Bond", he's just playing "Bond" the archetype. All the right beats are hit, certaintly, but nothing stands out as him making the role his own. He comes off rather wooden, actually. Connery is catlike, a little, cold, calculated, persistent, and chafes at authority. He comes off much more fiery than any of his successors. Moore is aristocratic, campy, "wink and a nod" at the audience every step of the way, and underneath that campy, charming British exterior is pure sociopath who is actually really jaded underneath it all. Lazenby honestly feels like a younger Bond - a Bond less hardened by experience, charming, boyish, and inquisitive. He would've worked perfectly in a prequel as a younger version of Connery's character. Dalton is brooding, hates his job, but does it better than anyone else. Craig is basically Connery's version with more character development. Brosnan is just a blank slate.
I always found TND a bore, to be honest. I don't really like any of Brosnan's films. They all fall flat in some way. The third act of GE is a snooze, a let down from the promise of the first half, and the overall plot feels like a retread of YOLT or DAF (I mean, the villain's plot). TND has an interesting plot, but as you said, a boring villain and it doesn't really live up to the potential of the plot. TWINE always felt to me like a dark detective film with Bond and a stupid actress in it, very bland. DAD is basically the worst of Moore, with Brosnan still playing it as bland as can be.
Brosnan I feel should never have been chosen. He's like Harrison Ford. Every role I have seen Brosnan in he just feels like Pierce Brosnan playing so and so. He's more of a movie star than an actor.
My earlier comment about the "Dalton failed experiment" is probably unfair to just label on Dalton, and is actually the change beginning with FYEO until LTK. As you pointed out Dr Who the problem got worse through the 80s of the growing decline in the United States' box office rankings. This changed with Brosnan and all of his films were successful - GE/DAD in particular. I don't disagree that GE, TND and DAD have their problems, and I can understand why people don't like TWINE - but it's my favourite Bond - mostly because of Brosnan's excellent performance.
"Better make that two."
I couldn't disagree more. I didn't find Sophie Marceau stupid or the film bland; Brosnan is one of the best things about DAD (I grant that there are many faults, but he isn't one of them); and of course he should have been chosen.
If anything then the writers made the character into a drama soap opera style one which is not what I want as Bond.
For a new era I can only hope they'll go back to what worked so well from 1962 to 2002. Reliability was one, if not, the biggest asset of Bond to the fans. Now it's unreliability galore.
Brosnan has given us four highly entertaining action spy films. His performance is impeccable from start to finish and very even, especially compared to Craig who seems to play four different Bonds in four films. At least he got one proper Bond film now with SPECTRE. And CR for what it is, is a very good film, but Brosnan is already up there with Sir Rog in terms of classic Bond entertainment. Craig never will be. He'll always be the odd one, the experiment that failed overall. Not in terms of BO of course, but commercial success is not what counts in the end when one re-visits old films.
I've written for years that Goldeneye is overrated, with the production values of a made-for-cable movie. Tomorrow Never Dies steps it up a bit. There's a vibe that is more like a Bond film than any of Brosnan's others. It's a good looking movie -- cars, clothes, cinematography, and locations. The soundtrack is good. There are some inspired action sequences, like the parking lot bit. But like all of the Brosnan Bonds, the villain is weak and the climax seems pretty by the numbers. Each of his films brings up interesting ideas -- a renegade 00; a villain who can't feel pain -- and then does almost nothing with it. This would be like a Sherlock Holmes movie saying that Moriarty is the greatest criminal genius in England and then having Holmes do battle with his henchman conventionally throughout the film and reducing the climax to a boxing match.
Your characterization of Brosnan playing a Bond archetype speaks volumes to what's bothered me all the years by his portrayal. I just realized that what I've actually been asking for is for him to own the role in some personal way. The whole thing about him bringing smooth humor to the role would have done that. But by working against his strengths and trying to make Bond something else was just muddle and mostly unconvincing.
Personally, I've never felt that Craig was trying to be Connery ?:) His interpretation, IMHO, is very much his own.
"I am not an entrant in the Shakespeare Stakes." - Ian Fleming
"Screw 'em." - Daniel Craig, The Best James Bond EverTM
After Casino Royale, I'd agree the writing has not been remarkable. Quantum of Solace was a fragmented disappointment and Skyfall was just pretty stupid all around. I actually liked Spectre, more than most people. But I'd say that Craig's performances in each still outdid anything in the Brosnan era.
Pretty much this. I don't care much for Craig's films, but he, along with Connery and the others to varying degrees, are the only ones who are believable as killers. Brosnan has the debonair, classy playboy aspect of Bond down pat; That for me is why people so wanted him to play Bond. He's got the look. I'd argue he looks the most akin to what Fleming envisioned as Bond out of all the actors. But, he couldn't sell me as being a tough guy. His presence lacked any sort of menace to it.
Connery, and Craig, were/are tanks. I can easily buy either of them in a fight scene. Connery's facial expressions make real the coldness he exhibits when killing. Craig is basically Connery on steroids in that respect. Even Moore had the bulk, and the brutal coldness about him, to be believable as a coldhearted killer. I can buy Brosnan as a tortured private detective, or a tortured playboy. I can't buy him as an assassin. This is a problem Lazenby, I feel, also suffered from. Brosnan may be taller, but he's compact. He's not a brute. If Connery and Craig are Panzer Tanks, Brosnan is a Porsche.
To use a (perhaps bad) analogy, a good Bond actor needs to be equal parts Bruce Wayne and equal parts Batman. I can buy Brosnan as Bruce Wayne. I can't buy him as Batman.
Craig is physical. That's all. There he exceeds even Connery and Lazenby. But that's not enough. As said above Craig's facial expression and acting range is covered in five minutes of Connery in any of the first four films.
Brosnan was very believable as killer and being dangerous, also he had, if way too few, gritty fights. Just watch the lengthy battle with Alec on the satellite dish and tell me Brosnan is in any way less of a menace and able to kick ass than Craig.
Craig just looked better being exhausted, bloodied and running and sweating because he is that type. But again, that is not Bond, not for me. That's just any common action figure.
I may sound hard on Craig. I actually do like him as Bond, just not as much as the others. But when we do comparisons then I'm hard on Craig because he just lacks too much of what cinematic (and even literary) Bond must be.
It could have all been much better if they hadn't tried to make Craig into Connery2, it is too obvious in many instances and never works. Worst is Skyfall of course, the DB5 scenes are simply a parody and laughable.
At least they got the DB5 scene right in SPECTRE, as Lazenby copy Craig works much better.
I get though why Brosnan doesn't do it for some. With six actors there's something for everyone luckily, and some have a problem with one actor, that can be Dalton, Lazenby, Brosnan or Craig.
Never heard of it with Moore of Connery though. That as well says something about the quality of Sir Rog and Sean.
The Nostalgia Tour with Brosnan is much more fun and re-watchable than the one with Craig (in the future when it can be called nostalgia).
I wish Craig's four were anywhere as even and re-watchable as Brosnan's.
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the opening of Goldeneye literally jumps straight into it, with an aerial stunt even more preposterous than Moonraker, followed by the proper introduction to the new actor involving a Mediterranean casino and roadracing a sexy redhead around some switchbacks. We've seen both those scenes before, numerous times. Then it all gets a bit Thunderball.
The World is Not Enough is the only one of the four that does not repeat large elements of earlier films. I remember at the time not only being surprised by the plot twists, but being surprised that I was surprised by something in one of Brosnan's Bond films.
I think these films were the first ones made entirely by the Broccoli kids, without any of the old team (no Barry, no Adam, no Maibaum, none of the old directors). Wikipedia says Cubby was still alive for Goldeneye, anybody know how involved he was?
because what I see is: during the 80s, Cubby and his team were still interested in evolving the series, making it more realistic and a bit darker. Once his kids take over, they try very hard to remake the most popular of their dad's earlier films. Then a decade later they throw it all out and change course completely with Craig.
That said there are interesting plot ideas buried deeply beneath the finished product. ...World... may be the one where the interesting ideas actually made it through all the rewrites.
But think about the story of Paris Carver: M assigns the job to Bond because she knows he had a previous relationship with the villains wife. As soon as Bond re-enters her life Paris is doomed, whether she betrays her husband or not. The villain is cold and pragmatic and will kill his own wife just as a precaution, so Bond agreeing to take the mission dooms her from the start. Paris literally has no choice and knows what will happen to her as soon as she recognises Bond at the party. That's a very interesting story, on paper, very different than any of the sex-without-consequences from the classic films. Yet thanks to Hatchers acting, the rewrites, the direction, the editing, only the barest indication of that plot thread actually makes it to the screen. whoops, Bondgirl#1 is dead, now lets get on with the big BMW chase you really paid to see.
I think all four films had good, new ideas at the beginning and three of them lost track of anything original thanks to repeated committee rewrites, with the goal of making the finished product look more like popular expectations of a classic Bond film.
Because each has a different director, its hard to generalise, but I think Brosnan plays it a bit different in each film. In DAD he seems as if he is smugly strutting through the ritual set-pieces of a Bond formula. Like when he first spots Jinx, he already knows this is the part of the story where the lead Bond girl will appear.
But I don't think he generally plays it like Moore did. I actually think his take follows the darkening of the character Dalton brought. He smiles very little, he broods, he's embittered and argues with M several times, and we can see the tragic consequences of some of the choices he has to make and he's not 100% at peace with them.
Good ideas, poor execution.
That's the problem with the Brosnan-era.
Problem is, I don't have any problems with Eye or Tomorrow (except of course for the snooze-fest of a final act and Hatcher's acting).
The real trouble begins with TWINE. A film bursting with many original ideas that tragically seem...bland upon refection.
It has (almost) everything going for it, an interesting plot, a solid villain (or should I say villainess) but it is let down by the cast and direction. The re-writes must've also had a large play in it too, ones wife (can't exactly pinpoint whose) basically got the script and did some pretty major re-writes.
Brosnan in the role never felt to me that he got the hang of it by TWINE as some claim. Even if I'm not the biggest fan of his portrayal, one can't deny that he didn't own the role from the opening shot of GoldenEye. The gun-barrel walk, entering the casino etc. He oozed confidence, as Bond should be.
In TWINE, he is given plenty of material to work with as an actor and it's definitely up there, on screen. Apart from the pre title sequence with the Swiss banker that seemed like a very good actor and the interaction with Penny/M, he carries the film.
I am inclined to agree that Dalton was a better Bond than Brosnan, although the comparison is not easy or fair to make given that Dalton only had two movies, only the first of which had a great script. But if Craig's Bond "brought something new to the table" then I'm not sure it's something good at all. What he brought is a backstory. While the literary Bond always had a backstory, it was blurry, distant and incomplete. Craig's Bond brought it to the screen but also overdid it at the same time when it just copied Austin Powers.
He was a stabilising force but his films were well hyped not well written.
Yes, in retrospect he was a greatest hits Bond. It worked at the time. He didn't break the mold, but Moore and Craig did, being unlike anything that had gone before.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
GE and TND remain the last well written Bond films.
TWINE and DAD and QOS, SP and especially SF are pestered with bad scripts.
SF only is widely regarded as good because it had the aura of the big 50th Anniversary marketing campaign about it plus the Olympics. Also the four year gap and the fact it followed a film that was immediately regarded as a failure helped SF lots to be received that well. Brosnan's films were all well received at the time by audiences and critics. Something Craig didn't achieve.
Brosnan makes me nostalgic. I watched all four films recently and once again realised that he represents the cinematic Bond as well as his predecessors. Craig on the other hand only sometimes feels like James Bond on screen.
When he utters crap like "do I look like I give a damn" then his character foolishly dismisses the Bond legacy and what it made so successful for 40 years. And that is just one example. Of course like with Brosnan, it's not his fault. Craig had the potential to be one of the greats. He ended up just being another one that played Bond. Moore and Connery remain the two legends.
Moore looked nothing like Lazenby or Connery and whatever you make of his persona, it is his own creation and owed little or nothing to Connery.
I suppose Dalton was also his own man in a way but it didn't really come off very well imo. I don't think he broke the mold.
Roger Moore 1927-2017
Yeah, I would argue it had little to do with it. It was successful because it was renowned as an original Bond that was well made and well acted.
"Better make that two."