Plot: Pierce Brosnan ignites the screen in his first adventure as the unstoppable James Bond. When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of a former ally-turned-enemy, only 007 can save the world from an awesome space weapon that - in one short pulse - could destroy the earth!
Firsts: Brosnan as Bond, Samantha Bond as Moneypenny, and a female M (Dame Judi Dench), post-Cold War Bond film
Gadgets: Pen grenade, belt with rappelling gear, piton gun, laser watch, and loaded Aston Martin and BMW
Girls Bond slept with: Caroline (the psychatrist) and Natalya Simonova
Elaborate murder attempt that Bond escapes: Trapped in a helicopter and train car as both are set to explode.
Personal review: And now we come to Pierce. Over the next few weeks, we'll cover his quartet of films and their various pros and cons, but let me just say that I always thought Pierce, himself, did a great job as Bond. In many ways it was only natural that he play the part and I'm glad he got a chance after he backed out of doing The Living Daylights. He knew how to have fun with the role, but got serious when it was time to take care of business.
Now onto this film in particular. In general, it was a fairly decent start to the Brosnan era. Having a double-crossing double O agent seemed fresh and Sean Bean did a great job of being evil without being over the top. He really was an excellent foil to play off Brosnan. I actually would have liked him in more scenes, but between delaying his reveal and the large group of associate villains, it just wasn't possible.
There are also some big-time action sequences in this one. The film kicks off with that breathtaking bungee jump scene and also has that crazy dive into the airplane. Later on you have the tank scene which is crazy and probably Bond's most reckless chase scene, which is saying something. Given how impressive those scenes were, the film's climatic action sequences are somewhat of a letdown (especially Trevelyan's death scene), but still servicable.
The final strength of this film that I'll mention is Tina Turner's performance of the title song. She just knocks it out of the park and it is easily in my top 5 of Bond themes. Associated with that, I love the improvements Daniel Kleinman made with the opening sequences. Maurice Binder's work will always be iconic, but Kleinman did a great job of updating this while still keeping a lot of Binder's core concepts (i.e. silhouetted women).
Speaking of updates, the film tried to do a lot of that, most of which to annoying results. My biggest complaint of Goldeneye is its insistent reminders that we are living in a different world and era now. The film's political correctness just feel out of place. The James Bond character is timeless regardless of the fact that the Cold War was over. Thankfully, they would ease up on this as the franchise went on.
The one positive move that came out of this was making Judi Dench as the new M. She brings the right amount of steeliness to the role and doesn't make a big deal out of the fact that she's a woman.
The other interesting recurring cast members in this one are Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade and Robbie Coltrane as Zukovsky. I found it interesting that they brought Baker back in a different role, but don't understand why it was as a CIA agent. Why eliminate the Felix Leiter character? Coltrane on the other hand was a fun addition. I would love to see him make another appearance, but between the series' new direction and Coltrane's Potter schedule, this seems unlikely.
Finally, let's talk about the Bond girls, something that was problematic during the Dalton era. First, Famke Janssen is great as henchwoman Xenia Onatopp (great name!). It's been a while since we've seen a henchman with a unique method of murder, so that was a welcome return. As for Izabella Scorupco as Natalya, she's a mixed bag. You could tell she was pretty, but she was never what I would call sexy at any point in the film. She also was typically the one that kept forcing the PC issue with her bitching about "boys and their toys" which got annoying after a while. On the other hand, she was a lot more competent than a lot of Bond girls, so at least she had that going for her. One odd complaint about both Bond girls was their incessant screaming. Onatopp's primal yells and Natalya's shrieks of fear sounded the same and both hurt my ears.
Overall this is a solid start, but still had plenty of room to grow. Even though this film is now 13 years old (can't believe that), it still feels modern to me, unlike all the previous Bond films. That is, except for whenever they mention technology. Hearing Natalya's checklist at the computer store now is pretty funny. Anyways, I'm sure most people have seen this one, but if you haven't and you're interested in starting on this franchise this one isn't a bad one to start with. 8/10
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