Irish actor Pierce Brosnan reckons that the James Bond movies lack a good sense of humour, which he believes was a vital ingredient of the franchise. He reckons the fun has gone out of it because the Bond franchise is desperately trying to compete with the Bourne action movies, starring Matt Damon.

“There’s not much humour," lamented Pierce Brosnan to The Rake. "When I played him, you have to let the audience in that this is a fantastic joke. What I am doing here, jumping off a motorcycle and catching up a plane, is completely preposterous.”

65-year-old Pierce Brosnan, who starred in four Bond movies before Daniel Craig took over the role, ended his James Bond career in 2002 with Die Another Day, which was the same the year that the first Bourne movie came out, The Bourne Identity.

And Pierce Brosnan says that he could see the writing on the wall after that. "I knew there had been a seismic shift, and little did I know I was going to be part of that in the curtain falling on my contract," says Pierce Brosnan. "I knew they had to make adjustments. They had strong competition and they haven’t reinvented it, but given it a much more muscular, dynamic twist."