Pierce Brosnan - Action Hero

 

Now that James Bond is far behind him it would be nice to see Pierce Brosnan do another action blockbuster - something like Sean Connery’s The Rock - and project a darker and more mature take on his old Bond persona. He may be too old to be Bond again but not an action hero. If Sean Connery can play action heroes in his fifties and beyond then so can Pierce. Plus, there are plenty of actors around his age or older who are still doing action roles. Liam Neeson, Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta…..you name them. Heck, even Tommy Lee Jones is still doing action roles, and Men In Black III is on its way for a 2012 release. It’s been 8 years since he has done an action blockbuster (Die Another Day) and it would be fun if Brosnan did another - aside from the more character driven parts he is currently picking up. This wouldn’t be the first time Brosnan showcased his darker side in a non-Bond movie. These examples include Taffin, The Fourth Protocol, The Tailor of Panama, The Matador, and Seraphim Falls. There has been news just recently that Brosnan is trying to break away from the Bond shadow. It’s good that Brosnan is having a successful post-Bond career but it would be nice to see him continue where he left off from 007 - not as Bond but as an action hero. He has been praised for displaying hidden depths in recent films so could maybe bring something new again if cast as the lead in another escapist film.

This would show that Brosnan could have handled a more serious Bond adventure than the ones EON saddled him with. It is interesting to note that other Bond actors showed different sides to themselves while they were still Bond. Roger Moore showed he could play tougher than usual in The Wild Geese and Timothy Dalton showed he could be funny in The Rocketeer. Brosnan proved he could be more cold and ruthless onscreen as a Soviet Agent in the 1987 film The Fourth Protocol but his Bond scripts were often uneven, poorly written and prone to double entendres. Out of Brosnan's four Bonds, GoldenEye was the only classic Bond he did and that's a shame. Not only that, it was also his last great smash-hit blockbuster (especially from an action genre), and I think it’s unfair and injustice just to leave it like that. Another action blockbuster could prove doubters who say he couldn't have been a serious and gritty Bond wrong. 

A lot of people I talk to said that he should do The Thomas Crown Affair sequel (which won't be an action blockbuster but rather another hit from him). I was like, “WHAT? THAT’S IT? THAT’S ALL THEY COULD THINK OF?” It seems to me that they did not put enough faith into Pierce. As much I want this movie to be made - I think he can do better, and I see the Thomas Crown sequel more a drama movie than an action movie. Even if the Thomas Crown 2 is made into an action movie, I prefer to see him in something more original He deserves an action blockbuster that would blow GoldenEye out of the water in terms of both reviews and box office returns, especially in the US (where Pierce first gained his popularity through Remington Steele). Imagine if he stars in one of Quentin Tarantino’s future projects. How cool would that be? 

The two know each other well and both said they once shared a boozy night discussing the possibility of making Casino Royale together. "Someday I'm going to get the rights to do Casino Royale, the first James Bond novel," said Tarantino several years ago. "And do it the right way. I really wanted it to be my follow up to 'Pulp Fiction' and do it with Pierce Brosnan, but have it take place after the events of 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service' - after Bond's wife, Tracy, has been killed. I want Bond to be in mourning when he falls in love with Vesper Lynd, the woman in the novel. From what I know of Brosnan and read in interviews, I think he'd want to go in the direction I'd want to take Bond, though I'm not certain producers of the series would agree."

"The reason they (EON) did Casino Royale all comes down to me," Tarantino later said after the film had been made with Martin Campbell and Daniel Craig instead. "I made it a point, I said I wanted to do Casino Royale. They were already on record as saying the movie was unfilmable but then after I said it and talked about it for a little bit, then the big thing on all the internets was that that was what all the fans wanted to see and so that’s when they said - Oh, maybe it’s not so un-filmable. Actually if I had done the film, I wouldn’t have done it with Daniel Craig, I would have done it with Pierce Brosnan." With a few adjustments Brosnan could have made Casino Royale but when they announced it would feature a much younger than usual Bond at the start of his career then he no longer qualified - although it has be said neither did Daniel Craig really. It seems that Brosnan was particularly disappointed not to get a chance at doing Casino Royale and had wanted to venture in this direction for a very long time.

"Now fans of Connery say he was all muscle, while those that support Moore preferred his wit," said a blog on the subject of James Bond in 2008. "The perfect blend of each man's best qualities? That would yield Pierce Brosnan. He has it all -- keeping his enemies at bay with a punch or a witty retort. He's tough and cocky like Connery; super suave and debonair like Moore." But in my opinion he was more like Connery than Moore. Plus, he added a sensitive side to role which is particularly evident in The World Is Not Enough where he comforts Elektra. When he was Bond, Pierce Brosnan was arguably considered to be the best and most popular 007 since Sean Connery, until 2004 that is when he was given the boot by EON and suddenly bashed by fickle fans.

Stories about him returning still floated around well into 2005 though. It's a pity that an unofficial Kevin McClory style venture wasn't possible to give Brosnan a more fitting swansong because he really deserved better. Another action blockbuster in the vein of The Rock could at least give us a taste of what might have been. A non-Bond action blockbuster would allow Brosnan to escape from his Bond shadow. We seen a lot of him in comedy and drama roles recently but it would be nice to see him venture back into the action movie realm. It would be even better if Brosnan, after the Casino Royale project that never was, starred in one of Tarantino's upcoming projects.

Being the best and most popular 007 since Sean, one known blockbuster action role (James Bond) and especially one classic action movie (GoldenEye) from Pierce are not enough. He deserves the best action blockbuster since GoldenEye and one that will outmatch his first Bond movie.


- Daniel 

HOME

FORUM