More to Brosnan than Bond

Anyone who saw John Boorman's The Tailor of Panama, in which Pierce Brosnan parodied 007, will know he can act better than his turn as the real Bond ever required of him.

But no one could have suspected that he would come up with a performance as good as the grubby "facilitator of fatalities" in writer-director Richard Shepard's entertaining Matador.

Brosnan's hit man, still able to pull a posse of birds but drowning in drink and the permanent feeling that his best days are over, is a memorably complete portrait. What Brosnan does isn't just acting against type, he makes Julian Noble a rounded figure using a dozen little tricks of the actor's trade.

The ageing Noble is still proud of his skill but envies the relatively normal lifestyle of Danny Wright (Greg Kinnear), a family-oriented, Denver-based businessman inveigled into helping in one last murderous escapade. Although Noble keeps on telling Danny that he's lonely and a real mess, he can't quite erase the innate viciousness of his past.

The film is an ironic comedy with real edge, until it lacks the courage of its convictions at the end. It's all the better for trading on character rather than plot. But enjoyable as it is, it would be beginning to end - even surviving the purringly faint-hearted conclusion - and totally confounds our expectations of him.

The Matador
Cert: 15