The 007 Files: Goldeneye

007 fans would experience a very long wait to see 1995’s Goldeneye, which kicks off the Pierce Brosnan era in Bond world. Before, the biggest gap between pictures was a two and a half year wait between 1974’s The Man with the Golden Gun and 1977’s The Spy Who Loved Me. Following the release of 1989’s Licence to Kill, financial difficulties from parent company MGM would tie up the series. The result? A nearly six and a half year wait between Licence and Goldeneye.

During that prolonged time period, a lot of questions were raised. Would the Bond series be relevant in the 1990s or would audiences see the character as a Cold War era relic? After all, the Berlin Wall came down and Communism basically ended during the long break. Would James Bond’s character, with his sexual proclivities and often cavalier attitude, translate to the nineties?

Another potential issue: 1989’s Licence to Kill was the lowest grossing 007 flick (when factoring inflation) in the franchise’s history. MGM’s problems led to scrapping a third Timothy Dalton installment that was to be called The Property of a Lady. The fact that the series had ended on such a soft financial note, especially in the United States, led to legitimate questions regarding Bond’s box office drawing power.

All these questions were talked about incessantly leading up to the release of Goldeneye. Pierce Brosnan, the “Remington Steele” star who was cast in 1986 but had to drop out due to TV commitments, was finally available to assume the 007 mantle. His casting was met with praise, even with so many unsure whether the series would remain successful.

First impressions mean a lot and the opening sequence of Goldeneye is fabulous, as we see Brosnan’s Bond in an awesome free fall to infiltrate a chemical weapons warehouse. This scene is set in 1986 and continues with 007 witnessing the murder of agent 006 Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean). The opening sequence concludes with a very nifty plane stunt.

This leads to title credits and theme song and here’s one with immense talent behind it: Tina Turner singing from a song written by Bono and The Edge. Unfortunately, it’s a pretty standard and uninspiring track.

Goldeneye picks up nine years later with a fun car chase sequence, involving a memorable secondary villain, Xenia Onatopp, played by Famke Janssen (who would move on to the X-Men series a few years later). The character of Onatopp is a sadist who gets turned on by shooting her weapons and murders some victims while in sexual situations with them.  The car chase also allows the return of the sweet Aston Martin, too!

The plot involves the stealing of a helicopter that can withstand an EMP (electro magnetic pulse). The plans of the baddies are eventually revealed as destroying the city of London and collapsing the world financial market. That main bond villain turns out to be the thought to be dead 006 himself Alec, now known as crime syndicate head Janus. This provides an interesting story for the villain, as he’s a former colleague and friend of 007. Bean, a fine actor, is quite good in the role. As mentioned before, Janssen certainly makes an impression and Alan Cumming (also in the X-Men flicks) has some humorous moments as a demented computer geek.

The main Bond girl is Natalya (Izabella Scorupco), a computer programmer who is the only survivor of an attack by the villains. Scorupco, while not one of the classic Bond gals, certainly holds her own with 007 and has she has good rapport with Brosnan.

Some of the secondary characters work. Joe Don Baker, who portrayed a villain in The Living Daylights, is back here as a totally different character. Here, he plays a CIA agent and his dialogue with Bond (referring to him as “Jimmy” and “Jimbo”) provides some decent comic relief. Robbie Coltrane shines in his scene as an ex KGB agent who helps out Bond. In Coltrane’s scene, his mistress (shown singing a terrible Karaoke version of “Stand By Your Man”) is played by Minnie Driver, two years before she became famous in Good Will Hunting. 

As for the series characters we expect to see, Samantha Bond (no relation) is the new Moneypenny and like Caroline Bliss from the Dalton films, she’s seen briefly and doesn’t make too much of an impression. While almost everything is new for 90s Bond, we do get the welcome sight of Desmond Llewelyn back as Q. The six year absence has noticeably aged the actor, but he’s terrific as always and has some great lines in his main scene (the lunch line in particular).

And, last but not least: M. Goldeneye begins the seven picture run of the incomparable Judi Dench as Bond’s boss. The character has changed. She doesn’t particularly care for 007 and his ways. M seems to think Bond is a Cold War relic who’s overstayed his welcome, much like many were wondering about the franchise itself. Dench’s M provides a real spark here.

The real star of Goldeneye is the action sequences. A personal favorite: 007 chasing baddies with a tank.

Pierce Brosnan is impressive in his debut. It helps that he just looks like James Bond should. He doesn’t have quite the menacing demeanor of Connery (and Dalton, as he started showing in Licence to Kill) or quite the comedic sensibilities of Moore. His Bond works somewhere in the middle because he’s capable of all those qualities to a certain degree. It’s a happy enough medium.

We have a lot of new people joining the series here. Director Martin Campbell provides a steady hand and he would return to the series later in a major way (we’ll get there soon). We also have four new screenwriters joining the mix. The James Bond compositions are usually first-rate (mostly due to John Barry), but this film’s score by newbie Eric Serra is disappointing. Another quibble: some occasionally poor special effects work (not something we’re used to with this franchise).

Goldeneye works for the most part and is a welcome return back. The writers seem to be purposely trying to get all the old Bond trademarks in from time to time while making it clear that it is a new Bond. Particular evidence of this is M’s referring to Bond as a dinosaur. Also, a humorous scene where an apparent villain wants Bond to immediately give up information. He responds: “No one takes the time to do a sinister interrogation anymore!” The self-referential jokes are handled pretty well.

Despite all the worries about the series coming back, they were quickly alleviated. Goldeneye was a smash hit, earning over $350 million worldwide, including $106 million in the U.S. Keep in mind that Licence to Kill, six years prior, made only $32 million domestically.

The makers of Goldeneye were successful in introducing Brosnan and reintroducing the character to the old and a new audience after the extended layoff. They do a commendable job. It’s worth noting that Goldeneye is the first Bond title to not be derived in one form or another from the works of Ian Fleming. However, Goldeneye was the name of Ian Fleming’s estate in Jamaica so it’s a nice little nod to the 007 author.

The film is a bit overlong (not uncommon, some things never change). I must confess that there were times where I had the feeling of watching all the Bond trademarks being systematically checked off. Some of it worked better than others. Goldeneye is unquestionably solid, but I didn’t find it quite as entertaining as other entries I admired. In the words of Winnie Cooper from “The Wonder Years”, I liked it. But, I didn’t really like it, like it.

Lastly, no blog post of the movie can be written without at least a passing mention of the video game. The N64 first-person shooter game was a smash success as well and is widely considered one of the greatest video games of all time. The film isn’t one of all-time best Bonds, but it’s fun enough while it lasts and has some truly great moments.

Here are the facts:

Film: Goldeneye

U.S. Release Date: November 17, 1995

Director: Martin Campbell

Screenplay: Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, Kevin Wade, and Bruce Feirstein

Bond: Pierce Brosnan

Main Bond Villain: Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean)

Main Bond Girl: Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco)

Theme Song: “Goldeneye” – performed by Tina Turner

Budget: $58 million

Worldwide Box Office: $352.1 million

My James Bond blog series will return in “The 007 Files: Tomorrow Never Dies”