15 Underrated Movie Remakes That Deserve Another Look

John McTiernan’s remake of The Thomas Crown Affair brought Pierce Brosnan in as the titular billionaire thief, for two hours of romance and heist drama opposite Rene Russo’s insurance investigator Catherine Banning. And pretty much everyone who remembers it agrees that it’s slick, stylish and well made, managing to treat the source material with reverence whilst giving it a modern spin. But who remembers it?

Arriving in the late nineties, when Brosnan was known worldwide as James Bond, the film garnered a decent amount of attention and was generally looked upon favourably. It helped that the Steve McQueen-starring 1968 original was only really iconic for its soundtrack, popularising Michel Legrand's "The Windmills of Your Mind".

However, Brosnan’s performance isn’t worlds away from what he did with Bond, and this had a double effect: on the one hand, it meant we got to see 007 do all the naughty and extra-legal things he was never able to do as a true-blue government agent; but it also shunted the film into the James Bond segment of popular memory, and was promptly forgotten.

Underseen and underappreciated, The Thomas Crown Affair balances each of its genre elements perfectly, with genuinely thrilling heists, spicy romance between its leads and an unusual plot that keeps you guessing. It’s high time we reintroduced it into the canon.