Why Pierce Brosnan's James Bond Never Topped GoldenEye

Pierce Brosnan starred in four James Bond films but never surpassed his first and best film GoldenEye. Launched in 1995, GoldenEye it was directed by Martin Campbell and introduced the world to Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. GoldenEye also starred Sean Bean as the villain Alec Trevalyan AKA 006, Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp, Isabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova and introduced Jedi Dench as the new M. GoldenEye was a box office successgrossing US$356 million worldwide.

After a 6 year gap since the previous James Bond film, 1989 License to kill, Due to a legal battle over the rights to 007 between United Artists and MGM, Timothy Dalton withdrew from playing James Bond. Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson wisely chose Pierce Brosnan as the new 007. GoldenEye plunged James Bond into a mission to stop the Janus organization, which had taken control of a Russian satellite called GoldenEye, which was threatening the world with an electromagnetic pulse that would cripple technology. GoldenEye it proved to be a milestone and the rebirth that James Bond needed.

GoldenEye updated the James Bond formula for the 1990s

Bond entered the era of blockbuster films

GoldenEye is an ideal blend of the traditional James Bond formula mixed with 1990s blockbuster action and infused with relevant post-Cold War intrigue. Pierce Brosnan's James Bond was the right secret agent for this dangerous new era of duplicitous enemies seeking superweapons to dominate the world. From the thrilling bungee jump in the flashback prologue that opened GoldenEye, to 007's destructive tank chase through St. Petersburg, and GoldenEyeclimactic battle atop a satellite dish in Cuba, Brosnan and GoldenEye took James Bond action and adventure to another level.

Pierce Brosnan was born simply to play 007. Brosnan fused his James Bond actor predecessors, the elegance of Sean Connery, the intelligence of Roger Moore and the courage of Timothy Dalton. Pierce's Bond watched and desired even more. Yet Brosnan also conveyed that his Bond had a complicated inner life, as if the decades of risk and danger had taken a toll on him, which he takes on queen and country. In GoldenEye, Brosnan's 007 was instantly iconic and slides effortlessly into danger in every exotic port he visits. GoldenEye took James Bond seriously and audiences instantly believed in 007 once again.

GoldenEye featured two classic James Bond villains

Alec Trevelyan and Xenia Onatopp are chroniclers

GoldenEye pits James Bond against two major 007 villains. As Alec Trevelyan, Sean Bean is without a doubt the fiercest and most memorable antagonist Pierce Brosnan's James Bond has faced. GoldenEye ingeniously made Trevelyan a former British Secret Service agent and colleague of Bond - codename 006. In Alec Trevelyan, James met his equal in skill and cunningand 006 was a broken mirror reflection of Bond himself. GoldenEye it was the first case of a Double-0 agent going rogue and threatening the world, and Trevalyan is perhaps the toughest enemy, physically and mentally, that Brosnan's 007 has faced.

Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp is the only female James Bond henchwoman who compares to James Bond's iconic Oddjob (Harold Sakata). gold finger and Jaws (Richard Kiel) from The spy who loved me oned Moonraker. While other evil women tried to kill James Bond, Xenia was the deadliest. The ravishing and seductive but deadly Onatopp could crush men between her thighs and, unlike other nefarious Bond Girls who ended up joining forces with 007, Xenia was unrepentant and diabolical until the end.

Furthermore, GoldenEye featured Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky, a Russian gangster and former KGB agent who James Bond encountered in the past. Coltrane was so memorable that he returned in The world is not enough. GoldenEye also co-stars Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko, the traitorous Russian computer programmer who helps Alec Trevelyan steal the GoldenEye satellite, and Gottfied John as Russian general Ourumov. GoldenEye is filled with memorable bad guys and the heavy hitters in Pierce Brosnan's subsequent James Bond films aren't up to par.

Judi Dench gave James Bond a modern M

Dench became M for two different 007s

One of GoldenEye'James Bond's best innovations, which had lasting implications for the James Bond franchise, were casting Judi Dench as the head of M. James Bond's MI6, originated by Bernard Lee, formerly a World War II veteran. Dench updated M for the 1990s and beyond. Initially presented as the "evil queen of numbers", M was a no-nonsense foreman who regarded 007 as "a sexist, misogynistic dinosaur... a relic of the Cold War." Bond had to prove himself to the new M before she became James's most ardent supporter.

Judi Dench was so iconic as M that she not only returned for all of Pierce Brosnan's sequels, but also M for Dench was rebooted for Daniel Craig's James Bond era. Dench played M in four Craig Bond films, Casino Royale, Quantum of Solace, fall from the sky, and Spectrum, developing a more maternal, but still uncompromising, relationship with Daniel's 007. GoldenEyeDench set a new gold standard for M and redefined James Bond's relationship with his master in the British Secret Service.

Pierce Brosnan's Other James Bond Films Had Problems GoldenEye Missed

Brosnan's titles have become more cartoonish over time

GoldenEye was an ideal debut for Pierce Brosnan's James Bond, who kicked off his 007 era brilliantly. The world is not enough and Die another day exceeded GoldenEyebox office, neither they nor Tomorrow never dies clicked on the path GoldenEye he did. 1997 Tomorrow never dies saw 007 face off against media mogul Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), who wanted to use the headlines to start World War III. However, despite martial arts sensation Michelle Yeoh joining forces with Bond and Teri Hatcher's tragic turn as James' former lover Paris Carver, Tomorrow never dies discouraged compared to GoldenEye.

1999 The world is not enough and Die another day exposed James Bond to the excesses of 90s blockbusters. The world is not enough benefited from an intriguing villain, Sophie Marceau's treacherous Elektra King, but the stuntwoman cast Denise Richards as nuclear scientist Dr. Christmas Jones, and a nonsensical plot involving Renard (Robert Carlyle), a Bond villain who doesn't feel pain , sank Pierce Brosnan's third Bond film.

Despite an intriguingly sharp pre-credits sequence where James Bond is captured and imprisoned in a North Korean prison, the 2002 film Die another day quickly evolved into a live-action cartoon where James Bond drove an invisible car, Halle Berry played a secret agent called Jinx, 007 fought a North Korean who surgically and implausibly transformed into an Englishman called Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens) and Madonna appeared as a fencing teacher. Pierce Brosnan was a superior 007, but his work never matched the majesty of GoldenEyehis spectacular debut as James Bond.