the fresh films reviews

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GoldenEye (1995)

Preceded by: Licence to Kill (1989)
Succeeded by
: Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

See our full list of James Bond films.

Director:
Martin Campbell
COUNTRY
UK/USA
Genre
Action, spion
NORWEGIAN TITLE
GoldenEye
RUNNING TIME
130 minutes
Producers:
Michael G. Wilson
Barbara Broccoli
Screenwriters:
Jeffrey Caine
Bruce Feirstein


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
James Bond Pierce Brosnan ½
Alec Trevelyan / Janus Sean Bean
Natalya Fjodorovna Simonova Izabella Scorupco ½
Xenia Zaragevna Onatopp Famke Janssen ½
CIA Agent Jack Wade Joe Don Baker ½
M Judi Dench
Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky Robbie Coltrane
Defense Minister Dimirti Mishkin Tchéky Karyo
Colonel/General Arkady Orumov Gottfried John ½
Boris Grishenko Alan Cumming ½
Q Desmond Llewelyn
Moneypenny Samantha Bond

 

Review

In 1995, the James Bond series was rejuvenated after the series' longest hiatus to date. Out went the stern Timothy Dalton and in came the suave Pierce Brosnan who combined Roger Moore's elegance and tongue-in-cheek humour with a more modern and direct action approach. The series had been made edgier towards the end of 1980s, and GoldenEye recaptures this approach whilst combining it with well-paced action in the best 1990s style. Brosnan is at his best-looking here, making Bond more believable as a sex symbol than the agent had been in a long time. At the same time, he is very much persausive as a spy and killer. Brosnan is comfortable with the Bond cliches and also able to refresh them.

Refreshing is also the script, despite some flaws and improbabilities. The villains are larger than life and delightfully idiosyncratic, from the nerdy Boris to the fascinating Trevelyan and the outrageously funny Xenia Onatopp. And the script is somewhat back to basic, with large-scale schemes that don't appear rushed. It is a pleasant surprise to see Bond acting as a classic spy again, which he does here in several segments. In GoldenEye, the main themes are friendship, loyalty and Bond's ability to love, with the Bond/Trevelyan relation being particularly interesting in this respect. The skilled director Martin Campbell doesn't make his film too political, despite some historical justifications. Instead he creates a modern, enjoyable and quite suspenseful Bond which stands as the best 007 adventure in recent decades.

 

Re-review: Copyright © 6.1.2009 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang
Original review: Copyright © 20.12.1999 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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