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GoldenEye

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GoldenEye 1995 poster 8

GoldenEye is a 1995 spy film, the seventeenth in the James Bond series produced by Eon Productions, and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Directed by Martin Campbell, it was the first in the series not to utilize any story elements from the works of novelist Ian Fleming. It was also the first James Bond film not produced by Albert R. Broccoli, following his stepping down from Eon Productions and replacement by his daughter, Barbara Broccoli (along with Michael G. Wilson, although Albert was still involved as a consultant producer; it was his final film project before his death in 1996). The story was conceived and written by Michael France, with later collaboration by other writers. In the film, Bond fights to prevent a rogue ex-MI6 agent (Sean Bean) from using a satellite weapon against London to cause a global financial meltdown.

The film was released after a six-year hiatus in the series caused by legal disputes, during which Timothy Dalton resigned from the role of James Bond and was replaced by Brosnan. M was also recast, with actress Judi Dench becoming the first woman to portray the character, replacing Robert Brown. The role of Miss Moneypenny was also recast, with Caroline Bliss being replaced by Samantha Bond; Desmond Llewelyn was the only actor to reprise his role, as Q. It was the first Bond film made after the dissolution of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, which provided a background for the plot. Principal photography for GoldenEye took place in the UK, Russia, Monte Carlo and Puerto Rico; it was the inaugural film production to be shot at Leavesden Studios. The first Bond film to use computer-generated imagery (CGI), GoldenEye was also the final film of special effects supervisor Derek Meddings's career, and was dedicated to his memory.

The name "GoldenEye" pays homage to James Bond's creator, Ian Fleming. While working for British Naval Intelligence as a lieutenant commander, Fleming liaised with the Naval Intelligence Division to monitor developments in Spain after the Spanish Civil War, in an operation codenamed Operation Goldeneye. Fleming used the name of this operation for his estate in Oracabessa, Jamaica.

Storyline[]

Plot[]

When a powerful satellite system falls into the hands of Alec Trevelyan, AKA Agent 006 (Sean Bean), a former ally-turned-enemy, only James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) can save the world from an awesome space weapon that -- in one short pulse -- could destroy the earth! As Bond squares off against his former compatriot, he also battles Trevelyan's stunning ally, Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon.

Motion Picture Rating[]

  • 13 (Argentina)
  • PG (Australia)
  • 14 (Brazil)
  • PG-13 (Canada)
  • PA (Canada) (Manitoba)
  • 14 (Canada) (Nova Scotia)
  • AA (Canada) (Ontario)
  • 13+ (Canada) (original rating, Quebec)
  • G (Canada) (re-rating, Quebec)
  • 16 (Denmark)
  • 15 (Denmark) (DVD and Blu-ray rating)
  • K-16 (Finland)
  • K-15/13 (Finland)
  • K-16/13 (Finland)
  • Tous publics (France)
  • 16 (Germany)
  • 12 (Germany) (theatrical and VHS version, cut)
  • 12 (Iceland)
  • UA (India) (TV)
  • A (India) (1995)
  • R (Indonesia) (self-applied)
  • 15 (Ireland) (original rating)
  • 12 (Ireland) (re-rating)
  • T (Italy)
  • G (Japan) (2015)
  • U (Malaysia)
  • B (Mexico)
  • 12 (Netherlands)
  • PG (New Zealand)
  • PG (Nigeria)
  • 15 (Norway) (DVD and Blu-ray rating)
  • 15 (Norway) (1995, cinema rating)
  • PG-13 (Philippines)
  • 12 (Poland) (self-applied)
  • M/12 (Portugal)
  • 12+ (Russia)
  • PG (Saudi Arabia)
  • PG (Singapore)
  • PG13 (Singapore) (re-rating)
  • PG (South Africa)
  • 15 (South Korea)
  • 13 (Spain)
  • 15 (Sweden)
  • 15 (Thailand)
  • 13A (Turkey) (self-applied)
  • 12A (UK)
  • 12 (UK) (original rating, cut)
  • PG-13 (USA)
  • 15+ (United Arab Emirates)

Images[]

Cast and Crew[]

Director[]

  • Martin Campbell

Writing Credits[]

  • Ian Fleming (characters)
  • Michael France (story)
  • Jeffrey Caine (screenplay) and
  • Bruce Feirstein (screenplay)

Cast[]

  • Pierce Brosnan - James Bond
  • Sean Bean - Alec Trevelyan
  • Izabella Scorupco - Natalya Simonova
  • Famke Janssen - Xenia Onatopp
  • Joe Don Baker - Jack Wade
  • Judi Dench - M
  • Robbie Coltrane - Valentin Zukovsky
  • Tchéky Karyo - Dimitri Mishkin (as Tcheky Karyo)
  • Gottfried John - Colonel Ourumov
  • Alan Cumming - Boris Grishenko
  • Desmond Llewelyn - Q
  • Samantha Bond - Moneypenny
  • Michael Kitchen - Bill Tanner
  • Serena Gordon - Caroline
  • Simon Kunz - Severnaya Duty Officer
  • Pavel Douglas - French Warship Captain
  • Olivier Lajous - French Warship Officer (as Cmdt. Olivier Lajous)
  • Billy J. Mitchell - Admiral Chuck Farrell
  • Constantine Gregory - Computer Store Manager
  • Minnie Driver - Irina
  • Michelle Arthur - Anna
  • Ravil Isyanov - MIG Pilot
  • Vladimir Milanovich - Croupier
  • Trevor Byfield - Train Driver
  • Peter Majer - Valentin's Bodyguard

Other Cast (in alphabetical order)[]

  • Paul Bannon - Russian Scientist (uncredited)
  • Simone Bechtel - Casino Guest (uncredited)
  • Martin Campbell - Cyclist (uncredited)
  • Mark Chapman - Casino Gambler (uncredited)
  • Kenneth Coombs - MI6 Computer Operator (uncredited)
  • Simon Crane - Lt. François Brouse - Tiger Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
  • Terrance Denville - Russian Security Council Member (uncredited)
  • Ian Durrant - MI6 Scientist (uncredited)
  • Max Faulkner - Guard at Helicopter Show (uncredited)
  • Juliet Forester - Severnaya Operator (uncredited)
  • Stefan Kopiecki - Casino Gambler (uncredited)
  • Jo Anna Lee - Cowgirl / Backing Singer (uncredited)
  • Derek Lyons - Casino Guest (uncredited)
  • Wayne Michaels - Capt. Bernard Jaubert - Tiger Helicopter Pilot (uncredited)
  • Bhasker Patel - Pakistani Gun Dealer (uncredited)
  • Paul Sacks - Russian Soldier - Chemical Weapons Facility (uncredited)
  • Michael G. Wilson - Russian Security Council Member (uncredited)

Producers[]

  • Barbara Broccoli (produced by)
  • Tom Pevsner (executive producer)
  • Anthony Waye (associate producer)
  • Michael G. Wilson (produced by)

Details[]

Countries[]

  • UK
  • USA

Language[]

  • English
  • Italian

Release Dates[]

  • November 16, 1995 (Canada)
  • November 17, 1995 (USA)
  • November 24, 1995 (UK)
  • November 24, 1995 (Ireland)
  • December 7, 1995 (Argentina)
  • December 7, 1995 (Netherlands)
  • December 7, 1995 (Singapore)
  • December 8, 1995 (Cameroon)
  • December 8, 1995 (Israel)
  • December 8, 1995 (Portugal)
  • December 8, 1995 (Sweden)
  • December 10, 1995 (Slovenia)
  • December 14, 1995 (Hungary)
  • December 15, 1995 (Brazil)
  • December 15, 1995 (Switzerland)
  • December 15, 1995 (Finland)
  • December 15, 1995 (Iceland)
  • December 15, 1995 (Mexico)
  • December 15, 1995 (Turkey)
  • December 16, 1995 (Japan)
  • December 16, 1995 (South Korea)
  • December 20, 1995 (Belgium)
  • December 20, 1995 (Spain)
  • December 20, 1995 (France)
  • December 21, 1995 (Hong Kong)
  • December 22, 1995 (Luxembourg)
  • December 22, 1995 (Malaysia)
  • December 25, 1995 (Panama)
  • December 26, 1995 (Australia)
  • December 26, 1995 (Norway)
  • December 26, 1995 (New Zealand)
  • December 28, 1995 (Germany)
  • December 29, 1995 (Austria)
  • January 1, 1996 (Uruguay)
  • January 4, 1996 (Czechia)
  • January 4, 1996 (Philippines)
  • January 4, 1996 (Slovakia)
  • January 12, 1996 (Greece)
  • January 12, 1996 (Italy)
  • January 19, 1996 (Russia)
  • January 26, 1996 (Denmark)
  • February 9, 1996 (Estonia)
  • September 22, 2009 (UK) (Cambridge) (Cambridge Film Festival)
  • October 1, 2012 (United Arab Emirates) (DVD premiere)
  • November 4, 2015 (India) (internet)

Also Known As[]

  • GoldenEye (original title)
  • GoldenEye (Argentina)
  • GoldenEye (Australia)
  • 007 Contra GoldenEye (Brazil)
  • 007 - GoldenEye (Italy) (alternative title)
  • Agente 007 - GoldenEye (Italy) (alternative title)
  • GoldenEye (Italy)
  • Bond 17 (UK) (working title)
  • GoldenEye (UK)
  • GoldenEye (USA)
  • Golden Eye (USA) (alternative title)

Production[]

Prelude[]

Following the release of Licence to Kill in July 1989, pre-production work for the seventeenth film in the James Bond series, the third to star Timothy Dalton (fulfilling his three-film contract), began in May 1990. A poster for the then-upcoming movie was even featured on the Carlton Hotel during the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In August, The Sunday Times reported that producer Albert R. Broccoli had parted company with writer Richard Maibaum, who had worked on the scripts of all but three Bond films so far, and director John Glen, responsible for the previous five installments of the series. Broccoli listed among the possible directors John Landis, Ted Kotcheff, Roger Spottiswoode, and John Byrum. Broccoli's stepson Michael G. Wilson contributed a script, and Wiseguy co-producer Alfonse Ruggiero Jr. was hired to rewrite. Production was set to start in 1990 in Hong Kong, for a release in late 1991. It would have featured a terrorist attack on a British nuclear facility in Scotland threatening to cause World War III, Bond traveling to East Asia to investigate corrupt businessman Sir Henry Lee Ching along with jewel thief Connie Webb, and Bond fighting his former mentor Denholm Crisp. It also would have featured the Chinese Ministry of State Security. The script was further rewritten by William Osborne and William Davies. After the Gulf War, they moved the opening scene from a cyberattack on Scotland to Bond failing a mission in Libya. The film then would have focused on a high-tech stealth fighter being stolen by a Chinese People's Liberation Army general, a British industrialist, and American mobsters in order to stage a nuclear attack and coup d'état against Mainland China while leaving the industrialist in control of Hong Kong.

Dalton declared in a 2010 interview that the script was ready and "we were talking directors" before the project entered development hell caused by legal problems between Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, parent company of the series' distributor United Artists, and Broccoli's Danjaq, owners of the Bond film rights. In 1990, MGM/UA was to be sold for $1.5 billion to Qintex, an Australian-American financial services company that had begun making television broadcast and entertainment purchases. When Qintex could not provide a $50 million letter of credit, the deal fell apart. Giancarlo Parretti, CEO of a company called Pathé Entertainment (unrelated to the French studio Pathé) quickly moved in to buy MGM/UA for $1.2 billion and merged the companies to create MGM-Pathé Communications. Parretti intended to sell off the distribution rights of the studio's catalogue so he could collect advance payments to finance the buyout. This included international broadcasting rights to the 007 library at cut-rate prices, leading Danjaq to sue, alleging the licensing violated the Bond distribution agreements the company made with United Artists in 1962, while denying Danjaq a share of the profits. Countersuits were filed. When asked what he would do following resolution of the lawsuits, Dalton told Broccoli that it was unlikely that he would continue in the role.

Paretti's behavior led to the bankruptcy of MGM-Pathé and additional lawsuits eventually resulted in a foreclosure by financial backer Crédit Lyonnais in 1992. The Bond rights lawsuits were settled in December 1992, and the renamed Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, now run by a Crédit Lyonnais subsidiary, began to explore further development of Bond 17 with Danjaq in 1993. Dalton was still Broccoli's choice to play Bond, but the star's original seven-year contract with Danjaq expired in 1993. Dalton has stated that the delay of his third film effectively ended the contract in 1990.

Pre-production and writing[]

In May 1993, MGM announced a seventeenth James Bond film was back in the works, to be based on a screenplay by Michael France. France studied for his script by traveling to Russia to interview former KGB agents. With Broccoli's health deteriorating (he died seven months after the release of GoldenEye), his daughter Barbara Broccoli described him as taking "a bit of a back seat" in the film's production. Barbara and Michael G. Wilson took the lead roles in production while Albert Broccoli oversaw the production of GoldenEye as a consulting producer, credited as "presenter". Wilson wanted to frame the film in the post-Cold War era and the aftermath of the collapse of the Soviet Union, when there were concerns of the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Broccoli contacted Dalton to ask again if he would come back and now found him open to the idea.

In August 1993, France had turned in his first draft, and continued to work on the script. In further discussion with Broccoli, Dalton expressed excitement over taking the best elements of his previous two films and combining them as a basis for one final film. Broccoli stressed that, after the long gap without a film, Dalton could not come back and just do a single film but needed to return for multiple films. Despite France's screenplay being completed by January, production was pushed back with no concrete start. In April 1994, Dalton officially resigned from the role. In a 2014 interview, Dalton revealed that he agreed with Broccoli's expectation but could not commit to appearing in four or five more films.

Further work was done on the screenplay throughout 1994. France's screenplay introduced the character of "Augstus Trevelyan" and the GoldenEye EMP satellite, and consisted of an cold open of an Aston Martin car chase aboard a high-speed train. However, Barbara Broccoli was concerned France's screenplay was still too unstructured and brought in Jeffrey Caine to rewrite it. Caine kept many of France's ideas but added the prologue prior to the credits and rewrote Trevelyan closer to his iteration in the final film. Kevin Wade polished the script and Bruce Feirstein added the finishing touches. In the film, the writing credit was shared by Caine and Feirstein, while France was credited with only the story, an arrangement he felt was unfair, particularly as he believed the additions made were not an improvement on his original version. Wade did not receive an official credit, but was acknowledged in the naming of Jack Wade, the CIA character he created.

While the story was not based on a work by Ian Fleming, the title GoldenEye traces its origins to the name of Fleming's Jamaican estate where he wrote the Bond novels. Fleming gave a number of origins for the name of his estate, including Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming himself developed during Second World War in case of a Nazi invasion through Spain.

Although released only six years after Licence to Kill, world politics had changed dramatically in the interim. GoldenEye was the first James Bond film to be produced since the fall of the Berlin Wall, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the end of the Cold War, and there was doubt over the character's relevance in the modern world. Some in the film industry felt it would be "futile" for the Bond series to make a comeback, and that it was best left as "an icon of the past". The producers even thought of new concepts for the series, such as a period piece set in the 1960s, a female 007, or a black James Bond. Ultimately, they chose to return to the basics of the series, not following the sensitive and caring Bond of the Dalton films or the political correctness that started to permeate the decade. The film came to be seen as a successful revitalisation, and it effectively adapted the series for the 1990s. One of GoldenEye's innovations includes the casting of a female M. In the film, the new M quickly establishes her authority, remarking that Bond is a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and a "relic of the Cold War". This is an early indication that Bond is portrayed as far less tempestuous than Timothy Dalton's Bond from 1989.

Casting[]

To replace Dalton, the producers chose Pierce Brosnan, who had been prevented from succeeding Roger Moore in 1986 because of his contract to continue starring in the television series Remington Steele. He was introduced to the public at a press conference at the Regent Palace Hotel on 8 June 1994. Before negotiating with Brosnan, Mel Gibson, Hugh Grant, and Liam Neeson passed on the role. Broccoli and Campbell met Ralph Fiennes about taking the part. Paul McGann was the studio's original choice for it. He would have been cast as Bond only if Brosnan had turned down the role. Brosnan was paid $1.2 million for the film, out of a total budget of $60 million. Judi Dench, an English actress, was cast as M replacing Robert Brown, making this the first film of the series featuring a female M. The decision is widely believed to have been inspired by Stella Rimington having become head of MI5 in 1992. The character of Alec Trevelyan was originally scripted as "Augustus Trevelyan" and envisaged as an older character and a mentor figure to Bond. Anthony Hopkins and Alan Rickman were reportedly sought for the role but both turned it down. Sean Bean was subsequently cast and the character was rewritten as Bond's peer. John Rhys-Davies was asked to reprise his role as General Pushkin from The Living Daylights but declined, and the character was rewritten into Defense Minister Mishkin.

John Woo was approached as the director, and turned down the opportunity, but said he was honoured by the offer. Michael Caton-Jones and Peter Medak were also considered. The producers then chose New Zealander Martin Campbell as the director. Brosnan later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the piece" and that "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".

Filming[]

Principal photography for the film began on 16 January 1995 and continued until 2 June. The producers were unable to film at Pinewood Studios, the usual studio for Bond films, because it had been reserved for First Knight. Instead, an old Rolls-Royce factory at Leavesden Aerodrome in Hertfordshire was converted into a new studio, dubbed Leavesden Studios. This process is shown on the 2006 DVD's special features.

The bungee jump was filmed at the Contra Dam (also known as the Verzasca or Locarno Dam) in Ticino, Switzerland. The casino scenes and the Tiger helicopter's demonstration were shot in Monte Carlo. Reference footage for the tank chase was shot on location in Saint Petersburg and matched to the studio at Leavesden. The climactic scenes on the satellite dish were shot at Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico. The actual MI6 headquarters were used for external views of M's office. Some of the scenes in St. Petersburg were actually shot in London – the Epsom Downs Racecourse doubled as the airport – to reduce expenses and security concerns, as the second unit sent to Russia required bodyguards.

The French Navy provided full use of the frigate La Fayette and their newest helicopter, the Eurocopter Tiger, to the film's production team. The French government also allowed the use of Navy logos as part of the promotional campaign for it. However, the producers had a dispute with the French Ministry of Defence over Brosnan's opposition to French nuclear weapons testing and his involvement with Greenpeace; as a result, the French premiere of the film was cancelled.

The sequences involving the armoured train were filmed on the Nene Valley Railway, near Peterborough in England. The train was composed of a British Rail Class 20 diesel-electric locomotive and a pair of Mark 1 coaches, all three heavily disguised to resemble a Soviet armoured train.

Effects[]

The film was the last one of special effects supervisor Derek Meddings, to whom it was dedicated. Meddings' major contribution was miniatures. It was also the first Bond film to use computer-generated imagery. Among the model effects are most external shots of Severnaya, the scene where Janus' train crashes into the tank, and the lake which hides the satellite dish, since the producers could not find a round lake in Puerto Rico. The climax in the satellite dish used scenes in Arecibo, a model built by Meddings' team and scenes shot with stuntmen in Britain.

Stunt car coordinator Rémy Julienne described the car chase between the Aston Martin DB5 and the Ferrari F355 as between "a perfectly shaped, old and vulnerable vehicle and a racecar." The stunt had to be meticulously planned as the cars are vastly different. Nails had to be attached to the F355 tyres to make it skid, and during one take of the sliding vehicles, the two cars collided.

The largest stunt sequence in the film was the tank chase, which took around six weeks to film, partly on location in St. Petersburg and partly on the old de Havilland runway at Leavesden. According to second-unit director Ian Sharp it was thought up by special effects supervisor Chris Corbould, during a pre-production meeting that lasted only ten minutes. Parts of the tank chase were filmed at the backlot of Leavesden, parts on location in St. Petersburg. The whole chase was storyboarded very carefully, said Sharp. A Russian T-54/T-55 tank, on loan from the East England Military Museum, was modified with the addition of fake explosive reactive armour panels. To avoid destroying the pavement on the city streets of St. Petersburg, the steel off-road tracks of the T-54/55 were replaced with the rubber-shoed tracks from a British Chieftain tank. The T-55 tank used in the film is now on permanent display at Old Buckenham Airfield, where the East England Military Museum is based.

For the confrontation between Bond and Trevelyan inside the antenna cradle, director Campbell decided to take inspiration from Bond's fight with Red Grant in From Russia with Love. Brosnan and Bean did all the stunts themselves, except for one take where one is thrown against the wall. Brosnan injured his hand while filming the extending ladder sequence, making producers delay his scenes and film the ones in Severnaya earlier.

The opening 220 m (720 ft) bungee jump at Arkhangelsk, shot at the Contra Dam in Switzerland and performed by Wayne Michaels, was voted the best movie stunt of all time in a 2002 Sky Movies poll, and set a record for the highest bungee jump off a fixed structure. The ending of the pre-credits sequence with Bond jumping after the aeroplane features Jacques Malnuit riding the motorcycle to the edge and jumping, and B.J. Worth diving after the plane – which was a working aircraft, with Worth adding that part of the difficulty of the stunt was the kerosene striking his face.

The fall of Communism in Russia is the main focus of the opening titles, designed by Daniel Kleinman (who took over from Maurice Binder after his death in 1991). They show the collapse and destruction of several structures associated with the Soviet Union, such as the red star, statues of Communist leaders—notably Joseph Stalin—and the hammer and sickle. In an interview, Kleinman said they were meant to be "a kind of story telling sequence" showing that "what was happening in Communist countries was Communism was falling down". According to producer Michael G. Wilson, some Communist parties protested against "Socialist symbols being destroyed not by governments, but by bikini-clad women", especially certain Indian Communist parties, which threatened to boycott the film.

Release and reception[]

GoldenEye premiered on 13 November 1995, at the Radio City Music Hall, and went on general release in the United States on 17 November 1995. The UK premiere followed on 21 November at the Odeon Leicester Square, with general release three days later. The film also had the German premiere on 5 December, at which Brosnan was present, at Mathäser-Filmpalast (de) in Munich, with general release on December 28; and the Swedish premiere on 8 December, attended by Brosnan and Scorupco, at Rigoletto (sv) in Stockholm, with general release on the same day. The after-party took place at Stockholm's Grand Hôtel. Brosnan boycotted the French premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program.

The film earned over $26 million during its opening across 2,667 cinemas in the United States and Canada. In the United Kingdom, it grossed a record $5.5 million for a non-holiday week from 448 theatres and was the third biggest in history behind Jurassic Park and Batman Forever. It had the fourth-highest worldwide gross of all films in 1995, and was the most successful Bond film since Moonraker, taking inflation into account.

GoldenEye posted the largest revenue increase over its predecessor of any Bond film; when adjusted for inflation, it grossed 83% more worldwide than the preceding Bond film, 1989's Licence to Kill.

The film was edited to be guaranteed a PG-13 rating from the MPAA and a 12 rating from the BBFC. The cuts included the visible bullet impact to Trevelyan's head when he is shot in the prologue, several additional deaths during the sequence in which Onatopp guns down the workers at the Severnaya station, more explicit footage and violent behaviour in the Admiral's death, extra footage of Onatopp's death, and Bond knocking her out with a rabbit punch in the car. In 2006, the film was remastered and re-edited for the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD in which the BBFC cuts were restored, causing the rating to be changed to 15. However, the original MPAA edits still remain.

Reviews[]

The critical reception of the film was mostly positive. Film review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes holds it at a 80% approval rating. Its consensus states: "The first and best Pierce Brosnan Bond film, GoldenEye brings the series into a more modern context, and the result is a 007 entry that's high-tech, action-packed, and urbane." A similar site, Metacritic, holds it at 65. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.

In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 stars out of 4, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" since previous films. James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."

Several reviewers lauded M's appraisal of Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur", with Todd McCarthy in Variety saying the film "breathes fresh creative and commercial life" into the series. John Puccio of DVD Town said that it was "an eye- and ear-pleasing, action-packed entry in the Bond series" and that the film gave Bond "a bit of humanity, too". Ian Nathan of Empire said that it "revamps that indomitable British spirit" and that the Die Hard movies "don't even come close to 007". Tom Sonne of The Sunday Times considered it the best Bond film since The Spy Who Loved Me. Jose Arroyo of Sight & Sound considered the greatest success of it was in modernising the series.

However, the film received several negative reviews. Richard Schickel of Time wrote that after "a third of a century's hard use", Bond's conventions survived on "wobbly knees", while in Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman thought the series had "entered a near-terminal state of exhaustion." Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times said that it was "a middle-aged entity anxious to appear trendy at all costs". David Eimer of Premiere wrote that "the trademark humour is in short supply" and that "Goldeneye isn't classic Bond by any stretch of the imagination."

Retrospective reviews[]

Often cited as Pierce Brosnan's best Bond film, GoldenEye's reputation has only improved since its release. It is ranked high in Bond-related lists, as IGN chose it as the fifth-best movie, while Entertainment Weekly ranked it eighth, and Norman Wilner of MSN as ninth. EW also voted Xenia Onatopp as the sixth-most memorable Bond girl, while IGN ranked Natalya as seventh in a similar list. The film enjoys a large and enthusiastic following among Bond fans, especially those who grew up with the GoldenEye 007 video game. In a 2021 Yahoo survey consisting of 2200 scholars and Bond superfans, GoldenEye was voted as the best Bond film, followed by Daniel Craig's Casino Royale and George Lazenby's On Her Majesty's Secret Service. In 2019, a book about the film and its many video game versions, The World of GoldenEye, was published by author Nicolás Suszczyk.

Company Credits[]

Production Companies[]

Distributors[]

Special Effects[]

  • Cinesite
  • Framestore (title sequence)
  • General Screen Enterprises
  • Moving Picture Company (MPC)
  • Snow Business International (snow effects)
  • The Graphic Station
  • The Magic Camera Company
  • The Magic Model Company (additional models)

Technical Specs[]

Runtime[]

  • 130 mins

Color[]

  • Color

Sound Mix[]

  • Dolby Digital
  • DTS
  • DTS-Stereo

Aspect Ratio[]

  • 2.39:1
  • 1.78:1 (Small Widescreen prints)
  • 1.33:1 (original ratio) (open matte)
  • 1:33:1 (Pan & scan prints, along with the opening and closing credits in proper scope aspect ratio with black bars)

Trivia[]

  • While this is the first appearance of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, he was actually picked to replace Roger Moore in the film The Living Daylights, but due to his contract with the television show, Remington Steele he had to drop out of the film and the role was given to Timothy Dalton.
  • GoldenEye was the first James Bond film to have filmed on location inside the former Soviet Union, a country which had banned all sixteen previous movies.
  • For a time it was rumoured that Brosnan's contract specifically stated that he was not allowed to wear a full tuxedo in other films and that Brosnan had apparently worked around this in the film The Thomas Crown Affair by leaving his tie untied during a black-tie ball, thus not wearing a full tuxedo. This rumour turned out to be false.
  • GoldenEye features the highest bungee jump from a structure in a movie, performed by British stuntman Wayne Michaels. The drop was more than 722 ft.
  • Reportedly, the script had to be rewritten as it was found to be too similar to a plotline in the James Cameron film True Lies.
  • Joe Don Baker returned as CIA agent Jack Wade in the sequel Tomorrow Never Dies: his previous appearance in the Bond films was as the villain Brad Whitaker in The Living Daylights. Baker had played a similar character, also a CIA agent, for GoldenEye director Martin Campbell in the 1985 BBC television drama Edge of Darkness.
  • Maurice Binder, the title sequence designer for most of the James Bond films since Dr. No, died in 1991. The job of title designer for GoldenEye as well as several future James Bond films was then passed to Daniel Kleinman.
  • "Cubby" Broccoli died shortly after the film was released. He had been too ill but could visit the Pinewood studios by being a consulting Producer. The next Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, was dedicated to his memory.
  • One of the tanks used in the filming of the St. Petersburg chase sequence was later used in the Beyond A Joke episode of Red Dwarf.
  • During the tank sequence, the tank can be seen running over a Russian vehicle, clearly crushing the driver (presumably a mannequin). This depiction of "collateral damage" may have been unintentional as it is followed by a quick shot of the driver getting out of the car.
  • When Bond meets Wade for the first time, Wade asks "Do you do any gardening?" after Bond says his name. In reality, Ian Fleming based Bond's name in gardener James Bond.
  • The uniform of the Canadian Admiral was incorrect. The admiral was shown with two bars and an executive curl on the cuffs of his tunic. As this was filmed in 1995, the admiral's uniform should have one solid bar on the cuffs, and three maple leaves on the shoulders, and without the wings on the sleeve. The Canadian Navy would have these restored in 2010.
  • Boris the programmer's global tracking software features the outline of a united Czechoslovakia on its map, even though the country had (peacefully) split into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in 1993, two years before that part of the film takes place.
  • Xenia Onatopp is shown to kill men by squeezing their chests with her thighs. In the previous Bond film The Living Daylights, Q reviews a range of Soviet KGB female assassins, one of which, Ula Yarkhov, kills using her thighs.
  • GoldenEye has the distinction of being the first - and currently, the only - EON-produced James Bond film to include a semi-explicit sex scene, specifically the scene in which Xenia kills the Canadian Naval Admiral while making love to him. Despite this, the film was still released with a PG-13 rating.
  • This was the only Brosnan Bond film to not release in the same year as a Austin Powers movie. The series that parodied James Bond.
  • The most successful James Bond movie since Moonraker (1979).
  • The first of the James Bond movies to be released on DVD.
  • Final James Bond movie viewed by Albert R. Broccoli.
  • The new arrangement of the James Bond theme, used in the opening, was disliked by many fans, and was replaced by a more traditional version in future movies.
  • First James Bond movie produced by Barbara Broccoli (with Michael G. Wilson) as a fully fledged main producer.
  • First opening titles sequence directed by title designer Daniel Kleinman, picking up the baton from long-standing designer Maurice Binder, who had died since the making of Licence to Kill (1989).
  • Third movie in which James Bond drives his Aston Martin DB5. The other seven being: Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), The World is Not Enough (1999) (appears in a deleted scene and visible on the thermal camera near the end of the movie), Casino Royale (2006), Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015). The DB5 has appeared with three different licence plates; BMT 216A (Goldfinger (1964), Thunderball (1965), Skyfall (2012), and Spectre (2015)), BMT 214A (GoldenEye (1995), Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and The World is Not Enough (1999)), and 56526 (Casino Royale (2006)), which was the unique DB5 for being the only left-hand drive DB5 Bond drives. Therefore, with eight movies, the DB5 car has appeared in more Bond movies than any actor who has played Bond.
  • There was fan speculation that the main female antagonist, Xenia Onatopp, was named after Xena, the title protagonist of Xena: Warrior Princess (1995), who started off as an antagonist, before turning into a protagonist. However, that fan speculation was wrong. Production on this movie commenced on January 16, 1995, and this movie was released on November 13, 1995, and Xena: Warrior Princess (1995) premiered on American television on September 14, 1995, and also had been in production the same time as this movie, and there were no connections between the two characters. Xena/Xenia is from the Greek word for "foreign" or "strange".
  • At one point, Courteney Cox was considered for the role of Xenia Onatopp, but she was turned down due to scheduling conflicts with Friends (1994) and Famke Janssen was cast instead.
  • The last James Bond movie to be given the PG rating in New Zealand. All of the following movies have been given the (oddly appropriate) "M" rating.
  • The keychain that was used by James Bond made its debut in The Living Daylights (1987).
  • First MGM/UA Dolby Digital release.
  • Before the title sequence where Bond bungee-jumps off the dam he attaches a climbing rope to his leg, not a bungee rope. This would stop his fall instantly, and possibly tear his leg off his body.
  • Famke Janssen and Alan Cumming appeared in X-Men 2 (2003).
  • TRADEMARK: Third James Bond movie to use the word "gold" or "golden" in the title. The others being Goldfinger (1964) and The Man with the Golden Gun (1974).
  • Production began filming on 16 January 1995, exactly 33 years since the first day of filming in Jamaica for Dr. No (1962), on 16 January 1962.

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References[]

  • Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) - Alec Treveylan's reveal to James Bond in the opening sequence suggested by the introduction of Robert Redford according to director Martin Campbell.
  • Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
  • The Blues Brothers (1980)
  • Never Say Never Again (1983) - Xenia Onatopp is much like Fatima Blush, both films share a laser mounted on a watch, an exploding click-pen, a Monte Carlo casino, and Billy J. Mitchell.
  • Die Hard (1988) - The "Common Thief" line bears resemblance to the way Hans Gruber says it in the 1988 blockbuster.
  • Die Hard 2 (1990) - The ejecting scene out of a parked aerial vehicle prior to it exploding mirrors the one in Die Hard 2.

Referenced in[]

  • Friends: The One with Five Steaks and an Eggplant (1995) (TV Episode) - Jade says she is the legs on the poster for this movie.
  • Tina Turner: GoldenEye (1995) (Music Video) - Title song music video for this James Bond movie.
  • 101 Dalmatians (1996) - Billboard in Leicester Square.
  • The World is Not Enough (1999) - Much of Valentin's dialogue is the same, regarding "extending the same courtesy" and ranting about the free market economy.
  • Die Another Day (2002) - Bond's watch contains a laser, which he uses to cut through a section of ice, reminiscent of his escape from the train by cutting through the floor. Jinx sets the timer for the bomb at the gene therapy lab in Cuba to three minutes, the same three minutes that Bond set the timers for in the chemical weapons lab and later Trevelyan set the timers for on the bullet train. Bond is betrayed by a fellow Agent. A man is killed by a falling ice chandelier, reminiscent of Trevelyan's death in 'GoldenEye' (1995). Bond says to Jinx that "the cold must have kept you alive". In 'GoldenEye' (1995), Bond tells Natalya Simonova that being cold is what keeps him alive. The opening title sequences feature a gold eye that opens. Jinx makes a dive from the DNA compound wall into the sea, which is very similar to Bond's dive from the dam in 'GoldenEye' (1995). The U.S. command bunker in South Korea has computer monitors suspended from the ceiling, looking very similar to the monitors suspended from the ceiling in the Severnaya control room in 'GoldenEye' (1995).
  • Shanghai Knights (2003)
  • Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
  • Stormbreaker (2006) - A supervillain selects England as the target of his terrorist plan because he had a bad childhood there. Robbie Coltrane is in both films.
  • Mamma Mia! (2008) - When introducing himself, Harry says "Bright. Harry Bright," imitating "Bond, James Bond," as Pierce Brosnan is standing next to him.
  • Skyfall (2012) - When Q gives Bond the case containing the Walther PPK/S 9mm short and the radio transmitter, Bond complains about the simplicity of the gadgets. Q states that they longer go for "exploding pens". This is a reference to the many pen gadgets Bond has had over the years, in particular the Ballpoint Pen (Parker Jotter) which acts as an explosive device. Also reuses the idea of the film's title being the name of a house--in this case, Bond's childhood home. Silva, like Alec Trevelyan, is a former MI6 agent who went rogue.
  • Spectre (2015) - Judi Dench's cameo was cast so the actress could celebrate her 20th Anniversary as M.
  • Kingsman: The Golden Circle (2017)
  • The LEGO Movie 2 (2019) - Pierce Brosnan as the best James Bond mentioned in a fight. This was his first appearance in the role.
  • No Time to Die (2021) - A portrait of the former M played by Judi Dench hangs in the MI6 office. Cuba setting. The James Bond character is seen working alongside another Double-O agent (Nomi). In 'GoldenEye' (1995), Pierce Brosnan's James Bond was seen on a mission at the start of the film operating alongside Alec Trevelyan who is Agent 006 (Sean Bean).

Featured in[]

  • Tina Turner: GoldenEye (1995) (Music Video) - Clips shown.

Spoofed in[]

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