Pierce Brosnan brought a perfect mix of charm, charisma and swagger to the iconic character James Bond in the 90s. It was a long six years between 1989’sLicence to Kill, which was Timothy Dalton‘s final bow as 007and 1995’s GoldenEye, which marked Brosan’s debut. GoldenEye kicked off a Bond for a new generation and finally showed audiences that Brosnan was worth the wait.
It’s hard to believe that the Brosnan-era only consists of four movies, but each is filled with breathtaking action and mind-blowing stunts. These pre-title sequences are comprised of over-the-top moments, suspense, and action scenes that might make previous Bond opening scenes blush. Here is every Pierce Brosnan James Bond pre-title sequence, ranked.
4
‘Die Another Day’ (2002)
Die Another Dayis an often overlooked Bond film, but the opening sequence is a memorable and thrilling scene that keeps you on the edge of your seat. After the cringe-worthy intro of Bond surfing huge waves on the rocky North Korean shore, he hijacks a briefcase of diamonds and prepares to drop them on the North Korean side of the DMZ. Bond hides explosives in the diamonds and narrowly escapes thanks to a well-timed blast and jumps onboard a hovercraft and the fiery chase is on.
The explosive and action-packed scene features Bond getting “saved by the bell,” as he grabs a church bell to avoid falling into a waterfall as the hovercraft flies over the edge. In what is a departure for Bond’s pre-title sequences, it ends with 007 getting captured and tortured as the title credits begin over Madonna‘s dance and techno-heavy theme song. Die Another Day is the fourth and final time Pierce Brosnan portrayed James Bond.
3
‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ (1997)
Tomorrow Never Diesfeatures a poignant and exhilarating opening sequence. It opens at a Terrorist Arms Bazaar on the Russian border, where Bond is sent for reconnaissance. Meanwhile, M and a British Admiral watch from England via surveillance. When the Admiral learns that many of the world’s terrorists are there, he deploys a missile to wipe them out.
They soon learn that there is a jet onsite carrying nuclear warheads. Bond springs into action and destroys nearly everything in sight while stealing the jet and narrowly escaping just as the missile hits an enemy’s plane. Once airborne, he faces off against an angry co-pilot, while under attack from a Russian plane. In traditional Bond fashion, he finishes off his copilot, the other missile-loaded jet and calmly radios home to ask where the Admiral would like the nuclear bombs delivered.
2
‘GoldenEye’ (1995)
The pre-title sequence in GoldenEye has a moment that is a bit over the top, but what an epic way to introduce Pierce Brosnan as Bond. The suspenseful scene features two huge stunts, a huge explosion and an incredible one-liner. Bond makes a grand entrance by bungee jumping off the top of a Russian dam to infiltrate a military base. He sneaks into the building and is hiding above a bathroom. A Russian soldier is doing his business and reading a newspaper. When he moves the paper, Bond appears hanging upside down and says, “Beg your pardon, I forgot to knock.” A classic first quote for the new Bond.
It’s one of the few times we see Bond working with a fellow agent with a “Licence to Kill.” Bond teams up with 006 Alec Tevelyan, played by Sean Bean, who gets captured and is “killed” by a Russian Colonel. Bond sets up a bomb and hides behind a wheeled rack loaded with fuel. He slowly makes his way from one end of the room to the other with about 40 guns pointed at him. Bond escapes in grand fashion via a conveyor belt that leads outside the warehouse. After 007 lays a few Russians to waste, he steals a motorcycle and races towards an unmanned plane racing down the runway. As the plane falls off the runway, located on the edge of a huge cliff, bond shoots off on the motorcycle right after it. 007 free falls until he gets into the plane and pulls it up to altitude, just before crashing into a mountain. He turns around to watch the Russian base explode in an epic blaze of glory.
1
‘The World is Not Enough’ (1999)
The World is Not Enough won’t be topping many best of Bond lists, but the opening sequence of the film is absolutely breathtaking. The classic scene has incredible moments, including a slick escape in Spain, a huge explosion at MI6 and one of the most exhilarating chase scenes in franchise history. The 15-minute opening sequence feels like a mini-movie and sets up Bond’s next mission.
In Bilbao, Spain, Bond escapes a harrowing encounter with a briefcase full of cash. When he returns to MI6, the cash goes into a vault and has been rigged with an explosive device. After the intense explosion rips a hole through the wall, Bond sees a woman with a sniper rifle and races after her in the Q Boat, an armed experimental speed craft loaded with gadgets. He chases the woman all over the River Thames, including the iconic moment the boat dives underwater while 007 adjusts his tie, and up a hot air balloon in a thrilling scene that comes to an emphatic conclusion with an explosion that sends Bond falling onto London’s 02 Arena, with a thud. The River Thames chase is one of the best Bond sequences and highlights the best pre-title scene from the Brosnan era.
Collider Exclusive · Action Hero Quiz Which Action Hero Would Be Your Perfect Partner? Rambo · James Bond · Indiana Jones · John McClane · Ethan Hunt
Five legends. Five completely different ways of getting out alive — with style, with muscle, with charm, with luck, or with a plan so intricate it probably shouldn’t work. Ten questions will reveal which action hero was built to have your back.
🎖️Rambo
🍸James Bond
🏺Indiana Jones
🔧John McClane
🎭Ethan Hunt
01
You’re dropped into a dangerous situation with no warning. What do you need most from a partner? The first few seconds tell you everything about who belongs beside you.
02
You have to get somewhere dangerous, fast. How do you travel? How you get there is half the mission.
03
You’re pinned down and outnumbered. What does your ideal partner do? This is when you find out what someone is really made of.
04
The mission is paused. You have one evening to decompress. What does your partner suggest? Who someone is when the pressure drops is who they actually are.
05
How do you prefer your partner to communicate mid-mission? Good communication is the difference between partners and a liability.
06
Your enemy is powerful, well-resourced, and has the upper hand. How should your partner approach them? The approach to the enemy defines the partnership.
07
Things go badly wrong and you’re captured. What do you trust your partner to do? Who someone is when you need them most is the only thing that matters.
08
What does your ideal partner bring to the table that you couldn’t replace? A great partner fills the gap you didn’t know you had.
09
Every partnership has a cost. Which of these can you live with? No one comes without baggage. The question is whether you can carry it together.
10
It’s the final moment. Everything is on the line. What do you need from your partner right now? The last question is the most honest one.
Your Partner Has Been Assigned Your Perfect Partner Is…
Your answers have pointed to one action hero above all others. This is the person built to have your back — for better or considerably, spectacularly worse.
Rambo
Your partner doesn’t talk much, doesn’t need to, and will have assessed every threat in your immediate environment before you’ve finished your first sentence. John Rambo is not a man of plans or politics — he is a force of nature shaped by survival, loyalty, and a capacity for endurance that goes beyond anything training can produce. He will not leave you behind. He has never left anyone behind who deserved to come home. What you get with Rambo is the most capable, most quietly ferocious partner imaginable — one who has been through things that would have broken anyone else, and who chose to keep going anyway. You’ll never need to ask if he has your back. You’ll just know.
James Bond
Your partner will arrive perfectly dressed, perfectly briefed, and with a cover story so convincing it’ll take you a moment to remember what’s actually true. James Bond is the most professionally dangerous person in any room he enters — and the most disarmingly charming, which is the point. He operates in a world of layers, where nothing is what it appears and every advantage is used without apology. You’ll never be bored. You’ll occasionally be furious. But when it matters — when the mission is genuinely on the line and the margin for error has collapsed to nothing — Bond is exactly the partner you want. He has survived things that have no business being survivable. He does it with style. That is not nothing.
Indiana Jones
Your partner will know the history, the language, the cultural context, and exactly why the thing everyone else is ignoring is actually the most important thing in the room. Indiana Jones is brilliant, reckless, and occasionally impossible — but he is also one of the most resourceful, most genuinely knowledgeable partners you could find yourself beside. He approaches every situation with a scholar’s eye and a brawler’s instinct, which is an unusual combination and a remarkably effective one. He hates snakes and gets personally attached to objects of historical significance, both of which will slow you down at least once. It doesn’t matter. What Indy brings is irreplaceable — and the adventures you’ll have together will be the kind people write books about. Assuming you survive them.
John McClane
Your partner was not supposed to be here. He does not have the right equipment, the right information, or anything approaching the right odds. He has a sarcastic remark and an absolute refusal to accept that the situation is as bad as it looks. John McClane is the greatest accidental hero in the history of action cinema — a man whose superpower is stubbornness, whose contingency plan is improvisation, and whose capacity to absorb punishment and keep moving would be alarming if it weren’t so useful. He will complain the entire time. He will make it significantly more chaotic than it needed to be. And he will absolutely, unconditionally, without question come through when it counts. Yippee-ki-yay.
Ethan Hunt
Your partner has already run seventeen scenarios by the time you’ve finished reading the briefing, and the plan he’s settled on involves at least two things that should be physically impossible. Ethan Hunt operates at the absolute edge of human capability — technically, physically, and intellectually — and he brings the same relentless precision to protecting his partners that he brings to dismantling organisations that shouldn’t exist. He is not easy to know and he will never fully tell you everything. But he will carry the weight of the mission so completely, so absolutely, that your job is simply to trust him — and the remarkable thing is that trusting him always turns out to be the right call. The mission will be impossible. He will complete it anyway.
