Over the course of 50 years, 25 movies, and seven different actors, the adventures of James Bondhave been a constant on the silver screen. But Bond’s also seen plenty of competition in the action world, whether it’s the brutal beat downs of the John Wickfranchise or the cold, calculated carnage of The Equalizertrilogy. Luckily, Netflix has the perfect movie for fans of both approaches, as it not only features enough bloodshed to rival Wick’s exploits but also stars a Bond alum. It’s also a breezy 90 minutes, making it the perfect pick for a weekend watch.
What movie might this be? Fast Charlie. Based on the novel Gun Monkeys by Victor Gischler, Fast Charlie stars Pierce Brosnan as highly skilled mob fixer Charlie Swift. A job gone wrong brings him into the orbit of Marcie Kramer (Morena Baccarin), who also happens to be the ex-wife of his target, Rollo. While sparks fly between the two, they find themselves on the run when up-and-coming crime boss Beggar (Gbenga Akinnagbe) starts murdering all of Charlie’s old acquaintances. What follows is a white-knuckle game of cat and mouse as Charlie and Marcie try to stay one step ahead of Beggar’s forces while finding out why he wanted Rollo dead.
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‘Fast Charlie’ Is Crafted By Filmmakers Who Have History With the Crime Genre
To bring Charlie Swift’s tale to life, Fast Charlie couldn’t just rely on a star-studded cast but also on a crew experienced in delivering the kind of blood-soaked, mile-a-minute storytelling that comes with the crime genre. It lucked out with both its director and writer, as Phillip Noyce helmed the movie while Richard Wenk penned the screenplay. Both men are experts in crafting action-packed stories, as Noyce directed the iconic Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger, both starring Harrison Fordand adapting Tom Clancy‘s titular novels. Wenk is best known for penning every installment of the Equalizer trilogy, as well as the Jason Statham action vehicle The Mechanicand Antoine Fuqua‘s remake of The Magnificent Seven.
Together, Noyce and Wenk craft a movie that’s one part mystery, one part action thriller, and one part love story. Most of Fast Charlie is dedicated to Charlie avenging his fallen comrades, while also trying to figure out why Beggar wanted him dead. He also starts to connect more with Marcie, and the two both realize they could have a life together rather than just trying to survive alone. Noyce and Wenk also know when to time their action sequences for maximum impact, including a moment where Charlie gets the drop on two assassins sent to take him out. They also don’t shy away from the bloodshed; bullets pierce through brain matter and nearly everything gets turned into a weapon, with gruesome results.
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Collider Exclusive · James Bond Personality Quiz Which James Bond Actor Are You Most Like? Connery · Moore · Dalton · Brosnan · Lazenby · Craig
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Six actors. Six completely different visions of the same man — dangerous, charming, complicated, and almost certainly wearing a very good suit. Only one of them shares your particular way of moving through the world. Eight questions will figure out which Bond you really are.
🏴Connery
😄Moore
🎭Dalton
✨Brosnan
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🤵Lazenby
💠Craig
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01
How do you carry yourself when you walk into a room? Bond is always the most interesting person in the room. The question is how he makes you feel it.
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02
How do you handle a dangerous situation? Every Bond faces it differently. What does your version look like?
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03
How do you charm someone you need on your side? Bond always gets what he needs. The method varies considerably.
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04
How do you handle your emotions on the job? Every Bond deals with this differently. Most of them not particularly well.
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05
How would your colleagues describe your working style? MI6 has opinions about all of its 00s. What are theirs about you?
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06
How do you feel about operating within the rules? The licence to kill comes with terms and conditions. Not everyone reads them.
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07
What is your relationship with love? Every Bond has a different answer. None of them have found it easy.
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08
When the mission is over, how do you want to be remembered? The name is Bond. The rest is entirely up to the man behind it.
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The Name Has Been Determined Your Bond Is…
Six actors. One role. Your answers point to the Bond who shares your presence, your method, and your particular way of carrying the weight of being the most dangerous person in the room.
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Dr. No — You Only Live Twice · 1962–1967
Sean Connery
You are the original — and you carry that fact without needing to announce it. There is an authority in the way you occupy a room that others spend careers trying to replicate.
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You don’t explain yourself, justify yourself, or soften yourself for anyone’s comfort. The confidence is structural, not performed.
Connery’s Bond established everything — the tone, the danger, the cool — because Connery himself had the innate presence to make something that had never existed feel inevitable.
You share that quality: the sense that you were always going to end up exactly here, doing exactly this.
The name is Bond. In your case, it always was.
Live and Let Die — A View to a Kill · 1973–1985
Roger Moore
You understand something that more serious people miss: that wit is its own form of intelligence, and that making people laugh is not a retreat from danger but a way of mastering it.
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Moore’s Bond is underrated precisely because the effortlessness looks easy — and effortlessness is the hardest thing to manufacture.
You have the same quality: a lightness that disarms people before they realise how sharp you actually are.
The raised eyebrow, the perfectly timed quip, the refusal to be rattled — these are not affectations. They are a philosophy about how to move through a world that would like to take itself too seriously.
You have never let it.
The Living Daylights · Licence to Kill · 1987–1989
Timothy Dalton
You took the role seriously when everyone wanted you to coast — and that refusal to take the easy version of anything is the most defining thing about you.
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Dalton’s Bond has genuine moral weight: he feels the cost of what he does, he has lines he won’t cross, and he is not interested in the version of himself that pretends otherwise.
You share that intensity. You push harder than the situation technically requires, because you have a standard and you hold yourself to it.
He was ahead of his time — the Bond the franchise wasn’t quite ready for yet, arriving exactly when he was meant to.
You know what that feels like.
GoldenEye — Die Another Day · 1995–2002
Pierce Brosnan
You are the complete package — and you know it, which is part of what makes you so effective and occasionally so infuriating to the people around you.
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Brosnan arrived at the role looking exactly like Bond was supposed to look, and he delivered on that expectation with a professionalism that made it seem effortless.
You have the same quality: a smooth competence, a charm that operates like a precision instrument, and the ability to make even difficult things look like they weren’t.
His era was the most commercially successful in the franchise’s history. There is a reason for that.
The reason is that some people simply fit their moment perfectly. You are one of those people.
On Her Majesty’s Secret Service · 1969
George Lazenby
You stepped into something enormous with less preparation than anyone around you thought was sufficient — and you delivered something genuine anyway, which is the more impressive achievement.
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Lazenby’s single outing is, by many measures, one of the finest Bond films ever made — and he is not a small part of why.
You share his quality of raw authenticity: less polished than the alternatives, more honest for it, capable of something real that technique alone can’t produce.
He was underestimated, and then he wasn’t, and then history caught up with him.
You are the kind of person history catches up with. Give it time.
Casino Royale — No Time to Die · 2006–2021
Daniel Craig
You stripped everything back and found what was underneath — and what was underneath was harder, more honest, and more human than anyone expected.
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Craig’s Bond is the franchise’s most psychologically complete: a man doing a brutal job, carrying its costs imperfectly, capable of love and loss in ways that can’t be dismissed.
You share that depth. You don’t hide behind the role or the charm or the suit — you let the work show what it actually costs.
He was controversial from the moment he was announced and definitive by the time he was finished. The sceptics became the believers.
That arc — of being underestimated and then undeniable — is one you know intimately.
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Pierce Brosnan Shows He Hasn’t Lost His Bond-Era Charm with ‘Fast Charlie’
The best reason to watch Fast Charlie, other than the carefully crafted story or the action sequences, is Pierce Brosnan’s performance as the titular character. Brosnan brings plenty of the charm and calculating menace that defined his role as James Bond, especially when facing off against people he wants to kill or who want to kill him. A great example comes early in the movie, when Charlie meets Beggar; from the start, you can tell there’s no love lost between them, thanks to the thinly veiled disgust that crosses Brosnan’s face. Brosnan also has electric chemistry with Baccarin, and some warmer moments with James Caan, who plays Charlie’s old boss Stan. Given that this was Caan’s final movie role before he passed away in 2022, the moments between Charlie and Stan hit harder than expected.
Netflix viewers also seem to be taking to Fast Charlie, as it made its way onto Netflix’s Top 10 list earlier this month. Whether you’re a fan of Brosnan’s turn as Bond or like a breezy, bloody crime thriller, Fast Charlie should definitely be on your watchlist. It’s proof that even though he’s hung up Bond’s tuxedo, Brosnan can still play a charming yet dangerous antihero.
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