Bondathon: Goldeneye

The Bond franchise is one of the most resilient around. It’s able to adapt and when some critics have written the franchise off Bond comes back stronger than ever. 1995’s Goldeneye was proof of this and is often seen as one of the best films the franchise has ever produced.

The Iron Curtain has been lifted and the Soviet Union has fallen. But there are still threats from the East because a Russian crime lord steals the Eurocopter Tiger from the French and a Russian radar station gets attacked by an EMP. Bond is sent to Russia to investigate but he faces a figure from his past he thought had died nine years prior.

In the early ‘90s the Bond franchise was seen to be at a low point. Licence to Kill underperformed at the North American box office and the series suffered its longest gap between films because of legal issues involving Pathe Entertainment’s purchase of United Artist. The other issue was some critics believed the end of the Cold War meant the franchise was no longer relevant. So, like The Spy Who Loved Me, Goldeneye was a make-or-break film for the franchise.

Goldeneye brought in some new blood in front and behind the camera. The most obvious change was Pierce Brosnan taking over the role from Timothy Dalton. Brosnan was set to replace Roger Moore but couldn’t because his contract for Remington Steele was renewed. There were even more changes behind the camera. New screenwriters were brought in, taking over from Michael G. Wilson and Richard Maibaum and after five films, John Glen bowed out for the first non-British Bond director, Martin Campbell.

Goldeneye did feel fresh and different, a trick Campbell was able to repeat for Casino Royale. The cinematography was notable different from the previous films and the plot was topical because it focused on Post-Soviet Russia and used hacking and computing as plot devices. The villain of the piece was Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean), a Double-0 who held a vendetta against the British. He was someone whose skills matched Bond and one of the greatest physical threats Bond has faced.

Skyfall had a lot of Goldeneye in it. Both films focus on hacking and cyber warfare in some way, the villains were former Double-0s who felt betrayed by their nation. Both films had a long build to Bond meeting the villains. The meetups happened at the halfway point in both films and it was shown to be a moment of importance. Trevelyan was in the shadows and Bond was shocked to see his old friend was alive, whilst in Skyfall Silva had a more theatrical introduction.

Martin Campbell is probably the most well-regarded director amongst the Bond fandom. He made two of the greatest films in the franchise. Campbell had a revisionist approach to the franchise. This approach was more obvert with Casino Royale because it was meant to be radically different, but it was present in Goldeneye. An early example of Bond revisionism in Goldeneye was when Bond met M (Judi Dench) and she said ‘you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War.’ She boiled Bond down to his worst aspects. Trevelyan taunted Bond during their interactions after they met in Saint Petersburg.

My favourite deconstructive moment was a small one. It was when Natalya (Izabella Scorupco) asked why he was so cold, and he stated it was the only way he can cope with his profession. It was a small, yet powerful character moment. Another little revisionist moment was showing there were changes within MI6 because Dench’s M was new to the job and she had a frosty relationship with Bond. It was similar to the Bond/M relationship in Never Say Never Again.

Goldeneye did follow Licence to Kill’s lead with having a personal connection between Bond and the villain. In Licence to Kill Bond wanted revenge because Sanchez tortured his best friend and killed his wife. Goldeneye took this idea even further because Bond and Trevelyan had a friendly relationship and M warned Bond not to seek revenge. The final fight between them was a close-fought thing which Trevelyan nearly won. Their final exchange was poignant for the characters with Trevelyan saying ‘For England James?’ and Bond replying ‘No, for me.’ As in what happened with Sanchez, Trevelyan’s death was personal for Bond.

As stated earlier some critics doubted Bond could survive in a post-Cold War world. It was a silly argument since there were plenty of Bond films that didn’t use the Cold War as a plot device. Examples being Dr. No, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, and Live and Let Die. Instead of running from the issue, Goldeneye embraced the new world order. The title sequence showed the change with the symbols of communism getting destroyed and the chaos in Russia was a major part of the film’s plot. This nearly didn’t happen because the original plot was closer to True Lies but the filmmakers had to change it due to the release of the 1994 classic.

The idea of Russia being in disarray was a popular plotline in action films and thrillers in the mid-to-late ‘90s. Films like Crimson Tide, Air Force One, The Saint, and The Peacemaker all showed Russia’s internal issues nearly having consequences for the rest of the world.

The other way Goldeneye was connected to real-life events was through M. Back in the ‘90s Stella Rimington was appointed to be the first female Director-General of MI5. Judi Dench’s casting as M was a little tribute to her.

Being a Bond film it had some terrific action sequences. The film opened with the bungee jumps off the dam and the pre-title sequence ended with a big shootout and Bond having to jump off a cliff to reach a plane. The most memorable sequence was when Bond acquired a tank and drives it around Saint Petersburg, causing thousands of dollars worth of property damage.

Goldeneye had a budget of $60 million which was considered modest for the time. The follow-up film, Tomorrow Never Dies had a budget that was nearly double that. Goldeneye used a lot of model work and practical effects and it still holds up today. For instance, when the Russian fighter jets get destroyed by the Goldeneye weapon system.

Bond’s mind was ticking during his missions. During the pre-title sequence Bond had to think on his feet so he could escape. He had to change the timer on his bomb and used a trolley filled with chemicals to escape in an extremely tense moment. When Bond and Natalya infiltrated Trevelyan’s lair, Bond prepared mines around the base as a part of his escape. A detail I loved was when Bond looking at Boris playing with his explosive pen and Bond was counting the clicks as Trevelyan revealed his dastardly plan.

Goldeneye had a great set of supporting characters. Trevelyan was in the mould of Scaramanga and Silva, a dark mirror to Bond who had skills to match 007. Bond could have gone a similar route. Bean does make the role compelling and able to make the audience overlook the problem of his casting. Bean was in his mid-30s at the time yet playing a character who remembered a tragedy from 50 years ago.

Goldeneye had one of the best collections of villains in a Bond film. Famke Janssen impressed as Xenia Onatopp, a character with the most suggestive name since Holly Goodhead in Moonraker. She was incredible as a henchwoman who was a black widow who killed people with her thighs. She had the most aggressive sex scene in a 12/PG-13 rated film. Alec Cumming as Boris was incredibly narcissistic as Boris, Trevelyan’s hacker who liked to play games and couldn’t stand it when things didn’t go his way. He had one of the funniest deaths in the franchise. The final villain was Ourumov (Gottfried John), a Russian general who taunted Bond during the pre-title sequence and used his authority to great effect.

Natalya was a great Bond girl. She was a computer programmer whose skills became useful during the mission. Natalya had a similar arc to Kara in The Living Daylights because both were ordinary women thrust into a Bond mission. Like Kara, Natalya had a more practical dress sense. My favourite Natalya moment was after the attack on the radar station. She was in shock because all her friends and co-workers had been killed and she was overwhelmed with emotion when she screamed at the broken voice recognition device.

Even the minor characters of Jack Wade (Jon Don Baker) and Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) made an impact. They both came back for Tomorrow Never Dies and The World is Not Enough respectively.

Goldeneye deserves its status as one of the best Bond films. It was able to update classic Bond tropes for the ‘90s, had great characters, and stands as one of the best action films of its decade.