This era is the Bond I'm most familiar with. I was a teenager when Brosnan started in the role and I think he was a fantastic casting - and seeing this after all these years only proves that.

All those years on TV mean he is masterful at using his facial mannerisms, glances, slight posture changes to make an impact... A fine actor.

At the darker side of Bond's nature, he is fantastic. He is extremely elegant but there is a believability to his nastiness - after all, take away the martinis and casino games, he is just a government assassin is he not?

And what about the female castings of Teri Hatcher (the best Lois Lane we've ever had) and Michelle Yu (his equal or his superior?) Inspired and extremely compelling, they add so much to the usual disposable casts we have become used to.

The casting of Jonathan Price however is unforgiveable. He's dreadfully overacting - chewing up the scenery like he's in an episode of Blackadder. And the director deserved to never work again when he allowed Price to clatter on a keyboard like a drummer pounds the skins. Ridiculous - and in the world of the Bond megalomaniac, that's saying something.

The stunts are good. The plot is interesting, though of its time - it feels a little naive now. And the opening has a real menace and tension to it.

However, it is infuriating that after the debut of a harsher, leaner, more modern Bond that we get an almost immediate desire to bring in so many of the overly comedic Moore tropisms... Brosnan can deliver a line for sure but it is unnecessary and weighs down the flow of what is quite a brisk film.

Without the stupidity and fixing the casting of Price, this would likely be the best Bond of all time. As it stands with its flaws, it is better than Goldeneye because it is fleshed out with a higher budget - sadly it is at the expense of its brutality.

A special shout out to the awful electronic impulses of David Arnold and his music. He does more harm than good though not as bad as Bill Conti's effort that one time!


8/10