GoldenEye

James Bond is a very famous character within pop culture that has survived for multiples year now. Though the spy movie genre hasn’t become extinct in any capacity, and even Bond himself is moreso a spoof on the genre rather than a faithful interpretation (most spies wouldn’t want to stick out as much as he does), the stylish characters, the diabolical villains, the over-the-top gadgets and stunts, and the larger than life personality that comes off the character as well as the world has allowed the series to last as long as it has through several generations and even several Bonds. Each new Bond has tried to evolve with the times and keep up to date with modern expectations and tolerances. The 1995 film, GoldenEye, was a Bond film that did a lot more tweaking of the usual formula than was expected at the time, and that mixed with featuring a new Bond meant it left a pretty big impression when it came out. Set during the 90s following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, James Bond (played by Pierce Brosnan) is tasked with tracking down the stolen plans for a secret space-based weapons program known as ‘’Goldeneye’’ by M (played by Judi Dench). Having previously lost a partner on one of these missions, Bond is surprised to see that not only did said partner, Alec Trevelyan (played by Sean Bean) survive, but he is the mastermind behind this whole endeavour along with his right-hand woman, Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen). It’s up to Bond and Russian hacker, Natalya Simonova (played by Izabella Scorupco) to stop the satellite from going off which would devastate England and prevent Trevelyan from getting away with this scheme. Being the first Bond film to not be based on one of Ian Flemming’s books (rather the name was inspired by an operation Fleming underwent during the Spanish Civil War as a lieutenant commander of the British Naval Intelligence), the film manages to capture a similar atmosphere to the original series while also featuring some cool new effects, pleasant upgrades to the formula and fun actors. While not a perfect recreation by having noticeable flaws weaved through, it put 007 back on the right track for the modern era.

Most Bond movies are often time-capsules of their era, making the year it takes place in, a lot of the character’s attitudes, and especially the villains and their motivations taking on strong attributes of the period the story was written in to influence a prominent social or political turmoil that is relevant around the time. This also holds true in this film as it was the first Bond film to be created after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, which allowed the film to capitalize on America’s still present fear of espionage and global hacking from the Russian empire. You can see this theme even within the opening credits, where the bizarre imagery connects back to the fall of communism with the destruction of several communist symbols and icons, and this idea does bring a unique presence to the franchise that felt distinctly of-the-times. There were fears that the film, and therefore the character, wouldn’t hold up well in a modern time period as most of the Bond films were viewed as more old-fashioned and less acceptable by current standards. Thankfully, a lot of people behind the scenes, mainly Barbara Broccoli (a producer who owns the Bond franchise) and her half-brother Michael G. Wilson), saw this would be a potential issue and tried to change Bond in a way that felt more contemporary, but wouldn’t erase what people liked about the character. The director for the movie, Martin Campbell was able to adapt and modernized the Bond franchise by updating the standard formula in a way that felt in spirit to the original but still in a way that kept the brand’s distinct identity. Inclusion like a female version of M, the female roles no longer feeling like simple eye-candy for the men to fawn over (or worse), and Bond no longer being a spotless figure, made the character more acceptable and believable by today’s standards, and while it doesn’t go as far as they would later down the line, it’s a pretty decent first step. While the atmosphere of the film is really likeable and engaging, with it nearing levels that feel like a comic book universe with its mixture of goofy over-the-top scenarios mixed with proper global life-threatening situations, the writing and screenplay behind the main narrative written by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein is a bit messy and not incredibly flowing. Since the movie was in production hell for a long time and without Fleming’s writing to back them up, the story jumps around a lot with plot points coming out of nowhere, being unable to decide what the main focus of the film is truly on (a character study on Bond, the villains evil plan or the commentary) and a climax that goes on for way too long.

Most of the characters in this are a pretty heavy split between enjoyable and boring. For a James Bond film with its expected personality and atmosphere, they fill the appropriate roles, but to their credit, do still feel like a decent improvement and upgrade from some portrayals in the past. Bond is an interesting example as the film feels like it’s trying to create a character study around him yet seems to fall behind on it once the main narrative kicks in. It leaves him a bit more simplistic than one would hope for and what originally started as a dissection of his attitude and demeanour suddenly gets completely forgotten once the film gets going, but he still has the one-liners and the suaveness, so it’s pulled off fine enough. Allowing the mantle to be passed on between different actors allows the character to stay fresh and relevant, and it’s always nice seeing what new angle is taken with each new actor. Pierce Brosnan as the role is a perfect choice for the character and he fits into the role very easily, but due to the way the film is written, it’s hard to say that he really stands out as very unique amongst other actors that have played the character. It was his first movie, so he gets a pass, but he feels so close to the original identity of Bond, that little about him stands out outside of just being a perfectly solid portrayal. Some of the better characters in the film included Judi Dench as M, who is barely utilized but is so well acted that she easily leaves an impression and easily cements herself as a great choice for the role (regardless of the gender swap), Famke Janssen as Onatopp is just a great character that feels perfect for a franchise like this (a woman that literally kills with her sexuality), and even the small appearance by Q played by returning actor, Desmond Llewelyn adds a nice touch of comedy in this mostly serious story. With that said, the other characters either remain in the usual Bond film character type, or just come across as annoying; Natalya is a pretty standard Bond girl with nothing much else standing out as her, Alan Cumming plays a really annoying side villain who offers nothing fun or interesting, and Alec Trevelyan as the main villain is pretty bad even by Bond standard. While he has lasted in the franchise’s memory, the character is poorly set-up with a weak motivation, annoying personality, and a very confusing plan. With the original plan to have Bond’s mentor be the traitor, the sudden change can be felt in how random and quick the reveal is and how rushed his reasoning is. Sean Bean is fine enough, but he doesn’t improve the quality overall or save what is a surprisingly dull Bond villain.

This would be the first Bond film to use CGI and as a first-time outing, it smartly uses these effects while still holding onto their old-fashioned stunts and models to create a best of both world’s situation, as the drastic jump from one medium to the other would have been too fast a change and way too obvious in a franchise like this. This allows the opening credits to not only get away with far more wild, insane and bizarre imagery that truly became a staple of the franchise going forward (even being directed by music-video director, Daniel Kleinman) but it also allows them to include things like explosions and large scale crashes without having to actually do anything dangerous, outside of the occasional destroyed miniature set (which were actually done by special effects supervisor, Derek Meddings, who specialized in miniatures and whom the film was dedicated to with this being his last before his death). Most of the stunts are pretty cool, even when the green screens are pretty obvious, they still work within the scenes, and the actual locations of the film are pretty grand and lead to some nice shots captured by cinematographer Phil Méheux, who does a good job at showing off these unique locations. Even having the climax set on this gigantic satellite is a pretty fun and new idea and it looks really cool and huge in scale. The theme music for a Bond film has always been one of its most memorable elements, and the song for the film (also called GoldenEye) sung by Tina Turner and written by Bono and David Howell Evans (otherwise known as the Edge) has a great beat, sounds really nice and accompanies a very good opening credit scene.

After the struggle the people behind this film went through in order to make this movie after so many copyright issues, GoldenEye turned out surprisingly well especially considering they were going in with no other source material to base themselves on. From a blank slate perspective, they did a pretty decent job of sticking true to what made Bond a cool character and world for the fans, while also adjusting some of the less than timeless aspects of the character to make it a nice stable balance for the new world. However as expected, without anything to draw from, it left the story feeling like it was always one step away from being complete and just missing a few elements to make it feel whole. The confusing story, weak villain and overly long and complicated climax are noticeable issues, but with some great actors, solid directing, and some nice-looking set pieces, it stayed in people’s heads for a reason. For England, For America and For whoever else wants to get back into the Bond world, this a pretty good one to check out.