Where in the world is James Bond? It’s been over four years since Daniel Craig tearfully bid farewell to 007 in 2021’s “No Time to Die,” where his character did in fact pass away. Since “No Time to Die,” the James Bond franchise has spent years in disarray due to a rumored power struggle between the Broccoli family, Bond’s longtime producers, and Amazon, the new studio home for the iconic espionage franchise.
After years of uncertainty, 2025 provided some clarity for the future. Amazon MGM Studios now has full creative control going forward. Denis Villeneuve, the architect of Legendary’s “Dune” franchise, will direct the next James Bond, with David Heyman and Amy Pascal attached as producers. The search for the next James Bond is underway, with a decision likely coming in 2026.
This isn’t the first time that doubt surrounded the future of the Bond franchise. Bond needed a makeover after 1989’s “License to Kill." The ensuing legal disputes and contract squabbles led to significant delays, culminating in Timothy Dalton’s exit as Bond. Needing a new actor, Eon cast Pierce Brosnan as 007 in 1995’s “GoldenEye.” Good things come to those who wait, as “GoldenEye” became the film that inspired a new generation of Bond fans.
Pierce Brosnan embodied James Bond to a T
Brosnan was born to play James Bond. Well, maybe he wasn’t born to play 007 because the character first debuted in Ian Fleming’s “Casino Royale” in April of 1953, one month before Brosnan’s birth. If Brosnan wasn’t born to play the role, he at least had a dress rehearsal as the titular detective on NBC’s “Remington Steele.” Albert Broccoli saw Brosnan on the NBC show and wanted him to replace Roger Moore in 1986. Brosnan couldn’t get out of his contract, so Dalton played Bond instead for two movies to close out the ‘80s.
In 1994, Brosnan wasn’t letting any contract get in the way of him becoming the world’s most famous secret agent. First of all, Brosnan is as handsome as they come. With dark hair and blue eyes, how could you not fall in love with Bond? I actually ran into Brosnan this past summer while working a junket for “Thursday Murder Club," and his elegance and charm are still distracting at 72.
Backed by these physical traits, Brosnan absolutely looks like an actor who should play Bond. He was destined to wear impeccable tuxedos and drink martinis shaken, not stirred. Brosnan is not as jacked as Daniel Craig, who became the first Bond to participate in “bulking season” for “Casino Royale." But Brosnan was no pipsqueak. He wouldn’t win a bodybuilding contest, but Brosnan had a tall, athletic build suitable for a character who punches, kicks, and sprints.
Brosnan’s confidence jumped off the screen. His line readings are charismatic, persuasive, and believable. From a test dummy eruption (“The writing is on the wall.”) and Xenia Onatopp’s (Famke Janssen) demise (“She always did enjoy a good squeeze.”) to the post-train explosion (“Standard operating procedure. Boys with toys.”) and the pen-grenade (“They always said the pen was mightier than the sword.”), Brosnan chews up every single one-liner, knowing exactly when to pause and smirk during the punchline.
Brosnan is not all jokes, though. Though not as gritty as Sean Connery or Craig, Brosnan's Bond is revealed to be an orphan, and his conversation with Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) about why he kills ("It's what keeps me alive.") highlights the character’s darker, more conflicted side. It’s this balance between womanizer and loner that made Brosnan such an effective Bond.
Finding the balance between reasonable and absurd
When describing the plot of “GoldenEye,” “realistic” is unlikely to be found on the first page of adjectives. That’s OK; it’s an espionage movie about a fictional spy. Not every detail has to be accurate. In “GoldenEye,” Bond faces off against Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), a former agent-turned-terrorist who attempts to control “GoldenEye,” an electromagnetic satellite developed by the Soviet Union that, when used as a weapon, can decimate an economy.
It’s a classic plot — a guy betrays his friend for monetary reasons. Throw in some memorable henchmen — Onatopp and hacker Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) — and Trevelyan is your classic Bond villain. Stopping a jaded former agent from taking over the world and making a lot of money in the process is a reasonable plot that I can get behind.
It’s important to remember that James Bond is an imagined character, and “GoldenEye” is a work of fiction. You’d be surprised by how many audience members take things too seriously and try to poke holes in a plot that never happened in real life. It’s a fun action movie with some unrealistic sequences and cheeky dialogue.
That being said, there are several ridiculous scenes in “GoldenEye” that will even make the most diehard Bond fans raise their eyebrows and say, “OK, that’s a bit much.” In the opening scene, Bond rides a motorcycle off a cliff, falls hundreds of feet in the air, dives into a diving plane, and successfully flies it away before the chemical weapon plant explodes. Bond also drives a tank through the streets of Saint Petersburg. Cool scenes? Absolutely. Is it a little ludicrous? You bet.
Yet the most ridiculous aspect of “GoldenEye” is how many explosions Natalya Simonova escapes. For a Bond Girl, Simonova constantly found herself running away from fiery eruptions and diving to safety. Simonova escaped the Severnaya lab, the missile train, and the Cuban lab without a scratch. Even Ethan Hunt watches those scenes and calls BS.
'GoldenEye' laid the groundwork for Bond’s future
The previous Bond movie, “License to Kill,” drew some criticism for being an edgier and darker Bond. Plus, it only grossed $34 million in the United States, one of the lowest domestic totals for a Bond film. The Bond franchise needed direction in the early ‘90s.
For the first of two times in his career, director Martin Campbell, who also helmed “Casino Royale,” helped usher in a new era of Bond. “GoldenEye” was not based on storylines in Ian Fleming’s novels. For the first time, 007 was a spy living in a post-Cold War world. Bond continued to drive fast cars, use cutting-edge gadgets, and win the hearts of the most beautiful women.
However, the franchise finally admitted that Bond was a flawed character. Having M (Judi Dench) as a woman for the first time was an ingenious way to introduce a character who would push back against 007 and call him out on his defects. “I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur,” M says to Bond in her office. Bond as a complicated character really took shape in Craig’s movies, who ranks near the top of 007 actors.
Audiences loved this new version of Bond in “GoldenEye,” which became the highest-grossing Bond to date at $356 million worldwide. The Bond character infiltrated pop culture beyond the theater thanks to “GoldenEye 007,” a Nintendo 64 video game widely considered the best Bond video game and an elite first-person shooter.
Thirty years ago, “GoldenEye” paved the way for James Bond to become a cultural icon. Amazon would be smart to learn from the success of “GoldenEye” and apply it to the next Bond movie. At the very least, let Bond have some fun again.
Stream "GoldenEye" on Prime Video
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