Pierce Brosnan has carved out a notable career with two very distinct roles. One is that of Sam Carmichael in the ABBA-themed jukebox musical films “Mamma Mia!” and its sequel “Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again”. In these movies, Sam is among the three possible fathers of the main character, Sophie.
However, before his appearance in the “Mamma Mia!” series, Brosnan was widely recognized for his tenure in the James Bond franchise. He stepped in after Timothy Dalton’s two films and paved the way for the much-admired Daniel Craig. Brosnan played the iconic 007 in four movies, with three of them released in the 90s, namely “GoldenEye”, “Tomorrow Never Dies”, and “The World is Not Enough”. Now, his 2002 James Bond film has come under the scrutiny of a professional.
In “Die Another Day”, Brosnan’s final outing as the special agent before handing over the reins to Craig in 2006’s “Casino Royale”, the film’s use of guns has been evaluated by a firearms specialist. Despite being Brosnan’s highest-grossing Bond movie, raking in $431.9 million at the worldwide box office, “Die Another Day” didn’t fare well with critics, receiving a mixed 56% Tomatometer score, and was even less popular among audiences, with a 41% Popcornmeter rating.
Firearms expert Patrick McNamara shared his thoughts on the film’s gun usage in an interview with Insider. He was quick to point out several flaws in Brosnan’s last Bond movie, from his lack of proper use of cover to the way he held the gun. McNamara also highlighted a scene where an assailant’s face was clearly visible and could have been shot at, yet Bond chose to aim for the character’s hand instead. Overall, he gave the “gun form” in the movie a meager 3 out of 10 accuracy rating. Here’s what McNamara had to say in detail:
“He looks around the corner. You never clear a corner with your face. Your face can’t shoot back. It would have been better in this particular scene if he were maybe using that full room as cover. He could have been full extension and maybe pied off that corner a little bit, and walked laterally in a fashion. And then now he owns that real estate with the gun instead of with his face.
James Bond doing what is referred to a cup and saucer grip. So instead of a good grip where you’re consuming the lower portion of the pistol, to reduce muzzle whip like we talked about before, his support hand grip is almost underneath of the pistol. So cup, saucer. So there is very very little control when it comes to controlling the recoil. There is absolutely no scenario, zero, where cup and saucer would be good to use.
He’s right in the middle of the hallway, it is like he’s in a competition shooting match, and he’s hitting multiple targets. You don’t clear a hallway from the center of the hallway. You want to use cover. His transition between target and target was not bad. But tactically speaking it was very poor.
That was a very easy shot at the assailant. The guy who was holding the guy. His entire pie was visible. Instead he offered to shoot him I think in the hand, and her in the arm. Which, screw that, I would have taken that shot. He should have that level of training that he can take that shot easily. Overall, Pierce Brosnan’s gun form is very subpar. I would rate this clip a 3.”
The inaccuracies in “Die Another Day” is somewhat surprising considering the stature of the Bond franchise. It appears that Brosnan’s team either didn’t have consultants or didn’t utilize them effectively when planning the gunfight scenes. While some aspects might have been for dramatic purposes, actions like Brosnan exposing his head in the open seem illogical even to the average viewer. It would indeed be fascinating to see an expert like McNamara review all the Bond films to observe how the use of guns has evolved over time.
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