GoldenEye

Pierce Brosnan's first outing as the iconic spy was a good one. Goldeneye hit the mark with a great story, a progressive M, Bond girl and soundtrack. Pierce makes the role his own and nicely takes on the mantle of 007. Viewers can embrace a new and modern Bond for the 90s. Goldeneye is a special film for me as it was the first 007 film I watched with my parents and it hit the bullseye for me. I was captivated by this great story from start to finish. Decent film and Pierce's best Bond film.

World security is in danger , ¨Janus¨ , a terrorist organization has robbed the ¨Goldeneye¨ , an ultra secret weapon system -a spy satellite- and menaced to use it for destroying a city if doesn't pay and to cause a sabotage on the global financial markets . MI6 -Judi Dench as M- assigns to James Bond the mission to retrieve it . Of course , there's the usual breathtaking opening scene developed in a chemist arms factory located in Siberia . There Bond and agent 006 Alec Trevelyan -Sean Bean- will have to confront against Russian military , but Alec is imprisoned by General Ourumov -Gottfried John- and at the end takes place a deadly confrontation .

The film has sensational and spectacularly difficult action set pieces , as the tank pursuit in the city of Saint Petesburg or the taking on the armored train . Action is well shot , , including a groundbreaking and impressive final confrontation developed in Janus headquarter , located in Island Cuba jungle . As always , it appears Q as gadget man who teaches Bond various tools as a bomb pencil that will have special importance posteriorly , besides a speed car -BMW- equipped with rockets launchers . As Bond girls are Famke Janssen as Xena in a sensationalistic and crazed interpretation as the orgasmic to whom all risk is a emotion . Thus , she steals a super-helicopter ¨Tiger¨ and facing off opponents .Izabella Scorupco as Natalya Simanova , a computer specialist , she is marvelous and enticing with a similar countenance to Ingrid Bergman . Plus , it appears unbilled Minnie Driver . Tina Turner sings stunningly the main title and atmospheric score by Eric Serra . The film was finely directed by Martin Campbell . Rating : good and entertaining .

This movie fully deserves it's status as a classic in the action/thriller/spy/drama category. It's so much fun, well written, solid dialogue and yet it finds that sweet spot with just the right amount of classic Bond ridiculousness. Famke Jensenn playing Onatopp, a soviet assassin who kills men by riding them to death in bed? Yup, sounds like a Bond movie. Judi Dench absolutely kills it as M, I love the gravitas and complexity she brings to the role. Even back in 1995 calling out Bond, what some would consider to be the fictional epitome of toxic masculinity and chauvinism, and saying he's a dinosaur and that she has no problem sending him off to die if she has to. Love her so much in this. As for Bond himself, this may be because I grew up in this period but I have always loved Brosnan in the role. Yes, the later films get exponentially more absurd and the quality absolutely goes down but he is so perfectly cast as the suave, charming and devilish-at-times international man of mystery. That man wears the hell out of those suits, drinks a martini with the best of them and looks just right in that Aston Martin.

Definite recommend for people interested in a solid action flick. The plot is a little crazy, but that was perfectly in line with when it was made and the style of film it's going for. Easily worth a rent.

GOLDENEYE, the long-delayed debut of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, was a film mired in MGM's convoluted legal problems for six years, problems which had nothing to do with the 007 franchise, but which happened to fall at the worst possible time; after Timothy Dalton's 'Serious Bond' experiment, LICENCE TO KILL, failed to break even in U.S. markets. Despite international grosses that made the film a profitable venture, many American critics, long grumbling that the Bond series had outlasted it's welcome, heaped abuse on the newer, leaner direction for 'Bond', and it's taciturn, less light-hearted star...and, with MGM's decision to put the expensive series 'on hold' until their own legal and financial issues could be resolved, LICENCE TO KILL became the unfair 'scapegoat' for the delay.

Much happened during the six-year hiatus; with the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Communist undercurrent of many Bond films (and the subject of most of Ian Fleming's novels) was lost; Richard Maibaum, the series' most prolific screenwriter, passed away, and ill health forced legendary producer Albert ('Cubby') Broccoli to turn over his duties to his daughter Barbara, and stepson, Michael G. Wilson (thus ending the other 'prime' 007 screenwriter's script contributions); many other key production figures would retire, die, or move on; and finally, as the delay continued, Timothy Dalton, nearing 50, announced that he was no longer interested in playing James Bond (sparking rumors that Eon Productions, no longer honor-bound by the senior Broccoli's choices, had given him 'the boot').

While all this opened the door for Pierce Brosnan's long-awaited debut as 007 (after his aborted first attempt, in THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS), with a new 'look' and style for the franchise, whether audiences would even accept a new 'James Bond' adventure was in doubt.

Fortunately, everything 'worked'. Brosnan, now 42, was more ruggedly believable as 007 than he would have been, at 34, and Dame Judi Dench, as the first woman 'M' (referring to Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur"), proved a perfect successor to the late Bernard Lee. While the plot of the film, involving the master plan of a renegade Russian General (Gottfried John) and an assumed dead 006 (Sean Bean) to use an electronic warfare system (GoldenEye) against England was nothing new, Brosnan's daring-do and one-liners (with humor restored to the franchise), as he proved his value in the new world 'order', found an audience 'primed' for James Bond's return...and the welcome cameo of the series' last original 'regular', "Q" (Desmond Llewelyn, 81, and as cranky as ever), cemented 007's links to both the past and the future.

James Bond's greatest crisis, whether he still had 'Box Office', had been overcome, and with audience favorite Pierce Brosnan in place, his emergence into the 21st century was assured.

This was Pierce Brosnan's first outing as Bond and is a real success. It managed to keep the quintessential Bond attributes yet brings the franchise bang up to date in the absence of the Cold War. Brosnan puts in a stellar performance as Bond and the supporting cast including the gritty Sean Bean as the double crossing villain and just the right amount comedy in Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade and Robbie Coltrane as Valentine Zukovsky. Nice nods to the past in the use of the Aston DB5 and mentions of M's predecessors. Even the soundtrack suits the film nicely. There is enough grit and spy content to please the Dalton fans and enough quips and craziness to please the Moore fans. Misses are few and far between - the product placement of the flaccid BMW 1.9 Z3 is poor - it so obviously Un-Bondlike that even the production crew realise and the below par motor barely features in the film at all. This aside, it's great Bond movie, one of the best infact and well worth a watch.