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PIERCE BROSNAN AS JAMES BOND
James Bond completed his tour of the British Isles when Irishman Pierce Brosnan got the role. His first physical contact with the Bond films came in 1980 on the sets of "For Your Eyes Only". He met producer Albert Broccoli because Brosnan's first wife, Cassandra Harris, was in the film as the ill-fated mistress of Milos Colombo (Topal). Broccoli liked Brosnan, saying "If he can act, he's my guy to inherit the role of Bond from Roger Moore." Ms. Harris, according to Brosnan, had always hoped her husband would get the role but, tragically, she died four years before it happened.
For fans of the franchise, having feared there would never be another Bond film, Brosnan was more than a breath of fresh air. Having developed a solid fan-base as "Remington Steele", Brosnan exhibited an easy charm similar to Moore but with the smoldering dark side that Connery had portrayed. He was younger with natural athleticism. His eyes sparkled when the situation was humorous or rife with sarcasm but smoldered when dealing with the stress of the job. Thanks to this fresh personna and a tightly-written perfectly-filmed script, "Goldeneye" rejuvinated the franchise while becoming the highest-grossing Bond yet (without allowances for inflation).
The strength of Brosnan's personna was matched by the supporting cast. Famke Janssen, the sexually-charged villainess, was a unique character who never wilted in Brosnan's (Bond's) presence. A casting coup brought Judi Dench to the series as the first female "M'. Dench took a no-nonsense approach to 007, creating a tension and an interplay that developed throughout Brosnan's stint. The two actors gelled in a non-sexual way, pitted against each other while being on the same side. Brosnan had faced the same tension in "Remington Steele" so it came naturally to him.
Brosnan's Bond was the first to be filmed after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union. These dramatic changes in the world at large seemed to make a globe-trotting, womanizing, world-saving spy a thing of the past. Many people in the industry felt that another Bond film would be a wasted effort, rendering Bond a "sexist misogynistic dinosaur" to quote Dench as 'M'. Faced with that challenge, the writers chose the appoach of having Bond face off against a fellow double-0 agent gone bad. It worked like a charm.
"Goldeneye" was the first Bond to utilize Computer Generated Imagery (CGI). The combination of CGI and the use of miniatures made it more and less difficult to film. CGI can only go so far and is time-consuming but characters can be made to do riskier things with less danger. Miniatures also take time to develop but coupled with CGI look more realistic. Brosnan and Sean Bean (the villain) helped by doing much of their own stuntwork including almost all of the fight scene on the satellite dish near the end. Brosnan was injured during that filming sequence, one of several injuries he would sustain as Bond. He wanted to be Bond onscreen "as much as the insurance companies would let" him.
That remained true throughout his stint but the stunts became increasingly dangerous. The prime example was the motorcycle-helicopter chase during "Tomorrow Never Dies". Even Michelle Yeoh, a trained stuntwoman, was forced to use a double which irritated her no end. Hallie Berry sustained an eye injury during filming of "Die Another Day", causing her to undergo a 30 minute operation before she could continue. Debris from a smoke grenade had flown into her eye.
Although all four of Brosnan's films made good money, "The World is Not Enough" was treated quite rudely by critics and some fans. One critic from MSN, that font of film knowledge, ranked it the 3rd worst Bond film behind "A View to a Kill" & "License to Kill". 'Entertainment Weekly', the bible of superficiality, ranked Denise Richards the worst Bond girl ever. Apparently, their opinion of her wavered a bit as they had no complaints about her after "Wild Things" just two years earlier. (Where is Neve Campbell when you need her?)
To summarize, Brosnan brought the best of Moore and Connery to the role along with his own touches. His serious approach to acting and fun-loving approach to life combined to revive the character, the franchise and the future. He'd have liked to continue for at least two more films but he paved the way for Daniel Craig to reimagine the character. The current Bond, Craig will highlight the next installment.
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