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GoldenEye is the 17th James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan in the role as the British secret agent. The film follows Bond as he battles to prevent an arms syndicate from using the GoldenEye satellite weapon against London. It is an original screenplay (not based on a work by Ian Fleming) conceived and written by Michael France, although refinements were made by several other writers. The film was made by Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions, directed by Martin Campbell and produced by Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson, due to Albert Broccoli's failing health. The first Bond film made after the demise of the Soviet Union, GoldenEye was released in 1995 after legal troubles forced a six-year hiatus in the series, during which time Timothy Dalton resigned as Bond and was replaced by Pierce Brosnan and Judi Dench became the first female M. GoldenEye was lauded by most critics and performed well at the box office, considerably better than Dalton's films; despite this, it did not win any awards. Critics viewed it as a modernisation of the series with Brosnan a definite improvement over his predecessor. The film was the basis for GoldenEye 007, a flagship video game for the Nintendo 64 and revolutionary first-person shooter developed by Rareware.
PlotSpoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Image:Damm-Lago di Vogorno-2004 09 10 22 55 20.jpg The Verzasca Dam used in the opening sequence to the film
Nine years later (after the collapse of the Soviet Union), General Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen), a member of the Janus crime syndicate, steal the prototype Tiger helicopter and fly it to the GoldenEye satellite weapon control complex in Severnaya, Russia (depicted as a village in central Siberia). There, they kill the programmers and steal the control disk for the weapon. To cover the theft, they fire one of the two GoldenEye satellites, causing an electromagnetic pulse that destroys the base. They leave with a programmer who works for Janus, Boris Grishenko (Alan Cumming), in the completely unaffected helicopter. Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), another programmer, is the only other survivor; however, she arranges to meet with Grishenko in St. Petersburg, where he betrays her to Onatopp. Once assigned to the case, Bond uses his CIA contact Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker), to meet Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane), a Russian Mafia head, in St. Petersburg. Zukovsky arranges for Bond to meet the head of Janus, who reveals himself to be Trevelyan, having faked his death at Arkangel. He wants revenge for his Lienz Cossack parents, who were betrayed by the British to the Soviets at the end of World War II. His plan involves detonating the second GoldenEye satellite over London, which will hide his own theft of money from the Bank of England. Bond is then knocked out and finds himself tied up in the Eurocopter with Simonova. The Eurocopter was programmed to fire two missiles at itself to kill them, but they escape using the chopper's ejection system. Bond and Simonova are then arrested by the Russian government and interrogated by the Minister of Defence, Dmitri Mishkin (Tchéky Karyo). During the interrogation, Ourumov enters, and Simonova accuses him of being involved in the incident at Severnaya. Ourumov kills Mishkin and escapes with Simonova in a car.Image:Gold9.jpg Xenia Onatopp & James Bond fighting. Bond and Simonova go to Cuba to find the dish needed to use the second satellite. When their light aircraft is shot down in the jungle, they are attacked by Onatopp who is eventually killed. They make their way into the dish's control station, and Simonova programs the satellite to initiate re-entry, so it will burn up in the atmosphere. Bond jams the moving gears of the cradle, so that Grishenko will be unable to reposition it and regain control of the satellite. After a fight with Bond, Trevelyan falls to the bottom of the dish and is crushed by the collapsing cradle. Bond escapes on a helicopter that Simonova commandeered and is met on the ground by Wade, with a group of marines. Cast
Spoilers end here.
ProductionTimothy Dalton's third filmSince Licence to Kill had performed disappointingly at the box office (taking inflation into account, it had the lowest worldwide gross of any Bond film[8]) Albert R. Broccoli parted ways with John Glen (director of the previous five Bond movies) and Richard Maibaum (long-time writer for the series).[9] Danjaq sued MGM/UA, the distributor of the movies, because the Bond back catalogue was being licensed to Pathé in a deal that they alleged was unfavourable. These legal battles delayed the film for several years.[10] During this time, Timothy Dalton was still expected to play Bond in the new movie as he had originally signed up for a 3-film contract (albeit one that expired in 1993). In an interview in 1993, Dalton said that Michael France was writing the story for the film, due to begin production in January or February 1994.[11] However, the deadline was not met and in April 1994, Dalton officially resigned the role.[12] The producers cast Pierce Brosnan (whom they had tried to get after Roger Moore retired, but could not because of his contract with Remington Steele[13]) as Dalton's replacement.[14] A Different Direction France penned the original story, then Jeffrey Caine was brought in to rewrite it,[15] maintaining many of France's ideas but adding the prologue prior to the credits. Kevin Wade polished the script and finally Bruce Feirstein added the finishing touches.[16] The screenplay credit was shared by Caine and Feirstein while France was credited with only the story, an arrangement he felt was unfair[17] particularly as he believed the additions made were not an improvement on his original version.[18] Wade did not receive an official credit, but was acknowledged in the naming of Jack Wade, the CIA character he created. While the story was not based on a work by Ian Fleming, the title GoldenEye comes from Fleming's Jamaican estate where he wrote the Bond novels. Fleming claimed a number of origins for the name of the estate including Carson McCullers' Reflections in a Golden Eye[19] and Operation Goldeneye, a contingency plan Fleming himself developed during World War II in case of a Nazi invasion through Spain.[20][21] With Albert Broccoli's health deteriorating (he died in 1996), he was described by his daughter Barbara as taking "a bit of a back seat" in the production of GoldenEye, but still as having "a lot of influence".[1] In his stead, Barbara and Michael G. Wilson (Albert Broccoli's step-son) took the lead roles in production, and selected New Zealander Martin Campbell as director, who would go on to direct Casino Royale in 2006. Brosnan later described Campbell as "warrior-like in his take on the piece" and said "there was a huge passion there on both our parts".[22] They were unable to film at Pinewood Studios, the usual location for Bond films, because it had already been booked. Instead they had to convert an old Rolls Royce factory at Leavesdon Aerodrome in Hertfordshire, into a new studio; this worked out well as the producers later said Pinewood would have been too small.[1] A mixture of other locations were used: the casino scenes were shot in Monaco; reference footage for the tank chase was shot on location in Saint Petersburg and matched to the studio at Leavesden; the final scenes on the radio telescope were shot at Arecibo Observatory.[23] The opening 220 m bungee jump, shot at the Verzasca Dam in Switzerland and performed by Wayne Michaels, was voted the best movie stunt of all time and set a record for the highest bungee jump off a fixed structure.[24] The largest stunt sequence in the film was the tank chase, shot partly on location in Saint Petersburg and partly at Leavesden, and taking about six weeks to film.[25] Daniel Kleinman took over from Maurice Binder (who had died in 1991) in designing the opening credits which show icons of the Soviet Union being destroyed and collapsing. In an interview, he said they were meant to be "a kind of story telling sequence" showing that "what was happening in Communist countries was Communism was falling down".[26] Image:Kleinman titlecredits.jpg Title credits from GoldenEye showing a woman destroying the hammer and sickle. Release and critical reactionGoldenEye premiered on November 13, 1995, at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City, and went on general release in the USA on November 17; the UK premiere followed on November 22 with general release two days later.[27] Brosnan boycotted the French premiere to support Greenpeace's protest against the French nuclear testing program, causing the première to be cancelled.[28] It made over $26 million during its opening weekend in the USA, and during its release made around $350 million worldwide.[29] It had the 4th highest worldwide gross of any film in 1995[30] and, taking inflation into account, was the most successful Bond film since Moonraker.[8] The critical reception of the film was mostly positive with the film review collection website Rotten Tomatoes giving it an 83% Fresh approval,[31] although similar site Metacritic gave it only 65%.[32] In the Chicago Sun-Times, Roger Ebert gave the film 3 out of 4-stars, and said Brosnan's Bond was "somehow more sensitive, more vulnerable, more psychologically complete" than the previous ones, also commenting on Bond's "loss of innocence" over previous films.[33] James Berardinelli described Brosnan as "a decided improvement over his immediate predecessor" with a "flair for wit to go along with his natural charm", but added that "fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding."[34] Several reviews praised the new M's appraisal of Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur",[35][36][37] with Todd McCarthy in Variety saying GoldenEye "breathes fresh creative and commercial life" into the series.[36] However, Richard Schickel in Time wrote that after "a third of a century's hard use", Bond's conventions survived on "wobbly knees",[38] while in Entertainment Weekly, Owen Gleiberman thought the series had "entered a near-terminal state of exhaustion."[39] GoldenEye was nominated for two BAFTAs for "Best Achievement in Special Effects" and "Best Sound", as well as two Saturn Awards for "Best Action/Adventure Film" and "Best Actor" (for Brosnan). It did not win any of the categories.[40] MusicThe soundtrack to GoldenEye was composed by Eric Serra (prolific Bond composer John Barry says he was offered it by Barbara Broccoli, but turned it down[41]). Serra's score has been heavily criticised: Richard von Busack, in Metro, writes it is "more appropriate for a ride on an elevator than a ride on a roller coaster",[42] and Filmtracks says Serra "failed completely in his attempt to tie Goldeneye to the franchise's past."[43] The producers later hired John Altman to provide the music for the tank chase in St. Petersburg. Serra's original track for that sequence can still be found on the soundtrack as "A Pleasant Drive In St. Petersburg". Serra composed and performed a number of synthesizer tracks, including the version of the James Bond Theme that plays during the gun barrel sequence, while John Altman and David Arch provided the more traditional symphonic music. The theme song, "GoldenEye", was written by Bono and The Edge, and was performed by Tina Turner.[44] Vehicles, gadgets and gunsImage:2000mqp.jpg A metallic blue BMW Z3 was used in the film but was a convertible version Image:Cessna.f172g.g-bgmp.arp.jpg A Cessna 172 used as a reconaissance craft to survey the hidden satellite dish in Cuba Image:T-55 skos RB.jpg Bond drives a tank through St. Petersburg and through a wall
CensorshipGoldenEye was edited in order to be guaranteed a PG-13 rating from the MPAA and a 12 rating from the BBFC.[50] The cuts include the visible bullet impact to Trevelyan's head when he is shot in the film's opening, several additional deaths during the sequence in which Onatopp guns down the workers at the Severnaya station, extra seconds of footage of Onatopp's death, and Bond giving Onatopp a rabbit punch in the car. The latter change was only requested by the BBFC, however, Campbell felt that making two versions of one scene was ridiculous, so he cut the punch in both versions. In 2006, the film was remastered and re-edited for the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD in which a number of headbutts were restored and some violent sound effects were restored to their original levels, causing the BBFC rating to be changed to a 15.[50] The Region 1 DVD however, is still the edited original release. Locations
Other mediaImage:Goldeneye comic cover.jpg Issue #1 cover.
GoldenEye was the second and last Bond film to be adapted as a novel by then-current Bond novelist John Gardner. The book follows the film's storyline quite closely, however Gardner adds a violent sequence prior to the opening bungee jump in which Bond wipes out a group of Russian guards (a move that the video game GoldenEye 007 followed). This was also Gardner's penultimate Bond novel: after one more entry in the series (COLD), Gardner retired and Raymond Benson took over. In late 1995, Topps Comics began publishing a three-issue adaptation of GoldenEye in comic book format. The film script was adapted by Don McGregor with art by Rick Magyar. The first issue carried a January 1996 cover date.[51] The second issue was delayed due to a racy cover showing Xenia Onatopp straddling James Bond. Ultimately for reasons unknown, Topps cancelled the entire adaptation after only the first issue had been published, and to date the adaptation has never been released in its entirety.[52] GoldenEye was adapted into a highly-regarded video game for the Nintendo 64 by Rareware. It was considered a flagship game for the console, and viewed as revolutionary in its development of the first-person shooter format. In a January 2000 poll, readers of the British video game magazine Computer and Video Games voted GoldenEye 007 into first place in a list of "the hundred greatest video games",[53] and in 2005, a "Best Games of All-Time" poll at GameFAQs placed it at 7th.[54] It is based upon the film and novel, but many of the missions were extended or modified.[55] References
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