Goldeneye (1995)

Onatopp Again

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy Goldeneye on DVD.

I love James Bond. No other hero has had as long of a movie career and as many ups and downs as Bond. I watched both of the Timothy Dalton movies, hoping with every scene that he would get better. I watched the all the Roger Moore movies, laughing and enjoying myself when he was good, wincing when he was bad. I glowered at George Lazenby, as he ruined what might have been the very best Bond movie, On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Although Connery is still the best, Pierce Brosnan appears to have been born to fill Bond's shoes. He displays a both the charm and the grit of the best Bonds. He looks comfortable in ridiculous situations. He even pulls off an occasional pun with a straight face.

Brosnan's debut as 007, Goldeneye, is fairly standard Bond fare. The plot resurrects the Cold War for a little while, so that Bond has something to do. It has two fabulous women, one good (Izabella Scorupco) and one evil (Famke Janssen). It's got the same old Q (Desmond Llewelyn) and a brand new M (Judi Dench). It's only slightly better than the movies of the last fifteen years or so, but that alone makes it worth seeing. License to Kill was so absolutely horrid, that I'm relieved to see an upswing.

The title song, sung by Tina Turner and written by Bono and the Edge of U2, goes into the collection of Bond songs nicely.

Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Tcheky Karyo, Gottfried John, Alan Cumming, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond, Michael Kitchen, Minnie Driver, Constantine Gregory
Written by: Jeffrey Caine, Bruce Feirstein, based upon a story by Michael France, and upon characters by Ian Fleming
Directed by: Martin Campbell
MPAA Rating: PG-13 for a number of sequences of action/violence, and for some sexuality
Running Time: 130 minutes
Date: November 17, 1995