Pierce Brosnan's first outing as James Bond is average. His turn as Bond was very rocky, he was caught in a franchise trying to flex its muscles and change, yet remain the same to millions of loyal fans. "GoldenEye" tries to be too many things to too many people, and although there are many firsts here for the franchise, it still feels underwhelming and tired.
In the opening action set-piece, Bond and another double-0 agent, Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), do battle with Russian general Ourumov (Gottfried John) with Alec losing his life and Bond escaping in a ludicrous stunt sequence involving an airplane and a motorcycle. I know people made fun of Roger Moore's special effects laden action scenes toward the end of his run, but this looks ridiculous. Nine years later, Bond is still Bond, now called in by M (Judi Dench) to investigate the theft of yet another spacebound weapons system being used by a Russian crime syndicate. He teams up with bland Russian computer programmer Natalya (Izabella Scorupco, who does try in a terrible role) as they globe hop and escape impossible situations.
I remember when this film came out after "Licence to Kill" failed at the box office six years earlier. I am a huge James Bond fan. I've read Casino Royale and Moonraker, and I had seen every Bond film to that point. In the theaters, I watched every entry from "The Spy Who Loved Me" through "Licence to Kill." "GoldenEye" was the first film I kind of shrugged at, not catching it until home video. Once I finally got ahold of it, it was a VHS copy, didn't think much of it, and was more than happy to revisit it in widescreen on a giant television over twenty-five years later- and I still found it "meh," despite new blood in the screenwriting and directing chairs- but check out that cast!
It's funny that Famke Janssen's Xenia Onatopp is derided today, when her scenes are the best part of the movie. Literally killing men in the throes of passion, Janssen plays the character over-the-top (so to speak). She easily outshines Natalya, a blank who's good at computers and stuff. Watching her try to tame our womanizing hero is painful. Dench's M is a welcome change to the franchise, but she is not in this as much as I remember, delivering her one memorable line insulting Bond before vanishing until later entries. Desmond Llewelyn is trotted out as Q, but Lois Maxwell was replaced as Moneypenny- I always thought Maxwell's character should have been promoted to become M, watching her boss around Bond would have been fun. Samantha Bond is another blank slate in the role, but Bean is fine as Trevelyan. I hated Joe Don Baker's CIA agent, a stupid, obnoxious Ugly American, although I'll take him over Jeffrey Wright's later terminally depressed Felix Leiter anyday. The action sequences are also hot and cold, with an over-reliance on special visual effects. With almost everything Bond touches literally blowing up in a fiery explosion, I thought I was suffering through "The Marine" with John Cena again. Bond doesn't have to use his brains to defeat the villain, the screenwriters just have him constantly emptying out machine guns on faceless henchmen, which gets real boring real quick. Tina Turner's theme song, written by U2's Bono and The Edge, is instantly forgettable.
I hope to rewatch the rest of the Brosnan Bonds, I do remember they don't get much better, with "Die Another Day" bringing his Bond career to an end. It was the Brosnan era that saw the "old" James Bond franchise come to an end, with Daniel Craig draining all the smirk out of the character beginning with "Casino Royale." For the record, while Sean Connery was the best Bond, my favorite 007 film is "For Your Eyes Only." "GoldenEye" blinks at two and a half stars.
Stats:
-Directed by Martin Campbell
-Screenplay by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein, Story by Michael France, Based on characters created by Ian Fleming
-Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Judi Dench, Joe Don Baker, Robbie Coltrane, Tcheky Karyo, Gottfried John, Alan Cumming, Minnie Driver, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond
-Media: Streamed on Amazon Prime
-Running Time: 130 minutes
-Rating: (* * 1/2/* * * * *)
-MPAA Rated (PG13), contains physical violence, strong gun violence, mild sexual violence, mild gore, some sexual content, sexual references, some adult situations, alcohol use
