If it was a surprise to Pierce Brosnan to realize he was 60, it’s certainly a shock to the rest of us as well. Brosnan recently said:“The next morning all the birthday cards were there and there was one in the middle that said 60. Just that number alone…”
And yet the man who once was Bond is not slowing down. In the Daily Telegraph interview quoted above, he notes that he’s made seven movies in the past two years, including “The Love Punch” with Emma Thompson, which arrives this month. Indeed Brosnan gives the impression of being far from settled, and not even especially happy with his most iconic achievements: he professes himself unable to watch his old Bond films, finding them “never good enough.”
“I felt I was caught in a time warp between Roger and Sean…It was a very hard one to grasp the meaning of, for me. The violence was never real, the brute force of the man was never palpable. It was quite tame, and the characterization didn’t have a follow-through of reality, it was surface. But then that might have had to do with my own insecurities in playing him as well.”
An easy thing to say, perhaps, with the benefit of hindsight and, more than that, the subsequent transformational impact of Daniel Craig‘s Bond (though let’s give Brosnan his due, he is far from the worst 007). But in keeping with his restlessness, Brosnan says he’s not done with action movies either, at least not entirely. Though he sounds unimpressed with the widely-rumoured idea that he’d have a role in the next “The Expendables” action team-up, he does have one demand to make: “if you want to do a female version of ‘The Expendables,’ I’ll be in that one.” Fingers crossed.
I was having a little trouble finding movies to watch with my 9 year old son. Then it just happened that your Bond movies were on, and Calahan said "Mom let's watch this movie". Ok.
After watching all four of your Bond movies we decided to watch the ones that came before you.
We had a little trouble watching these movies, everything was at such a slower pace. We continue to watch only your Bond movies over and over. Those movies to us are the best movies and we think you are the best Bond!
He was great but the movies were sh*t, except for Goldeneye, i really like that one.
'' The violence was never real … It was quite tame ''
shooting Vincent Schiavelli in the head ?
head butting sean bean ?
stabbing Götz Otto in the chest ?
I think Brosnan was a good Bond, it was just the movies that let him down. I sort of feel the subtext to this interview quote is "I wish my Bond movies were better/more like Daniel Craig's," but he went the diplomatic route and only criticized himself.
My take has always been that he got better at playing Bond as the films got worse. I think Die Another Day was his best performance, in easily his worst movie.
I think Brosnan was a good Bond for his time, but his films always felt like they were trying to compete more with the action spectacles of there time, and were less concerned with the character. I still find Roger Moore to be my favourite Bond even if a lot of his time spent as Bond was down right laughable.
I too like SR13 and Lily grew up with Brosnan as my Bond. I will always appreciate Pierce's Bond. Also I think Goldeneye was the best of his film but don't think the others were too bad either.
Like SR13 I grew up with him as my Bond and I always enjoyed them! Goldeneye was my favorite I used to watch it all the time and also love The World is Not Enough the villains were great in it! I hope Brosnan realizes that many, many people loved him as Bond!
I don't think he's necessarily wrong regarding Tomorrow Never Dies and Die Another Day. GoldenEye, though, is in the upper echelon of Bond films IMHO, and his portrayal there was pitch perfect for the times. The World Is Not Enough is a decent Bond film, and Brosnan was ice cold brutal in that one; that it gets frequently shit on for having the WORST Bond Girl of all time and a remarkably underwhelming villain shouldn't count against his performance.
I grew up with Brosnan as 007 so his movies will always be special to me. At least they are very enjoyable to watch unlike some misfires.