YOU KNOW THE NAME. YOU KNOW THE NUMBER.
James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) must stop his former colleague and friend (Sean Bean) from getting his greedy hands on a dangerous satellite system.
The 17th entry in this series came after a six-year hiatus. It’s Brosnan’s first effort as the superspy and he’s an excellent choice – humorous, equally cool and passionate. The world order has changed; there is no longer any Soviet Union and the new M is a woman, refreshingly enough. The ingredients that once made the Bond flicks popular are still here, including the action; there’s a thrilling sequence involving a tank in St. Petersburg.
Bean is a fairly anemic villain, but the title song is superb.
1995-U.K.-U.S. 130 min. Color. Widescreen. Directed by Martin Campbell. Screenplay: Jeffrey Caine, Bruce Feirstein. Music: Eric Serra. Song: ”GoldenEye” (performed by Tina Turner). Cast: Pierce Brosnan (James Bond), Sean Bean (Alec Trevelyan), Izabella Scorupco (Natalya Simonova), Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Tchéky Karyo, Alan Cumming, Desmond Llewellyn. Cameo: Minnie Driver.
Trivia: Goldeneye was the name of Ian Fleming’s beach house in Jamaica. Mel Gibson, Liam Neeson and Ralph Fiennes were considered as 007; Anthony Hopkins and Alan Rickman as the villain. John Woo was offered to direct the film. Followed by Tomorrow Never Dies (1997).
Quote: “I think you are a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, a relic from the Cold War.” (Dench to Brosnan)
Last word: “I’ve always been a Bond fan since Dr. No. For GoldenEye, Martin [Campbell] and I got the videos of all the previous 17 Bond films and spent two days in my apartment watching all of them with bottles of wine and pizzas. We analyzed what it was that made Bond the iconic figure he became so we could capitalize on that. We spoke about trying to modernize the look, when to use a handheld camera and how to use light and darkness. Up until then, the films had a rather traditional look. I was concerned that the Bond producers would want the same but they told us we could do what we thought was right for the project.” (Cinematographer Phil Meheux, Kodak)
