After a five-year hiatus, the James Bond series was re-invigorated in 1995 with this, “GoldenEye,” starring Pierce Brosnan as the double agent. The film, which seemed to carry on the tradition on Bond films that had preceded it, hosted the spy in a variety of locations, sandwiched between action, explosions, and women throughout. And even though Brosnan – who gained popularity in the ‘80s television show “Remmington Steele” – would not take the spy to the same level of depth later given by Daniel Craig in “Casino Royale” and “Skyfall,” “GoldenEye” is an entertaining and solid installment in the franchise.
As is true with many Bond films, the plot is long and has twists and turns along the way. The basic story here places us deep in Soviet Russia, where a general (John Gottfried) and other players steal a nuclear space weapon, subsequently destroying a Russian research center and planning their next move. James Bond is called in to find the weapon and stop the terrorists at all costs; but things escalate when he realizes that a former agent and friend (Sean Bean) is implicated in the proceedings.
Action-wise, “GoldenEye” has the right stuff, and true to form packs more explosions and death defying stunts into the film’s first 20 mins than some action films see in their entirety (the film’s most absurd sequence being, of course, when Bond jumps off a mountain after a falling airplane, climbs in the cabin, and commandeers it mid-fall). But these are the reasons we watch Bond films. We also see Bond tracking a sly yet dangerous femme fatale (Famke Janssen), and team up with a survivor of the Russian research center attack, a programmer named Natalya (Izabella Scorupco) for much of the rest of the film.
“GoldenEye,” while exciting, takes a long time to get there, and, at times, rides a fine line between engaging and slow-paced. Fans of the film’s origins, especially those films with Sean Connery or Roger Moore, will find themselves in a new world here, one where ‘M’ – MI6’s director – is not a man, but a woman, here played by Judi Dench. And while Dench plays M well throughout the series, and would see more and more screen-time as the series evolved, here she is reduced to what amounts to maybe ten minutes at the film’s opening.
In a rather comical fashion, we’re also introduced to Q, reprised by Desmond Llewelyn, who walks us through Bond’s host of gadgets.
The acting is par for the course, not excellent or trendsetting, but just what you’d expect from a Bond film. A host of baddies and loose allies fill their roles well, from Joe Don Baker as a CIA agent friendly to Bond, to Tchéky Karyo as a Russian defense minister, to Robbie Coltrane as a unscrupulous gangster type who owes Bond a favor. With even Minnie Driver appearing as a bar mistress, “GoldenEye” cements itself with its star-studded cast and engaging filming locations.
As Bond, Brosnan fills the shoes well. If criticisms do come, they come in the form of Brosnan perhaps painting Bond a little too dry for the first half of the movie. Quips and one-liners replace emoting or any of the depth we’ve seen in any of the films since Daniel Craig took the lead. But, truthfully, this is who James Bond had been up to this point, and Brosnan takes that Bond and runs with him. The plot also skips and jerks in places from time to time, without much explanation as to how it got from one point to the next. In time, though, the film becomes engaging; by the mid-way point you’re absorbed and by the end you’re kind of hooked.
Bond also has a believable villain/hero relationship with Sean Bean, who plays the antagonist, Alec Trevelyn, with wit and menace. Bean had of then not starred in either “The Hitcher” or “Don’t Say A Word,” showing his versatility as both a good and bad guy. In “GoldenEye” Bean’s great accomplishment is to play up a decade-long grudge between Bond and himself, and to do so in a believable manner. Two scenes between the two; one, on a train, and another amidst a enormous satellite dish, are taut and forceful.
At the end of the day, “GoldenEye” is an effective Bond film. It utilizes the immense machismo surrounding Bond for laughs, and introduces us to unique locales and action sequences. If you’re a fan of the Bond franchise, you’ll be hard to disappoint here.
