Pierce Brosnan has always been one of my favorite Bonds. I was five years old when Goldeneye came out, meaning that my relationship to Brosnan as James Bond was established entirely by the 1997 Nintendo 64 game of the same name. I experienced a few of the Connery movies at an early age but they never could grab me like the Brosnan movies did. As I’ve gotten older and revisited every Bond film, my eyes were opened to different interpretations of the character – liking some more and some less than Brosnan’s. Nonetheless, I’ll always have a soft spot for Brosnan. He encapsulates the character well and in his own way that is distinct from the others.
Full disclosure: TND and TWINE are a coin toss. The films balance each other out so well that I feel like depending on my mood that day I could justify choosing either one over the other. But I digress. Here is my definitive ranking of the Brosnan Bond movies.
4. Die Another Day (2002)
You already knew it before you began reading this article. There’s no question that Die Another Day is the most disappointing Bond movie of the Brosnan era. The Madonna song alone is likely the worst Bond theme in the entire franchise. But I say disappointing because I think the movie actually had a lot going for it! The story follows Bond sent to investigate a North Korean terrorist. After being captured and tortured by the Koreans and deserted by is own people for 14 months, Bond is traded for one of the Korean terrorists he was sent to investigate. Bond takes it upon himself to hunt down the terrorist and stumbles upon another plot involving an international space weapon. I have to say, everything up until we meet Jinx really works for me. The cold open is action-packed and the idea of Bond being deserted and left to his own devices is intriguing and works really well. Jinx (Halle Berry) is easily one of the worst characters in the entire franchise. It may not be all Berry’s fault, as the script calls for her to speak strictly in quips and eye-rolling one-liners. But she’s truly a cringe-worthy character who was given far more screen time than she deserved. I did enjoy Gustav Graves as a villain. He was fun and his character has a nice twist and is accompanied by some decent henchmen, including Zao and Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike) as a double agent. But the film just continues to get more ridiculous as it progresses. There’s still room to have fun and appreciate some of the action sequences, such as the car chase on the ice and the cold open. But it reaches a level of silliness that leaves the film completely tenuous from any sort of grounded reality and completely removes any tension that might have been there. While this isn’t completely unwatchable, it merely fails to reach its full potential in almost every way. Without a doubt, this is Brosnan’s least memorable outing as 007.
3. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
This is a solid entry for Brosnan. What lacks in its plot is made up for with some great action sequences that stand out among the other Brosnan films. Bond sets out to stop Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a media mogul’s plan to induce a war between China and the U.K. in order to obtain exclusive global media coverage. This film’s biggest discrepancy from the other Brosnan outings is the plot and its villain. While I enjoyed Pryce’s performance and his embodiment of the character, Carver’s motivations are unclear and uninteresting. It’s difficult to remain invested in a villain whose sole motivation is to get exclusive media coverage of an event. It’s not exciting and the absurdity of the plan isn’t justified by a compelling rationale of any kind. Aside from the plot issues, this film does not lack in its exceptional action set pieces. From the cold open, to the car chase, to the motorcycle chase, the pacing is smooth and leaves little room for down time. Teri Hatcher plays Paris Carver, Bond’s ex-lover and Carver’s current wife, whose involvement I think could’ve been cut a little shorter. Her role was essentially limited to make Bond’s motive more personal, but it just never got there for me. The idea of Wai Lin as a Chinese agent teaming up with Bond worked well and especially made for a great addition to the motorcycle chase. In the end, I liked Brosnan’s performance and the memorable action sequences that provide for a well-paced re-watchable experience. But the lackluster plot and villain cause this one to fall behind the others.
2. The World is Not Enough (1999)
This is yet another strong outing for Brosnan as the plot calls for him to be more emotionally involved in this mission. Bond uncovers a nuclear plot while trying to protect an oil heiress from her former kidnapper, Renard, an international terrorist who can’t feel pain. The plot here feels stronger than that of TND in a number of ways. Bond and M are involved on a more personal and emotional level which brings out a more intriguing side to their performance. Elektra King (Sophie Marceau) is one of my favorite Bond girls and villains in the franchise. Her character is convincing and has everyone eating out of the palm of her hand, making the twist to her character feel earned entirely. On the other hand, Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) is easily one of my least favorite Bond girls in the franchise. She’s not Jinx-level bad, she just doesn’t have the acting chops required to carry her part well. Renard (Robert Carlyle) is an upgrade from Elliot Carver and he checks all of the boxes when it comes to a Bond villain. The bullet wound to is head causing him to lose any feeling of pain and to slowly die gives him an appealing angle because he has nothing to lose. The action set pieces are also worthwhile. The boat chase in the cold open and the ski chase are both memorable and keep the story moving at an even pace. As I mentioned before, this ends up being a coin toss with TND. The plot and villain are stronger here, while the action set pieces tend to lag behind those of TND. Nonetheless, this has a lot going for it and I enjoyed it more this time around.
1. Goldeneye (1995)
Did you really think the number one spot was going to be anything else? After the death of his fellow 00-agent, Bond sets out to stop a Russian crime syndicate from using a secret space weapons program known as Goldeneye. For the longest time, this was the quintessential Bond for me, and in some ways it still is. Brosnan is dialed into the role which tends to break the trend of past Bond films. Actors like Connery, Moore, and Craig seem to take at least one or two movies before they reach the height of their performances and film quality of their respective eras. Brosnan does it all in his first try. From the cold open, to the villain, to the Bond women, to the action set pieces, this film kills it. Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) may just be my favorite villain of the entire franchise. His motives are clear, his character is compelling, and his mission feels personal. Xenia is a memorable Bond woman with her seductive and outlandish methods to lure in and kill her targets. The scenes Bond shares with CIA Agent Jack Wade and Russian gangster Valentin Zukovsky are all memorable and provide some nice backdrop to the world in which Bond operates. Let us not forget that this film introduces the revelation that is Judi Dench as M. Her first scene she shares with Brosnan establishes everything we need to know about her from that moment and carries all the way through Skyfall. She knows the kind of person Bond is and doesn’t waste any time to put him in his place. She is likely one of the franchise’s strongest characters and her embodiment of M will not likely be surpassed anytime soon. Not only was this film the basis for the creation of one of the greatest video games of all time, this revitalized the franchise entirely. Goldeneye is everything I want out of a Bond movie and for that, Brosnan will always be among my favorites.
