The Timothy Dalton experiment was over. After just two films, THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS and LICENSE TO KILL (a third with Dalton was planned but legal disputes involving the rights to the James Bond franchise that lasted five years nixed that), the Bond producers were ready to name a new James Bond. Their choice would be an Irish actor who had made a name for himself as a variation of James Bond, a former thief turned fictional detective Remington Steele in the popular American television series REMINGTON STEELE (1982-1987). His name? Pierce Brosnan. I don't know if I was sold on Brosnan when he was first announced as the new 007. I hadn't watched REMINGTON STEELE so I had nothing to gauge him on. I did think he was a tad too skinny to play Bond but he did exude a sense of style and suaveness in the photos I had seen. And he looked good in a tuxedo. With the last few years of Roger Moore as an aging Bond and the hit and miss films with Timothy Dalton, I wasn't as excited about a new James Bond film as I normally would be. Then, I saw a trailer for Brosnan's first Bond film GOLDENEYE (1995). He's driving a tank in a London Savoy suit through the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia and I was sold on Pierce Brosnan.
GOLDENEYE was the first film in a brief tradition my wife and I had began when we moved temporarily to Cambridge, Massachusetts. I would pick a movie for us to go see around my birthday which was in early December. GOLDENEYE was my maiden birthday celebration film. We only did it for three or four of my birthdays (I think the tradition ended after going to see Tim Burton's SLEEPY HOLLOW in 1999) before raising kids overtook the tradition and I was just happy to have time for piece of birthday cake. What I remember is GOLDENEYE turned out to be an unexpected birthday gift, a return to some of my favorite James Bond moments. A sexy femme fatale with a not so subtle sexual name. A breathtaking opening stunt where Bond bungee jumps from an incredibly high dam. And an amazing set piece chase not with an Aston Martin or Ford Mustang but a Russian tank.
To shake things up, GOLDENEYE would bring an outsider to the Bond family with director Martin Campbell who did not come up through the Bond ranks like John Glen (Editor, 2nd Unit Director) or Peter Hunt (Editor). Campbell had come from British television, a top director on TV shows like THE PROFESSIONALS (1977) and REILLY: ACE OF SPIES (1983). GOLDENEYE was a new beginning for the Bond series. Not only did they have a new James Bond in Pierce Brosnan (not to mention a new M and Miss Moneypenny), it was a new world order with the Berlin Wall knocked down and a different Russia with its glasnost (more openness and transparency in Russian government) and new independent countries. Instead of Bond having to sneak into Russia like before, he just flies into St. Petersburg in GOLDENEYE on a commercial airliner.
With a screenplay by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein based on a story by Michael France and directed by Martin Campbell, GOLDENEYE opens with a pre-credit sequence set in 1986 at a Russian Chemical Weapons Facility called Arkangel. 007 James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and his friend and counterpart 006 Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) prepare to blow up the massive structure. Alec is captured and shot by Colonel Ourumov (Gottfried John). Bond blows up the facility as planned and barely escapes in a stolen aircraft. We jump ahead nine years later. Bond is in Monte Carlo tracking beautiful but lethal Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), a member of the Russian crime syndicate Janus. Onatopp, a former MIG pilot, kills her Naval Admiral boyfriend and uses his credentials to steal a new sophisticated Tiger helicopter during a demonstration. Bond returns to MI6 headquarters in London where he, the newly appointed M (Judi Dench), and her chief of staff Bill Tanner (Michael Kitchen) monitor a supposedly abandoned Space Weapons Control Centre in Severnaya, Siberia where the stolen Tiger helicopter has suddenly appeared, flown there by Onatopp and now General Ourumov.
At the secret base, General Ourumov orders computer programmer Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) to direct a secret Russian nuclear satellite code named "GoldenEye" to send an electromagnetic pulse at the Weapons Centre. Onatopp guns down all the employees so there are no witnesses but misses programmer Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) who manages to hide from Onatopp. The pulse wipes out not only all communications at the Centre but two MIG Fighter Jets flying to investigate. After Onatopp and Ourumov fly away in the Tiger helicopter, Natalya escapes the burning into the wintery night from the burning facility. M orders Bond to retrieve the "GoldenEye" defense system. Since Onatopp works for Janus, Bond flies to St. Petersburg, Russia where he's picked up by CIA operative Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker). Bond has Wade arrange a meeting with former KGB agent turned gangster Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) to learn more about the mysterious Janus. Bond puts out the word he wants to buy back the Tiger helicopter. Natalya arrives in St. Petersburg from Siberia by train. She purchases several used computers and reconnects with Boris who also escaped the blast. Boris and Natalya meet at a church where she discovers Boris is working for Janus. After an evening swim at his hotel pool, Bond fends off Onatopp in the sauna. Bond comes out on top in the fight and forces her take him to meet Janus.
Onatopp brings Bond to a junkyard littered with old Lenin and Stalin statues to meet Janus. Only Janus turns out to be Alec Trevelyan (with scars from the Arkangel explosion) who Bond thought he saw killed 9 years earlier. Alec faked his death. He's in cahoots with Ourumov and Xenia. Alec (who has Cossack origins) seeks revenge on the British for betraying his Cossack parents who were sent back to the Soviet Union after helping the British during World War II. Bond is taken out by a tranquilizer dart. He awalems tied up with Natalya in the Tiger helicopter. Missiles fired from the helicopter are programmed to come back and destroy it. Bond manages to find the ejector seat button. He and Natalya escape only to be arrested and brought to the Russian Secretary of Defense Dimitri Mishkin (Tcheky Karyo). Natalya reveals to Mishkin that Gen. Ourumov is behind the theft of "GoldenEye" and there's actually a second "GoldenEye" satellite. Ourumov arrives and kills Mishkin, planning on framing Bond for the murder.
Bond and Natalya make their escape but become separated. Ourumov grabs Natalya, whisking her out of the Ministry of Defense. Bond comes across a garage full of Russian tank and hijacks one. He pursues Ourumov and Natalya through St. Petersburg, causing chaos in the city. Ourumov brings Natalya to Alec who's waiting on a train. The train begins to speed away. Bond fires a shell at the locomotive, halting its escape. Bond rescues Natalya and dispatches Ourumov while Alec flees with Onatopp. To find where Alec has gone to, she spikes Boris's computer which traces him to Cuba. Bond and Natalya fly to Cuba (with Puerto Rico standing in for the still Communist island) where they locate the massive satellite dish capable of communicating with "GoldenEye." Alec plans to destroy London, not only to avenge his parents betrayal, but to send the global markets into chaos. Bond and Natalya crash the secret installation to disrupt the initiation of GoldenEye" and finish off Bond's traitorous friend Alec.
After five years of lawsuits and litigation, the Bond family was aching to get back to making a 007 movie again. Pierce Brosnan would luck out by kicking off his stint as James Bond with GOLDENEYE (by far the best of Brosnan's four films as the world's most famous secret agent). Not only was Brosnan the new Bond, GOLDENEYE had a new director in Martin Campbell, a new female M in Judi Dench (SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE), and a new Miss Moneypenny played by Samantha Bond. Dench as M is only in a couple of scenes but she kills it, calling out this new Bond for what he is "...a sexist, misogynist dinosaur." But she still wants Bond to return from the mission alive. Dench's bravura performance will get her more screen time in future Bond films culminating in Sam Mendes SKYFALL (2012).
GOLDENEYE'S plot and characters are its strong suit yet the filmmakers make sure to pay homage to Bond's past. The filmmakers take Bond back to one of us his favorite haunts -- a ritzy casino in Monte Carlo where he's dressed in a sharp black tuxedo, orders his favorite martini shaken not stirred, and beats his beautiful nemesis Xenia Onatopp in baccarat. Onatopp is a return to past femme fatales Bond has faced like Karin Dor's Helga Brandt in YOU ONLY LIVE TWICE (1967). She's also a return to the double entendre female name like Pussy Galore in GOLDINGER (1964). Onatopp takes her last name to the extreme. Desmond Llewelyn is back as the venerable gadget master Q, showing off his toys and begging Bond not to break any of them out in the field. GOLDENEYE breaks new ground for fans but makes sure we're comfortable with the new changes with familiar Bond references from his Golden Age.
Two plot decisions make GOLDENEYE stand out. For the first time in the series, a fellow double 00 agent (and friend) of James Bond in Alec Trevelyan turns traitor on MI6 and becomes the main villain. GOLDENEYE has entered John Le Carre territory. Spycraft always has moles and double and triple agents. Just not usually in James Bond films. Like Bond, Alec is an orphan, making him the perfect secret agent with no family to affect his missions. Only Alec has discovered he was born to Cossack parents who came to England to help fight the Nazis in World War II. When the war was over, England sent Alec's parents back to Russia and most likely their deaths under Stalin. Somehow, the background checks on Alec missed this important fact. Alec is figuratively and later literally scarred by Britain's betrayal of his parents. Alec harbors intense hatred for his adopted country and his fellow agent James Bond. He seeks vengeance personally and globally. It's a great catalyst for GOLDENEYE'S story and the cat and mouse battle between Bond and Alec.
The second strong element to GOLDENEYE is Bond coming to St. Petersburg, Russia. The fall of Communism (temporarily) had altered the landscape of Bond's world. In the 60s, Bond was fighting SPECTRE. In the 70s and 80s, Russia and the KGB were Bond's nemesis (although he did team up with KGB agent and former Ringo Starr wife Barbara Bach in 1977's THE SPY WHO LOVED ME). In GOLDENEYE'S pre-credit sequence, Bond and Alec sneak into Russia to blow up a weapons depot. Nine years later after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Bond is flying into Russia on a commercial jet. Former KGB agents have become wealthy Russian gangsters like Valentin Zukovsky. Former MIG pilots like Xenia Onatopp are now mercenaries for hire. Computer hackers like Boris Grishenko are the new shadowy secret agents. GOLDENEYE'S best visual is when Bond goes to meet Janus (who turns out to be Alec) at night in a St. Petersburg junkyard full of old Soviet statues and busts of Lenin and Stalin, ghosts from the Iron Curtain's past colliding with new hungry, ambitious Russian mobsters.
The Bond filmmakers have always looked for good actors for their films but tended to go for good looks and oddities occasionally over trained thespians. Daniela Bianchi in FROM RUSSIA WITH LOVE (1963) finished second place in a Miss Universe contest. Claudine Auger in THUDERBALL (1965) competed as Miss France in 1958. Harold Sakata who played the burly villain in GOLDFINGER was a former wrestler. Herve Villechaize who toyed with Roger Moore in THE MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN (1974) as Nick Nack was 3 feet 11 inches tall. On the other side of the spectrum, Richard Kiel as Jaws in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER (1979) was 7 feet, 2 inches tall. GOLDENEYE takes a different casting style. Director Campbell and Casting Director Debbie McWilliams go with some up and coming hungry British actors while sticking with some new models turned actresses.
Sean Bean is cold, brutal, and menacing as rogue MI6 agent Alec Trevelyan in GOLDENEYE. Aching for revenge not only on Bond for scarring him but Great Britain for betraying his Cossack parents after World War II, Alec is a new type of Bond villain. No webbed hands or albino skin. He's as young as Bond just a sociopath. Bean would reach greater fame a few years later as Boromir in Peter Jackson's THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RING (2001). Bean joked a few years ago that his mother wanted to see one of his films where he didn't die (Bean has perished over 20 times in films like PATRIOT GAMES and BLACK DEATH). Bean's mother just needs to watch Ridley Scott's THE MARTIAN (2015) where Bean plays a normal NASA bureaucrat who lives.
Famke Janssen did begin her career as a model before turning to acting. She's exquisitely sexy and dangerous as Alec's right hand killer Xenia Onatopp (do not let her get her thighs around any part of your body -- YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!). Janssen would become a favorite for comic book fans playing mutant Jean Grey in Bryan Singer's X-MEN (2000) and two sequels. GOLDENEYE even hits it right with the film's smaller roles. Robbie Coltrane was just making a name for himself as a criminal psychologist in the British TV series CRACKER (1993-1996). Coltrane plays former KGB agent turned Russian gangster Valentin Zukovsky in GOLDENEYE and would reprise his role in Michael Apted's THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999) with Brosnan. Coltrane would go on to greater fame a few years later as the gentle giant Hagrid in HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (2001) and its subsequent sequels.
Alan Cumming nearly steals GOLDENEYE as the conceited computer hacker Boris Grishenko aiding Alec Trevelyan in his diabolical plan. Cumming brings needed comic relief to the film. Cumming would play mutant Nightcrawler in Bryan Singer's X2: X-MEN UNITED (2003) and co-wrote, co-directed, and co-starred with Jennifer Jason Leigh in THE ANNIVERSARY PARTY (2001). Bond's love interest is Natalya Simonova played by Polish born actress Izabella Scorupco. At first, Natalya comes off as tomboyish and just another cold, Russian technician. But Natalya proves to be as indestructible as Bond himself, surviving the destruction of the secret Siberian Weapons installation and later both a train and plane crash. She's a survivor and becomes Bond's partner in defeating Alec, Xenia, and Boris. Scorupco also began as a model before becoming an actress. She would co-star with Matthew McConaughey and Christian Bale in Rob Bowman's dragon fantasy film REIGN OF FIRE (2002). Scorupco would turn down some key roles in prestigious American films (like LA CONFIDENTIAL) and decide to work in her adopted country Sweden in a couple of television series, never reaching (perhaps on purpose) a bigger star status.
Some final GOLDENEYE trivia tidbits. GOLDENEYE is the first Bond film not based on an Ian Fleming novel or short story. It's a completely original story. The name "Goldeneye" did have a connection to Fleming. It was the name of Fleming's beach house property in Jamaica where he wrote his James Bond novels and short stories between 1952 to 1964. GOLDENEYE would become a popular video game, released in 1997 and selling over 8 million copies, gaining critical acclaim from the gaming world. GOLDENEYE would be model maker Derek Meddings final film who passed away right after the film was completed. His models in THE SPY WHO LOVED ME and MOONRAKER were decent. Meddings blows it out of the water GOLDENEYE with his models of everything from a tank to a giant satellite dish (and a little help from CGI). Joe Don Baker as CIA agent Jack Wade replaces perennial Bond CIA agent favorite Felix Leiter. Baker's a good guy in GOLDENEYE but Bond fans will remember Baker played a Bond bad guy just a few years earlier in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS (1987). And if you look closely, you will see another young British actress Minnie Driver in GOLDENEYE as singer Irina in Valentin Zukovsky's lounge.
It was a pretty good start for Pierce Brosnan and the James Bond family after a six year hiatus. New Producers Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson (taking over for longtime Producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli) had picked the right actor to play James Bond for the 5th time and selected an original Bond story in GOLDENEYE that resonated with the times of the day. GOLDENEYE paid homage to the past with outrageous stunts like the solo bungee jump from the top of a high Swiss dam and a gorgeous and deadly femme fatale for Bond to mix it up with while providing us with a new, female M and dazzling special effects. All signs pointed to more Bond success. But in the next two Bond films to follow, Roger Spottiswoode's TOMORROW NEVER DIES (1997) and Michael Apted's THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH (1999), the magic that GOLDENEYE had started would fizzle as Bond prepared to leap into the 21st Century.
