Bond fans are weary too, 007.
The Daniel Craig introspective James Bond should be over. We know where he came from. We know how he got here. Now let’s have a true, formulaic James Bond movie in the Craig era.
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Pierce Brosnan as James Bond and presumably other 00 agents in The World Is Not Enough (1999)
So here’s an interesting shot from The World Is Not Enough. Bond and five others are being briefed about the plan to bring Robert King’s killer to justice, and are all given folders (presumably the famous “for your eyes only” folders) for their assignment for the mission. Everyone in the screenshot receives a folder, except Bond of course – as he has not been cleared by medical as a result of his broken collarbone.
So who are the others? 001 through 005? Remember – 006 (Alec Trevelyan) was killed in GoldenEye (1995) four years earlier.
When I think of James Bond at his happiest, I think of this (very brief) scene from GoldenEye (1995) where Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) are in Cuba after escaping the cold Russian weather and treacherous train.
Seemingly without a care in the world, the couple travel in a BMW Z3 convertible in the beautiful Caribbean climate. The combination of the sweeping, delightful soundtrack, Natalya’s barely-there dress and blissful gaze to Bond as they drive through a luscious jungle-like setting would make anyone jealous. Bond conveys a similar joyous feeling to Natalya with a beaming smile. Heaven!
The feeling is short-lived, however, as the tricked-out Q Branch car picks up an airplane on radar that spoils the party – prompting Natalya to gripe about Bond’s track record while on the go.
Oh, well. It was good while it lasted!
Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) and James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) are relaxed in Cuba in GoldenEye (1995)
The six actors that have portrayed 007 in the official movies have changed since their first and last on-screen appearances. Below, you can see each actor’s first and last appearances as James Bond.
Sean Connery as James Bond at the beginning of Dr. No (1962) and Sean Connery as James Bond and Jill St. John as Tiffany Case at the end of Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
This training scene from Die Another Day (2002) was pretty sweet. Not often do we get insight into 007’s training regimen, but here the audience is immersed in it perfectly. I remember thinking this was a dream sequence when I saw it in the theater, and aside from the jarring image of a dead Moneypenny at her desk with a gunshot wound to the head, I knew it was a farce when Bond’s bullet hit M’s hostage-taker’s arm and did no damage.
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Here are the dorkiest moments of each Bond actor’s career:
Sean Connery tries to pull of the pink tie in Diamonds Are Forever (1971)…and fails. DORK!
George Lazenby’s Scottish get-up in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969) screamed “dork.”
Roger Moore’s clown costume in Octopussy (1983) takes the cake…the ultimate dorkiest Bond moment!
Timothy Dalton’s “look” prior to fishing Franz Sanchez out of the sky in Licence To Kill (1989).
Sorry James, but not even Pierce Brosnan in The World Is Not Enough (1999) can pull off purple glasses (even x-ray ones).
Daniel Craig needed a shave and a shower as a hungover mess in Skyfall (2012)
Paris Carver, played by Teri Hatcher, slaps James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
SLAP!
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in The World Is Not Enough (1999)
Brosnan Bond’s first interaction with Moneypenny in GoldenEye (1995) was…interesting. Aside from Craig’s Bond’s tryst with Moneypenny, Brosnan’s Bond always had the most sexual tension and blatant innuendos with Moneypenny during his tenure. This of course after the long portrayal of the character by Lois Maxwell from the series start until the late 1980’s – in which the Bond/Moneypenny relationship was a lot more playful and tame. It continued with a naive and relatively forgettable Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss) that served with Timothy Dalton’s Bond but then took the hard turn to Brosnan’s Moneypenny we see here.
But I digress – it’s true that GoldenEye‘s Moneypenny could hold her own in spite of Brosnan’s advances and we see it in this scene, but some of his remarks elicit eye rolls at best and at worst add fuel to the misogynist 007 stereotype. I’d say that this scene wouldn’t be written in today’s post-“#metoo” era. Regardless, it was neat to see M and others scramble from their personal lives (with Moneypenny in a highly formal dress from a date) to the office to assess the issues at Severnaya.
