Plot Details: This opinion reveals major details about the movie's plot.
I'm not generally a fan of straight action films. I don't care much for the Die Hard series or most of what Schwarzenegger does (on or off the screen). I gather from what I've read from other reviewers that a pretty fair piece of the audience for Bond films is really only interested in the action sequences. If you're in that category, you may find that another reviewer will be better able to advise you in relation to the Bond films. My interest in the series derives from the intrigue, human drama, and the witty dialog. I enjoy watching Bond use his wits and/or toys in creative ways. I also enjoy the action segments and farcical elements, provided they serve a larger dramatic context. When the Bond series entered the nineties, the producers apparently decided that the formula needed to be substantially revamped for a younger market, with more emphasis on straight action. That change in direction also coincided with the advent of Pierce Brosnan as the fifth actor to play the role of Bond within the "official" series. The change in style may have saved the series from near oblivion, following the two Timothy Dalton films of the late eighties (which I view as better than average among Bond films), but it also diminishes the value of the films for viewers like myself. I am not close-minded about the style of the films in the series and I'll continue to give each new entry a look without preconceptions, but the future for Bond does not seem promising at present.
Among the four Brosnan films, two are, I think, competitive or better with the overall average in the series. The other two rank near the bottom for the series. I rate GoldenEye as the second best of the Brosnan-era films because it at least makes a sincere effort at human drama in a couple respects. On the other hand, there's one action scene near the middle of the film that epitomizes what annoys me about many action films. A dozen or so Russian soldiers are pursuing Bond and Natalya through an archive. Bond and the girl are separated from the pursuers by an inch-thick grill floor. About a half-dozen soldiers are firing machineguns at Bond and Natalya, but none of the bullets hit them. Well, that's o.k., I suppose, because the bullets are likely being deflected by the iron bars of the grill. Then, Bond fires his automatic weapon through the same grill, instantly killing several of the men below, completely destroying any logic that the scene could claim. That kind of statistical absurdity instantly transforms a film from drama into a cartoon. Action films that blatantly reveal that their protagonists are never in jeopardy abandon any claim to drama or suspense. In GoldenEye, there's one or two such segments, while the two weakest Brosnan-era Bond films are dominated by cartoon-style action of that type.
Historical Background: To launch the Brosnan-era and the nineties edition of the Bond series, Cubby Broccoli brought in director Martin Campbell. Campbell will also be directing the first post-Brosnan film in the series, Casino Royale, starring Daniel Craig, scheduled for release in November 2006 (not to be confused with either the 1967 non-series Bond film or the 1952 television film sharing that name). Campbell was born in New Zealand and moved to England in 1966, where he first made his name professionally in British television. Among his most successful series were Reilly: Ace of Spies (1984) and Edge of Darkness (1986). Campbell started out as a cameraman, but later turned to both directing and producing. It was Campbell's experience doing thrillers and action films that earned him the opportunity to direct GoldenEye (1995). Since then, Campbell has had success with such films as The Mask of Zorro (1998), Vertical Limit (2000), Beyond Borders (2003), and The Legend of Zorro (2005).
The Story: The pre-credit sequence for GoldenEye is very good. It's actually a flashback to a time nine years earlier when the cold war was still in full progress. Bond is on a mission to penetrate and destroy the Arkangel Chemical Weapons facility in the USSR. He has to bungee jump from atop a huge dam and drill his way into the building at the base, entering through a bathroom stall. Once inside, Bond meets up with another British agent, 006, a.k.a. Alec Trevelyan. Working together, the two agents place the bomb, but Trevelyan is captured and apparently shot in the head. Bond manages to escape in a most remarkable way, driving a motorcycle off a sheer drop, free-falling to overtake an unmanned plane which is plummeting rapidly, climbing aboard, and gaining control of the plane in time to fly away.
The credit sequence is visually pretty good, but the title song is rather mediocre. It plays against some nifty images of scantily clad dancing girls intermingled with a close-up of an iris and surreal symbols of Soviet Communism. As the film proper begins, Bond is undergoing a psychological evaluation by the MI6 psychologist, Caroline (Serena Gordon). They're out for a drive in the country and James is speeding down a curvy mountain road, upsetting his passenger's composure. Then, another woman, Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), speeds past Bond in a bright red Ferrari. Soon, Bond and Onatopp, both highly aggressive drivers, are locked in a cat-and-mouse game of daredevil highway racing.
Later, at a casino, Bond encounters Onatopp again and bests her at the baccarat table. She's not a gracious loser. Bond tries to charm her in the lounge, but she already has a date – Admiral Chuck Farrell (Billy J. Mitchell), and an admiral outranks a commander. It's just as well because Xenia is – how should I put it – a rather aggressive lover. She bites and scratches and, as her name suggests, prefers being on the top, but the ultimate coup de grace is her orgasmic pleasure in squeezing her partner to death between her powerful thighs. Leather and handcuffs are one kind of trip, but, come on lady, at least let the guy breath.
Xenia steals the Admiral's credentials, using them to gain access to a demonstration of a new high-tech Tiger helicopter. After murdering the pilot and co-pilot, Xenia hijacks the whirlybird. Onatopp works for a branch of the Russian mafia operating out of St. Petersburg, run by a mysterious crime boss known only as Janus. Soon, the stolen Tiger is in use for a raid on the Russian Space Weapons Control Center in Severnaya, where the lovely Natalya Fyodorovna Semyonova (Izabella Scorupco) and the crass geek Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) are both computer programmers. Grishenko is the inside man in the plot, but the rough stuff is provided by Onatopp and Gen. Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov (Gottfried John), who also works for Janus. Onatopp again goes multi-orgasmic as she blows away the technicians in the space center. Other than Boris, the accomplice tipped off in advance, only Natalya evades Onatopp's notice.
The GoldenEye is an orbiting nuclear device that can generate a targeted electromagnetic pulse capable of disrupting anything electronic within a designated target area: communication devices, computers, lights – everything. At MI6 headquarters, the British Secret Service monitors the attack on the Space Weapons Control Station and, later, observes the impact of the electromagnetic blast, which has been aimed at Severnaya to destroy all evidence of the theft. Janus still has a second GoldenEye under his control with which he can raise havoc of whatever kind he might choose. M (Judi Dench) assigns Bond the task of finding out who's responsible for this mayhem. Since the Tiger helicopter was used for the attack and Onatopp is known to work for Janus, St. Petersburg seems a likely place for Bond to start.
In St. Petersburg, Bond links up with CIA agent Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker), who points Bond in the direction of Janus's chief competitor, Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky (Robbie Coltraine). That's a bit awkward for Bond since Zukovsky walks with a pronounced limp and Bond is the man who gave it to him, years earlier. Nevertheless, an opportunity for a quick profit is enough to entice Zukovsky into letting bygones be bygones. Later, in his hotel swimming pool, Bond encounters Xenia, who is still determined to pursue a crush on James. After a bit, Bond tires of the foreplay and insists that Onatopp take him to Janus. There, Bond is surprised to discover that Janus is actually none other than Alec Trevelyan, back from the dead. Trevelyan bests Bond in this round, shooting him in the neck with a poison dart. By the time Bond comes to, he's tied up in the Tiger helicopter along with Natalya, who, in the meantime, has been betrayed again by Boris and turned over to Trevelyan. The Tiger shoots its stinger missiles and they're programmed to double back and incinerate the helicopter and its occupants. Bond manages to whack the cockpit ejector button with the side of his head in the nick of time. Nevertheless, he and Natalya are soon taken into custody by a Soviet army unit and questioned by Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin (Tchéky Karyo).
I won't add more except to say that the subsequent action scenes include the pursuit of Bond and Natalya through a library archive by machinegun toting soldiers, a tank and automobile chase through St. Petersburg and Statue Square, Bond's confrontation with Onatopp in a Cuban jungle, and the usual final showdown between Bond and the arch-villain, Trevelyan, in his secret Cuban Space Weapons Control Station, neatly hidden under a lake.
Themes: I don't usually include a discussion of themes for Bond films, since thematic content is typically sparse in action films. This film actually has somewhat deeper thematic underpinnings than most Bond films, though the average viewer of the film won't be much interested in such matters. This is a film about betrayal of all kinds: political, ethnic, and personal. Most viewers of GoldenEye will at least be vaguely aware of the references to the villain, Alec Trevelyan (a.k.a. Janus), as a Cossack and Bond's acknowledgment that the betrayal of the Cossacks at Lienz was not one of Britain's finer hours. Why is it the Alec is so embittered toward old England? Who were those Cossacks, anyhow?
The Cossacks originated during the 1400's in the Ukraine, a country with rich, fertile farmland, lying north of the Black Sea and east of Romania and Poland. At the time, the Ukraine was under Polish and Lithuanian rule and the Ukrainian peasants were bound to the land as serfs. Some of the peasants rebelled against this system and banded together in roving bands of soldiers, called Cossacks, occupying a territory between the Poles to their west and Mongol tribes called Tartars to their east. The land occupied by the Cossacks became known as "Ukraine," meaning "borderland." The Cossack uprising of 1648 freed most of the Ukraine from Polish rule, but by 1795, Russia had gained control of most of the country. Ukraine continued to maintain a separate ethnic identity, however, and chafed under Russian domination. The Cossacks were fierce soldiers and the Russian Czars used them to prop up the Russian aristocracy, which cruelly persecuted Russian serfs, peasants, and laborers.
When World War I began, Russia entered the war against Germany, hoping for territorial gains, but the Russian Army was badly over-matched and suffered a string of defeats. In 1917, the Soviet workers took advantage of the weakened state of the army to launch the Russian Revolution, under the leadership of the Bolsheviks. After seizing control, the Bolsheviks quickly withdrew Russia from the war, signing a separate accord with Germany, at a severe price in land, people, and industry. A "Red Army" was formed to defend the new Bolshevik government. The Red Army was opposed by the White Army, which was composed of anti-Communists, including the Cossacks. In 1918, the Ukraine was even briefly established as an independent, non-communist state. France, Britain, Japan, and the United States provided materiel support to the White Army, but the Red Army had the support of the Russian peasants. The resultant Russian Civil War (1918-1920) was one of the bloodiest wars in all of human history. The Red Army was victorious, in the end, even retaking territories ceded to Germany in 1917, including the Ukraine and Georgia. Cossack communities in the Ukraine were broken up. Many of the former soldiers of the White Army fled into Western Europe.
Between the two world wars, Ukrainians suffered brutally at the hands of Stalin. In 1929, the Soviet government began seizing the peasant farms. Peasants who resisted the takeovers were shipped off to Siberia and Soviet Central Asia. Then, in 1932 and 1933, Stalin starved to death millions of Ukrainians by seizing all of the grain produced by the farms and storing it in giant silos. This episode still ranks as one of the worst genocidal events in human history. When World War II began, forty thousand Ukrainians joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, fighting for independence and, sometimes, with the Germans against Russia. Toward the end of the war, the Cossack leader General Krasnoff persuaded the Germans to allow the Cossacks to form a permanent settlement in the foothills of the Italian Alps, in a sparsely populated region. The Cossacks moved there in large numbers and set up schools, churches, and an administrative system.
When the victorious allies moved into Northern Italy in 1945, the remaining Cossack military units surrendered to the allies, expecting protection under the British flag and fair treatment from their former allies of the Russian Civil War. Early in May, 1945, the civilian Cossacks living in Italy, numbering about 28,000, were required to migrate northward into Austria. Some had the good sense to resist extradition, fleeing into the woods and later disguising their ethnic identity. Outside the city of Lienz, in Austria, a makeshift interment camp, called Peggetz, was set up, under British authority. Up until May 26th, the Cossacks were treated with seeming compassion as war refugees, but on that day, all of the money in the Cossacks' Bank was seized. The next day, the officers of the Cossack units were forced to surrender their pistols. Then, on May 28th, the officers were loaded onto trucks and, under tank escort, transported into the Soviet zone and turned over to the Soviet authorities. Five of the officers, out of 2000, managed to escape. Many of the remainder committed suicide and the rest were sent to labor camps in Siberia, executed immediately, or executed after mock trials for treason, despite the fact that many had never even been citizens of the Soviet Union, having left Russian in 1920. General Krasnoff was hanged by a hook through his lower jaw in a public square in Moscow.
On the three days that followed, the civilian residents of Peggetz were informed over loudspeakers to get ready to be "voluntarily" repatriated into the Soviet Union. The Cossacks refused, however, and undertook a hunger strike and hoisted black banners to mark their protest. On the morning of June 1st, British soldiers, tanks, and trucks surrounded the camp. When the people still refused to budge, the soldiers charged in, beating the refugees with gun butts and prodding them with bayonets. In the ensuing panic, many children were trampled to death. Still, the Cossacks resisted. Most of those ultimately loaded onto the trucks were unconscious. Meanwhile, the remainder of the Cossack soldiers, numbering about 18,000, were trucked to the town of Judenburg and turned over to the Soviets, except for about sixty who managed to break free and escape into the Austrian woods. On June 3rd, the rest of the civilians were loaded into trucks for "repatriation," as the local Austrians looted the possessions that the unfortunate Cossacks were forced to leave behind. Altogether, some 45,000 Cossacks were "repatriated" into the country where they would be executed or worked to death in labor camps. This, then, is what is referred to in GoldenEye as the betrayal of the Lienz Cossacks.
Although the spy thriller film genre grew out of the tensions of the Cold War, Bond fans tend to overestimate the Cold War influence on the series. Many of the films relate to agents of SPECTRE or individual megalomaniacs with no particular nationalistic agenda. Among Bond films prior to GoldenEye, only From Russia with Love, For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy, and The Living Daylights featured villains with clear ties to the Soviet Union, and in one of those, Octopussy, the crazed Russian general Orlov was denounced by the head of the KGB as a disgrace and a common thief. Bond has always been less about Cold War adversarial relationships than a kind of British lament for the loss of world "order" with the decline of the British Empire. The British conceit had always been that the Empire, which once encompassed two-thirds of the land surface of the world, was for everybody's own good, imposing a modicum of order on humanity's anarchistic tendencies. The empire might be dead, but the British people can still partake of the fantasy that Bond can preserve order and save the world whenever necessary from the brink of destruction. At least the fantasy is benign.
By 1995, in the post-Cold War climate, even the pretense of a primarily political basis for Bond's activities was pretty much shot. GoldenEye took a stab at a new definition of the essential conflict, basing it on ethnicity rather than ideology. Thus, we hear Gen. Ourumov blaming the theft of the GoldenEye facility of "Siberian separatists." The key ethnic identity in the film is Trevelyan's Cossack roots. Trevelyan is motivated by a desire to avenge the British betrayal of the Cossacks and mocks Bond as the "Queen's faithful terrier." Bond uses Trevelyan's identity as a Cossack against him, first to gain Valentin Zukovsky's help and, later, to plant doubts in the mind of Gen. Ourumov. "What did this Cossack promise you," Bond asks, pointedly.
Finally, however, it is personal betrayal that dominates the film's story. Boris Grishenko betrays Natalya twice. Bond betrays Natalya, though not earnestly, when he declares, "She means nothing to me," when Alec tries to use her life as a bargaining chip. Later, Natalya returns that betrayal, also disingenuously. Trevelyan betrayed Britain, the country he once served as a secret agent, because Britain had betrayed his parents. Trevelyan's alias, "Janus," derives from the name of a two-faced Roman god. In the end, Bond even subtly betrays his code as a double-0. M had demanded that he not go off half-cocked looking for revenge. "Don't make it personal," she had said. Bond had replied, half-heartedly, "Never." When the moment comes, however, for Bond to release Trevelyan to his death, Trevelyan asks, "For England, James?" Bond's response reveals the kind of betrayal that GoldenEye is finally about: "No, for me."
Production Values: Nothing of this film's story comes from Ian Fleming, save the names and general nature of the recurrent characters. This being the first Bond film in six years and the first one of the nineties, the screenwriters, Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, and Bruce Feirstein, made a concerted effort to update Bond's image. He's a bit more sensitive and self-aware than the old Bond, as modern men are supposed to be. He's still a bit of a misogynistic relic, as M is pleased to declare, but now he has to deal with a Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) who gives as good as she takes and a female boss who is tough as nails. Not even Bond is likely to mistake Judi Dench's M for a softy, even if she mentions her children. Bond and agent Bill Tanner (Michael Kitchen) may sometimes view M as a "bean-counter," but (to suggest a couple of terribly inappropriate sexist metaphors) she still wears the pants in the organization and has the balls to do what needs to be done.
The plot holds together decently well and the repartee is better than average for Bond films. There're some nifty lines that reveal some genre self-awareness, such as when Bond asks a humorless Russian Defense Minister, "What – no small talk? No chit-chat? That's the problem with the world these days. No one takes the time to conduct a proper interrogation." The locales for this film are rather mediocre, except for picturesque St. Petersburg. The action sequences are mixed quality, ranging from the stellar opening sequence, to the amusing silliness of the tank chase through St. Petersburg, to the pathetic machinegun sequence in the archives. The finale is below average for Bond films, though it includes a humorous and just comeuppance for the annoying Boris Grishenko, who enjoys declaring himself invincible. It's too bad that the producers of the Bond films feel a need, at this point, to keep up with the Jones – meaning, in this instance, the Stallones, Schwarzeneggers, Gibsons, and the rest of the purveyors of over-the-top, senseless action and violence. Non-stop pace is too often taking the place of wit and imagination.
Pierce Brosnan doesn't match my image of Bond very well. He's too frail for the part. On the other hand, he's better than either Connery or Moore at exhibiting something resembling sensitivity and genuine emotions, but that pays off only if the film calls for a human side to Bond. This one and The World Is Not Enough draw on Brosnan's strengths, but his other two films do not. For that reason, I rate Brosnan at either 3/5 or 4/5 depending on which film I'm reviewing.
This is the film that launched the new set of characters at MI6. I applaud the selection of Judi Dench as M. Bernard Lee was a very hard act to follow, so it was wise to strike out in an entirely new direction. Dench is both believable and entertaining in the role. The choice of Samantha Bond for the role of Miss Moneypenny is not nearly as satisfactory. I like Michael Kitchen as Bill Tanner.
Sean Bean is pretty good as Alec Trevelyan, especially in depicting the betrayal aspect of the film, but he's no better than average among villains for the entire series. Most filmgoers these days will recognize Bean as Boromir from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Some of his other film appearances include Caravaggio (1986), Patriot Games (1992), and Ronin (1998). Famke Janssen certainly makes an impression as Xenia Onatopp, but I greatly preferred Barbara Carrera as Fatima Blush in what is the most similar henchwoman from prior films. I'm not fond of the linking of murder and sexual arousal in a film rated PG-13. Janssen also appeared in Rounders (1998), The Faculty (1998), and X-Men (2000). She's one Bond girl more likely to appear in the nightmares of male viewers than their fantasies.
I thought Polish actress Izabella Scorupco did a pretty good job in this film, considering that she has to play at least half of it with a grimy face and mussed hair. The part requires a wide range of emotions, from defiance and anger to romantic tenderness. She's close to the midpoint among Bond girls. There were excellent character performances turned in by Gottfried John as Ouromov, Alan Cumming as Boris Grishenko, Robbie Coltrane as Zukovsky, and Joe Don Baker as Jack Wade. I like Gottfried John's range of facial expression, such as a quizzical eyebrow or wry smile. His resume includes parts in The Marriage of Maria Braun (1978) and Lili Marleen (1981).
Bottom-Line: For better or for worse, this was the film that launched the Bond of the nineties. I give the production team credit for daring to strike out in a new direction. Some of their experiments work and others don't, but perhaps we'll see some refinement in Casino Royale (2006), when director Martin Campbell returns for a second try. I like the humanizing of Bond, the new M, the greater than typical thematic content, and the balance between drama and humor in this film. I don't care much for the soundtrack, the perverse linking of orgasm to murder, the dearth of gadgets, or cartoonish action scenes in lieu of a genuine sense of jeopardy. Here is my Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating for this film, using my system that facilitates comparisons across the series:
Bond: Pierce Brosnan, with feeling Rating: 4/5
Villain: Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) Rating: 3/5
Henchmen: Gen Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov 4/5; Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming) 4/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Colleagues/Allies: M (Judi Dench) 5/5; Q (Desmond Llewellyn) 5/5; Miss Moneypenny (Samantha Bond) 2/5; Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker) 3/5; Bill Tanner (Michael Kitchen) 4/5; Valentin Dmitrovich Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane) 5/5; Defense Minister Dmitri Mishkin (Rchéky Karyo) 4/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Storyline: Former double-0 turned bad 5/5; GoldenEye secret weapon stolen by Russian mafia 4/5; battle of programmers 3/5; secret Cuban base 2/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Action: Pre-credit raid on Arkangel Chemical Weapons facility 5/5, Ourumov's raid on the Space Weapons Control Center 5/5, Onatopp's theft of Tiger helicopter 2/5; escape from Tiger helicopter 3/5; gunplay in library 1/5; tank pursuit through St. Petersburg 5/5; fight with Onatopp in the jungle 3/5; final showdown at Alec's base 3/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Toys: Bungee jump and cable gun 4/5; BMW with stinger missiles unused 1/5; belt with repelling cable 1/5; pen grenade 2/5 Overall Rating: 2/5
Drama/Character Development: Revenge motive 4/5; over-the-top Onatopp sex/violence confusion 2/5; relationship between Bond and M 5/5; genuine emotion between Bond and Natalya 4/5 Overall Rating: 4/5
Music: Weak theme song sung by Tina Turner, weak soundtrack overall Rating: 2/5
Locales: Severnaya, Russia 3/5; St. Petersburg, Russia 5/5; Cuban base 2/5 Overall Rating: 3/5
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Overall Certified Gold Bond Rating: 42/60
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