Pierce Brosnan criticises Spectre but praises Daniel Craig's James Bond

'The story was kind of weak'

Pierce Brosnan as James Bond in 2002's Die Another Day (Rex Features)

Daniel Craig’s latest outing as James Bond, Spectre, scored highly with critics, gaining numerous five-star ratings from national newspapers (as well as a four from The Independent).

Not everyone was as impressed with the 24th Bond film, including ex-007 Pierce Brosnan who has shared his disappointment with the film.

“I was looking forward to it enormously,” the 62-year-old told HitFlix. “I thought it was too long. The story was kind of weak — it could have been condensed. It kind of went on too long. It really did.”

The actor, who played the famous MI6 agent four times between 1995 and 2002, went on to compare the film to the Bourne series.

“[Spectre] is neither fish nor fowl. It’s neither Bond nor Bourne. Am I in a Bond movie? Not in a Bond movie?”

He did, however, speak very highly of his predecessor, Craig: “But Daniel, in the fourth go-round, has ownership of it. He had a nice looseness to him.

“He’s a mighty warrior, and I think he found a great sense of himself in this one with the one-liners and a nice playfulness there. Just get a tighter story, and he’ll have another classic.”

Before the film’s release, Craig infamously said he would rather “slash his wrists” than play Bond again. When questioned on whether he believed the Casino Royal actor would be back for another film, Brosnan said: “Give him another year off here, and he'll be ready to rock and roll for sure.”

Spectre is out now in cinemas.