Irish actor Pierce Brosnan has been a fixture of film and television for over 40 years, most recently as Dr. Fate in the blockbuster DC Comics adaptation "Black Adam." With his effortless suaveness and sophistication, he's been an indelible screen presence, though some of his best performances tweak the audience's expectations of the man who embodied gentleman spy James Bond across 4 films. He's also sporadically been gifted the opportunity to explore his exceptional comedic chops.
From action movies to family fare to icy political thrillers to musicals, Brosnan has explored almost every genre, often to great success. Even when he's playing the jobber, he's managed to make every project personal. "You have to invest yourself in every character that you portray," Brosnan is quoted as saying. While it was difficult to narrow down, here are the 15 best Pierce Brosnan performances, ranked.
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
A true oddity from 1992, "The Lawnmower Man...
From action movies to family fare to icy political thrillers to musicals, Brosnan has explored almost every genre, often to great success. Even when he's playing the jobber, he's managed to make every project personal. "You have to invest yourself in every character that you portray," Brosnan is quoted as saying. While it was difficult to narrow down, here are the 15 best Pierce Brosnan performances, ranked.
The Lawnmower Man (1992)
A true oddity from 1992, "The Lawnmower Man...
- 11/16/2022
- by Jason Baxter
- Slash Film
It was 25 years ago that several Hollywood studios indulged in the town’s occasional and curious practice of releasing two movies about the same subject within months of each other, if not weeks.
On Feb. 7, 1997, Universal Pictures released Dante’s Peak, in which Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton try to save a small Washington town from being obliterated by a long dormant and suddenly active volcano. Just over two months later, on April 25, 1997, 20th Century Fox delivered Volcano, with Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche leading the efforts to stop a newly formed underground vent from erupting and wiping out all of Los Angeles.
Both films were also part of the genre known as the disaster movie, which arguably peaked in the mid-1970s with hits like The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and the gold standard for the category, 1974’s The Towering Inferno (which was actually nominated for Best Picture at that...
On Feb. 7, 1997, Universal Pictures released Dante’s Peak, in which Pierce Brosnan and Linda Hamilton try to save a small Washington town from being obliterated by a long dormant and suddenly active volcano. Just over two months later, on April 25, 1997, 20th Century Fox delivered Volcano, with Tommy Lee Jones and Anne Heche leading the efforts to stop a newly formed underground vent from erupting and wiping out all of Los Angeles.
Both films were also part of the genre known as the disaster movie, which arguably peaked in the mid-1970s with hits like The Poseidon Adventure, Earthquake, and the gold standard for the category, 1974’s The Towering Inferno (which was actually nominated for Best Picture at that...
- 4/27/2022
- by Don Kaye
- Den of Geek
Not to be confused with Dante's "Inferno", "Dante's Peak" is an unremarkably plotted disaster movie, centering around the hellacious volcanic inferno that erupts in a bucolic Pacific Northwest community.
Utterly predictable in narrative, the film's strong points are its glorious evocation of the natural beauty of the area and its visceral visualization of an awesome natural eruption.
The Universal film's appeal will be limited to mainstream audiences, particularly younger viewers who are least likely to be lulled by the dormant nature of the story line.
In this scenario, U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) reasons it's better to be safe than sorry in predicting volcanoes. In fact, he's been traumatized by a wrong decision: His fiancee was killed when a fragment of molten volcanic rock smashed into his truck.
Harry is still in a wounded state when he's sent to the front in Dante's Peak, and his assessment that the tiny town is in grave danger is met with suspicion by his superiors. In addition, there are special interests in the town whose minds are closed to the danger. They fear the town's financial development and reputation will be irretrievably damaged by an "alarmist" assessment.
Screenwriter Leslie Bohem layers her story with a solid mix of personal sagas as well as a savvy understanding of frontier towns. But the core narrative is woefully predictable. In some instances, the dialogue is so overwritten or obvious that it is unintentionally funny. Save for Brosnan's stalwart performance as the conflicted geologist, the human drama, even by the standards of disaster films, is unsatisfying and cliched.
The high point of "Dante's Peak" is the crystalline cinematography of Andrzej Bartkowiak, whose compositions captivatingly portray the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Overall, director Roger Donaldson moves the story apace and has an astute sense of how to convey impending disaster. But he's hampered by the slow-moving narrative.
Overall, the special effects are exciting but not overpowering. Modern-day audiences might be disappointed that there is not more fire in this less-than-galvanic volcanic eruption.
DANTE'S PEAK
Universal Pictures
A Pacific Western production
A Roger Donaldson film
Producers Gale Anne Hurd, Joseph M. Singer
Director Roger Donaldson
Screenwriter Leslie Bohem
Executive producer Ilona Herzberg
Director of photography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer Dennis Washington
Editors Howard Smith, Conrad Buff,
Tina Hirsch
Visual effects supervisor Patrick McClung
Associate producer Geoff Murphy
Co-producer Marliese Schneider
Costume designer Isis Mussenden
Music theme James Newton Howard
Music John Frizzell
Casting Mike Fenton, Allison Cowitt
Sound mixer Dave MacMillan
Color/stereo
Cast:
Harry Dalton Pierce Brosnan
Rachel Wando Linda Hamilton
Lauren Wando Jamie Renee Smith
Graham Wando Jeremy Foley
Ruth Elizabeth Hoffman
Paul Dreyfus Charles Hallahan
Greg Grant Heslov
Terry Furlong Kirk Trutner
Running time - 112 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
Utterly predictable in narrative, the film's strong points are its glorious evocation of the natural beauty of the area and its visceral visualization of an awesome natural eruption.
The Universal film's appeal will be limited to mainstream audiences, particularly younger viewers who are least likely to be lulled by the dormant nature of the story line.
In this scenario, U.S. Geological Survey volcanologist Harry Dalton (Pierce Brosnan) reasons it's better to be safe than sorry in predicting volcanoes. In fact, he's been traumatized by a wrong decision: His fiancee was killed when a fragment of molten volcanic rock smashed into his truck.
Harry is still in a wounded state when he's sent to the front in Dante's Peak, and his assessment that the tiny town is in grave danger is met with suspicion by his superiors. In addition, there are special interests in the town whose minds are closed to the danger. They fear the town's financial development and reputation will be irretrievably damaged by an "alarmist" assessment.
Screenwriter Leslie Bohem layers her story with a solid mix of personal sagas as well as a savvy understanding of frontier towns. But the core narrative is woefully predictable. In some instances, the dialogue is so overwritten or obvious that it is unintentionally funny. Save for Brosnan's stalwart performance as the conflicted geologist, the human drama, even by the standards of disaster films, is unsatisfying and cliched.
The high point of "Dante's Peak" is the crystalline cinematography of Andrzej Bartkowiak, whose compositions captivatingly portray the beauty of the surrounding landscape. Overall, director Roger Donaldson moves the story apace and has an astute sense of how to convey impending disaster. But he's hampered by the slow-moving narrative.
Overall, the special effects are exciting but not overpowering. Modern-day audiences might be disappointed that there is not more fire in this less-than-galvanic volcanic eruption.
DANTE'S PEAK
Universal Pictures
A Pacific Western production
A Roger Donaldson film
Producers Gale Anne Hurd, Joseph M. Singer
Director Roger Donaldson
Screenwriter Leslie Bohem
Executive producer Ilona Herzberg
Director of photography Andrzej Bartkowiak
Production designer Dennis Washington
Editors Howard Smith, Conrad Buff,
Tina Hirsch
Visual effects supervisor Patrick McClung
Associate producer Geoff Murphy
Co-producer Marliese Schneider
Costume designer Isis Mussenden
Music theme James Newton Howard
Music John Frizzell
Casting Mike Fenton, Allison Cowitt
Sound mixer Dave MacMillan
Color/stereo
Cast:
Harry Dalton Pierce Brosnan
Rachel Wando Linda Hamilton
Lauren Wando Jamie Renee Smith
Graham Wando Jeremy Foley
Ruth Elizabeth Hoffman
Paul Dreyfus Charles Hallahan
Greg Grant Heslov
Terry Furlong Kirk Trutner
Running time - 112 minutes
MPAA rating: PG-13...
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