It’s 20 years since the release of Pierce Brosnan’s debut appearance as James Bond in 1995’s GoldenEye!
001. The story
At a secret space testing centre in Siberia, the titular nuclear EMP weapon is set off, destroying the base and almost everyone inside. With the help of the only survivor, Bond is sent to recover the device, coming face to face with an old agent believed dead.
002: The villains
Starting off as Bonds ally, Alec Trevelyan (006) is ‘executed’ by a Soviet general as Bond escapes capture, only emerging as a traitor and leader of the notorious terror group, Janus. Yep, it’s another film where Sean Bean dies… twice.
Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) – contending with Pussy Galore for the most sexually inappropriate name ever – fulfils the connotations of her name perfectly as an assassin whose favoured method of execution is violent sex.
003: The girls
In addition to Izabella Scorupco’s beautiful (if not entirely convincing) computer programmer Natalya Simonova, and aforementioned deadly harpy Xenia, the film introduced Samantha Bond as Miss Moneypenny, who provided the same sharp tongued, flirting partner as Lois Maxwell had for decades.
We’re also introduced to a new M, portrayed perfectly by Dame Judi Dench.
004. Best moments
GoldenEye has more than its fair share of memorable moments (many of them further embedded in ‘90s pop culture thanks to the classic N64 game). Highlights include Bond’s bungee jump from the top of a 700ft dam and driving a motorbike over the side of a cliff to catch a falling plane, but the film’s standout scene has to be the tank chase.
Typifying the decade’s bigger/better/louder action movie formula, GoldenEye chose to forgo the standard car chase in favour of 007 hijacking a tank and rampaging through the streets of St. Petersburg to save the girl, levelling police cars, statues and a bridge in the process, before acting as a barrier for a high speed, armoured train.
005. Trivia
» Actors Liam Neeson, Mel Gibson, Sam Neill and even Hugh Grant were all rumoured to be taking over the role before Brosnan was announced as the fifth James Bond.
» The script was rewritten during the early production stages when it was pointed out that the story bore too many similarities to Arnold Schwarzenegger’s 1994 film True Lies.
» The hiatus between GoldenEye and the previous Bond movie, 1989’s Licence to Kill, was six and a half years; the longest gap between movies since the series began.
» Aside from the core characters, GoldenEye was the first Bond film not to feature elements from an Ian Fleming novel or short story.
» The tie-in novel reveals M’s real name to be Barbara Mawdsley.
006. Best quotes
» Q: [Having just blown up a dummy with an explosive pen] “Don’t say it…”
James Bond: “The writing is on the wall.”
Q: “Along with the rest of him.”
» James Bond: “What, no small-talk? No chit-chat? That’s the trouble with the world today. No one takes the time to do a really sinister interrogation anymore. It’s a lost art.”
» Alec Trevelyan: “I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis ever silence the screams of all the men you’ve killed… or if you find forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect.”
» M: “Good, because I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though wasted on me, obviously appealed to that young woman I sent out to evaluate you.”
» James Bond: “Are these pictures live?”
M: “Unlike the American government, we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN.”
007. The verdict
With the Cold War now over, 007 had to adapt to the developing world and leave the original premise of a Cold War spy behind. GoldenEye ushered in a new era for James Bond, making the “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” relevant for a whole new generation of Bond fans, whilst maintaining all of the charm and fun established over the previous three decades.
The gap between Licence to Kill and GoldenEye allowed the series to reinvent itself, introducing a new set of ethics for our hero to adapt to and a new set of recurring characters such as Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane), Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker) and Bill Tanner (Michael Kitchen). Without GoldenEye, Bond may never have joined the modern world.
What’s your favourite moment in GoldenEye? Let us know below…