GoldenEye (1995)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Martin Campbell

Writers (WGA):

Ian Fleming (characters)
Michael France (story)

Release Date:

17 November 1995 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Thriller

Tagline:

You know the name. You know the number.

Plot:

James Bond teams up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow agent believed to be dead.

Plot Keywords:

Russian | Agent | James Bond | Satellite | General

Awards:

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations

US TV Schedule:

Wed. July 15

11:00 PM

USA

Cast

Pierce Brosnan	...	James Bond
Sean Bean	...	Alec Trevelyan / Janus
Izabella Scorupco	...	Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova
Famke Janssen	...	Xenia Zirgavna Onatopp
Joe Don Baker	...	Jack Wade
Judi Dench	...	M
Gottfried John	...	General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov
Robbie Coltrane	...	Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky
Alan Cumming	...	Boris Grishenko
Tchéky Karyo	...	Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin (as Tcheky Karyo)
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Samantha Bond	...	Miss Moneypenny
Michael Kitchen	...	Bill Tanner
Serena Gordon	...	Caroline
Simon Kunz	...	Severnaya Duty Officer

Also Known As:

Bond 17 (UK) (working title)
Golden Eye (International: English title) (alternative spelling)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for a number of sequences of action/violence, and for some sexuality.

Runtime:

130 min

Country:

UK | USA

Language:

English | Russian | Spanish

Color:

Color | Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

Canada:13+ (Quebec) | Canada:14 (Nova Scotia) | Canada:AA (Ontario) | Canada:PA (Manitoba) | Iceland:12 | USA:PG-13 (certificate #34064) | UK:15 (uncut) (2006 ultimate edition) | Philippines:PG-13 | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Australia:PG | Denmark:16 | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | Ireland:15 | Netherlands:12 | New Zealand:PG | Norway:15 | Portugal:M/12 | Singapore:PG | South Korea:15 | Spain:13 | Sweden:15 | UK:12 (cut)

Filming Locations:

Admiralteysky, St. Petersburg, Russia

Company:

Eon Productions

Trivia:

The type of drink that Xenia Onatopp orders at the casino was a vodka martini straight up with a twist. This was a play on James Bond's traditional favorite drink a vodka martini shaken not stirred which is what he orders at the casino.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: After he has skydived into the falling plane, we see Bond climbing into the pilot's seat and sitting down as if in normal gravity. As both he and the plane are in free-fall, he would be effectively in weightlessness.

Quotes:

[first lines]
[Russian in toilet cubicle looks around his newspaper to see Bond hanging from the ceiling]
James Bond: Beg your pardon, forgot to knock.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Derek Meddings: Making It Small in Pictures (2006) (V)

Soundtrack:

The Experience of Love

Bridging the Bond generations!

After a 6 year hiatus due to protracted legal wranglings as to WHO owned the BOND film rights, GOLDENEYE was finally made! It was worth the wait! With the almost impossible assignment of both retaining the quintessential METHOD of the Connery period and the need to drag Bond screaming into the new millennium and its new technology, Martin Campbell actually pulled it off.

Brosnan, though not my personal favorite I have to say, did a damn near remarkable job, by not only bringing elements of Connery, Dalton and Moore to the role, but by stamping it with his own identity (he WAS actually first choice ahead of Dalton but was contractually tied to REMINGTON STEELE and could not gain a release!)

Wishing to link back with the earlier mega successful Bonds, the very title of GOLDENEYE was inspirational, immediately bringing to mind the latent image of GOLDFINGER. Not one half bad title song either compared to some recent efforts.

With Bernard Lee's sad demise, Judy Dench made a brilliant replacement as M, all balls and bravado. Similarly, Moneypenny is now a strictly new-age secretary admonishing 007 for his sexual harassment of her good self! Dearest of all, Desmond Llewelyn still shines as "Q" berating 007 for his behaviour and telling him to "grow up."

Famke Janssen is a throw-back to the good old days of Bond badgirls as the aptly named Xenia Onatopp. Izabella Scorupco however must be the most beautiful of all the "good" Bond girls. Feminine to the core and everything the average man would want to love and protect she is is simply yummy.....no more so than when she chides 007's cold-war repartee with his Russian counterpart as "Boys with Toys" Soo cute!

Action was at a premium from the rip-snorting bungee-jump (pre-credits) to the climactic battle atop the communications tower. Everything gelled in this movie to elevate it to amongst the top 5 Bond films...no question! Top dialog, state of the art fx, innuendos on tap and a really first rate villain. Shame none of the later Brosnan outings have come close to this one!

8.8 out of 10!