Viewed in
2014
Formats
HDTV
Premise
The Pierce Brosnan era starts off with James Bond teaming up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow agent (Sean Bean) believed to be dead.
Loved
Ridiculous tank scene, unintentional nostalgia for the video game.
Liked
Cool cast.
Disliked
Confusing plot.
Thoughts
I grew up on Pierce Brosnan as 007. His debut was a promising start to one of my favorite eras of the franchise.
For some reason, I never saw this until now, nearly two decades after the GoldenEye Nintendo 64 game was a huge part of my teenage life. So it was an odd deja vu sensation, as I've pretty much seen most of the movie sets and characters, heard that unforgettable metallic-themed score, for countless hours trying to headshot my high school buddies. And frankly the whole movie gave me a smirk throughout from that experience.
As for my favorite part in the movie? The tank scene, of course. Naturally, movie physics was hilarious, crushing cars and tearing up city blocks, but I was always more of a fan of cheeky over-the-top James Bond. Oddly enough, the rest of the story itself was pretty grounded. Clearly the film makers and Brosnan were feeling themselves out, not realizing their destiny for campy fun in later films.
Brosnan, looking like a deadringer for Timothy Dalton, was solid in his first go-around. He was handsome, cool under pressure, occasionally landing his one-liners. As an X-Men movie fan, I was shocked to see Famke Janssen's outrageous acting chops as sex-crazed Xenia Onatopp. The new era ushered in first time appearances for Dame Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Samantha Bond, and Joe Don Baker, which was cool. I also enjoyed Alan Cumming as a sleazy software developer, and Minnie Driver as a tone-deaf lounge singer. Last but not least, shout out to Sean Bean for being a badass, and having another badass death.
The biggest flaw was the plot. I had no bloody clue what was going on in the story or which character was double-crossing who. Thankfully, the cast and tank scene made up for some of this. I was surprised that the internet/satellite technology in the movie was not horribly outdated. Also, kudos for throwing in a female software developer who wasn't caricature.
GoldenEye was one of my favorite games of all time, and seeing this now was a hoot. While I loved the Brosnan era of the franchise, you could feel that not everything was clicking just yet. It got off to a promising start, thanks to a memorable tank scene and fun cast, and that's more than you can ask for.
