I liked Michelle Yeoh in Tomorrow Never Dies but I like her in everything I guess.
Agreed. Brosnan has fantastic presence as Bond, and sells suave by the kilo. He just had trash tier films to work with mostly.
I’d have loved to see him in a good Bond story.
Yep… Also felt he was a great casting choice, but just came at the wrong time in terms of movies they were producing at the time. The whole back to basics approach they took with Casino Royale could have worked well with him too.
I think Brosnan comes across as too nice to play the really gritty hard-hearted Bond that they went for with Casino Royale.
I think he can play over-the-top villains, I just have trouble seeing him as a realistic completely cold-hearted killer.
Yes, that’s a good summation of the differences.
Now I want to rewatch Tailor of Panama. I haven’t seen it since it was in the theater, but in it, Brosnan plays a British spy. He wasn’t the murderous thug that Daniel Craig sometimes played, but he was definitely a spy that wasn’t a likeable main character. I remember that he used way too much force in his romantic dalliances than Bond would have.
Btw, when I rewatched the Bond movies back in 2016, we used this thread to discuss it.
I had fun reading that thread today. I must have been feeling very verbose in 2016! I go into a lot of detail on each movie. Including quite the praise of License to Kill, and a long long post in praise (mostly) of Quantum of Solace.
Brosnan is great as a bent British spy in Tailor, but if you want stone cold killer Brosnan, you really want to watch The Fourth Protocol.
He has that thing where he’s so perfectly tailored, so posh, so poised, etc. where I can easily see him as a sociopath. That’s not to say he’s often played one or played one well, but there’s a certain look where you can easily say, “Man, that’s a step too far, I don’t trust that guy.” Something to do with pretentiousness and aloofness, a la Hannibal Lecter. The example I think of is The Thomas Crown Affair, where he’s just so rich and perfect and bored he starts doing bad stuff to keep himself amused. Not evil, but certainly illegal. For the nasty side of that, American Psycho.
A View to a Kill
3 minutes 30 seconds to jump the shark, that’s a new record! I’m referring of course to shifting from a “daring downhill escape with just one ski and moody spy music” to “snowboarding to the Beach Boys”. That’s followed by Bond escaping on a mini-submarine that’s furnished like a honeymoon suite and captained by a hot chick, except it’s got autopilot so she doesn’t actually need to drive. It’s really like they thought that the corny “Bond and the Bond Girl ride into the sunset in the escape pod” bit from every old Bond is some kind of a highlight, except now it’s even worse since it is totally unearned and a character we don’t know. To cap off the opening, we get an absolutely hideous Duran Duran theme song.
The car chase in Paris was quite charming. But the plot is so weird and slow. The first 50 minutes is basically all about figuring out the secret of this super fast race horse. Why are they looking into the horse? No particular reason, as far as I can tell, except that it happened to win a race. And in the end the horse indeed has no bearing at all on the plot. This is completely insane writing.
Then the next 75 minutes are just Bond being railroaded through uninspired action scenes, mixed with really lame attempts at jokes. It doesn’t help that this is probably both the creepiest and least convincing Bond performance, since Moore is way too old for that shit but they don’t acknowledge it in any way.
It really does feel like the writers were told the movie needed to be exactly 125 minutes, had enough plot for 30, and just kept adding scenes until they reached the threshold. I’ve gotten a new appreciation for Quantum of Solace: at least it was the right length, and the acting wasn’t anywhere near this painful. The geologist is particularly bad.
I’m pretty sure sure it’ll be all uphill from here though! I was tempted to do a round robin through the actors,. but I really do need a reminder on just who Lea Seydoux’s character is before seeing No Time to Die on Friday.
So 007 Spectre it is.
I actually haven’t seen Spectre yet just because the word of mouth was so poor. The last time I avoided a movie for quite a while based on general opinion was Prometheus and I ended up liking that. Maybe it’s time to give Spectre its due.
The opening shot in Mexico City is gorgeous and well worth watching.
The rest isn’t bad so much as boring. Which, in a way, in a Bond film is worse than being bad.
I mean…no. Easily one of the better Bond themes and probably the highlight of this steaming pile. Boo to you, Good Sir. Boo!
Just going to echo this. The Duran Duran song is a highlight of the film and one of the top Bond songs. Full stop
If one does not appreciate cheesy 80s songs, one is not living life to the fullest. But seriously, it actually does incorporate the Bond theme and feel quite well (the music, the lyrics are of course completely, wonderfully dumb).
I’ll go to bat for A View to a Kill. It may not be one of the best Bonds, but I absolutely, unironically love it. It’s over the top and silly, and the villain’s scheme makes no sense (he manufactures silicon chips, but wants to destroy his customers) but the character is framed as a psychopath so it works in a way maybe not intended. Plus, it has one of the best scores of any Bond film:
Looking at the other thread, it looks like I didn’t watch A View To a Kill on my last Bond marathon. Maybe it’s time for a rewatch. I do love the Duran Duran theme song. Jsnell’s description of the plot revolving around sending Bond to investigate why a horse is winning has me intrigued.
Mwahahahaha.
Best “Tight!” gag yet.
That was really funny. (It helped that other than the invisible car and the ice palace, I remembered nothing about this movie, so nearly all of the Pitch Meeting was a surprise).
Die Another Day is the only Bond I haven’t seen. I’d heard how terrible it was so stayed away. This PM didn’t make me rethink my choice.