Though James Bond movies have come and gone from Netflix over the years, the entire franchise (at least up through No Time To Die) is available on the robust streaming service right now. That means, at any given moment, a Netflix subscription gives you access to all the best 007 films, all the eras, the good, the bad, and the ugly. While some may be jumping on the Sean Connery classics like Goldfinger or more contemporary Daniel Craig gems like Skyfall, I’m going to shake things up and go with those Pierce Brosnan spy flicks.
Before you ask, no, it’s not because of his glorious chest hair (though a license should be required for that). Instead, there’s a certain charm and quality to those early post-Cold War spy thrillers that makes me want to watch them more than anything else. Allow me to explain where I’m coming from.
Goldeneye And Tomorrow Never Dies Perfectly Capture The Tone Of The ‘90s
Though I don’t care as much for The World Is Not Enough or Die Another Day, I’ve always had a soft spot for Pierce Brosnan’s first two turns as 007: Goldeneye and Tomorrow Never Dies. These movies, for better or worse, perfectly capture the tone and sensibilities of the early-to-mid 1990s, focusing on global, post-Cold War politics and the worldwide proliferation of media and the internet, respectively.
Goldeneye came out less than five years after the fall of the Soviet Union, and you can feel that tension and uncertainty a new world throughout its story about James Bond trying to stop a terrorist group from sending civilizaiton back to the stone age. It feels very much a part of that time, creating a certain dynamic that makes me a bit nostalgic.
The same goes for Tomorrow Never Dies with its villainous media mogul who wants to start World War III to benefit himself. These movies focus on both the promise and destructive possibilities of a new world, and were great stories to close out the 20th century.
These Movies Are Undeniably Campy, But They’re Just So Charming
While it may be true that the Pierce Brosnan era went off the rails with the Irish actor’s final turn as 007 in Die Another Day, the early days of his four-picture run were also undeniably campy. However, unlike that 2002 slogfest with its frozen hotels, prison camps, and forgettable villains, those first two movies were far more successfully charming. If anything, they found the proper balance of cheesiness and seriousness to create something that was both daring and dangerous without sacrificing either.
Don’t get me wrong, I do love the more grounded and bleaker Daniel Craig movies (Skyfall is my single favorite James Bond movie), but I just know I’m going to be having more fun watching Pierce Brosnan driving a tank through Saint Petersburg, or riding with Michelle Yeoh on a motorcycle, than just about anything else in the character's on-screen history.
All of that being said, those Pierce Brosnan movies, especially the first two, are relics of a bygone era, one where James Bond wasn’t super serious all the time. Now I just need to figure out where the franchise is going from here…
