GoldenEye (1995)

Directed by Martin Campbell. Starring Pierce Brosnan, Izabella Scorupco, Sean Bean, Famke Janssen, Gottfried John, Alan Cumming, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane, Tchéky Karyo, Desmond Llewelyn, Samantha Bond, Michael Kitchen, Serena Gordon. [PG-13]

Following a disappointingly brief stint (and six-year franchise hiatus due to rights lawsuits and financial woes), Timothy Dalton is replaced by Brosnan as 007 for a contemporary adjustment on the character—the Cold War is over, and the “sexist, misogynist dinosaur” must adapt to the changing times (although stated playfully, Miss Moneypenny even accuses the womanizer of sexual harassment at one point). Such recognition rests on the surface, however, since the formula is hardly shaken or stirred in telling a solid adventure story of a rogue agent (Bean) seizing control of an EMP-armed satellite called GoldenEye and plotting to return England to “the Stone Age” as revenge for how his Cossack parents were betrayed by Queen and Country years earlier. Brosnan is in good form; the villains are a colorful and exciting lot (including Janssen’s loony and lustful Thighmaster advertisement, Xenia Onatopp); Scorupco’s Russian computer programmer Bond girl is an agreeable cocktail of grit, skill, vulnerability, and sensuality; and the action scenes and gadgetry fit into top-flight escapism categories. Also scores a coup with the casting of stoic, sharp-tongued Dench as M, capable of coldly dressing down her top secret agent without ever fully abandoning her motherly attachment. If for nothing else, it also inspired one of the 20th century’s best-loved video game console first-person-shooters (but playing as Oddjob is a tacky cheat, and you know it!). One of the few consequential shortcomings: Éric Serra’s uninspired musical score. Title theme was written by U2’s Bono and The Edge, but performed by Tina Turner. Look for Minnie Driver in a bit part as a “cat-strangling” nightclub singer.

82/100