GoldenEye

"Do you destroy every vehicle you get into?"
"Standard operating procedure. Boys with toys."

James Bond (Brosnan) is trying to take down the Janus crime syndicate.  He follows Xenia Onatopp (Janssen, who works for Janus, in Monte Carlo where she and General Ourumov (John) steal a helicopter.  Nine years before, Ourumov killed Bond's best friend and MI-6 agent Alec Trevelyan.  Ourumovand Xenia travel to Severnaya, Siberia to a Soviet satellite facility.  They kill everyone in the facility except for Natalya Simonova (Scorupco), who hides, and steal a program called the GoldenEye.

M (Dench) sends Bond to Russia to find Janus and get the GoldenEye.  Along the way he picks up Natalya, since she understands the weapon.  In Russia, they meet with CIA agent Jack Wade (Baker) and enlist the help of an old rival, Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky (Coltrane).  Can they find Janus and stop the GoldenEye?


This is the 17th film in the James Bond film franchise. The series had a six year hiatus after the 1989 release of License to Kill.  With this film, they started fresh: new Bond (Pierce Brosnan), new M (Judi Dench), etc.  Dench was the first woman to play M.  The only actor who returned to the franchise was Desmond Llewelyn as Q.  Brosnan was the fourth man to portray Bond, taking over the role from Timothy Dalton.  Dalton originally signed on to star in this film, but pulled out due to the hiatus.  They used the film as a reboot for the franchise.

For the reboot, they decided to go with an original story, and not one of author Ian Fleming's Bond stories.  The screenplay was written by Michael France, with additional writing by Jeffrey Caine and Kevin Wade (who created the CIA character that is named for him).  The theme song, "GoldenEye," was written by Bono and The Edge and performed by Tina Turner.  Eric Serra was the composer for the rest of the film.  The film also inspired a popular Nintendo 64 game.

It grabs your attention with the opening free-fall and piles on the action. Not my favorite Brosnan Bond film, but it is a fascinating ride.

Golden Eye (1995) 130 minutes
Rating: PG-13 for a number of sequences of action/violence, and for some sexuality
Director: Martin Campbell
Starring: Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
Sean Bean as Alec Trevelyan
Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simonova
Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp
Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade
Judi Dench as M
Robbie Coltrane as Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky
Gottfried John as General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov
Alan Cummings as Boris Grishenko