ChickenStu,
Not that I disagree with your critiques of these films, but I noticed that you posted that Brosnan is "your Bond." Based on this, I'm guessing I've got a few years on you. As such, I'm assuming that the Brosnan-to-Craig switch was your first '007 transition.' I'd be curious to read your reviews in a decade or two when we've settled into the post-Craig era with another actor.
OK. I am 35 years old. I was 17 when Goldeneye came out.
Obviously, I had seen some Bond films before that, but I was never a particularly big fan of them. They were sort of like the Carry On films insomuch as they were the sort of things I'd see on a Bank Holiday Monday or on Christmas Day on the telly. I was largely indifferent to them. I never saw them in any particular order or anything. I do remember quite liking The Spy Who Loved Me and Moonraker as a kid, but that's it really.
I remember The Living Daylights and Licence To Kill coming out when I was a kid. I did want my parents to take me to the former but it never happened (I just ended up seeing it on TV). As for the latter, I didn't particularly care about it cause all I gave a damn about that summer was Batman (ironic, because I hate that film now).
Now when Goldeneye came out, I was actually quite sceptical. I didn't think it would re-vitalize anything and wasn't expecting it to kick start the movie series and make it popular again. The only reason I went to see it was because I was on a date with my first ever girlfriend, she wanted to go to the cinema and that was what was on. It was simply a case of that. I just remember walking out really thinking Pierce Brosnan was cool.
I've got a bit of flack over in the other thread for saying I love Brosnan and then being less than charitable with my opinions on some of the films. What I SHOULD have pointed out there is, I was 17 when Goldeneye came out, 19 when Tomorrow Never Dies came out, 20 when I first played Goldeneye 007, 21 when The World Is Not Enough came out and 24 when Die Another Day was unleashed on the world. Back then I LOVED them. Of course, I'm 35 now and some of those don't seem too great these days - but that doesn't mean I still don't ADORE Brosnan, cause my memories of those times are pretty special. It was during that era I became the fan I was. Remember, I'm reviewing them as a 35 year old man now, and opinions change over the years.
So I guess you're right. The transition from Craig to Brosnan was really the first time I was aware of it and it was happening in front of me so to speak. It seemed to me that Brosnan was wildly successful in the role and I of course loved him. Not only that, I wasn't at the time really pleased about the idea of rebooting it, cause what little continuity the previous movies had I did quite like. Also, I was really displeased about the Anti-Brosnan backlash that almost immediately appeared. It was like the thing I loved about the movies was being taken away. Of course, I was even then well aware that Brosnan wouldn't be able to do it forever, but I thought when his time came to pass the torch - it would have been on his terms and the fans would get fair warning. To hear how he'd been dropped after Die Another Day was actually quite upsetting to me. I still think it's a tad upsetting now. OK, dude was getting on a bit, but he still had one more film in him I think. It's especially upsetting that if you know anything about Brosnan's personal life and career beforehand exactly how big a deal him getting this role was to him and his late wife. There was almost a little fairy-tale in that, a Hollywood dream come true (I'm really hoping one day Brosnan will do a Roger Moore and do a book or two on the subject cause they would be well worth a read).
I couldn't get excited about Casino Royale really. Of course I went to see it, but even on the night it came out and I was walking into the cinema with a friend and my step-son I still was smarting over Brosnan's loss. AFTER the film, when my friend asked me what I thought my response was "Well, it was better than Die Another Day I suppose" (I had come round to the traditional opinion of that movie at that stage).
I had real hurdles to get over with Daniel Craig.
Casino Royale and Quantum Of Solace were films I thought were "above average" and "not too great" in that order. Then of course, MGM went through it's difficulties and people were wondering what the future of these movies were for a couple of years. I guess in those four years without a Bond movie my attitude had mellowed a bit. And whilst my opinion on those two movies still hasn't really changed even to this day - when Skyfall was announced I was actually quite upbeat about the movie.
And in Skyfall Craig finally won me over as a fan. The new direction these movies were going in finally won me over as a fan. I liked the new dynamic set up for future movies and to be quite honest with you... with Skyfall I felt a magic akin to how excited I got whenever Brosnan had a new film out back in my early days.
But I'm getting ahead of myself. I'm not going to talk about Skyfall in this thread, I'm going to do a "ChickenStu on Skyfall" thread in the dedicated Skyfall childboard that's still up. So watch that space