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.)
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
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
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
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
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
Squeezed between the legs of Famke Janssen
Scrotum whipped by Mads Mikkelsen
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)
“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
$1.47 billion worldwide
$2.29 billion worldwide ($1.1 billion just from SKYFALL)
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!