Brosnan's Better Villain

I appreciate ol' silvertoe didn't like such threads but watching TND, and not sure if we did it before, just who was Brosnan's best adversary?

In some respects I think Carver. Certainly he was the best played but that's what you get with an actor of Pryce's calibre. Yet Sean Bean's Trevelyan was well played and Renard and Elektra. Toby Stephens' Graves had a certain charm if hammy but delightfully so.

Brosnan had the rare feat of spanning two decades, however briefly. Granted Connery (67-71) and Moore (79-81) kind of did but the 90s to 00s had definitive differences.

Or did they?

Silvertoe didn't? I know ironpony does though!

Carver for me. He, along with Klebb and Zorin fight it out to claim the 'Best Bond Villain' title from me. His showmanship persona and charisma combined with Feirstein's juicy monologues and fascinating characterisation allow for a very compelling villain. Pryce never seems to ham it up though, and strikes a great balance of theatricality (in itself a good contrast to Bond) and vulnerability. I mentioned recently when I rewatched TND how Spottiswoode manages to find some beautiful character moments and reactions even amid the chaos unfolding around them and that extends to Carver. His brooding on the stealth ship and after the party especially, when he sits alone reflecting on the decision he's just made to have his wife killed. And that rather engrossing scene where he confronts Paris about Bond's involvement in sabotaging his broadcast. He's truly an underrated villain and Pryce, as you suggest, is more than up to the task.

Elektra would round out my top 5 villains but she is arguably my favourite Bond girl. There's so much to love about her character but as I've said before: if I'm watching the film and I'm hoping she doesn't turn out to be the villain as suspected, Marceau and the film makers have achieved something extraordinary. I dig Trevelyan too. Pitting Bond up against a defected 00 is an inspired idea and adds so much to GoldenEye's discourse as well as its dramatic potential. His reveal and fight scene with Bond are particular highlights.

Graves is simply to hammy. A caricature of a villain. DAD would have played out better had we stuck with Col. Moon. Shame because Toby Stephens is a great actor. Perhaps he was just too young at the time.

Villains:
1. Elliot Carver
2. Elektra King
3. Alec Trevelyan
4. Gustav Graves

Henchmen
1. Xenia Onatopp (one of the classics!)
2. General Ouromov (Gottfried John is brilliant. Such screen presence.)
3. Dr. Kaufman (a chilling yet humorous cameo who draws out Brosnan's dark side)
4. Renard (a fascinating disability that somehow humanises a terrorist. The remember pleasure scene is a highlight).
5. Stamper (underrated Red Grant descendant. Some great one liners and physical presence).
6. Boris (Hilarious!)
7. Davidov (His desperate vulnerability is enough to make him stand out on his own).
8. Henry Gupta (Suitably slimy but can be overlooked due to the strength of TND's other villains.)
9. Zao (Should be more dangerous than he is but has a striking look.)

I'd say Trevelyan ... his past with Bond lends weight to his 'point-scoring' over the likes of how Natalya 'tastes' and the 'Please James, spare me the Freud ... ' dig at Bond's psyche that actually makes 007 turn his head away in disgust (nerve hit, perhaps?) and him being his physical match also works well (as said before, there's genuine grit and venom in the pre-dish ladder descent punch-up in GE). Bean's age makes the 'son of Cossacks seeks revenge for their treatment' a BIT of a stretch, but it's forgivable overall.

Valid points all. Certainly Trevelyan had that physicality.

Colonel Moon would've worked throughout, certainly cut out that sudden fame and knighthood as Graves. I'd imagine keep him in the background as such until Iceland, focus on Miranda and Zao perhaps.

Exactly.

And I imagine Bond's focus on Zao and Miranda was the case in Purvis and Wade's original drafts before Tamahori 'polished' it because much of that focus is evident in the final film (at least in Hong Kong and Cuba). Had they ditched the gene therapy idea for Moon and kept it solely for Zao it would have felt infinitely more grounded, with only Zao being this medically-enhanced freak.