Fan Reviews - GoldenEye
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"GoldenEye" by Luds
Following Dalton’s second outing as Bond in Licence To
Kill, Cubby Broccoli faced multiple obstacles which held Bond
away from the big screen. A falling out with long time Bond director
John Glen, his deteriorating health, and legal battles between
MGM/UA and Danjaq put the series on hold. Broccoli passed EON
to his daughter Barbara and step-son Michael G. Wilson. It was
only in August 1993 that news came out about the next movie, but
in April 1994 a bomb was dropped: Timothy Dalton was refusing
to come back for his 3rd outing as Bond, having been away from
it for 5 years. A fresh start would be needed: a new director
and a new Bond!
Australian Martin Campbell was chosen to direct GoldenEye based
on a script written by Michael France. Two actors who screen-tested
for Bond were also cast: Pierce Brosnan as Bond and Sean Bean
as villain and ex-00 agent Alec Trevelyan. Two fairly unpolished
and unproven ladies were also chosen for the Bond girls as Polish
singer Izabella Scorupco was cast as Natalya Simonova, and Dutch
model Famke Janssen as the villainess Xenia Onatopp. Campbell
also opted to cast Joe Don Baker who portrayed the villain Brad
Whitaker in The Living Daylights, an actor with whom he worked
before, as ally Jack Wade. This move may have been made as the
character of Felix Leiter had been greatly injured in Licence
To Kill. Another gutsy move was to cast Judi Dench as M. Would
the audience accept Bond’s boss being a woman?
GoldenEye was definitely a step in the right direction for the
franchise, mixing the right amount of storyline, action, and character
development. Bond’s former friend and 00-agent 006 faked
his death and became leader of Janus, a Russian crime organization.
Upon investigating Janus member Xenia Onatopp, Bond was quite
shocked to learn 006 wasn’t dead: he was Janus himself!
Bond’s personal feeling of revenge towards 006’s killer
now became hatred towards Trevelyan. Sean Bean’s performance
as Trevelyan was so fantastic that viewers all wanted Bond’s
revenge! Janssen as Xenia Onatopp did a surprisingly good job
and many consider her to be one of the very best femme fatale
of the Bond franchise next to Luciana Paluzzi’s outstanding
performance as Fiona Volpe in Thunderball. Izabella Scorupco and
Pierce Brosnan managed to produce an interesting scene when Natalya
wonders why Bond is so cold.
GoldenEye’s greatest strengths were certainly Michael France’s
brilliant script, Martin Campbell’s direction and the outstanding
cast. Even the smaller roles like Robbie Coltrane as Russian gangster
Valentin Zukovsky, Gottfried John as Ourumov, and Tchéky
Karyo as Russian Defense Minister Mishkin were well delivered.
Needless to say, Desmond Llewelyn as Q was funny as always and
provided Bond fans with the expected first-rate performance. Another
element that plays an important part for a good Bond movie is
the excellent choice of filming locations. From the Switzerland
Dam jump to the Puerto Rico telescope sequence in the end, all
locations seemed fresh and interesting. The usage of CGI hadn’t
come into play enough to deteriorate the movie either. Most of
the stunts were great. A few memorable scenes were the tank chase
in St Petersburg, Bond escaping the Russian facility by catching
a plane going off of a cliff, and the discovery of the hidden
Cuban facility under a lake were very innovative and provided
a feeling of freshness to the franchise. Daniel Kleinman created
top notch main titles, following the work of the great Maurice
Binder who died in 1991. Tina Turner’s GoldenEye song was
terrific and simply worked wonders with the main titles.
There are very few low points in GoldenEye. The first that comes
to mind is the lacklustre score. Eric Serra’s soundtrack
is absolutely brutal, possibly the very worst in the franchise
and it came to no surprise that he didn’t come back for
the following movie. However, it must be said that the actual
material used in the movie, mostly for important sequences was
quite acceptable. His use of percussions was very interesting
but the overall quality of the soundtrack is disappointing.
Another negative point is that even after re-writes and polishes
of Michael France’s script by Jeffrey Caine, Kevin Wade,
and Bruce Feirstein, it is blatantly obvious that the movie was
written for Timothy Dalton: A story about friendship, guilt, and
revenge. Pierce Brosnan was understandably out of his league trying
to portray another actor’s Bond. Brosnan still managed to
deliver an acceptable performance even if clearly completely lost
in Bond’s boots. Sadly for Brosnan, his comfort level playing
007 would only go up as the script quality went down exponentially
in the next 3 movies.
GoldenEye was a huge hit with audiences around the world. The
6 year drought made fans hungry for a new Bond movie. It is clear
that Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli and Cubby Broccoli made
the right choices by hiring Martin Campbell as new director and
Michael France to write the story. Richard Maibaum and John Glen
had been a great part of the series but had to go. New blood was
needed to lead the Franchise in the 1990’s.
Rating
"GoldenEye" by SportzStooge007
Who is James Bond?
No one quite remembered him anymore. He was as distant a memory
as the Cold War. Children really didn't know who he was (the younger
the child, the less he knew), and the adults remembered him as
the guy from those movies their parents would watch.
Yeah, it was a part of their childhood, but by the time they
were old enough to follow the Bond films, the Bond films were
for old people (Roger Moore being 56 during the filming of the
incredibly boring AVTAK; and that mean guy making that movie that
no one liked).
Making a new Bond movies wasn't going to be easy. Its not like
they can just write a script, pick a Bond and make a movie. It
wasn't that easy. Why? Because of the above question. No one knew
who James Bond was anymore. He was old news, the last videos on
the shelf at the video store. The Bond series had come and gone,
and people were ready to move on. No, wait, people had already
moved on.
So making a new Bond movie was like starting the series all over
again. They were going to have to reintroduce Bond to everyone,
and not only that, but make sure you make him compatible with
the new time and new generation.
So you had to bring back the old character that dated back to
1962, but change him enough to make him modern enough for the
audience in the mid 1990s.
And there was no room for error. None at all. The series had
already essentially been written off, people kind of figured it
died away with the poor performance of 1989's Licence To Kill
at the box office. But they were willing to give OO7 a second
shot.
But, if the movie bombed, OO7 would be officially dead. That
would be it. Done.
That was the stage set for the debut of GoldenEye in 1995, starring
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, Isabella Scorupco as the beautiful
Natalya Simonova, Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan and Famke Janssen
as Xenia Onatopp.
Plot: The plot of GE might be its weakest point, actually. Its
a crazy megalomaniac trying to make it big, and getting revenge
against against his former employers. That's actually the only
novelty about this film's plot. Alec Trevelyan used to work for
Mi6, and would partner up with Bond (he was agent OO6) and he
was "betrayed" by OO7 and now wants revenge. Other than
that, on the whole, this movie doesn't rely too much on its plot
to make it fly, although its one of the more "plot heavy"
Bond outings. Overall, a good effort, especially being they can't
fall back on the Cold War, which was not only a recurring theme
in Bond, but an essential part of the character. This film's plot
successfully proved there can be Bond movies without the Cold
War. Good job there. 7/10
Bond: Pierce Brosnan came into the role he had waited nearly
a decade to get; the role of James Bond. From very early on he
told people that his favorite Bond movie was GF, and that his
mission was to give OO7 a deeper persona - something that had
only been see in a Bond film once, in 1969s On Her Majesty's Secret
Service, and that is seen as the dark horse of the Bond series.
In GE, Pierce Brosnan, although he was in his mid 40s, still looked
a bit too young to play Bond in this film. He still had that boyish
charm, that, even though it was considered attractive, worked
against him here, in my opinion. He played Bond well, a bit stiff,
and at times a bit too cool, but came off as a Cold War spy with
considerable ease. He's not a great actor, but his acting skills
sufficed in this flick, and he proved that he could tackle the
role. One of the finest scenes in the series is when Bond is on
the beach, just staring out into the ocean, and Natalya comes.
The dialogue there is probably the deepest Bond had gone in a
very, very long time. Neither Timothy Dalton (although he could've)
nor Roger Moore went there with the character. Not even Sean Connery
ventured into that territory. Brosnan is great as Bond, no matter
how you put it. He's a bit wooden at times, and sometimes seems
to lack the self confidence and arrogant approach to the role
that is needed for the role. But that will come in time, as it
did with Moore and Connery, who both were a bit hesitant in the
role in their first outings. By Brosnan's third film, he was going
at it like an old pro. 9/10
Characters: This film features some of the more diverse set of
characters and some of the best actors to play them in the Bond
series, something that is just rare. Every actor gave it their
all, I really have no complaints here. 9/10
Villain: Alec Trevelyan in trite. The plot itself is trite. But,
heck, you wouldn't know it from just watching the movie! He plays
his character as though its never been done before, even though
its been done in and out of Bond for the past half century. Nice
job, Mr. Bean. 10/10
Girls: Natalya Simonova is played as though she's something
special. Which can be annoying, but it was needed. Personally,
I'm convinced that she's a modern day Tracy, the only girl that
is right for Bond. 10/10
Music: Well, here's where things get fuzzy. The music isn't bad,
its just different. Which is why its hated all around the world.
But I like it, appreciate it for what it is. But Eric Serra is
not John Barry. 6/10
Direction: Excellent, excellent job by Martin Campbell and all
his editors, especially after the dismal directing job done by
John Glen throughout the 1980s. Glen made the films look dull,
boring, the colours not rich, the flow of the movie to systematic.
They looked like "made for TV" detective movies, which
is not good for Bond. Martin Campbell took GE, and bought it back
to Bond's roots, with the gloss, and glam that made the Bond films
look attractive. Nice job here. 10/10
Script: Despite a weak plot, this film had a very rich and intelligent
script, one that did exactly what it needed to do: reintroduce
James Bond, while updating him slightly for the new generation
and at the same time putting him in a new and original situation.
This was done especially well here. Its not the best Bond movie
ever, script wise, but considering how good the script was, and
all the script had to be, it was great. It accomplished 95% of
its goal, which is great, but not even I know what the other 5%
of their goal was. 8/10
Overall, this turned out to be one of the best Bond films ever,
bring Bond back into the public eye. Everyone does their job right,
and Bond is back in action.
Rating
"GoldenEye" by Agent JM7
The year is 1995. The world has been deprived of a Bond film
for six years following the release of Licence to Kill. Pierce
Brosnan has now stepped into the shoes of 007, in what promises
to be the one of the best films of the series, GoldenEye - now
produced by Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli, due to their
fathers diminishing health.
The film has a great plot. Nine Years after 006 is killed in
the USSR, 007 is informed a space weapon, GoldenEye, that has
been stolen. He is sent after the chief culprit, General Ourumov.
Bond finds however that the villain network is deeper than it
looks, and leads him into a trap, against the villain, Agent 006.
You have to admit, GoldenEye scores on almost every level of satisfaction.
Something that is easily recognisable is that Pierce Brosnan makes
a great Bond, with some saying he was the best Bond since Sean
Connery. You can see this in the first half hour when Bond enters
the gorgeous locale of Monte Carlo Casino. A scene that is full
of class and elegance, and harks back to the days of the early
films with smoky Casinos. It is done particularly well with the
dialogue, and in a way, sets the tone for Pierce Brosnan’s
Bond. But it also has another purpose, introducing us to Xenia
Onatopp (Famke Janssen), just one of the girls...
Xenia is the first Bond girl that the audience encounters on
screen, and we are quite perplexed to know at first which side
she is on: Good? Bad? Somewhere in between? It turns out she works
for the villain. One the other hand, we have Natalya Simonova
(Izabella Scorupco), a gorgeous Russian computer programmer who
helps Bond defeat the GoldenEye system. Scorupco is a great actress
too, and pulls of the emotional sensitivity that Simonova has
at the beginning of her role.
The villains are also very sinister in their different ways.
Sean Bean makes a wonderful Trevelyan. However, a slight complaint
by many is how he seems to change from a wealthy middle class
accent to a broad Yorkshire accent in some scenes, but apart from
that, he's great. Gottfried John also presents the audience with
another pivotal villain, but somebody that plays a part in the
bigger network, and not providing the main threat. However, a
supposed villain, Boris Grishenko, is only given to add a bit
of comedy to the film, much like "Sharkey" in Licence
to Kill.
The locations also give the film some added buzz. As well as
Monaco, we have the amazing city of St. Petersburg, which gives
the backdrop for many of the Act II scenes. And towards the end
of the film, we see Puerto Rico doubling for Cuba and the Arecibo
Observatory for Janus HQ. As well as the glamour, the darkness
of the USSR factory in the pre-title sequence give the balance
of gloom and glamour. The locations play a vital part in giving
GoldenEye its identity among the films.
Cinematically the film succeeds too. The shots are done well
with fast-paced, but not outlandish action. And the production
design achieve a goal in that they make the sets stunning and
sophisticated at the same time. A particular example of this is
the very sexy sauna scene which features Bond almost being crushed.
In the end, GoldenEye is a massive triumph for the franchise.
It makes the money to get it back on its feet again, whilst appealing
to a totally new generation of Bond fans, the fans that would
ensue the financial success on the next few films.
Rating
"GoldenEye" by Lethal Weapon
Following a six-year drought from License to Kill (1989) (due
to legal issues) Bond fans all over the world were eagerly anticipating
a new James Bond movie. Timothy Dalton had stepped out of the
role and the new star to gain worldwide fame was to be Pierce
Brosnan who formerly starred in Remington Steele, a 1980s TV series
now available on DVD. Most fans were most likely pleased with
Brosnan, due to the majority of fans having a dislike for Timothy
Dalton’s Bond, one closer to the one of Ian Fleming’s
novels.
The movie starts off superbly with James Bond (played by Pierce
Brosnan) and Alec Trevelyan (006; played by Sean Bean) infiltrating
a Russian Chemical Weapons facility. The opening shot of James
Bond leaping off the Dam was actually a world record – the
dam was around the range of about 600 feet, if I remember correctly.
Once 007 and 006 rendezvous, they head off to the bottling room.
Shortly after their arrival, the alarm goes off, and everything
goes into action mode. Seconds later, the room is flooded with
Russian guards and Colonel Ourumov (played by Gottfried John),
a henchman of ‘Janus’, the villain revealed about
halfway into the movie. The mission ultimately results in the
death of 006 by Ourumov, and the facility goes kablooey as 007
makes his escape in a plane waiting outside. This sets the stage
for the rest of the movie.
Colonel Arkady Ourumov (later promoted to the rank of General)
seems to be the main villain at the beginning of the movie, but
we later learn that it is someone named ‘Janus’ (the
name of the two-faced Roman god). I shall not reveal his identity
here, for the surprise is a great one, when Janus finally steps
out of the shadows and reveals to James Bond, his actual identity.
Let’s just say that a villain along the lines of Janus (a
former MI6 operative) has never been done before – the scriptwriters
had a great sense off originality. However, it leaves a gigantic
plot hole in the movie – but it does not detract greatly
from the overall movie experience. But then Purvis and Wade came
along, which pretty much sent the rest of the Brosnan movies into
a downward spiral.
The last time we saw a henchwoman was with Fiona Volpe in Sean
Connery’s 1965 film, Thunderball. Here, they return. Xenia
Onatopp, an ally of Janus and Ourumov strangles people with her
thighs – one piece in the puzzle of obtaining the Tiger
helicopter, a helicopter shielded from the effects of the Goldeneye.
Xenia Onatopp is later involved with James Bond in his attempt
to locate and identify Janus. Just like all other henchwomen,
she is eventually killed.
Goldeneye also introduced a new character. This new character
was both liked and disliked by the fan community. M, now played
by Judi Dench is Bond’s new boss. She doesn’t take
to Bond’s womanizing and criticizes him as ‘a relic
of the cold war’. Nice lady, isn’t she? It appears
that she’ll stay onto the Bond series for a long time to
come.
What would a James Bond movie be without Bond girls? A Bond girl
by the name of Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova (played by Izabella
Scorupco) is a systems programmer at a secret underground base
in Severnaya, or was, after a little something occurs with the
henchman (as well as henchwoman) of the series, and a secret weapons
system code-named ‘Goldeneye’. Natalya eventually
escapes a bit later after the crisis at the Severnaya and eventually
meets James Bond trapped in a helicopter rigged to blow in about
a minute. They are later arrested after escaping (well, what else
did you expect?) in which good ol’ Ourumov appears in an
interrogation room with them, eventually resulting in the abduction
of Natalya and Bond giving chase in a Soviet tank in the streets
of Russia.
Later, with the help of CIA agent Jack Wade (who makes brief
appearances every now and then to help Bond out) (played by the
same person who played Whittaker in Timothy Dalton’s 1987
film, The Living Daylights) and former systems programmer Natalya
team up to take Janus and his organization down, who plan to use
the Goldeneye against anyone they please. After targeting Severnaya,
they decide to move onto London, after robbing the major banks.
James Bond later criticizes Janus as a petty thief, which Janus
does not take to lightly. Eventually, James Bond, with the help
of Natalya stop Janus’ evil plan of doom and save the world.
Bond gets the girl in the end and that’s pretty much it.
All in all, the six-year wait that Bond fans had to endure to
see another Bond film was rewarded with the only good Pierce Brosnan
James Bond film Pierce Brosnan ever acted in…if that even
makes sense. All the acting is superb and as time went by, M portrayed
by Judi Dench became more accepted by the Bond community. After
Goldeneye there came a dark age of Bond films with people such
as Purvis and Wade taking over the Bond scripts, creating quite
possibly the worst dialogue I have ever seen in a movie –
check out Brosnan’s last film, Die Another Day. Perhaps
they’ll redeem themselves someday… Unfortunately,
Brosnan didn’t go out with a bang in his last films –
typical of most Bond actors.
Rating
