PIERCE BROSNAN'S JAMES BOND

A quick quiz: of the five lead actors in EON's James Bond series, who played the most ruthless, cold-blooded version of 007?

Conventional wisdom points toward Timothy Dalton, with his chilling scene threatening Pushkin in The Living Daylights or his "You earnt it, you keep it," disposal of Killifer in Licence To Kill. Many votes would likely be cast for Sean Connery's "You've had your six," in Dr. No. There might even be a minority opinion for Roger Moore's "What a helpful chap." in The Spy Who Loved Me or the death of Locque in For Your Eyes Only.

But for sheer, consistent, cold-blooded body count, I'd like to nominate Pierce Brosnan as the Bond who gets the most use out of a licence to kill.

Brosnan nearly became James Bond in 1987. After playing Remington Steele on television for four years, Brosnan was picked to replace the aging Roger Moore in The Living Daylights. The news caused ratings for reruns of "Remington Steele," which had become so anemic that the series had not been renewed for the next season, to climb. On literally the last possible day, NBC exercised their option to renew the show and hold Brosnan to his contract to perform in it. They were apparently willing to arrange shooting schedules to accommodate the movie's needs; after all, they had renewed on the basis of having a TV show starring the Man Who Would Be Bond and it was in their interests to see that he was able to do the Bond film. Cubby Broccoli, however, is reported to have felt that audiences would be unwilling to pay to see a Bond they could see for free at home every week and Timothy Dalton was cast for The Living Daylights. After two films with Dalton, a six-year, litigation-filled hiatus in the series, Dalton's jumped-or-was-pushed decision not to return as 007 and a world-wide casting search that seems to have consisted largely of flipping through the "B's" in Cubby's rolodex, Pierce Brosnan was announced as the fifth actor to play James Bond for EON.

When Brosnan was first reported as having the role, prior to his replacement by Dalton, the perception was that he would play Bond in the light, rather comedic tradition of Roger Moore's portrayal. Brosnan was mostly known for "Remington Steele," which, though it had a modicum of action and suspense, was mainly a romantic comedy. Though Steele had the look and mannerisms of James Bond, the brains of the outfit belonged to Stephanie Zimbalist's Laura Holt character. Steele was mainly a parasitic front man. The entire premise of the series was the triumph of style over substance.

Just what the James Bond series needed after twelve years of Roger Moore in the lead role.

But by the time Brosnan actually got the keys to the Aston Martin "Remington Steele" was beginning to fade into memory. Brosnan had been in a series of theatrical and television movies in which he had shown a range extending from the comic foil in "Mrs. Doubtfire" to the cold and ruthless Soviet killer in "The Fourth Protocol." The Bond films had also had time to put the excesses of the Moore era behind them and the last two entries of the eighties had been considerably darker and more serious in tone.

Brosnan's Bond proved to be something more than a high-budget Remington Steele. With over thirty years of Bond films and four different actors having played the role, Brosnan had a wealth of examples on which to base his portrayal. Brosnan's Bond might best be described as Blended Bond. He combines a large portion of the serious, brooding, Flemingesque Bond of Dalton with the confident cockiness of Connery and just a dash of the well-tailored, upper-class style of Moore. Though he doesn't have Connery's powerful physical presence or Lazenby's cat-like grace in action scenes, he gave creditable performances in the climactic fight with Trevalyn and the short vicious skirmish in Carver's studio. He has carried on Dalton's intensity and introspection in scenes such as the beach conversation in GoldenEye and the brooding solitary drinking while waiting for the other shoe to drop in Tomorrow Never Dies. At the same time, he displays the cool wit of Moore and Connery in lines such as "First things first," and "Thousands. But I only pay them lip service."

So what does that leave us with? Is Brosnan's Bond merely a homogenized version of what has gone before? Does he have anything of his own to contribute? After so many years and so many films, IS there anything distinctive, anything different, to be done with the role?

Well, yeah, sort of. As I said at the beginning, Brosnan has thus far shown us a more consistently ruthless, deadly James Bond than any of his predecessors. Other actors have had moments of chilling ruthlessness and they have often been among their most memorable scenes. But Brosnan's Bond, with his no-hesitation, no-wisecracks executions of Ourumov, Kaufman, Davidov and especially Elektra, has made the licence to kill more than just a cool-sounding trademark; it's a large part of who this James Bond is. Bond knifing the guard on the stealth ship and using his body to fool Stamper into believing Bond was dead was one of the most cold-blooded acts 007 has performed.

Along with that acknowledgement of who he is and what constitutes the essence of his profession comes a certain fatalism regarding his own life. It comes out in his response to Xenia's suggestion that he "enjoy it while you can," ("The very words I live by.") and M's reference to his "cavalier attitude toward life." When Bond answers Natalya's question about what makes him so cold by saying "It's what keeps me alive," and she responds "No, it's what keeps you alone," they're both right. These aspects of Bond's character, all of which have their roots in Fleming's writing, have become Brosnan's contribution to the screen portrayal of 007.

One unfortunate aspect of Brosnan's emphasis on Bond-as-professional-killer has been the ubiquity of machine guns in his films. While other Bonds have used them sparingly in the big battle scenes, Brosnan has gone into Rambo mode in all three films, mowing down hordes of extras single-handed. While it makes sense for Bond to use all the firepower he can get in those situations, it somehow seems inconsistent with the style Bond has had in the past. Firing one shot in each direction to confuse his pursuers into firing at each other while he slips off into the shadows is quintessential James Bond. Standing around like Machine Gun Kelly and killing a dozen guards whose only sin was coming to work that day lacks the proper panache. Bond is a killer but he shouldn't be portrayed as a butcher.

Brosnan's films have so far suffered from a tendency to sacrifice suspense and style for noise and firepower. There is reason to believe Brosnan recognizes this failing and is using his influence to push the films in other directions. The World Is Not Enough was a major improvement in terms of character development and plot over Tomorrow Never Dies. It remains to be seen whether Die Another Day continues that improvement. With luck, we may not have seen Pierce Brosnan's best Bond yet. What we have seen so far is promising.

©2002 Barry King

Barry King has previously profiled for HMSS the 007 portrayals of

CONNERY

LAZENBY

MOORE

DALTON