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Pierce Brosnan’s interaction
with Desmond Llewellyn’s Q was also on the mark. Brosnan/Bond is
respectful and playful with the aged Q in contrast to the snide and
sarcastic turns by Connery and Moore in their Q scenes. Brosnan’s facial
expressions convey a friendly bemusement at Q’s eternal fussing.
Some of Brosnan’s best
work can be seen when he arrives in Russia. His first meeting with CIA
contact Jack Wade, played admirably by Joe Don Baker showed us the
Brosnan/Bond style. Verbally abused by the unkempt Baker, Brosnan takes it
in with a blithe facial expression.
When he gets a chance Brosnan amply shows his menace as he pulls a gun on
Joe Don Baker. Turning the tables on the man, Brosnan forces him to finish
the embarrassing recognition code to confirm his identity.
Brosnan’s scenes with
Robbie Coltrane as the Russian gangster Valentin Zukovsky carry on this
approach. Similarly mocked by Coltrane, Brosnan remains cool enough to
deliver sarcastic lines even after almost being shot in the groin by the
renegade Russian.
Another remarkable scene
is a poolside run-in with Xenia Onatopp. Wearing only swimming trunks,
Brosnan has to modulate between sexy, charming and dangerous all within a
few minutes. He carries it off admirably. This is one of those Bond scenes
that could easily be carried off by Sean Connery but probably not by any of the
others. It’s hard to picture Roger Moore in trunks tussling with Xenia and
certainly Timothy Dalton would look ridiculous in the same situation.
On the meatier side,
Bond’s reunion with Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) is well executed by both
Brosnan and Bean. Having learned that he has been betrayed by the
colleague who he thought dead, Brosnan walks the thin line between pathos
and professionalism. The Shakespearean trained Timothy Dalton (whom the
scene was initially written for) could not have done it better than
Brosnan does here. |
