71 replies to this topic

[freemo]

Never been sure what to make of GoldenEye, or it's ultra self-awareness (Jack Wade: "You stiff- Brits and your sercet passwords", Valentine: "Bond, James Bond. Shaken not stirred", etc). Pokes fun at all the Bond cliches, as if it's embarrased by them and feels that it has to make jokes about them before the audience does. On the other hand, it could be considered a clever way to "restart" the series and take it in a new direction.

I do quite like the look and feel of it though (save for a few moments where it appears a tad "done on the cheap"). Very stylish.

Horrible dialouge though, "sexist, mynoginst dinosaur" may very well by my least favorite line ever. I'll never understand why so many fans have clinged onto this line and made it Bonds unoffical tagline of sorts.

GoldenEye: Nice to look at, not as nice to listen to.

A bit like my girlfriend.

[dunmall]

I enjoyed GoldenEye very much and still do, I'm not a big fan of the score but that particular type of industrial, electronica type stuff has never been my cup of tea, so to each his own.

I don't mind Borris, I find him less annoying than many other "comedy relief" characters. (in any movie bond or not)

I love the psuedo 60s vibe.

I hate the dinosaur line, probably the only time that Dench looks bad is while delivering that line, it's as if she knows it's going to be in the trailer!

I don't mind the playing around with cliches, it's what you need to do to make things different adjust conventions and play around a little, other wise you just get a photocopy, and a bad one at that.

All in all except for my dislike of the score this is my favourite Brosnan outing.

[KissKissBangBang]

My first post - here goes...

i think Goldeneye is an oddity to the entire series. It's less of a cohesive, groundbreaking film but a calculated exercise in "playing it safe." And in the end, it is one of the weakest Bond films.

It's tough to blame the producers for this, as previous to Goldeneye - they had two commercial flops with TLD and LTK, and they needed to regress back into the formula that worked (more or less) with the Roger Moore films. They needed to get the general public interested in Bond again and see if Brosnan could support a big budget movie on his own. But subsequently, the film looks like a highlight reel of previous Bond films (almost as blatant as the nostalgic references in Die Another Day).

Goldeneye is all about "comfort level"...The prerequisite wow-factor stunt in the pretitle (ala TSWLM)....the chase scene centrepiece (ala Goldfinger)..., the big fight scene finale (ala From Russia with Love)... etc etc etc

Are there classic moments in Goldeneye? Absolutely. But when you watch the film and then watch the follow-up (and vastly superior) Tomorrow Never Dies, the overall feel of the newer film is crisper, more assured, more energetic, modern, and less recycled. TND is a formula movie too - but it is a "confident" movie that stands on it's own where as Goldeneye feels dated.

Did the producer's strategy work - absolutely. It was the life jacket that saved the drowning series. But did it take Bond to places we have never seen him before? No.

I am looking forward to CR as it seems the producers are seemingly taking more chances to take the typical Bond formula and make it more about characterization and less about patching up a story to fit within action sequences.

[tdalton]

GoldenEye, while I have it ranked somewhere around #12 or so, is one of, if not the, least inspired entries into the series. No chances whatsoever were taken with this particular film, and it's ridiculously self-aware.

[Judo chop]

I wince less watching GE than I do the following three films. TND could have been GE2, but the villian, henchman, bondgirl, and ending, bring it down. I cannot enjoy TWINE or DAD cover to cover because of the bondgirls. It has obvious flaws in terms of structure and flow, but GE is my keeper of the Brosnan series, and probably a top-10 overall.

[Taro Todoroki]

I remember leaving the theater and thinking what the heck was that all about? It certainly didn't seem like a Bond movie. It was the only Bond film that I have seen at the theater that really didn't click with me.

[tdalton]

I remember leaving the theater and thinking what the heck was that all about? It certainly didn't seem like a Bond movie. It was the only Bond film that I have seen at the theater that really didn't click with me.

For me, it was one of the first Bond movies that I ever saw, so I wasn't all that aware of what a Bond movie was "supposed" to be like. But, after having now seen them all several times over, this is really the one film that doesn't fit in very well with the rest of the series. With the exception of the gun-barell and the appearance of the character James Bond, there is little else that distinguishes it as a James Bond movie.

[Taro Todoroki]

You know I saw TLD and LTK at the theater and at the time I do not remember anyone saying that they were bad films, that they didn't like Timothy Dalton as Bond, or he needed to be replaced. I realize too that their box office results may have not been the best, but I always thought he did an excellent job and wished he had done more.
When I hear people constantly say Goldeneye "saved" the series I am confused. The reason there were no Bond movies from 89 to 95 was because of legal issues. Only when these legal problems were solved was Goldeneye made. You have to remember too that there was a James Bond movie made on a two year schedule since YOLT, so there was a much higher amount of anticipation and attention for Goldeneye compared to say, TLD.
I hate to say it, but just about anything released as a James Bond movie in 95 would have had some success because it had been so long since we had seen 007 on the big screen.

[stamper]

When I saw that green screen shot of Bond falling toward the plane in the opening, or the free fall which was all the rage back then, I knew the series was dead, at least for another ten years. Can you spell dodgy ? I hate when you see special effects, at last, the makers of TB had the excuse that technology wasn't up to then. The only good scene in GE is the cemetary scene. And it's bloody strange that Brosnan doesn't look the same way in that scene than in all the others, watch him in the car.

[Blue07]

Can you spell dodgy ? I hate when you see special effects, at last, the makers of TB had the excuse that technology wasn't up to then.

I can spell it. Can you spell 'least'?

Goldeneye is one of the very best Bond movies.

With the very best Bond.

[JimmyBond]

Can you spell dodgy ? I hate when you see special effects, at last, the makers of TB had the excuse that technology wasn't up to then.

I can spell it. Can you spell 'least'?

Goldeneye is one of the very best Bond movies.

With the very best Bond.

Kinda rude dontcha think?

st because he you liked it doenst mean you have to harp on his spelling? I liked the film and agree with him, that sequence was horrible and ruined an otherwise interesting precredits sequence.

[addyb]

Goldeneye holds a special place for me as it was the first 007 movie that I saw on the big screen. (my Father took me) I will always remember my 10 year old stomach going into my throat when Pierce's stuntman jumped off of the Dam.

I think it is a magnificent movie - for the first half. I think it was rather dark and moody - Bond being a little out of place as a cold war dinososaur with his "secret codes and passwords."

Sadly, I think the movie went to all hell and back once Pierce stole the Russian tank and started terrorizing the city. After that scene, the movie completely loses my interest.

Adam

[krypt]

I enjoyed GE very much when it opened in the cinema. Certainly I missed Timothy Dalton, but I was also a Brosnan fan and I thought he handled himself quite well in the role.

And I absolutely loved Famke, Alan, Sean, Robbie, Judi, (and Minnie!) in the film.

[Turn]

I liked the film and agree with him, that sequence was horrible and ruined an otherwise interesting precredits sequence.

I also agree. The opening bungee jump was one of the most effective stunts in the entire series IMO. It's just perfectly executed.

Then by the time you get to the whole flying into the plane thing it's just like they didn't know when to quit and became guilty of overkill. It's part of why I am pretty apathetic toward GE. I want to like it, but there are little things like that that drag it down.

As another example of this, I may be the only person around who also finds the tank chase to be somewhat underwhelming. It's like an outtake out of The Blues Brothers with a lot of destruction and mayhem.

[ChickenStu]

It's my favourite of the Brosnan movies. I'd actually go as far to call it an all-time classic.

[Stephen Spotswood]

I disliked Goldeneye, too pointlessly noisy and flashy, but the next movie was worse. Goldeneye could've made a good Dalton movie, with the few brooding scenes, Brosnan didn't have the depth to pull it off. Sean Bean's main function as a villain was just to admire Bond's panache.

[bondrocks14]

I like GoldenEye alot, however it's not as good as TND and TWINE. Better than DAD though. I wish the killing of Trevelyan in the beginning would have been explained more so that it wouldn't leave a question of how he wasn't dead. Unless Orumov shot the floor, I guess that's what happened? In any case, GE is great, Boris is annoying, PTS is ok, Brosnan is great as always, Villains are ok, Natalya ok, I like Wade and Zukovsky. Music, don't have a problem with it really. Final verdict: 3rd best out of 4

[JimmyBond]

I think Ouromov shot Alec with a blank (that is to say, didnt really shoot him). And Trevelyan "played" dead. I know he shot a soldier earlier but it's not hard to imagine he put one blank in there.

[bondrocks14]

I think Ouromov shot Alec with a blank (that is to say, didnt really shoot him). And Trevelyan "played" dead. I know he shot a soldier earlier but it's not hard to imagine he put one blank in there.

Makes sense

[JimmyBond]

It shouldnt require explanations from fans though, the filmakers kind of erred in that sequence. They could have at least explained it a bit during the Bond/Alec dialogue in the statute park.

Oh well, still a decent film though.

[Captain Grimes]

I wonder if the reason GoldenEye has arguably achieved near-classic status is because it was the first film that many Bond fans (especially those who spend time on the internet) saw in theatres....

[Colossus]

GE is a good film unquestionably but i too feel a slight irking feeling in the air about it with the rest of the series. I think part of it may have to due with the fact that this is a Dalton Bond film. Fashioned just for Dalton's style and take on his character like said in this thread. TND, TWINE, and DAD are Brosnan films. He is very much not as serious in those as he was in GE.

[Skudor]

It was the first Bond film in far too long - so you sort of had to love it. I saw it seven times in the cinema (by comparison, i only saw DAD and TWINE once in the cinema, and TND about four times). What I loved about it was the suaveness that returned with Brosnan, and was missing from the Dalton movies. The music didn't exactly gel with me, but it's grown on me over time (I often find myself remembering little melodies) - it wasn't right for Bond though.

As a whole the movie felt like a nice, complete well put together package, unlike it's successors which tended to feel disjointed and unfocussed with too many cut and paste action sequences / set pieces. I'm not a big fan of Bean's villain, he's very melancholic to me, but I'll give him the credit for being physically a good match for Bond making the fight at the end a great Bond moment - my only gripe is that I prefer the older Drax-like villains.

Onatopp was brilliant - Famke Janssen is sexy as hell and manages to stand out as a henchwoman, unlike any of the ones in the following movies, thank god she was there as Izabella Scorupco was just boring.

There was a melancholy feel to the movie as a whole that I resented though, in scenes like where Bond meets Trevelyan again (by the statues), where he's moaning aobut what keeps him alive and whatnot to Natalia on the beach, the boring scenes of Natalia escaping the facility and so on and on. Maybe it was intened (the end of the cold war and all that) and maybe it's actually a great aspect for a Bond film that might otherwise lack a soul (and thus a sign of Campbell perhaps being something better than just a hack). There are too many shots of Brosnan trying to look like a male model, which some may actually find really cool, but which for my own reasons annoy me. And lets not get started on Rambo-Bond and the destruction of the Russian army....

Overall Goldeneye is not a movie I pick up often when I fancy a Bond flick - the boring bits put me off. But it's nowhere near the worst movie in the series, I guess it just fails to entertain in the way TND does (I always look forward to the hotel room scene when Bond meets the assassin in TND for example - GE lacks a scene like that for me). So maybe it's a good Bond movie, in the way it fits together but poor in that it fails to entertain as much as some of the others.

[Qwerty]

I wonder if the reason GoldenEye has arguably achieved near-classic status is because it was the first film that many Bond fans...

Could be. It was the one that personally got me hooked on the series.

[David Schofield]

GE is clearly Brozza's best: not much competition though, is there? Sure, the film has flaws - and it would have been better with Dalton and Hopkins and the sort of mundane, non-spacy plot that has been described here. Then again, it is not the worst of Bond films.

Indeed, had Brozza done just GE, I think his legacy - and the appreciation of that - would have been far greater without his subequent three. In GE, Brozza gives his quintissential Bond performance that he was born to play, taking advantage of the script written for Dalton's strengths which was missing from the remainder of Brozza's career as Bond. However, IMO, GE is Brozza's Goldfinger, his Spy, his OHMSS, his Licence. If he had gone after GE - I agee, of course, there's no reason why he should - he would have left a classic interpretation of Bond behind (even with the "its what keeps me alive" cringe-fest).

[MaFru]

GoldenEye may have worked a lot better with Dalton in it, even the teaser sequence falls into his reign ("nine year later") so to speak, with that "Gibraltar feel" and all, but some key elements will be missing anyway, I would certainly cringe at the thought of Dalton encuring all that "dinosaur" garbage from "M"ommy, ans as shockingly as it may sound, I truly dislike Judi Dench as "M" , great actress, yada yada, not right for the role,
bring back Sir Miles, the fatherly figure, the mentor, what Fleming intended, I know, a woman was in charge of MI6, but that was only for a few months! And yet the only survivor from the Brosnan era in CR, is Dame Judy,
not even Cleese made it, something's not right I tell you..

Sorry about the rant, yeah GoldenEye sucks big time, in a nutshell

[Stephen Spotswood]

I agree Judi Dench was a mistake. There's something too PC about it.

Combined with Brosnan's effeminate acting style, they turned the hard as nails James Bond into a mama's boy.

Edited by Stephen Spotswood, 22 March 2006 - 03:02 PM.

[Captain Grimes]

I wonder if the reason GoldenEye has arguably achieved near-classic status is because it was the first film that many Bond fans...

Could be. It was the one that personally got me hooked on the series.

Not to mention the video game, which I believe pulled in a lot of fans as well.

[Shaken not Stirred]

I like GE, maybe that's the second best film of him after TWINE.
I still missed Dalton, it would be nice if I could see 1 or 2 more films from Mr. Dalton

[secret_007]

This one of the worst bond films because it was so boring and the music sucked and it had boring action scenes and a boring plot.