007 Journals: Goldeneye

Well I've now crossed over into the era of Bond that I am familiar with. Something I forgot to mention is that after the last review I have no officially seen every James Bond movie except for the 1960's Casino Royale, which yes I will be reviewing. I first came to James Bond in the Brosnan era and he is one of my favorite Bond's mostly for the nostalgia. I, like many others my age, remember the Goldeneye video game fondly and I actually played the game long before I saw the movie, which quickly became one of my favorites. I've seen this film many times, and while I will try to remain as unbiased as possible, it is one of my favorite Bond films and I feel like Goldeneye gets enough praise that I don't feel like I need to defend my stance. It's simple to say I love this movie and I think a lot of others do too. So it was five years between License to Kill and Goldeneye and in that time Dalton decided to step away and Pierce Brosnan stepped in. Now I feel like over Brosnan really tries to walk the line between the darker Dalton and campier Roger Moore but not so much in this film. Goldeneye is played pretty serious with some minor jokes tossed around, mostly in the form of Bond quips, which I definitely feel like Brosnan has the most of throughout his tenure. This marks the first of a new era for Bond and to me the first film that feels like a modern Bond movie. There's a lot of 90's in this movie, including how the plot mostly revolves around computers and hacking. While this is still technically the continuation of the Bond series, we are to believe everything that has happened before exits in this timeline, this has always felt kind of like a soft reboot to me. Each Brosnan movie stands alone and there's no reference to Bond once being married to Tracy or her death. At least not to my memory. Well that's a long enough introduction (these ones will probably be longer guys) let's get onto the review.

So Goldeneye is the first outing by Pierce Brosnan and while I have seen this movie many times, I haven't seen it in a few years and have never looked at it with a reviewers thinking. While I can still definitively say that this is one of my favorite Bond films, I did notice some things I never noticed before. First let's talk about our new Bond. Brosnan is a great Bond in my opinion. My list might be slightly controversial (Craig, Brosnan, Dalton, Connery, Moore, Lazenby) and I will admit that it comes from nostalgia. Brosnan was my first Bond and I really enjoyed his time with the character. One thing I noticed in Goldeneye though compared to his other films is that he feels more real in this film. This is the first film in the series since On Her Majesty' Secret Service that gives Bond some character. We hear a lot about his past and how it reflects in who he is now. We get talk about his parents death, we hear about all of the women he couldn't save, it's suggested that his drinking is to help him cope with the people he has lost or the men he has killed. This is the first film where we get major talk about how Bond puts the mission before anything else, which is a main crux of the villains plot. This is one of the only attempts to humanize Bond up until this point and it is pulled off splendidly. These are all things I've missed in previous viewings but now that I've worked my way through the series it really stands out to me now. I'd also like to point out that to me Brosnan feels the most believable as a trained spy. The way he moves, the action scenes, the way he checks his corners. You feel like he really is a well trained spy. Something I felt Dalton was also really good at but Brosnan takes it a step above, something Daniel Craig will also do later.

Okay now let's take a look at the rest of the cast. Starting with one of my favorite characters that is present up until Skyfall. Judi Dench as M. By the time Skyfall comes around Judi Dench is easily my favorite part of this era of Bond. This was her first appearance in the role and the biggest downside is that she isn't in the movie very much, but man she sure makes the best out of her screen time. I have to give a tip of my hat towards the writing however because every dialogue she has with Bond is fantastic. It is mentioned that she is new to the role and she doesn't have a trust for her agents yet, and they don't really trust her and instead think of her more as a bureaucrat. The scene where she gives Bond his mission is a stand out scene and you really feel the animosity these two have towards each other. I wish we got more of this in the film because by Tomorrow Never Dies I feel like she already trusts Bond fully. This is also pulled off better in the Craig films since she never comes to fully trust Bond but the seeds for that kind of story were definitely planted here and you can imagine that the way it comes off in the Craig films is what the producers and writers wanted here as well. We also have our new Moneypenny who is my favorite of the Moneypennys. This is the first time where she feels like a character who has a one up on Bond. She's always matching his wit and never feels like a victim compared to how it was with Moore and Connery. Then you always felt like Moneypenny was chasing Bond, now it almost feels the other way around. Now before we move onto the villain team, lets talk about our Bond girl Natalya. She's a great character and though this movie is kind of doing that old Bond tradition (What's popular? Computer hacking. Let's put it in our movie and have a sexy hacker girl) she comes off great in her role and is actually believable as a Russian of super model good looks and actual hacking ability. She easily places in my top five Bond girls and the only complaint I would have is how easily she seems to fall for Bond after the train escape. The last character I want to briefly mention here is Joe Don Baker as Bond's CIA partner. I mentioned this in my The living Daylights review but it's weird to see him re-cast here, and this time as a good guy, Honestly though I like this character way better and I love that he reappears in the next film. I could do with more of him.

Alright onto the villains. First the small fry. Alan Cumming as Boris is such a fun character. Cumming is a great character actor and fills the role of Boris spectacularly and is very believable as a hacker.He's hilariously evil and selfish and is just a quirky character that I have a lot of fun with. Then there is Xenia Onatopp played by the BEAUTIFUL Famke Janssen. We really have to thank this movie for introducing us to this beautiful angel. She's great in this movie even though she has a weird character. A character that is extremely turned on by death to the point where she is audibly orgasming as she's gunning people down. It's a weird character but she makes it work and is just so beautiful so I'm cool with it. Oh and let's not forget how she kills people with her legs. Those lucky men. Alright now onto the main villain. Alec Trevelyan played by Sean Bean He's an amazing actor and a great villain actor. This is one of my favorite movies to watch him die in. I can't believe this idea had never come up before but Bond versus another 00 agent is such an amazing idea. What a better adversary than someone who was trained just like you and was even a number higher in ranking. There' a lot of great interplay between friends, now as enemies, and how Alec would obviously know everything Bond would try. This is easily the most interesting Bond villain to date and brings the story to a more personal level which is something I love about this film. How personal everything is for James.

So now let's look at the plot. Honestly this plot is Die Hard. A terrorist hatches this evil scheme and it's all only to steal some money and disappear. However Trevelyan's plan does get slightly sinister by also causing a financial and technological collapse. His overall scheme isn't the best we've seen in a Bond film (specially because firing the Goldeneye would render all that money he stole useless) but everything surrounding it is fantastic. We have a 00 agent faking his death so he can create his crime syndicate and pull off his revenge against the homeland he fought so hard to defend, only to be cast aside. Not to mention they were responsible for the fate of his parents. Then there's the stealing of an EMP proof helicopter so they can then steal and EMP weapon that they fire to cover their escape. Their plan is perfectly executed and one thing I didn't remember about this plot is the way Bond actually stumbles into the mission. He just happens to run into Xenia and is like "This woman seems suspicious" and follows her around. He then becomes obligated to check things out after the Goldeneye is fired. It's a great way to set up the plot and is something very different from what we've seen before.

So interesting to note, this film is directed by the same man who would go on to direct Casino Royale, which probably explains why it's one of the best Bond films. Well with that comes amazing cinematography because Goldeneye has the best camera work to date. We also get a lot of great action scenes. This film may have one of my favorite cold opens (honestly all the openings of the Brosnan films are pretty great. Yes even Die Another Day) and I just love how Bond escapes from the Russian facility. From the gun fighting to the awesome plane stunt, it's just a great introduction to our new 007. Then of course there's the tank chase through the Russian streets. So ridiculous but such a fun scene. I even like the tension during the train scene where they have to escape before it explodes. This all leads to a great finale inside Trevelyan's satellite. Seriously this movie really has it all.

I'm not really sure what else to say about this movie that wouldn't just be rambling at this point. I think it's clear that its a five out of five for me. Now I know some of you may be like "Five out of five?! That's just a nostalgia rating!" You may be right. You may also notice it's the first five out five I've given to any of these movies. Again you are correct. These reviews are written generally hours after I finish the film (at latest the next morning) and I write the scores reflecting how I feel at that time of the writing. Well it's been enough time since I've seen some of the earlier films and I have some changes to make. I gave From Russia With Love and Goldfinger both a four out of five. Well since reflecting on these films I think they are both fives. Enough time has passed and I still think about these films highly enough that I feel like the upgrade in the score is deserved. So say what you will but that gives me three films that I give a five. Trust me that they won't be the last.

UPDATE: A couple things I forgot to mention. The score of this movie is really weird sometimes, the car race in the beginning being the most obvious. Sometimes it's perfect, other times it comes off a little too new agey but really only that one scene is where it hurts the film. Also Tina Turner's Goldeneye is still my all time favorite Bond theme.