GoldenEye (1995)

James Bond teams up with the lone survivor of a destroyed Russian research center to stop the hijacking of a nuclear space weapon by a fellow agent believed to be dead.

Director:

Martin Campbell

Writers:

Ian Fleming (characters), Michael France (story),

Stars:

Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco

Nominated for 2 BAFTA Film Awards. Another 2 wins & 4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Pierce Brosnan	...	James Bond
Sean Bean	...	Alec Trevelyan
Izabella Scorupco	...	Natalya Simonova
Famke Janssen	...	Xenia Onatopp
Joe Don Baker	...	Jack Wade
Judi Dench	...	M
Robbie Coltrane	...	Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky
Gottfried John	...	General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov
Alan Cumming	...	Boris Grishenko
Tchéky Karyo	...	Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin (as Tcheky Karyo)
Desmond Llewelyn	...	Q
Samantha Bond	...	Miss Moneypenny
Michael Kitchen	...	Bill Tanner
Serena Gordon	...	Caroline
Simon Kunz	...	Severnaya Duty Officer

Storyline

When a deadly satellite weapon system falls into the wrong hands, only Agent 007 can save the world from certain disaster. Armed with his license to kill, Bond races to Russia in search of the stolen access codes for "Goldeneye," an awesome space weapon that can fire a devastating electromagnetic pulse toward Earth. But 007 is up against an enemy who anticipates his every move: a mastermind motivated by years of simmering hatred. Bond also squares off against Xenia Onatopp, an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon.

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Plot Keywords:

russian | agent | russia | chemical weapons | fire | 

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Taglines:

There is no substitute.

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Genres:

Action | Crime | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for a number of sequences of action/violence, and for some sexuality

Details

Official Sites:

MGM Studios [us]

Country:

UK USA

Language:

English Russian Spanish

Release Date:

17 November 1995 (USA)

Also Known As:

007: GoldenEye

Filming Locations:

Admiralteysky, St. Petersburg, Russia

Box Office

Budget:

$58,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£12,393,233 (UK) (15 December 1995)

Gross:

£17,393,594 (UK) (19 January 1996)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Eon Productions, United Artists

Technical Specs

Runtime:

130 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital

Color:

Color Color (Rankcolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

The World Premiere of GoldenEye was held on 13th November 1995 at New York City's famed Radio City Music Hall. This was the first for any Bond film to be held in New York and the second in the USA for an official series Bond pic after A View to a Kill and third overall for any Bond movie after that movie and Never Say Never Again. The after-premiere party was held at New York's Museum of Modern Art. The British and European Royal Premiere was held on 21st November 1995 at London's Leicester Square Odeon Theatre in the presence of British Royal Prince Charles. The post-premiere party was held at the Imperial War Museum. Pierce Brosnan boycotted the French Premiere in support of Greenpeace and in protest of that country's nuclear testing in the South Pacific. The premiere was then canceled. The French military had supplied the frigate FS La Fayette and a Eurocopter Tiger helicopter for use in the movie.

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Goofs

When Bond is fighting the man in the striped shirt on the yacht, Bond wraps a towel around the man's neck and uses it to beetle toss him down a flight of stairs. The towel is wrapped around the man's neck, and it leaves Bond's hands as he tosses him. In the next camera shot, the man goes tumbling down the stairs and the towel has disappeared. It goes to a final camera shot, and the towel is still in Bond's hands and never left in the first place.

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Quotes

[first lines]
[Russian in toilet cubicle looks around his newspaper to see Bond hanging from the ceiling]
James Bond: Beg your pardon, forgot to knock.

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Crazy Credits

James Bond will return.

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Connections

Referenced in GoldenEye: Building a Better Bond (2006)

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Soundtracks

"Stand By Your Man"
Written by Billy Sherrill and Tammy Wynette
Performed by Minnie Driver

User Reviews

Amidst Controversy, Bond Re-Invented with Brosnan...

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.