Goldeneye (1995)

If Nicholas Meyer is the Martin Campbell of Star Trek movies, then Martin Campbell is the Nicholas Meyer of James Bond films. Just as Meyer would swoop in twice to save the Star Trek franchise from disaster, so too would Campbell, though in his case, he’d have the daunting task of taking the dreaded reboot route. Somehow, he was able to revitalize a dying franchise and deftly introduce audiences to a brand-new Bond. His work practically adds up to the cinematic equivalent of alchemy. The one mistake the James Bond series has consistently made is not knowing when to get off the stage. They produce grand spectacles which delight audiences and even bowl over most critics, but then they continue to push well beyond the point of no return. The biggest takeaway from examining the ups and downs of the Bond franchise is a simple matter of battery recharge. A handful can burn bright, but then the series must take a break lest they risk producing subpar material. Although I enjoy You Only Live Twice (1967), it was obvious even before Thunderball (1965) that a breather was needed. Ditto A View to a Kill (1985). License to Kill (1989) suffered from several outside sources, including a writers strike and budgetary restraints, but the writing was on the wall. A break was required in order to bring the series back full force. Of course, there were also legal issues which tied the rights up in court until 1993, but still, the halting of production was necessary.

Pierce Brosnan was born to play James Bond, that much is certain. The story of how he very-nearly became 007 in the late 80’s has now become legend, with the creators of Remington Steele waiting until the very last minute to throw their weight around and dash Brosnan’s chances of taking on the Bond mantle, which ironically resulted in Steele being re-cancelled following the casting change. That said, with the exception of Goldeneye (1995), his run as Bond unfortunately led to diminishing returns. Each film got more overblown than the next, although Die Another Day (2002) gave us an untraditionally gritty and bleak opening featuring a beaten, bearded, and captured Bond. Brosnan was never less than competent and compelling as Bond, but often the films around him failed to live up to the promise of Martin Campbell’s slam-bang action adventure.

Although I don’t think editor-turned-director John Glen should’ve directed literally every Bond of the 80’s, I have a genuine respect for his ability to adapt to the times. I don’t think he was the most dynamic filmmaker by a long shot, but his willingness to explore the darker side of Bond with Timothy Dalton (The Living Daylights, License to Kill) after his run of increasingly ridiculous Roger Moore flicks (For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, A View to a Kill) is admirable. Campbell’s directing career goes all the way back to the early 70’s with some English sex comedies and bunch of TV work. His feature film career stalled around the late 80’s with Criminal Law (1988) and Defenseless (1991), but he’d gain enough traction with the better-than-expected No Escape (1994). This led to Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson choosing Campbell to helm the big Bond comeback vehicle after ace action director John Woo turned the job down. Goldeneye would skyrocket Campbell to the A-list, and his follow-up, The Mask of Zorro (1998), was everything Gore Verbinski’s bloated The Lone Ranger (2013) should’ve been. The early 2000’s were somewhat rough for Campbell, with most of his films failing to gain much momentum at the box office, but he’d come roaring back with Daniel Craig’s debut, the adrenaline-fueled Casino Royale (2006). Once again, the ensuing years haven’t been great, with Green Lantern (2011) having a devastating effect on his career, but he’d return to form with the enjoyable Jackie Chan revenge thriller The Foreigner (2017). His work on Goldeneye is exemplary, aided in no small part by a smart script by Michael France (Cliffhanger), Jeffrey Caine (Oscar-nominee, The Constant Gardener), and Bruce Feirstein (The World is not Enough), which couples vivid and fun characters with great action set-pieces. 

The opening scene is a doozy as our beloved secret agent and serial philanderer James Bond (Brosnan) engages in some death-defying stunts, including an impressive real-life bungee jump. Brosnan establishes himself right away as a tough and witty Bond, hanging upside down in the bathroom stall of a Soviet chemical weapons plant and apologizing for not knocking before punching the guard out. He hooks up with fellow MI6 comrade Agent 006 Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean, The Fellowship of the Ring) and they set about preparing to blow up the facility. Since various actors have portrayed Bond over the years, there’s been a theory floating around that the numerically assigned ‘007’ is a codename and that the agent identifying himself as Bond has been brainwashed into believing he’s the famous secret agent. While this concept was mostly put to rest in Skyfall (2012), this film remains intriguing since this was the first in which Bond met another ‘00’ operative. Things go awry and while James and Alec exchange pithy quips, 006 is unfortunately captured.

In the brief time we get to see Brosnan and Bean converse, they set an excellent chemistry and we believe there’s some history there. Alec’s assassination by close-range gunshot is sudden and brutal (Sean Bean is killed in under 10 minutes, must be a new record), but the scene almost immediately becomes hilarious with the brilliant use of a squeaky explosives cart which Bond uses as cover as he veeeerrrryyyy sloooowwwllly makes his way across the room to the exit. The look on Soviet Colonel Ourumov (Gottfried John, Fedora, Mata Hari)’s face is priceless. Ourumov is such a ruthless prick that he shoots one of his own soldiers for firing his gun without permission. Of course, Bond escapes in a thrilling motorcycle chase which becomes a sky-dive into a falling plane. It’s somewhat reminiscent of the triumphant opening ski/parachute sequence in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977). The success of Goldeneye comes from its uncanny ability to make the old seem new and the new feel familiar. 

Not to sound pervy, but I miss the silhouetted naked women made famous by Maurice Binder’s iconic opening title creations. There’s an amusing story about producers visiting the set as Binder was applying various gels to “smooth down” any parts of the model’s anatomy that could show during the shoot. The producers claimed they’d definitely missed their calling. Accompanied by one of the best Bond theme songs ever, “Goldeneye” sung by Tina Turner and written by Bono and The Edge, we’ve come a long way since the slightly cheesy psychedelics of Dr. No (1962). Zipping right along, Bond and his frazzled MI6 evaluator Caroline (Serena Gordon, Aristocrats) are racing around canyon roads in his classic Aston Martin when the film suddenly becomes National Lampoon’s Vacation for a while. My absolute favorite villainous Bond girl Xenia Onatopp sidles up in a red Ferrari and a sexy drag race is on. It’s a rousing scene which never forgets to have fun, particularly when a group of recreational cyclists (aren’t they the worst?) safely pass but end up toppling over anyways. James seduces his evaluator, ticking off yet another James Bond trademark box by being able to seduce any woman in about five minutes flat. Really though, I’m just using this bit as an opportunity to write about Xenia Onatopp. 

For a woman who was apparently born with that last name, Ms. Onatopp really leans into its sexual connotations. Of course, this is all part of a long tradition of Bond girls’ erotically-charged monikers. An ex-fighter pilot and the number one assassin for the mysterious Janus crime syndicate, she’s also tough, sultry, and batshit crazy. A homicidal sado-masochist, she derives immense pleasure from the suffering of others, but she doesn’t rule out her own enjoyment of getting roughed up. Her specialty killing move short-circuited my 14-year-old brain when I first saw this on VHS. It also made me feel kinda funny. Like when I used to climb the ropes in gym class.

Anyhoo...she’s somehow built-up her thighs to be so strong that she can crush men to death between them, leaving her victims with an eerie, permanent grin. I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve mixed Famke Janssen with Milla Jovovich more than once. They’re both ass-kicking chicks who don’t take any shit from their male co-stars. The irony is that Janssen likely saw the connection as well and cast Jovovich in her writing/directing debut Bringing up Bobby (2011). While Janssen was gently teased on her episode of Jon Favreau’s wonderful 90’s time capsule show “Dinner for Five” about crushing men with her thighs, this role absolutely put the young Janssen on the map and led to her recurring role as Jean Grey in a mostly successful run of X-Men movies (if you ignore The Last Stand). Janssen is spectacular in the role and matches up her alluring looks with a forceful, domineering attitude which seems to shake, not stir, even the great Bond himself. Their first real conversation in a casino recalls Dr. No and the later murder of a high-ranking admiral is a scene of animal intensity and an actress launching into an absolutely uninhibited performance. 

The Macguffin revolves around a satellite-based weapons system known as “Goldeneye.” It has the capability of emitting an Electro-Magnetic Pulse, which is something I’ve always wanted to utilize while filming performances because assholes use their phones to video the shows and effectively take money out of my pocket. Bastards. In Siberia, we meet our good Bond girl Natalya (Polish actress Izabella Scorupco, Reign of Fire) and horny dweeb computer whiz Boris (Tony winner Alan Cumming, The Anniversary Party). While Scorupco is a solid, if forgettable Bond girl, Goldeneye’s secret weapon is Cumming’s Boris. Like a foreign version of Dennis Nedry, Boris is outrageous, inappropriate, and constantly refers to people he doesn’t like as “slugheads,” including the stupid Americans who try to track his hacker movements. And, like the portly former Jurassic Park employee, he’s working for the other side.

Ourumov, now a general, arrives with Onatopp and after he acquires the activation materials for Goldeneye, she lays waste to the entire staff. This turns Xenia on to no end; a huge, satisfied grin forming on her face as she mows down innocent people. Natalya is a smart cookie and makes it appear that she escaped through the ventilation system, but was actually hiding in a cupboard. The EMP annihilates the station in an outstanding display of slow-motion explosions and excellent miniature work using 9-foot-long jet planes and relatively convincing structures. The film never forgets to humanize its characters and Natalya barely escapes. One particularly strong moment comes when the automated locks for the exit have been destroyed so she’s trapped inside the wreckage and desperately tries to get the machine to work, crying out her own name. Back in London, Bond and the head of MI6, M (Judi Dench, in her first appearance in a role that'll stretch all way into Spectre), watch Natalya’s escape and the devastation of the station via satellite link. We get a glimpse of the tempestuous but tolerant relationship between M and Bond before James heads off to St. Petersburg to investigate. 

Prior to meeting up with his CIA contact, Bond stops by MI6’s laboratory to gear up and we’re re-introduced to the brilliant Desmond Llewelyn as genius inventor Q. One gets a warm, fuzzy feeling because this directly connects the older Bond films to Goldeneye in a satisfying and realistic fashion. The whole scene plays out with such humor and energy that it’s intoxicating. The punchline, which involves a large sandwich, is perfectly played. 

The CIA agent whom Bond meets turns out to be former Living Daylights villain and fantastic character actor Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade. Baker may have a somewhat tarnished reputation thanks to the admittedly hilarious MST3K episodes of Mitchell and Final Justice, but he’s always a welcome presence in movies and television like The Natural, Cape Fear, Citizen Cohn, Walking Tall, and particularly his work as weirdo hitman in Don Siegel’s excellent Charley Verrick. I absolutely adore JDB in Goldeneye and the way he literally can’t call James “James” and prefers to call him “Jimmy” or “Jimbo” is adorable. I was hoping that we’d discover Jimbo’s real name was ‘Corky,’ but no such luck. Wade leads Jimbo to Zukovsky, an ex-KGB agent who’s got a permanent limp thanks to a certain ‘00’ agent and is played by Hagrid himself, Robbie Coltrane. If I wasn’t already aware of who Coltrane was, I’d be convinced he was a genuine Russian; his accent work being so spot-on. It’s a fun scene, with Zukovsky identifying Bond right away: “Walther PPK. Three men I know use such a gun. I’ve killed two of them.” Later, he very nearly shoots Bond’s balls off after shooting at the cushions around him.

Goldeneye is surprisingly reflective in subtle ways, particularly in its depiction of Bond and MI6 as being part of a dying breed of international spy agencies. Zukofsky advises James to “join the 20th century.” The enjoyment of this scene is increased tenfold by the unexpected appearance of a pre-fame Minnie Driver as a terrible Russian songstress belting out Tammy Wynette’s “Stand by your Man.” She’s hilarious, although her bizarre tan despite her supposed Russian roots is actually due to living on a Uruguayan beach at the time. Good thing this part came along. 

Zukovsky sets up a meeting with the mysterious Janus and guess what? It’s Alec, back from the dead. Sean Bean’s re-appearance was a genuine surprise to many audiences at the time because he was still something of an up-and-comer in the film industry and his death in the beginning felt final thanks to his relative anonymity. If he were a bigger star at the time, it would’ve been easier to predict that he wasn’t really dead. This is the plus to casting talented but lesser-known actors in vital roles. Alec ruthlessly needles a stunned Bond with the slightly-meta remark: “No glib remark? No pithy comeback?” It turns out Alec’s parents were Cossacks and the British government betrayed and murdered them, setting up a vendetta-based scheme to drain the world’s banks of all their money and use Goldeneye to destroy the evidence. This is all well and good, but I want to point out how this film succeeds in the depiction of Bond’s connection between his adversaries where the newer Bonds fail. In the latest slate of Bond films, the writers and filmmakers are insistent that Bond share an important connection with the main villain. These feel less like jaw-dropping revelations and more like writers trying to act clever. In Goldeneye, the reveal feels organic and earned. 

I adore the way Izabella Scorupco is shrieking at the top of her lungs for Bond to wake up. They find themselves trapped in the Tiger helicopter Xenia and Oumurov had stolen earlier and the automated missiles are set to fire and then immediately turn around and destroy their target: the Choppah! James headbutts the eject button and as always, they’re saved at the last minute. Despite their death-defying escape, Russian authorities throw Bond and Natalya in jail. We get more knowing humor when James points out the Russians are ignoring tradition and foregoing “sinister interrogations.” It’s a wonderful scene and the twist of Oumurov having to shoot his own countrymen to frame Bond is a wise choice. They flee the cell and there’s a wild extended chase which begins in the archives, where the soldiers can fire their guns from below through the grated walkways, and then into the street. Bond steals a Russian tank and lays waste to the city while pursuing Oumurov, who’s kidnapped Natalya. One detail worth mentioning is his absolute determination in getting Natalya back. He sees her fall into the clutches of the soldiers and takes less than a second to think before jumping out the window and into the tank. The destruction is glorious to behold and we get something like a Russian game of chicken as Natalya is brought aboard Alec’s sinister-looking black train, which looks like it has a face. The train has to face down Bond and his tank. In another great touch by Janssen, she once again gets really aroused when she sees the tank on the tracks. I don’t mean to be crude, but does she keep a bunch of spare underwear? Nah, I’d assume Xenia Onatopp would go commando. 

Like Sean Connery when he talked his way off Goldfinger’s laser table, Brosnan is a master of manipulation even in an impossible situation as he has to choose whether to let Natalya die or kill Alec. My one gripe with this scene is that the script has Alec become a rapist pig. It’s as if the writers didn’t believe he was quite evil enough so they threw in his sexually aggressive, groping tendencies. Bean sells it, but it feels unnecessary. He traps Bond and Natalya in the car while Ourumov is shot and he and Xenia fly off in a conveniently placed helicopter. Kudos to the movie for most of its technology remaining relatively timeless. There are a few generalized references to “the internet” and a list of computer supplies is pretty dated, but a scene in which Natalya “spikes” Boris, a technique dreamed up by Boris himself in which the “hunter becomes the hunted” by reverse tracking the hunter’s modem is very modern. At the very last second before the train car explodes, she’s able to track him to the Caribbean; Cuba specifically. Once again narrowly escaping death, they share a passionate kiss. I don’t think this is quite the time for romance, but they did almost die, so go nuts, I suppose. 

The film’s energy rarely wanes, although I’ll admit that the stretch from here until the finale is a bit dull, with Bond and Natalya almost acting as if they’re at a Sandals resort and having a fun flying lesson. It’s amusing to think that Bond creator Ian Fleming’s own estate, named Goldeneye, was located an island or two over, in Jamaica. An unexpected missile shoots straight out an inconspicuous lake and takes their plane down. Onatopp shows up looking like goddamn Sgt. Slaughter and beats the fuck out of James and Natalya. Luckily, Bond latches her to the faltering helicopter and she gets the death she probably wanted and deserved: crushing.

The satellite rising out of the water is a grand sight, but I have to ask, who are these employees? Are they at all aware of who and what they’re working for? There’s a mix of men and women milling about as well as armed guards, so as Alec and Boris fuck with Bond and Natalya, I’m assuming there are a few workers heading over to the HR department to file a complaint or two about how Mr. Janus has gotten a little “handsy” with the gals in the steno pool. The exchanges between James and Alec are outstanding, with Bond identifying Alec’s plan as “all so mad little Alec can settle a score with the world.” Alec retorts: “Oh, please James, spare me the Freud. I might as well ask you about the vodka martinis that have silenced the screams of all the men you've killed.”  Boris is a major sexist pig so he can’t believe that “dumb programmer” Natalya could’ve changed his codes, effectively forcing the Goldeneye satellite to crash and burn. The entire time, Boris keeps twirling James’ pen, which happens to be a special device from Q which turns into a grenade with the right number of clicks. It’s blazingly intense as Boris keeps clicking and spinning it around. I’ll admit, after this movie, I became quite adept at spinning pens myself because I wanted to be like the insane Boris. I wanted to be “invincible” too, damnit. There’s a huge explosion and everything goes to hell. 

A brutal fight between James and Alec results in one of Campbell’s trademarks: a big fight on a high platform. It’s frenetically shot but you can really feel the pain when James nearly loses his grip on a descending ladder. Finally, Alec falls but James nabs his foot. In a callback to the first scene, Alec asks “For England, James?” Bond responds: “For me,” before dropping him. It’s a reminder of how cold-blooded but righteous James Bond can get. The icing on the cake is when Alec, who is still alive despite a horrible fall, is crushed by the falling satellite and Boris, with Alan Cumming going into full-on crazy mode, is killed by an exploding liquid nitrogen tank. James and Natalya very nearly bang in a field, but luckily they don’t because a fuckton of soldiers along with Wade are just hanging out nearby and would’ve gotten what Daniel Plainview would describe as “one goddamn helluva show.” They fly off in, what else? Helicopters, while a terrible mood piece called “Experience of Love” plays over the end credits. 

While I regard Goldfinger as my favorite Bond film, Pierce Brosnan and Goldeneye hold a special place in my heart since he was my generation’s James Bond. The number of great moments are many: “Strangling the cat”; Joe Don Baker’s gardening reference; the steam room seduction/fight scene between Bond and Xenia “No more foreplay”; the film’s decision to have Bond judo-chop Xenia off-camera was a good call; Alec’s begrudging respect for Bond “Good for Bond. Bad for you.” “Why can’t you just be a good boy and die?”; A sassy Moneypenny (Samantha Bond); Brosnan adjusting his tie while in the tank and smashing through a Perrier truck; Natalya taking on Bond-isms “Go ahead. Shoot him. He means nothing to me.”; and of course, the recurring six-minute versus three-minute explosion problem. Only real question is: How the hell did he get his car all the way to Cuba?

Goldeneye’s production values couldn’t be better, with slick work by cinematographer Phil Meheux, who would serve as Campbell’s regular DP for most of his features as well as shoot an eclectic assortment of projects including Scum, The Long Good Friday, Highlander II: The Quickening, Campbell’s Casino Royale, and of course, Beverly Hills Chihuahua. Editor Terry Rawlings brought his expert skill for pacing to the fore, having already worked on Ridley Scott’s Alien, Blade Runner, and Legend, as well as being Oscar-nominated for Chariots of Fire and editing Watership Down and F/X, among others. The Bond theme is peppered throughout but regular Luc Besson composer Eric Serra brings his own unique flavor. Campbell, Brosnan, and the cast and crew set about steering a waning franchise into a new age with energy and verve. Goldeneye remains the best of the Brosnan Bond films as well as one of the all-time great James Bond entries in the franchise. The video game was pretty sweet, too.