This 1990s Action Classic With 85% On Rotten Tomatoes Is Probably The Closest We’ll Get To An “Old James Bond” Movie

It’s unlikely that we’ll ever get a proper “Old Man Bond” movie, so an aging Sean Connery’s role in The Rock is probably the closest thing to it. It’s become a pretty common trope for franchises to jump into the future and show their heroes at an advanced age, when they’re reluctantly drawn back into action to see if they’ve still got it. In superhero comics, The Dark Knight Returns has explored an older Batman and Old Man Logan has explored an older Wolverine. We even got Old Man Leatherface in Netflix’s Texas Chainsaw reboot.

But some franchises have missed the perfect opportunity to show an older version of their hero back in action. A fourth Mad Max movie in 2015 would’ve been the ideal time for an “Old Man Max” movie starring Mel Gibson, but George Miller opted to cast Tom Hardy as a younger Max. Now that Amazon has full creative control of the Bond franchise, it’ll likely turn it into a never-ending cinematic universe, so there will never be a standalone “Old Man Bond” movie.

It Feels Like Sean Connery Is Playing An Older James Bond In The Rock

John Mason Is A Retired British Spy With An Ice-Cool Atтιтude

After his debut feature Bad Boys established him as an exciting new action director, Michael Bay got much more ambitious with his next film, The Rock. The Rock stars Nicolas Cage as an FBI chemist who’s sent to rescue hostages and deactivate biological weapons when a group of rogue Marines invade Alcatraz Island. Connery plays retired SAS captain John Mason, who teams up with Cage’s Dr. Stanley Goodspeed to save the hostages.

Although he has a different name, Mason could easily be an older version of Bond. Mason is said to have a history with MI6, 007’s employer, and it’s hinted that Mason is an alias, just like Bond is theorized to be. And on top of all that, he acts exactly like Bond. He maintains grace under fire, he always has a quippy one-liner up his sleeve, and he’s as cool as ice. The Rock might not be Connery’s official final Bond film, but it may as well be.

I Want An “Old James Bond” Movie, But The Rock Might Be As Close As We Get

Amazon Will Probably Want To Skew Younger With Its Bond Movies


Arthur Stieglitz (Pierce Brosnan) with a confused expression in Black Bag

Image via Focus Features

I would love to see an “Old Man Bond” movie. Obviously, it’s too late for Connery or Roger Moore to make an official one — and the death of Daniel Craig’s Bond means he never got to grow old at all — but Pierce Brosnan or Timothy Dalton would be prime candidates. Sadly, with Amazon taking over the franchise, they’ll likely want to go the opposite direction and skew younger, so it probably won’t happen. The Rock might be the closest we ever get to a movie about an older Bond.

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