James Bond, the longest-running movie franchise in history, had plenty of ups and downs in forty years of its existence. However, the worst crisis was six-year pause between the new releases that had occurred between 1989 and 1995. Bond movies were, on average, released every eighteen months, so many speculated that such long pause might be actually the end of the series. In that time many noticed that the release of the last Bond film coincided with the collapse of Berlin Wall and the end of Cold War. That coincidence led many to conclude that Bond movies could function only in the context of that global struggle. When the series was re- launched in 1995, GoldenEye, the new movie in the series, directed by Martin Campbell, actually addressed those issues.
The plot begins in 1986, when two British super-agents – James Bond a.k.a. 007 (played by Pierce Brosnan) and Alec Trevelyan a.k.a. 006 (played by Sean Bean) - destroy Soviet chemical weapons facility commanded by Colonel Ourumov (played by Gottfried John). Bond is the only one to return from this mission and nine years later he would again be entangled in similar stunts and meet some familiar faces. This time the Cold War is over, and the ruins of Soviet Empire are ruled by ruthless mafia organisations. One of them wants to take control of GoldenEye, ex- Soviet orbital satellite equipped with electromagnetic weapon able to knock out every electronic item in the entire cities. Unleashed on a major metropolitan or commercial centre, this weapon can cause traffic collapse, mass starvation and completely mess up world's economy. But Bond is here to save the day, aided by Natalya Semyonova (played by Izabella Scorupco), beautiful Russian computer programmer, whose team had been killed by the gangsters.
Screenwriters Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Fierstein tried very hard to give us the new, updated and 1990s version of James Bond. This is most evident in the scenes that feature British superagent interacting with his boss M. This time the boss is a woman (played by Judi Dench), who spares no time and energy to brand Bond as "sexist, mysoginist, violent" and therefore unsuited to work in gentler, kinder post-Cold War environment that requires more "politically correct" men. Yet, despite the attempts to adapt Bond to the new era, makers of GoldenEye seem hopelessly stuck in the past, especially Cold War past. In many ways, this film is almost sadistic in its gloating over the sad fate of the country and people that used to be the arch-enemy of the Western civilisation - Russia is portrayed as the country drowned in poverty, corruption, crime and full of emotionally and physically crippled people, stuck with the reminders of once glorious past and lacking any future. GoldenEye is, on the other hand, also stuck in the past and it goes even further than Cold War - one of the characters is deeply traumatised by the events that occurred in the closing days of World War 2, half a century ago.
All this could be forgiven if the character of Bond was played by some older actor or if the film as a whole was faithful to the seriousness of its script (as the earliest Bond films were). But director Martin Campbell is instead more faithful to the more standard Bond formula and so we have the standard (and rather predictable) content that features all we have grown accustomed to expect in Bond films - spectacular action scenes, beautiful ladies in skimpy clothes, exotic locations, double entendres, larger-than-life villains. Unfortunately, because of the seriousness of GoldenEye context, some of the flaws of the film become intolerable. The action scenes are spectacular at the expense of believability - the beginning defies laws of physics, while the tank chase on the streets of St. Petersburg demands the audience completely unfamiliar with the way how modern armoured vehicles operate. Finally, in the end there is "shocking" revelation about chief villain and his motives that belongs more to soap opera than Bond film.
The most interesting thing about new Bond was, of course, casting. Pierce Brosnan, who was original choice for replacing Roger Moore in 1980s, seems quite capable for this role. His Bond is convincing both as a smooth and suave operator and as deadly killing machine. Unfortunately, the rest of the cast wasn't exactly by Bond's standards. Isabella Scorupco was one of the less memorable Bond girls, mostly due to the lack of chemistry between her and Brosnan. On the other hand, Femke Janssen as former KGB assassin with homicidal fetish is very effective in rather thankless over-the-top role. But the greatest waste of acting resources is Sean Bean, otherwise excellent British actor, here at complete odds with the role that would otherwise belong to some other film. The one of the brief light moments comes from Robbie Coltrane in small but effective role of Bond's former arch-enemy.
If we apply high standards we expect from classic Bond films, GoldenEye is a failure. Yet, the movie was commercially successful enough to be viewed as a success and triumphant re- launch of the series. Subsequent films (and some of the unfortunate real life events) showed that the post-Cold War world is interesting enough for this kind of hero.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
(Note: The text in its original form was posted in Usenet newsgroup rec.arts.movies.reviews on November 25th 2002)
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Movie URL: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/710-goldeneye?language=en-US
Critic: AA