45 replies to this topic

[doublenoughtspy]

All I'm saying, really, is that GOLDENEYE got an extremely positive response at the time and that many people felt that the Bond series had not only been resurrected but resurrected with a degree of success beyond anyone's wildest dreams (and the same trick would be pulled off again even more spectacularly in 2006). Would you disagree with this?

I would not disagree with that at all. Goldeneye was a watershed moment in Bond history. Bond was back on top. We were led out of the darkness. Fans no longer had to subside on a Gardner novel here or there, or, god forbid, James Bond, Jr.

It got great reviews (from both the media and fandom) but it wasn't like a disparaging word was outlawed.

[Nicolas Suszczyk]

I never really minded about that. At least I got the GoldenEye plot PERFECTLY.

[AMC Hornet]

True, I regarded Serra's score as a cross between Depeche Mode, Devo and the Gregorian Monks, and that end song did not impress me at all, but it didn't stop me playing the soundtrack endlessly on my car stereo (minus Experience of Love).

BTW, so 006 says "closing time James, last call." What's Bond supposed to say, "Order me a medium dry vodka martini - shaken, not stirred, with a twist of lemon"?

It was just banter, kids - it doesn't mean our vodka and champagne-swilling hero had actually (gasp!) condescended to the point of allowing a lowly lager to pass his gourmand lips (as he did in numerous novels - LALD, DN, OHMSS, TMWTGG and COLD spring immediately to mind).

Perhaps it was Trevelyan who was the beer-hound, and Bond was just playing along (was there really a draught coming in through the door Bond wanted him to close?).

Edited by AMC Hornet, 10 August 2011 - 05:00 PM.

[Jim]

Perhaps it was Trevelyan who was the beer-hound, and Bond was just playing along (was there really a draught coming in through the door Bond wanted him to close?).

Colossal drunkenness would explain the man's accent, which is all over the place (and that place isn't England). What is eet with you and moving accents, GoldenEye (or to give its full title, Pierce Brosnan Action Telemovie GoldenEye) - it's only once Samantha Bond and The Dench and Michael Kitchen turn up about fifteen hours into it that anything remotely approaching a British accent (of which there are many to choose) is audible (I accept I'm not counting the chimp squired in Monaco as her accent is mostly squeal, presumably because she's spotted the cravat and jumbo corduroy troos).

Still, it's plausible one might believe there was time for an ale at the gas plant which is neither halfway up nor down the hill, given that Mr Brosnan appears to have time to have a haircut and Mr Bean appears to grow several inches.

[jaguar007]

Yes, this was sixteen years ago. Did anybody complain about the stunt WHEN IT CAME OUT? I bet it wasn't until many years later. Compare that to, say, Die Another Day's "stunts" that made people groan in the theater. I'll take GoldenEye's stuntwork any day.

How long have you been a Bond fan? Of course people complained about the stunt WHEN IT CAME OUT. I was there opening day, at the World Premiere, and trust me, people complained about the dodgy CGI.

Every Bond film is dissected to the nth degree by Bond fans, regardless of era.

We were very happy to have Bond back, but that didn't give Eon a blank check or a freedom from criticism.

So if you are betting man, you lost.

Agreed. I was also at the World Premiere and I even remember discussing the cheesy fall, the horrible soundtrack and how much I had preferred Timothy Dalton with Charles (Charles had also mentioned that he thought Brosnan had played it similar to Dalton and less like Moore).

[zencat]

Elevator.

[Santa]

It was just banter, kids - it doesn't mean our vodka and champagne-swilling hero had actually (gasp!) condescended to the point of allowing a lowly lager to pass his gourmand lips (as he did in numerous novels - LALD, DN, OHMSS and COLD spring immediately to mind).

There's nothing wrong with Bond drinking beer, it was just something about the way he said it. It was a bit... camp. I semi-heard Brosnan's inner monologue as he said it and it went something like this: "Beer? Ewwww I don't think so, Matron."

[Royal Dalton]

Just watching the film now on ITV. It's still crap.

[Loomis]

Just watching the film now on ITV.

Yeah, saw a bit of it earlier on. Enjoyed what I saw - and it looks like CITIZEN KANE next to QUANTUM OF SOLACE.

But, still, here's another item to add to the pile of Weird Moments in GOLDENEYE™: when Bond arrives at the casino, he gets out of his car and the geezer says to him something like "A-ha, Mr Bond, tres heureux de vous revoir", and Bond replies something like "Tres bien, Pierre, ca va?", only his French accent is dreadful (Bond, surely, should have an impeccable French accent, non? He shouldn't sound like Arnold Schwarzenegger speaking through a mouthful of gobstoppers), and he makes this rather awkward waving-the-guy-away sort of hand motion which makes him look as though he's gone all shy for some reason.

There's nothing really wrong with this scene, but it just feels a bit stiff (as the actress said to the bishop) and might have been improved (or not - and I guess it's pretty redundant anyway given we've already got an establishing shot of the casino and a shot of Bond walking in) by another take.

[Royal Dalton]

He was probably embarrassed about stalling the engine.

But you're right, Loomis. That whole scene wasn't really needed at all.

[robdread]

When seeing "GoldenEye" on opening night, I remember thinking the pre-title airplane bit was fake looking, but I also remember the audience cheering loudly for it. I also clearly remember absolutely dispising Serra's score.

[Miles Miservy]

Of course, we all have different experiences of other fans' reactions to Bond films at the time of release, but the only complaint I recall from a fellow 007 buff when GOLDENEYE came out was that the car chase directly after the opening credits was redundant and overly Moore-ish.

Not a single person you knew complained about the soundtrack and Serra's score, and the masterpiece that is (isn't) Experience of Love? Hmm.

Lots of Bond fans I knew at the time liked the theme song but were incredibly disappointed by Serra's score, one even famously comparing its sound quality to "Yoko Ono clubbing baby seals."

I do remember watching the trailer dozens of times, loving that Bond was back. Don't get me wrong, I loves me some Goldeneye, but this rose colored glasses stuff wasn't happening back in 95...

I thought The oo7 Theme played on tympanis was a REAL cool touch!!!

[DaveBond21]

Did anybody really care what Bond was doing? Wasn't the most important part the fact that he was back doing it?

Quite.

In GOLDENEYE's defence, I saw it on its opening Friday night at the Odeon Leicester Square and the audience went wild during the PTS.

Actually, while I love Goldeneye, I remember that the audience laughed when I saw this scene in 1995.

[Skudor]

I must admit that I never thought much of the high mountain dam - sort of just accepted it all seven times I watched the film in the cinema.

The obvious back projection when Brosnan climbs aboard the plane sort of degrades the whole stunt (could it have worked without that bit?) - but that part of the whole PTS was nevertheless real nail biting stuff (every time!)

However, what grated on me was the way Brozza sort of limply stroked a rail when running down some stairs. Go figure. I think history will treat Brozza much better than we give him credit for.

Goldeneye was a real treat for starved fans back in 1996 and I think it holds up just as well as most of that mid qualty pack of Bond films. If nothing else, it's an entertaining snapshot of the end of the cold war.

[DaveBond21]

I must admit that I never thought much of the high mountain dam - sort of just accepted it all seven times I watched the film in the cinema.

The obvious back projection when Brosnan climbs aboard the plane sort of degrades the whole stunt (could it have worked without that bit?) - but that part of the whole PTS was nevertheless real nail biting stuff (every time!)

However, what grated on me was the way Brozza sort of limply stroked a rail when running down some stairs. Go figure. I think history will treat Brozza much better than we give him credit for.

Goldeneye was a real treat for starved fans back in 1996 and I think it holds up just as well as most of that mid qualty pack of Bond films. If nothing else, it's an entertaining snapshot of the end of the cold war.

Skudor, I agree with you. Goldeneye was a great movie, and Brosnan saved the franchise. Simple as that.

[Captain Tightpants]

I've always seen it as an absence of linking shots. When Bond leaves the men's room, meets up with Trevelyan and goes to the room they're going to destroy, we really don't see their whole journey. They could've met low, near the only vulnerable point where Bond could break in, and then climbed.

I figured it was something similar - that the weapons dump was actually a massive facility built into the cliffside adjacent to the dam. Bond went in through the bottom and climbed up, and the runway in the finale is actually within sight of the dam.