Viewed in
2000, 2010
Formats
DVD, HD TV
Premise
Sean Connery stars as 007 taking on Goldfinger, who plans to rob Fort Knox.
Liked
Sean Connery, Oddjob and Goldfinger characters.
Disliked
The outdated feel.
Thoughts
Not as cool as I recalled.
There's some really cool parts, such as Sean Connery being calm and cool under pressure, most of the time. I enjoyed the double entendre and funny one-liners. There's some memorable moments, such as Oddjob's hat, Pussy Galore's name, the Aston Martin, and Goldfinger attempting to laser off Bond's nuts.
What ruined it most for me was the snail-like pacing. For example, there was a lot of shots of someone driving towards their destination, then some more shots of driving, then some more. Obviously, this had a little to do with my modern film sensibilities, but it was more that I could stand. Compared to the Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig flicks that I'm more familiar with, Goldfinger's pace felt outdated in a bad way.
Another outdated aspect was the gadgets and special effects. This would not have felt as bad if the movie did not take itself seriously. I know in later Bond films, tongue-in-cheek and over-the-top were part of their appeal, but for this movie, I don't think it was intentional yet. Lastly, it probably had the greatest Bond theme song, had it not been for the fact that I loath Shirley Bassey's voice.
Arguably the best and most iconic of the Bond franchise to date, unfortunately, the test of time has not been kind to is re-watchability.
What I would change
Quicken the pacing in non-action scenes.
