Pierce Brosnan’s final outing as Bond will definitely draw a line in the sand with its fans; there will be those that hate it and those that love it. I’m of the latter crowd as the film has one hell of a good time, not seen since “TND.” Adopting the kitchen sink mentality, the mission to entertain becomes an aggressive one as this film celebrates Bonds 40th birthday and 20th film that feels like at least three past Bond adventures and props from some of the earliest Bonds films do make a cameo, the attaché` from “From Russia with Love,” the jet pack from “Thunderball” and the watch from “Moonraker.” The film begins with a provocative premise: 007 is captured during a mission to North Korea, then tortured and imprisoned for 14 months before being traded to the West in a prisoner exchange. His quest for revenge, which is initially not sanctioned by M (Judi Dench), takes him to Havana, where he meets an American secret agent named Jinx (Halle Berry). Both soon learn they are after the same person, but possibly for different reasons. Bond is pursuing a sadist named Zao (Rick Yune), and the trail leads to Iceland and the ice palace estate of billionaire Gustav Graves (Toby Stephens). To get closer to Graves, Bond tries poking his assistant, Miranda Frost (Rosamund Pike), but learns that she definitely lives up to her name, Frost. Graves' goal has something to do with world domination, and the tool he intends to use is a giant space-based weapon that only he controls and no one can stop. As if to make up for the mostly lazy action in the previous installment, we get some excellent action, an exciting sword melee between Bond and Graves begins as a friendly competition and turns into a nasty personal grudge match. A fun chase with a hover craft and a clever chase on the ice makes use of Bond’s BMW’s ejector seat; no it doesn’t throw anyone out of the car. Brosnan is still compelling in the role and can usually pull his weight, plus a shitty Bond girl when he gets one and although she’s not as wretched as Denise Richards, Halle Barry is terrible as American agent, Jinx, woefully miscast, the two have no chemistry and she sticks out like a turd in punch bowl and utters her awful lines like one of the Jive-talkers in “Airplane.” If you know that going in, she’s not nearly as obnoxious, but who cares, no one goes to Bond picture for deep, character pontification; babes, explosions and action all over the place is what we want to see and this delivers. Thankfully she’s the only weak element of the film- the villains all kick ass and take a reasonable amount of names. Gustav Graves makes for an excellent villain, he’s cultured and thoroughly insane- but looks damn good in a tux. His henchmen Zao, is a colorful character, injured during Bond’s escape from North Korea by having a case of diamonds explode in his face; embedding themselves in his flesh, giving him a cold, steely, pissed off looked. Way better than Renard and just as menacing as Stamper from “TND” “M”, “R” and Moneypenny all have some memorable bits, this being R’s first solo film as gadget master and Moneypenny has the most fun as she and Bond consummate their forever flirtation in a clever way. Unlike the previous Director, LeeTamohori is skilled, the tension is kept up and the action is choreographed in inventive ways, especially the fencing melee with Bond and billionaire bad boy- perhaps too inventive as some of the gags push the envelope- the laser thingy from space being the prime example, but again, this is Bond, not a documentary on the British Secret Service. I have a hard time slamming any film as long as its good- it’s pointless; its goofiness is unhidden and worn like a badge of honor. Either you like this sort of thing or you don’t- I do, I loved it in fact. It took me back instantly to those Sunday nights, long before home video when I was first introduced to Bond watching them with my Dad on “The ABC Sunday Night Movie.” The film is tinged with some nostalgia as it was the last film for Pierce Brosnan as 007. A decent run, although I would have liked to have seen him match Sir Sean Connery in six films, but quality is better than quantity, three excellent ones, one mediocre with Brosnan going out on top, dignity intact; a feat none of his predecessors can honestly boast. Maybe Lazenby since his solo effort is now consistently praised, but his behavior after the film was complete flushed his career down the drain.
Brosnan can be partly credited for two very important accomplishments; he brought the franchise back from the dead; "Goldeneye:" was the first Bond in six years that became an enourmous hit and he left the role while he was still highly popular and believeable in the role. Most importantly he didn’t become a bitter, cranky old fart like Connery, who with forty years behind him, ("Never Say Never Again" does not count) is still a resentful ass.