James Bond: A Review - The Dalton and Brosnan Movies
This year marks the 60th anniversary of the 007 franchise based on and inspired by the novels by Ian Fleming. Fleming wrote 14 books starring the character Commander James Bond of Her Majesty’s Secret Service. Two of those are short story collections. There are 25 films in the franchise, 17 of them are based on Fleming’s stories and novels. Seven men have portrayed the character since 1962.
I plan on reviewing and ranking each of the films in a series of articles broken down by one or two different eras at a time, totaling 5-7 films each. I will conclude with an article that will also break down and rank all of the elements of the James Bond movie: the pre-title sequence, the opening title sequence, the theme song, the Bond girl, the villain, and the henchmen. I hope to determine the best and the worst of these elements in the final article.
We started with a look at the Connery and Lazenby films and then looked at the Roger Moore era. Now it’s time to look at the brief run by Timothy Dalton and the popular Pierce Brosnan era.
The Living Daylights (1987)
So, after the commercial and critical failure of 1985’s A View to a Kill, work immediately began on the next Bond film. Moore was definitely out. But who would replace him? A handful of names were mentioned in the press, but only three were seriously considered: Sam Neill (Jurassic Park), Pierce Brosnan, and Timothy Dalton. Cubby Broccoli was not sold on Neill. Brosnan was the star of an NBC series, Remington Steele, that was cancelled due to poor ratings. He was offered the role and news of that offer re-ignited interest in Remington Steele, causing NBC to renew Brosnan’s contract days before it expired. Broccoli withdrew his offer, refusing to cast someone synonymous with an active TV show. Once news of that hit, ratings for the new season of Remington Steele dropped dramatically and the series was cancelled after 10 episodes. In the meantime, Dalton was offered the role, having been considered many times before.
As for the film? It is probably the best Bond film since Goldfinger. Don’t be mislead: this isn’t quite as good as that film. But it is far better than any of Roger Moore’s films and even drags less than On Her Majesty’s Secret Service. It does drag a little bit in the middle, as the film meanders with a plot point dealing with opium and a Mujahideen in Afghanistan. But that only makes up 10-20 minutes of the 130 minutes and the film races to the climax shortly afterwards.
The film sets the tone right away by killing off Double-O agents in the pre-title sequence, which climaxes with a chase through cliffside streets, and ending with Dalton introducing himself with charm to a lonely woman on a yacht. This opening informs us that the hokiness of the Moore era is gone, that this era will be more thrilling and go back to taking the perils and missions more seriously while still adding the dose of charisma we expect from the title character.
This film also recasts Moneypenny as a late-twentysomething who actually does research to aid investigations. And it reunites Bond with the beloved Aston Martin, which hasn’t appeared since On Her Majesty’s Secret Service! This was actually John Barry’s last Bond score and he makes it a pulsing, driving score that embraced both the original theme and the film’s theme by A-ha. The Living Daylights was a more modern action film Bond entry and a statement of what people could expect (and mostly got) from now on.
The only failing in this film, aside from its Mujahideen distraction, is the villain played by Joe Don Baker. Baker does well with the part he’s given, as he’s a big actor with a big presence. But the part doesn’t add up to much. I think he has a total of 20 minutes of screen time and he’s basically a Cold War arms dealer and war enthusiast. He isn’t ultimately much of a threat to Bond and far less interesting than the likes of Blofeld, Scaramanga, or Goldfinger. But overall, The Living Daylights is an underrated and thrilling Bond film that doesn’t quite achieve greatness, but has far more strengths than weaknesses.
License to Kill (1989)
Dalton’s second film in the series is one that aspired to so much outside of its grasp. CIA buddy Felix Leiter gets married - and Bond is his Best Man. Shortly afterwards, a drug lord Leiter arrested gets free, kills Leiter’s bride and maims him via shark bites. The idea for the film was apparently for Bond to be so driven by his friendship to Leiter - and most especially by his past experience with a villain killing his own bride - that Bond would be willing to sacrifice his loyalty to MI6 in order to kill those responsible. Very little of that character motivation is conveyed well, as we never see Bond connect the dots between his and Leiter’s experiences or struggle with them. We’re left to take everything at face value that Bond is avenging Leiter and his bride.
There was also an inspiration in the script from Akira Kurosawa’s Yojimbo and an aim to have Bond destroy the villain methodically by sowing seeds of distrust of those around him and his organization. That sounds like a much more intelligent and crafty script than the blunt and bloody one we got. This is a film where characters get half-eaten by a shark, explosively decompresses, get chewed up by machinery, burn alive, and a woman is implied to be raped before murdered. This is a film that would give Max Zorin pause - and he mowed down dozens of innocent people with a semi-automatic. License to Kill is very grim and brutal even by today’s standards. It’s actually surprising that this wasn’t the franchise’s first R-rated film (it was its first PG-13 film).
While the film’s rating marks a first in the series this film would mark many lasts: it was the last film directed by John Glen, who directed every film since 1981’s For Your Eyes Only. It was the last to feature Robert Brown as M, a role he played since 1983’s Octopussy. It was Caroline Bliss’s last performance as Moneypenny. It was the last film co-written by Richard Maibaum, who worked on 13 of the 16 films. It was the last film with a title sequence designed by Maurice Binder, who designed every single one in the series. And it was the last film produced by Albert ‘Cubby’ Broccoli; his daughter Barbara would take over in a few years.
It’s also worth noting this film has one of the coolest Bond Girls up to this point: Pam Bouvier (Carey Lowell), an ex-military pilot and DEA informant who accompanies Bond on his personal mission. Bouvier is skilled in combat, intelligent, and knows how to use her looks to fool men. Bond patronizes her on more than one occasion, telling her she’d be safer staying put and she won’t have it. She falls for Bond, but her affections are never depicted as knee-buckling weakness. In fact, the film’s final moments with her are notable for being more romantic than the normal cheeky “kiss off” scenes of films’ past. Bouvier is one of the greatest Bond Girls so far. There’s also Lupe Lamora (Talisa Soto), the villain’s girlfriend. She’s fairly thinly written as a girl trapped in a bad situation, eager for Bond to help her get out. But what’s notable about her is she seduces Bond, which we don’t see often - it might even be the first time.
Let’s also take a moment to note the cast: in addition to Carey Lowell and Talisa Soto, there’s Robert Davi as the drug lord Franz Sanchez, modeled after Miguel Noriega. And Anthony Zerbe, Frank McRae, Anthony Starke, Wayne Newton, and young Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa and Benicio del Toro.
And Gladys Knight’s title theme is one of the most Bond themes of Bond themes!
Ultimately, License to Kill had aspirations that exceeded its grasp and it ended up being the most dour, least fun Bond film despite its strengths.
GoldenEye (1995)
Okay, so after License to Kill there was an actual licensing problem. Due to some sales and legal issues going on in the background the next Bond film was delayed. The original idea was to be released in 1991. There was a script, a commitment from Dalton, and a teaser poster at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. The basic intention was to finally set a Bond film in China. It didn’t work out due to issues that lasted until 1992 with MGM’s ownership. By 1993, Dalton said he wasn’t interested anymore and his contract expired. When a new script was written with a new concept and Dalton was approached again in 1993, he expressed interest in doing one more movie that combined the best elements of his other two films. However, the ailing Cubby Broccoli wanted Dalton to commit to 4 or so films, which Dalton was definitely not interested in doing. So, that’s why we only got Dalton for two films. He definitely was not considered a lame duck by the Broccolis.
So, all of this allowed the script to keep getting re-drafted and tooled around a bit. By this point all of Ian Fleming’s original material was mined. There were no more Bond novels to adapt, except the original, Casino Royale (we’ll get to that later). So, the writers eventually decided to integrate the name GoldenEye, which was the name of both Fleming’s Jamaica estate and a mission he went on during WWII. Meanwhile, even though the likes of Ralph Fiennes and Ralph McGann were considered to take over James Bond, it was really Pierce Brosnan the producers wanted. Everyone else were merely contingency plans.
As for the film itself, it’s important to point out that it had been 6 years since Dalton’s last outing. Also, the Cold War ended, which affected the politics of the series since the Soviet Union often played a role in the movies. So, it was important to prove the series and character still had relevancy and could be good. Also, since Moore’s movies were very different from Connery’s and Dalton’s was different from Moore’s, there was a curiosity about what Brosnan’s movies would look like.
Well, from the first 10 minutes - its pre-title sequence and title sequence - GoldenEye kicked down the doors and blew everything else out of the water. Until doing this project I never really understood how much of a game-changer GoldenEye was, how it met the bar set 30 years before by From Russia with Love and Goldfinger and exceeded it. GoldenEye is as perfect as a Bond film got up to this point. Any hint of chauvinism by Bond was shut down by the new M (Judi Dench) and Moneypenny (the serendipitously named Samantha Bond). The stunts in the prologue are still among the most amazing in the series. The title sequence by Daniel Kleinman leaps above every title sequence designed by the great Maurice Binder. The song by Tina Turner, Bono, and The Edge perfectly fits the mould of what a Bond theme should be and exceeds every previous theme song. Just about every character - 006, Xenia Onatopp, Boris, CIA agent Jack Wade, Bond Girl Natalya Simonova, the Russian gangster Zukovsky - is unforgettable. The Q Branch sequence is possibly the best in the series; you can tell Desmond Lleweyn was actually having fun.
There are far more characters and elements to appreciate in GoldenEye than most James Bond films. It exceeded expectations and still remains one of the greatest in the series to this day.
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
A media mogul who manipulates events so he creates the headlines plans to orchestrate World War III. This was the first film released after Cubby Broccoli died. And expectations were high after GoldenEye. The resulting film is actually quite good - often underrated - but did fail to live up to its predecessor.
It is actually surprising how good Tomorrow Never Dies is when you consider the resume of its director, Roger Spottiswoode. This is a man whose career is dominated by stinkers like Air America and Stop! Or My Mom Will Shoot. Spottiswoode is an odd second choice (Martin Campbell was asked to return, but declined) for the lucrative franchise, but it mostly worked out. Several of the action scenes are thrilling and the stunts are jaw-dropping, aided in large part by the Saigon scenes and Michelle Yeoh’s presence. There’s also some fun bits with a remote controlled BMW, one of the coolest cars in the series with an endless arsenal of features.
The film isn’t without its flaws. Jonathan Price’s villain is a bit over-the-top, as if the actor thought he was starring in a Roger Moore film. And the film narrowly misses prescience by focusing more on creating the news instead of the media being used to manipulate the public. The latter is mentioned in passing… if only the seven writers who took turns on the script had any idea of what was to come... Also, the henchman, Stamper, is so forgettable that I forgot about his existence prior to re-watching the film.
Teri Hatcher, 32, was one of the hottest actresses of the time - literally. She was actually voted as one of the sexiest women on TV by TV Guide. The same publication would name her as the most downloaded actress at that time. Her popularity came from her role as Lois Lane on ABC’s Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman. She beat out Sela Ward and Monica Bellucci to play the minor role of Bond’s ex and Carver’s wife. Her character has a bit of spunk and brings a touch of tenderness to Brosnan’s Bond, but otherwise has little development.
Michelle Yeoh, who was 35 at this point, is the real highlight here. She plays a Chinese spy who knows kung fu (viewers will recall Bond’s brush with martial arts in The Man with the Golden Gun). She acts as an excellent peer to Bond, literally working together (as in the motorcycle sequence) with Bond to take down Carver. Kung fu movies were popular in the mid-’90s thanks to the cross-over popularity of Jackie Chan and this is a trend taken advantage of to great affect here.
Overall, Tomorrow Never Dies is just above average, bettering several films in the series, but falling short of the best in the series. While it is a step down from GoldenEye, it’s mistaken as mediocre and highly underrated.
The World is Not Enough (1999)
In Brosnan’s third outing, there is a lot of focus on the oil market in eastern Europe and a terrorist who once kidnapped the daughter of a friend of M. This is a film that starts out fairly strong with a pre-title sequence that sets up the story and builds up the villain. It continues with another incredible title sequence by Daniel Kleinman with a title theme performed by Garbage, and continues with the investigation into the preceding events. It’s all very well done and very interesting. That is until Dr. Christmas Jones (Denise Richards) is introduced. I wish I could report a favorable reconsideration of the character and performance, but Richards delivers her lines as though she’s reading off of cue cards and the character is fairly poorly written in the first place. She’s not as frustrating as a handful of other Bond Girls, but she is certainly among the worst.
The film actually goes downhill gradually after Jones is introduced, ending with a couple of Christmas jokes that are so bad even Roger Moore would shake his head. Not all of the film’s issues can be laid at one character’s feet. Honestly, the prologue sets up Renard (Robert Carlyle) as a presence so formidable that even an assassin would rather kill herself than deal with him after being caught by MI6. The character never lives up to that setup. Robert Carlyle’s character is a good one - one of the better henchmen. But even Blofeld, with all of his silly moments, fits such a setup more than Renard. Let’s not get into the logistics of the bullet in Renard’s head, though.
Sophie Marceau, a French actress who has hardly done any work any American would have seen since this film, is excellent, serving as the franchise’s first true female villain, Elektra King. Her motivations make sense, her scheme isn’t incredibly outlandish, and she’s surprisingly vindictive. The bar isn’t set incredibly high for female villains here, so I’m curious if the series ever bests King.
It is a shame, though, that characters like King and Renard are wasted in a film that takes a nosedive almost as steep as the submarine in the film’s climax.
Die Another Day (2002)
Oh boy… so Brosnan’s era came to a close with this film, almost the exact opposite of GoldenEye in many ways. Bond is captured and tortured by the North Koreans. He is eventually released in exchange for the right-hand-man of a general’s son… for some reason. The rest of the movie has to do with diamonds, a billionaire somehow connected to the North Korean People’s Army, and referencing as many of the previous movies as possible. This was the 20th film in the series (we’re almost done!), the 40th anniversary of the series. Making references (half of which are in the Q Lab scene) was the choice made to celebrate the anniversary best. Too bad it wasn’t to make the best possible Bond film.
I wish I could give a favorable look back at this film released 20 years ago. But it is like taking the bonkers concepts of a Roger Moore movie, whittling away the whit, and adding as much CGI as possible. The villain, Gustav Graves (a.k.a. Colonel Tan-Sun Moon) is both bland and problematic. As is the henchman Tang Ling Zao. There’s a weird Asian-desire-to-be-white undercurrent going on here that is very disturbing, as the main villain’s plan involves becoming a rich white Brit who sells conflict diamonds in order to fund a giant space laser. And the henchman Zao undergoes a procedure that makes him look white. It’s very weird now and it was probably a little odd then. Needless to say, these are not great villains.
On top of that, this film goes full sci-fi: giant lasers from space being used to kill Bond specifically, invisible cars, Bond parasailing a tidal wave, Bond swimming with ease in arctic waters with only a shirt and pants on… I could go on. They went BIG here. And worst of all, it ended up being one of the most boring Bond films.
A couple of things are worth noting about this film: many directors were considered, including Tony Scott, John Woo, Brett Ratner, Stuart Baird, and Stephen Hopkins. The man who took the chair, Lee Tamahori, was no less than they’re seventh choice. By this point, Tamahori was best-known for the films The Edge and Along Came a Spider. Also, Halle Berry plays a CIA agent Jinx. It was strongly considered for Jinx to be the anchor of the first 007 spin-off movie. A director was hired. A script was written. Javier Bardem was cast in a role. But female-led action films were unproven, as far as studio heads were concerned. And the plug was pulled on the project. Honestly, while Jinx is much better than the other black female characters in the series, Berry provides some poor line deliveries and fails to steal the show. There’s something about Halle Berry in franchise films - X-Men, Catwoman, Bond - where she gives performances that are bad enough to make you question whether she was ever that good of an actress to begin with. She was pretty dope in John Wick 3, though.
Anyway, Rosamund Pike makes her film debut here at the age of 23. It would be another 12 years before she’d make an impact in Gone Girl. But she plays an assistant to Graves who is actually an MI6 agent (I don’t think she has 00 status) who is actually Graves’ assistant. She’s noticeable here, but the script really underserves the character.
So, there’s notable appearances in the film, but this is understandably one of the worst films in the series. It’s not a wonder Barbara Broccoli course-corrected so drastically four years later. This film serves as an unfortunate end, once again, for a lead’s tenure as James Bond.
The Ranking
GoldenEye
Tomorrow Never Dies
The Living Daylights
License to Kill
The World is Not Enough
Die Another Day
Timothy Dalton’s run was short, but course-corrected the franchise to a modern version of what the Sean Connery films established before. It’s unfortunate he didn’t get to do a third film, because we’re left with a balanced scale of strengths and weaknesses as is. As for Brosnan, his era started out stronger than anyone else in the franchise history. But his era was a steady slope downhill, going bigger and more over-the-top, ending in one of the worst films in the series. Both were excellent - and similar - versions of the character James Bond. But neither actors’ films failed to disappoint in some ways.
What are your thoughts? Comment below.
Next we’ll be taking a look at the Daniel Craig era, which took the series back to basics.