James Bond Ultimate Pierce Brosnan - Goldeneye/Tomorrow Never Dies/The World Is Not Enough/Die Another Day (Box Set) (DVD)

...after the last Bond film, James Bond returned in Bond 17.

----The Films----

GoldenEye (1995)

This was the first vehicle that Brosnan appeared in and for me this is probably the better out the four films he made. It is moody, dramatic and will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Although in some places it does step up toi the line of unbelievable it does not cross it to the extent that ...
...story starts with a flashback in the impressive pre-title sequence with the plot revolving around rouge agent 006 who steals the GoldenEye weapon with the intent of wiping out the Bank of England and all computer records in the City Of London. The weapon itself explodes a nuclear bomb in space and uses the electro magnetic pulse to wipe out anything below within a 30 mile radius, effectively eliminating the use of all electrical equipment.
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Hello and welcome to my 13th review.

When the legal wrangling between Sony and Eon was settled in 1994, it was possible to once again move forward with production of a new Bond film, the first since 1989's Licence to Kill.

The first thing to do was to get a Bond, so the reigning Bond at the time, Timothy Dalton was approached to see if he would participate. Surprisingly he declined the role and resigned as Bond stating that it was 5 years since his last film and the audiences may not accept him as Bond after this time.

A new Bond had to be found, enter Pierce Brosnan. He accepted the role after Roger Moore's departure in 1985, but couldn't take the role due to a contractual commitment in the Remington Steele TV series. It is not often that any Bond actor gets a second chance top play the lead role, so he accepted and made a total of 4 films which are all included in this box set. Six years after the last Bond film, James Bond returned in Bond 17.

----The Films----

GoldenEye (1995)

This was the first vehicle that Brosnan appeared in and for me this is probably the better out the four films he made. It is moody, dramatic and will have you on the edge of your seat from beginning to end. Although in some places it does step up toi the line of unbelievable it does not cross it to the extent that a film like Charlie's Angels did.

The story starts with a flashback in the impressive pre-title sequence with the plot revolving around rouge agent 006 who steals the GoldenEye weapon with the intent of wiping out the Bank of England and all computer records in the City Of London. The weapon itself explodes a nuclear bomb in space and uses the electro magnetic pulse to wipe out anything below within a 30 mile radius, effectively eliminating the use of all electrical equipment.

The cast is made up of multi national actors, Sean Bean as 006, Joe Don Baker making his second appearance in Bond as another character. He was seen previously as the main villain in The Living Daylights. X-Men star Famke Jansen as the homicidal Xenia Onatopp (!!!) as well as Alan Cummings as Boris and the brilliant Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Zukovsky, someone that Bond has met before in the past.

The main Bond girl is played by Isabella Scorupco, she play Natalya Simonova, an analyst who gets caught up in the mystery and teams with Bond. She plays the part on a whole new level as a Bond girl that can take care of herself and also backs Bond up instead of the usual Penelope Pitstop "Help! Help!" type. A is a welcome addition and nice touch is that you get to see Bill Tanner, a character used from the novels, on screen.

As this is a new style of Bond film due to the end of the cold war with the fall of the Berlin Wall. To reflect reality there is a new M and the new M is a women. Dame Judy Dench plays the part of M in a new and fresh way which has never been seen before. She faces off Bond in a great scene where Bond is effectively told off by his boss. Also Desmond Llewellyn looks well as Q in a great scene with Bond, which has a healthy amount of humour. As with M a new Moneypenny has been cast and is played by Samantha Bond who verbally is a match for Bond and fills the role very well. Having a rogue agent as a villain in a Bond film that knows every thing that Bond does is a dark twist, and Sean Bean plays the role well and gives Bond a good run for his money. The character depth is bought out on the screen, and he goes well with Xenia Onataopp who quite literally get s a thrill from what she does as shown in the sauna scene and earlier in the Severnaya Station.

Martin Campbell directs this film with a lot of energy and it pays off as the pace is good and the running time off just over 2 hours is just right at times you hear Bond out of breath and this just adds to it and shows what Bond is up against.

On the whole this is what a Bond film should be, good fun and enjoyable. The story can be followed and there are a number of twists that take place in the story. Great sequences such as the tank chase. The DB5 is also used at the beginning when Bond is under assessment, but later drives a BMW, which is severely under used.

This is Bond with a makeover and one new approach was the soundtrack, Eric Senna used synthesiser in the early parts of the film, which is instantly forgettable, there are moments in the second half that we hear glorious full orchestration.

The main song is performed by Tina Turner.
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Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

After the success of GoldenEye, Brosnan's second outing went bigger. From the opening pre-title sequence featuring Dench's on screen partner of Geoffrey Palmer as Admiral Roebuck to the climatic fight with the main villain, this one is a non stop roller caster ride that doesn't allow you to catch your breath.

The plot involves media baron Elliot Carver, an egotistical media baron. Carver has the ability to reach every person on the planet through his Carver Media Group Network, with the exception of the Chinese who refuse his presence in their country. When he is named by MI6 as being involved in the disappearance of a British Naval battleship in the South China Sea, Bond is sent to investigate.

Bond meets Wai Lin, a member of the China Secret Service and with Wai Lin's help, soon starts to uncover a plot that goes all the way back to a mission on the Russian-Kazakh Boarder, and will start a war only to feed the fire that is Carver's ego.

As with GoldenEye the cast in this film is strong. Again Dench , Llewellyn and Samatha Bond reprise there roles of M, Q and Moneypenny respectively.

Martial arts star Michelle Yeoh makes an absolute blinding Bond girl who is effectively a female counterpart of Bond and is able to escape Bond's charm until the end of the film as well as having her own scene in which she displays her amazing martial skills . Jonathan Pryce as the main villain and plays the role totally over the top. This is something that we have not seen in a Bond film for a while as a villain going for world domination. His wife is played by Desperate Housewife's star Terri Hatcher. The character she plays of Paris Carver is an old flame of Bond as she shows how she felt about his sudden departure when she slaps him, this blows Bonds cover. M also shows her support Team in the opening scenes, characters such as Charles Robinson played by Colin Salmon work well as this is a fresh addition.

Tomorrow Never Dies is bigger than the previous film. But that is not necessarily a good thing as this film has a number of flaws, Brosnan bulked up for the role and doesn't look comfortable in a tux. It also feels as if the story goes from one action set piece to another constantly and this can become a little tiresome. There is also far too much product placement in this film as well, something the Brosnan Bond's became known for, this is also when the remote control BMW is introduced as well.

One interesting fact is that Bond also changes his weapon of choice from a Walther PPK to a Walther P99 I this film.

There were a number of production issues on set which can be seen in some of the dialogue as it does seem rushed and not as polished as GoldenEye. Direction by Roger Spottiswood is quick and changes angles quite quickly in some places but certainly delivers on the more kinetic scenes such as the BMW bike chase and the battle on the stealth ship. I especially liked the scenes set onboard the Royal Navy ships as well as this added to the suspense and turned the situation that Bond and Wai-Lin were in from an assassination to an escape. Bond does an Arnold towards the end in a Cowboy style and shoots all the bad guys while walking the ship to get to Carver. The Bond theme is blaring out while he does this.

David Arnold wrote the soundtrack and this is a revisit to earlier Bond films with a 60's feel such as the Bond theme played when Bond make his first appearance. This felt fresh and elevated important moments of the film.

The main song is sung by Cheryl Crow with the far better song sang over the end titles by KD Lang.
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The World Is Not Enough (1999)

I had the privilege of seeing this at the Odeon Leicester Square and to be honest this film disappointed me a little as I felt the story and direction was flat compared to the two previous films, but since watching it again on DVD the film has grown on me.

Robert King, a British Oil tycoon, was assassinated whist inside MI6 by a bomb, Bond is sent to protect his daughter Elektra King from outside terrorist forces so that the completion of a trans Europe oil pipeline can be completed. Bond senses that something doesn't seem right and investigates further.

The Bond girl is Electra King played by Sophie Marceau; she displays a strong presence on screen and gets to be one of the few Bond girls who is loved by then gets to torture Bond. Throughout the film you learn that she escaped from a kidnap plot, she changes character through the film and you really do begin to dislike her by the end of the film.

The main villain is played by Robert Carlisle has no sense of touch at all across his body and is unable to feel pain. He is slowly dying due to a bullet moving through his brain which has caused this loss of sensation. He is played well and is always there in the story and not necessarily visible.

Brosnan looks comfortable in the role of Bond, and is backed up by the Team of Q, M and Moneypenny. It is the casting of R played by John Cleese and Denise Richards that really lets this film down. When introduced Cleese comes in at full speed and is a little arrogant while Richards who plays Christmas Jones is far too young to be a nuclear scientist, she looks about 18 and does not have any chemistry at all with Brosnan. It does not work. Robbie Coltrane is back as Zukovsky, and it is not clear as to which side he is playing for until nearer the end of the film as a member of his Team called Bull, played by Goldie, is discovered to be a mole working for Renard.

The pre-title sequence is one of the best in the series. It starts out in Bilbao, Spain and finishes with a boat chase down the Thames to the Millennium Dome in Greenwich. This sequence sets the pace for the rest of the film. You do see Bond in more predicaments than usual, especially the scene where he hesitates to kill in cold blood and the fact that he is taken off the active list due to injuries he received when landing on the Dome. There are a number of twists in the story with the final battle taking place in a submarine, you do get a feel of claustrophobia and I think that was a good decision based on the previous villain climaxes of the previous films. On thing that is noticeable is that there are different things being added to the story in this film, Bond doubting himself, M being kidnapped. It is also the first time since 1985 that we see Bond ski when inspecting the pipeline with Electra that leads into a very good sequence. There is more character depth than seen before.

This was also Desmond Llewellyn's last film before his death; John Cleese would be promoted and take the role of Q in the next film.

Director of the film was Michael Apted and to be honest I though the direction was stylishly done for the film. It is the simplicity of his direction that creates the ambience and you do get the full picture as to what is happening.

The music is once again written by David Arnold and does the job adequately if a little quiet around some scenes. The Title song is sung by Garbage.

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Die Another Day (2002)

This was the 20th Bond film and was Brosnan's last. The film was released as part of the 40th Anniversary of the Bond films.

After being incarcerated and tortured while on a mission in North Korea, Bond is traded for a psychotic terrorist and released back to the custody of M16, only to be accused of giving information. Bond escapes and goes after Zao, a deranged terrorist who knows who betrayed Bond to the North Koreans.
Bond then teams up with Jinx and together they make discoveries of how a British millionaire is linked into the plot to start a war between North and South Korea.

The cast is led by Brosnan with the usual M, Moneypenny and now john Cleese as R.
The supporting cast is made up of Toby Stephens who plays the main villain of Gustave Graves, Halle Berry as Jinx and Rosamund Pike who plays Miranda Frost.
Although all these are strong on screen, you do get the impression that the focus is bigger and better than before and although an enjoyable film this does let the film down.

There are some great Bond moments in the film, strangely all in the first hour. Bond gets captured and is tortured, you see Bond with long hair and beard. He has been held for 14 months. Bond goes rogue and after being given back to the British, escapes from the Navy ship in Hong King Harbour and swims ashore. For me the best scene was Bond walking into a five star hotel after the swim ashore in soaking wet pyjamas, and asking for his usual room. This was typical Bond. Brilliant!!
The scene in Blades is also a stand out moment as Bond and Graves battle in a sword fight around the building; it is after this scene that the film seems to go up a gear even further.

There are a number of down points with the film. The story is so big that some of it is not believable, most notably the Aston Martin Vanquish which can turn invisible. For me this does not work at all and is far fetched as is using the holodeck for target practice. Too Star Trek, this is the 21st century and not the 25th. The product placement has gone through the roof on this one and is far too easy to notice where these are in the film.

The CGI in the film is also questionable to say the least, especially around the jet car sequence where Bond parascends over the lake with the tidal wave behind him using the chute from the car. The back screening looked weak and the shot of the jet car going over the cliff looked downright amateurish.

As it is the 40th anniversary there is a nod to previous Bond films throughout the series and the most obvious one is in Q room in the disused underground station. The Acrostar Jet from Octopussy and the poisoned tip shoe used in From Russia with Love as well as the jetpack from Thunderball can all be seen.

Director Lee Tamahori delivers a lively film with a lot happening, throughout the film some of the angles that the shot is taken from is different to what would be expected and this works as the suspense is maintained throughout the scene.

There are some tweaks which have not been tried before; the opening gun barrel has been changed to have a bullet coming towards the screen from Bond and the opening titles continue the story of Bond being tortured. A very good example is the battle of the gadget cars on the ice lake, The Vanquish versus the Jaguar. The stewardess on the BA plane was actually Roger Moore's daughter. It was also interesting to see that Bond was held captive for 14 months as this means that he was not around when the World Trades Centre tragedy happened. A similar thing was done with Superman Returns.

Music is by David Arnold who is now in his stride with the soundtrack, interesting to note that on Bond's return journey to Britain that the song London Calling by The Clash is played. Nice touch.

The main song is sung by Madonna, she also has a small part of Verity in the Blades scene.

----Overall----

Four enjoyable films that are all slightly different in flavour. My preference is GoldenEye as this was the first film which I thought was the better one out of the four due to the originality that was bought in. That is not to say that the other three aren't good. They are, but as you watch these in order you can see the evolution of the films and the inclusion of CGI that took place to make the next one bigger and better than the previous one.

This reached a peak with Brosnan's last film to the extent that the next film after Die Another Day had to be grounded. Which was precisely what was done with the story in Casino Royale.

Cover art shows Brosnan in full tux in a classic Bond pose in a sepia colour.

----Extras----

The extras on the discs are nothing short of superb, documentaries, trailers, news clips and even some stuff that never got a Region 1 release. The highlight being on the Die Another Day disc a documentary called From Script to Screen. This shows the process that writers Neil Purvis and Robert Wade went through to get the script to the screen and the part they played throughout shooting. A unique extra that is 90 minutes in length.

To give some idea of the depth these extras go to, the Tomorrow Never Dies contains a featurette about the making of the Teaser Trailer, it is also nice to point out that the relevant music videos have been included on all discs. Every disc apart from Die Another Day has a range of expanded, deleted and alternate scenes available to view.

As these are the second time these have been issued on DVD the opportunity to buff up the extras has been grabbed with both hands as you now get additional commentaries by the stunt co-ordinators, directors and producers which were not on the first release. Roughly each discs come with 9 hours of extras. A tribute to Q is also included as this series was originally released around the time of Desmond Llewellyn's death.

All soundtracks are in a Dolby 5.1 format and have been remastered for superior visual quality.

---- Value for money----

Yes, it is. If you bought the Sean Connery box set which I also reviewed then this is a must buy, if you just like Pierce Brosnan then this is also worth buying. As part of the Bond legacy then this is an important part of the Bond series as this is the actor that helped rejuvenate a franchise for a new audience.

What you get for your money is 8 discs of pure indulgence and what every fan of Bond loves to watch.

Until next time…. Enjoy!!!

 

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