Why did opinion turn 360 degrees on Brosnan ?

John from Cork · September 2020

When he was playing bond the public and media loved him, he was called the best bond since Connery, now his movies are considered to be very forgettable generic action movies.

caractacus potts · September 2020

a 360 degree revolution returns you back to where you started from.
a 180 degree revolution leaves you facing the opposite direction.

I'm not convinced of your premise. I don't remember anybody saying Brosnan was the best Bond since Connery. Some of my lady-friends wanted to see the film because they knew him from (sigh) Remington Steele. When I saw the film I thought this new actor played the part like a department store mannequin.

Number24 · September 2020

I thin some said Brosnan was the best since Connery or even the best. I even think there was an article in Empire or Total Film saying so in the headline. I don't think public opinion changed 180 degrees or 360 degrees. Perhaps it changed 90 or 120 degrees?

Math wasn't your best subject at school, was it, John?

caractacus potts · September 2020

Sorry, don't mean to mock the intent of the thread by correcting the math.

I would seriously be interested in seeing some mainstream reviews or fanzine response at the time that compared Brosnan so favourably to Connery.
My own experience is anecdotal, and I would not have bothered reading any reviews prior to seeing a new Bond movie, so I don't know what anybody except me and my friends thought at the time.

Thunderpussy · September 2020

Like Number24, I too remember reading many articles about how good Brosnan was.
Then after CR Daniel Craig began to get more praise for his interpretation or
renewal of the character of Bond.
My own opinion is Brosan was capable of much better, but never got a really
Decent script to work with.

James Suzuki · September 2020

I thought there always was a habit of bashing the previous Bond when the new Bond arrives, was there not? Also DAD being the last Bond film he did, did not hlelp his message.
I think he was great. -{

Ornithologist · September 2020

Thunderpussy wrote:

Brosan was capable of much better, but never got a really
Decent script to work with.

This!

James Suzuki wrote:

I think he was great. -{

And this! B-)

SpectreOfDefeat · September 2020

I thought Brosnan was a pretty great Bond, mostly. On a film by film basis, GoldenEye is a dynamic and atmospheric thriller all round, Tomorrow Never Dies is blessed with an intriguing and still topical plot, and The World Is Not Enough has interesting character conflicts and one of the best female leads of the series. Die Another Day is the only true dud out of the bunch, so a fairly good innings for Brosnan overall.

"I would seriously be interested in seeing some mainstream reviews or fanzine response at the time that compared Brosnan so favourably to Connery."

I found some old contemporary Radio Times reviews. To quote, in GE Brosnan "quickly establishes himself as the best Bond since Sean Connery", while the same publication also compares TWINE favourably to From Russia With Love, and TND positively to the Connery era as a whole. Looking around the internet, it appears the critical consensus on Brosnan was generally- not totally, but generally- glowing. Serious individual critics such as Roger Ebert and James Berardinelli, for example, were very kind towards Brosnan's films after previously having been dismissive of the later Moore films and Dalton's run.

Loeffelholz · September 2020

I was excited by Brozzer's Bond, especially early on...and, in fact, I maintain that the first half of DAD contains some of his best work in the role, before the wheels came off that one...but I think a lot of it is the typical 'dumping on' the previous actor, especially when his successor does well. Poor Sir Rog was disparaged when Dalton took over, and Pierce fans likely threw some shade on Tim ex post facto...so, naturally, Craigger has had a successful run, and Brozzer plays as the also-ran. If Bond #7 does something different (a near certainty) and succeeds, there will be plenty of tomatoes thrown at Formerly Poor Danny^TM.

James Suzuki · September 2020

Loeffelholz wrote:

I was excited by Brozzer's Bond, especially early on...and, in fact, I maintain that the first half of DAD contains some of his best work in the role, before the wheels came off that one...but I think a lot of it is the typical 'dumping on' the previous actor, especially when his successor does well. Poor Sir Rog was disparaged when Dalton took over, and Pierce fans likely threw some shade on Tim ex post facto...so, naturally, Craigger has had a successful run, and Brozzer plays as the also-ran. If Bond #7 does something different (a near certainty) and succeeds, there will be plenty of tomatoes thrown at Formerly Poor Danny^TM.

Spot on. And hopefully when #7 appears, Brosnan will get a bit more love and attention. I want Brosnan to return for one more film, as an aged Bond coming out of retirement t for one more job, also starring Judi Dench, Samantha Bond, John Cleese and Michael Kitchen. Even Robbie Coltrane if they decide to "ressurect" his character. That would be fun but alas, very very unlikely.

JTullock23 · September 2020

Brosnan was Bond. He was created to be Bond. He never got a good script outside of GE, in my opinion. Well, TWINE was pretty good, but not flawless. I think when it came to Craig it was after 9-11. (I know that DAD came out in 2002) The world was different after 9-11. America sure did. Bourne forced Bond to go down the road of being a harder badass.

DavidJones · September 2020

I'm a Pierce fan, but I do think he seems stiff in manner, particularly compared to the easy-going Roger. Although people do compare them, they're really very different in this regard.

Also as people, come to that: Pierce takes himself very seriously, regularly invoking fate and philosophy, while Roger went out of his way to poke fun at himself.

superado · September 2020

Xenia's opinion was the first to turn...360 degrees

)

HalfMonk HalfHitman · September 2020

DavidJones wrote:

Pierce takes himself very seriously, regularly invoking fate and philosophy

That's true, but it was refreshing in EVERYTHING OR NOTHING to see him laughing at the tsunami kite-surfing of DIE ANOTHER DAY.

DavidJones · September 2020

HalfMonk HalfHitman wrote:

DavidJones wrote:

Pierce takes himself very seriously, regularly invoking fate and philosophy

That's true, but it was refreshing in EVERYTHING OR NOTHING to see him laughing at the tsunami kite-surfing of DIE ANOTHER DAY.

It's interesting you should mention that, because I saw his reaction as a somewhat petulant attempt to embarrass Eon, in view of the way his contract wasn't renewed and maybe mishandling DAD. That documentary received a high-profile premier in New York, and Broccoli and Wilson were in the audience along with many former cast and crew. But only he really knows, of course.

Why did opinion turn 360 degrees on Brosnan ?

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