Face-Off: Pierce Brosnan 007 vs. Daniel Craig 007

Last Updated on August 3, 2021

Last week’s Face-Off column had the criminal Gecko brothers from Robert Rodriguez’s FROM DUSK TILL DAWN going at it with the Vega brothers from Quentin Tarantino’s RESERVOIR DOGS and PULP FICTION, and you pretty much all sided with the vampire-killing siblings from Rodriguez’s splatterfest.

This week, Pierce Brosnan grabs a gun to play a retired CIA operative in THE NOVEMBER MAN. How does Brosnan’s most famous role hold up against replacement spy Daniel Craig?

(Please note: Face Off is an opinion column. We’re not using any actual science to prove or disprove anything. It’s just for fun.)

MISSIONS

Stop a former 00 agent from using satellite EMP weapons to cover a plan to rob the Bank of England

Keep a megalomaniacal media kingpin from inciting a war for better headlines and ratings

Thwart an oil heiress’ plan to increase her company’s fuel prices by sabotaging a competing pipeline

Prevent a rogue North Korean military leader from using a satellite heat beam to destroy the North/South Korea DMZ

Earn license to kill

Bankrupt a terrorist by beating him at poker

Seek revenge for the murder of his lover

Stop the Quantum organization from seizing control of Bolivia’s water supply

Keep a rogue MI6 agent from exacting vengeance on the organization and M

VILLAINS

Alex Trevelyan (Sean Bean), a former MI6 agent turned leader of crime syndicate Janus

Xenia Onnatopp (Famke Janssen), Trevelyan’s sadistic henchwoman known for her viselike thighs

Elliot Carver (Jonathan Pryce), a media mogul trying to instigate World War III

Mr. Stamper (Gotz Otto), Carver’s muscular German henchman

Renard (Robert Carlyle), a pain-impervious former KGB agent turned terrorist

Elektra King (Sophie Marceau), an oil baroness scheming to increase global fuel costs

Zao (Rick Yune), a North Korean terrorist with diamonds stuck in his face

Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens), a cocky British entrepreneur who is actually rogue North Korean colonel Moon (Will Yun Lee) after a face-change process

Le Chiffre (Mads Mikkelsen), a blood-weeping banker, gambler and terrorism financier

Mr. White (Jesper Christensen), leader of criminal organization Quantum

Dominic Greene (Mathieu Amalric), a high-ranking member of Quantum

General Medrano (Joaquin Cosio), an exiled Bolivian military commander involved with Quantum

Raoul Silva (Javier Bardem), a ruthless ex-MI6 agent turned terrorist

Dame Judi Dench

Dame Judi Dench, followed by Ralph Fiennes

Desmond Llewelyn, the original movie Q (with John Cleese as his successor R)

Ben Whishaw

GADGETS

Grappling-hook belt, grenade pen, laser-cutter/detonator wristwatch, digital binoculars, explosive cigarette lighter, mobile phone with stun-gun/lockpick/scanner/vehicle remote control, X-ray glasses, credit card lockpick, grappling-hook wristwatch, miniature rebreather

Tracking device, glove compartment defibrillator, high-end mobile phone with MI6 mainframe connection, Walther PPK with palm-scanner ID security

‘BOND BABES’

Izabella Scorupco, Michelle Yeoh, Teri Hatcher, Denise Richards, Serena Scott Thomas, Halle Berry, Rosamund Pike

Eva Green, Caterina Murino, Olga Kurylenko, Gemma Arterton, Naomie Harris, Berenice Marlohe

EXOTIC LOCATIONS

Monte Carlo

Saint Petersburg, Russia

Havana, Cuba

Hamburg, Germany

Istanbul, Turkey

an ice hotel in Iceland (of course)

Madagascar

Montenegro

Venice, Italy

Bregenz, Austria

an exploding hotel in the middle of the Bolivian desert

Istanbul, Turkey

Shanghai, China

Macau

the Bond family estate in Scotland

TORTURE ENDURED

Squeezed between the legs of Famke Janssen

Scrotum whipped by Mads Mikkelsen

DIRECTORS

Martin Campbell (GOLDENEYE)

Roger Spottiswoode (TOMORROW NEVER DIES)

Michael Apted (THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH)

Lee Tamahori (DIE ANOTHER DAY)

Martin Campbell (CASINO ROYALE)

Marc Forster (QUANTUM OF SOLACE)

Sam Mendes (SKYFALL)

THEME SONGS

“Goldeneye” by Tina Turner

“Tomorrow Never Dies” by Sheryl Crow

“The World Is Not Enough” by Garbage

“Die Another Day” by Madonna

“You Know My Name” by Chris Cornell

“Another Way to Die” by Jack White & Alicia Keys

“Skyfall” by Adele

BOX OFFICE

$1.47 billion worldwide

$2.29 billion worldwide ($1.1 billion just from SKYFALL)

DANIEL CRAIG

A close call! It certainly seemed like Brosnan was practically born to play Bond, but after GOLDENEYE his movies increasingly felt more like Roger Moore-era fluff, with a high concentration of cheesy one-liners and preposterous situations. Still, aside from Bardem’s magnetic SKYFALL psychopath, Brosnan’s broad baddies are a bit more memorable. But Craig’s Bond movies ditched the improbable gadgetry and over-the-top plots for slightly more realism, and replaced Brosnan’s effortless charisma with a more rugged physicality, relaunching the 007 series (again by director Martin Campbell) in a different and wildly profitable direction.

Agree? Disagree? Which do you prefer?

POST YOUR CHOICE BELOW!