This review of GoldenEye (1995) is part of a wider rewatch of the James Bond series to mark its 60th anniversary. 007 has always been my favourite movie franchise, and I wanted to see where each film ranks within the series. Please check out the main blog post for my rankings of this and the other twenty-four official films and links to the movie reviews for the rest of the franchise.
Short Review
GoldenEye is a film that I frequently get mixed up with Tomorrow Never Dies, as I always confuse Elliot Carver’s CMGN satellite with the GoldenEye satellite, so it’s good to be re-watching it on purpose for a change. This is the first time we have Pierce Brosnan as James Bond and Judi Dench as M. Their chemistry gets off to a strong beginning as she respectfully puts Bond in his place. The tank pursuit through the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia, is my favourite scene in this movie and one of my favourites in the entire franchise. You can tell that the background of many of the car scenes is still rear projection, but it looks better than it did in some of the earlier films. GoldenEye has fast-paced and fun action scenes and is a very well-put-together film. However, the story between 006 and 007 is not as compelling as I remember. GoldenEye has a brilliant cast who put everything into their characters.
Long Review and Film Summary
The pre-title sequence starts with a plane flying over a dam; we see Bond running and then bungee jumping down the wall at the Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility in the USSR. 007 fires a winch gun and lasers his way into a toilet, where he knocks a guy out. Here is where we get a face reveal of the new James Bond and the one I mainly grew up with, Pierce Brosnan. Bond meets up with 006 agent Alec Trevelyan (played by Sean Bean), and they break into the facility. Alec and James share their iconic catchphrases: “For England, James,” and “For England, Alec.” 007 sets a timer on the gas tanks for six minutes, as Alec takes out some of the guards but is captured by General Ourumov (played by Gottfried John) and is held at gunpoint. Once Bond realises that 006 is no longer responding to the banter, he changes the timer to three minutes and goes to surrender as Alec is shot in the head.
James uses a cage of gas tanks to move his way across the facility without being shot at, as General Ourumov has demanded that no one shoot. One soldier decides to disobey the order and shoots at 007; he is quickly taken care of by General Ourumov. Bond makes his way to a conveyor belt and fires at the locks on a storage area to drop chemical tanks onto the soldiers.
James runs across the outside of the facility towards the runway and shoots at soldiers as a plane is taxiing. 007 gets to the plane but falls out with the pilot. Motorcycles and soldiers give chase as Bond picks up one of the motorcycles and rides towards the runaway plane. Once James has control of the plane, it plunges over a cliff edge. 007 manages to get into the plane and pilot it into the sky just seconds before impact – this is unbelievable (even for a Bond film), but it’s frankly good in setting up the movie. As Bond flies away, the facility blows up in the background.
Next, we move into the opening titles and theme song. The fireball transition from the pre-titles into the gun barrel is well executed. The visuals are familiar but updated for the new era of Bond and show the fall of the Soviet Union. The theme song, GoldenEye, written by Bono and The Edge and performed by Tina Turner, is one of my favourites of the franchise.
We rejoin the story nine years later, as James is driving his signature Aston Martin DB5 in the foothills of Monaco. 007 is with a nervous-looking Caroline (played by Serena Gordon), an MI6 psychological and psychiatric evaluator, sent to evaluate him. Bond and Caroline start being tailed by Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen) in a red Ferrari. I find all the music used in this scene to be very bad; it just doesn’t fit the action. They have a light-hearted street race, as a tractor and its load come around the corner, and the Ferrari spins out. Caroline demands James stop the car; he obliges with a handbrake turn. A compartment opens up with a chilled Bollinger and glasses. They make out.
Later that night, 007 arrives at the casino and spots the same Ferrari from earlier. He finds Xenia at a baccarat table, and they play a few games; Bond loses. James asks to play one more hand with a bigger line of credit. 007 ends up winning and orders them both a drink; they start flirting — her Jordan and Russian links, and the counterfeit Ferrari. Xenia is called away by Admiral Chuck Farrell (played by Billy J. Mitchell).
Bond sees Xenia entering the Manticore Y.C.M. yacht with the Admiral. James goes back to the Aston Martin to send the information back to MI6; as he does, he sees an F710 stealth boat with a helicopter on board. A report is printed in the car along with an audio transmission from Miss Moneypenny (played by Samantha Bond) confirming Xenia’s name and that she’s an ex-Soviet fighter pilot, with links to a Janus crime syndicate in St Petersburg. The yacht is also registered to a Janus corporate front. Moneypenny informs 007 that M has authorised Bond to observe, but he should have no contact.
The scene cuts to Xenia and the Admiral having intense intercourse. She breaks him until he can’t breathe with her leg muscles. We witness a hand going into his jacket on the other side of the room and see his Canadian Navy ID card being stolen.
In the morning, a small landing craft leaves the yacht as Bond climbs aboard and fights with one of the staff. Over at a stealth ship, there’s a naval event, and the person with Admiral Chuck Farrell’s ID is being admitted. James enters the bedroom and finds the deceased Admiral in the wardrobe. He then jumps into a landing craft and heads over to the event where the Tiger helicopter is being shown off by the French warship captain (played by Pavel Douglas). Here we find out that the Tiger helicopter is undetected by radar. Xenia gets the attention of the pilots and shoots them dead, taking their place. 007 runs in to try and stop the helicopter from being stolen. Navy officers detain Bond before he can stop the helicopter from taking off.
Sometime later, we cut to a husky sledge team at a Space Weapons Control Centre in Severnaya, Russia. Inside, the systems engineers Natalya Simonova (played by Isabella Scorupco) and Boris Grishenko (played by Alan Cumming) are engaging in some workplace banter, erring on the side of sexual harassment. Boris works to hack into the US Department of Justice but is detected by the FBI, though he manages to spike them to lock up their phone lines. He goes for a cigarette outside, as Natalya goes to the kitchen to make some coffee.
Outside, the Tiger helicopter lands, with Xenia and General Ourumov disembarking. They both enter the facility and are met by the Severnaya Duty Officer (played by Simon Kunz) for an apparent unscheduled test of GoldenEye. General Ourumov gives him the authorisation code and asks for the satellite access numbers. The duty officer gets the keys and access numbers, and Xenia opens fire on everyone in the facility.
Natalya drops her coffee in the kitchen as the gunshots rain down in the main area. Once they feel everyone is dead, Xenia and General Ourumov put in the keys, set the target for Severnaya, and enter the firing code. They hear noises coming from the kitchen; Xenia sees a vent has been opened in the ceiling and opens fire, although we know Natalya hid somewhere else and used the vent as a distraction. In the main area, a wounded Anna Nishkov (played by Michelle Arthur) manages to hit an emergency button. General Ourumov isn’t worried, as the emergency responders will take around nineteen minutes, which will be too late. They take back the keys and leave the facility using the Tiger helicopter as the timer counts down.
Back at MI6, Bond meets with Moneypenny for a little playful flirting and hazing. He is taken to see Chief of Staff Bill Tanner (played by Michael Kitchen) in the situation room. James is informed of the distress signal they picked up from the facility in Russia, which they believe is an abandoned radar tower. Satellite images show the missing Tiger helicopter. M (played by Judi Dench) walks in behind Tanner, as he tells 007 his hunch was right and it’s a shame “the evil queen of numbers” wouldn’t let him play it. M hits back that if she wanted sarcasm, she’d speak to her children. Tanner explains they think the facility is used for a space-based weapons programme called GoldenEye, but they don’t think the Russians have the finance or the technology to implement it.
Back at the facility, we find Natalya escaping from a cupboard in the kitchen and walking around her dead colleagues. She sees the target on the screen as the last few seconds tick by, realising it’s her location. The structure is hit by an EMP (electromagnetic pulse) and starts to explode as she runs for cover. The MI6 live feed is taken out, and the Russian interception jets in the area collide and explode as the Tiger helicopter escapes. Natalya barely survives as she finds her way outside and is seen on the now-restored satellite feed. Bond theorises that the facility was hit with an EMP, a satellite weapon developed by the Americans and Soviets during the Cold War. M concedes that GoldenEye exists.
Natalya finds the sleeping husky sledge team we saw earlier. M gets off the phone with the Prime Minister, who informs her that Moscow is saying it’s an accident during a routine training exercise. James and M are not buying that; they also dismiss that it could be the Janus crime syndicate. While sharing a bourbon with 007, M pulls up the file on General Ourumov, which political analysts have ruled out as a traitor. Bond points out that these are the same people who said the Tiger helicopter poses no threat and that GoldenEye couldn’t exist. They share some home truths: James thinks M is a bean counter who has more interest in numbers than his instincts. She thinks he’s a sexist, misogynist dinosaur, and a relic of the Cold War. M instructs 007 to find GoldenEye, figure out who took it, what they plan to do with it, stop it, and come back alive.
In St. Petersburg, as a matching band plays, we find Defence Minister Dimitri Mishkin (played by Tchéky Karyo) holding a meeting with the council. At last, General Ourumov enters and reports on what happened with GoldenEye. He blames Siberian separatists for trying to create political unrest. He tries to resign as Head of Space Division, as this has set Severnaya back several years. They do not want his head, only an assurance that there are no other GoldenEyes, which he can provide. However, he was unaware there were two missing Severnaya technicians — he was only aware of Boris, not Natalya.
Bond meets with Q (played by Desmond Llewelyn), who is in a wheelchair fitted with a rocket he sets off and misses the dummy he was aiming at. He shows James his new BMW Z3, fitted with radar, a self-destruct system, stinger missiles, and the usual refinements. Q hands him a belt with a 75-foot cord built into the buckle. In the background, we see a staff member trapped by an airbag in a BT phone box after making a call. I enjoy the Q scenes; there are a lot of fun things going on in them. 007’s British Airways ticket on Flight 878 to St. Petersburg is on an X-ray document scanner disguised as a tray. Finally, he gets a pen with a Class 4 grenade in it. Q demonstrates the exploding pen on a mannequin called Fred, as Bond admires a giant sub sandwich — which is Q’s lunch.
James arrives in Russia and meets with Jack Wade (played by Joe Don Baker), a veteran CIA officer, who is leaning on a car that isn’t his. He doesn’t go along with the password and code phrase nonsense. Jack takes 007 to his car and puts his luggage on the roof. Bond holds him at gunpoint, telling him to show the Rose to prove he’s CIA. Jack is fixing the car while he shares information on Janus; rumours say he’s connected to RGB and lives on an old Soviet missile train. He explains that you don’t find him, he finds you. The best he can do is point James in the direction of Janus’s competition, Zukovsky, a Russian gangster and ex-KGB officer. 007 asks if this is Valentin Zukovsky and shares that he gave him the limp.
Natalya arrives at St. Petersburg station, enters an IBM computer shop, and asks to try out one of the computers, posing as a buyer with a large order. She gets in contact with Boris, who tells her she isn’t safe and should trust no one. He instructs her to meet him at the Church of Our Lady of Smolensk in an hour. Natalya goes to the church. She gets a bad feeling and tries to escape but runs into Boris and sees he has brought Xenia with him.
Bond goes to meet with Valentin Zukovsky and pulls a gun on him, as a gun is pulled on him by Zukovsky’s bodyguard. They go to a private area to chat. James insults the singing ability of his mistress, as she belts out a rendition of ‘Stand By Your Man’. 007 gets a shot into the seat he’s sat on for his trouble. Bond asks for a favour, which makes him a laughingstock with Valentin and his bodyguards. 007 tells him the shot to his knee, which Zukovsky says hurts every morning twice as much when it’s raining — don’t you know how often it rains here — was a professional courtesy.
Bond wants a meeting with Janus. Valentin tells him, “We’re going to do a deal. 200 pounds of C4 explosives at Kirov’s funeral parlour at 4 pm this afternoon.” His man drives a hearse in, a sum of money is exchanged, and their man drives off. Janus gets arrested with the explosives, and Valentin’s man gets away with the money. All James wants is for Zukovsky to set him up with Janus. 007 is told that he is a Lienz Cossack, a group that worked for the Nazis during the Second World War. Bond wants Valentin to tell Janus he’s asking about the chopper, and to meet him at the Grand Hotel, and then he and Zukovsky are even.
Later that day, James is swimming in the indoor pool at the hotel when someone enters. He goes to leave as his Janus contact arrives — Xenia. She gets hold of him and starts to make out with him as she draws blood from his mouth. They fight as she tries to use her iron grip legs on him. He drops her on the spa hotplate as a man enters. 007 throws a water bucket at him, knocking him out. Bond pulls a gun on Xenia and instructs her to stop the foreplay and take him to Janus.
Xenia and James arrive by car at Statue Park, a place that stores old Soviet items. He judo-chops her neck, knocking Xenia unconscious. He sees that the Tiger Helicopter is there. Here, we find out that Janus is 006, Alec Trevelyan, with facial injuries from when 007 changed the timer on the explosives back in the pre-titles from six to three minutes. He asks Bond why they topple dictators and regimes, only to come home to find out everything they risked their lives for has changed. Alec explains that MI6 knew his parents were Lienz Cossacks. They survived the British betrayal and Stalin’s execution squads, but they killed his wife and committed suicide — MI6 believed he was too young to remember.
James tries to take a shot at Alec but is taken down by a dart gun. The tranquilliser wears off as 007 finds himself inside the Tiger Helicopter with a hysterical Natalya screaming at him. He manages to get the helicopter running despite being tied up. The missiles launch and head back towards them. Bond hits an emergency button, and they fire off into the sky as the missiles hit the remainder of the helicopter below them. They float down via parachute.
Natalya tries to get away from Bond as four vehicles full of Russian soldiers arrive. They are taken to the Archives facility and put in an interrogation room. James proves to her that he knows she escaped the GoldenEye explosion. She tells 007 that Boris Grishenko is the traitor. Defence Minister Mishkin enters the room. He seems to think Bond and the British government are responsible for the attack on Severnaya. Natalya tells Mishkin that it was General Ourumov who set off the weapon. Mishkin asks why he would do that, and she tells him there is another satellite, another GoldenEye.
General Ourumov enters the room, protesting that this is his investigation. After a short argument, Ourumov shoots a guard and then Mishkin, using James’s gun. A fight ensues between 007 and General Ourumov as he calls for guards. Bond takes everyone down, and he and Natalya escape the room. James takes out more soldiers on each floor and picks up a machine gun as they go. As they try to escape the final set of guards in the archive, Natalya falls through a grate and is captured. 007 uses his belt to break through a window and onto a military transport vehicle. He sees them taking Natalya away by car. He steals one of the T-55 tanks and gives chase through the perimeter wall.
There are times when General Ourumov and his soldiers are stuck in traffic and try to throw Bond off by going down an alleyway, to which James and his tank just force their way through the buildings. It’s funny watching all these military and police vehicles reversing so they don’t get flattened, only for some of them to end up in the river or flattened anyway. 007 takes out delivery wagons, statues, and flattens everything else in his way. The Pegasus statue stays on the tank, hits an arch, and falls onto the pursuing police cars.
General Ourumov and Natalya arrive at a train yard. Bond sees them getting onto an old Soviet missile train; onboard are Xenia and Alec. General Ourumov admits that James is alive, and Mishkin got to them both before he could. Alec attempts to push himself on Natalya, which gets him a slap.
007 parks his tank on the tracks. Alec instructs the driver to ram the tank, as Xenia protests that it could derail the train. Bond fires the tank’s main gun and hides on the embankment as the train hits the tank and turns into a fireball, sending everyone flying inside. Natalya tries to escape but is caught by Ourumov. Alec tries to get up and is greeted by James holding a gun to his head. He instructs Alec and Xenia to get up. Alec radios Ourumov to bring in his bargaining chip, Natalya.
007 tells General Ourumov that Alec is a Lienz Cossack and will betray him. Alec tries to put Bond on the spot: two targets, one shot. James tells him to kill Natalya; she means nothing to him. Alec nods as Bond spins around and shoots at Ourumov – Natalya is fried. Alec and Xenia escape the train car. Natalya goes to the computer to spike Boris, to find out where they are going. Alec and Xenia go to escape by helicopter while leaving a parting message: “Good luck with the floor, James. I set the timer for six minutes, the same six minutes you gave me.” 007 says, “We have three minutes.”
Natalya tries to guess one of Boris’s cryptic word game passwords. Boris pulls the circuit boards out of a cabinet as the map traces his location. With only seconds to spare, James and Natalya find out his location is Cuba and escape the train as it blows up. They discuss standard operating procedures at the side of the track and start to make out.
In the Caribbean, we encounter Bond and Natalya driving a BMW when a plane lands in front of them on the road. It’s Jack Wade bringing James a gift from Q. He has borrowed a plane from his friend in the DEA. He tells 007 that the Coast Guard and FAA are in the loop, and they have a clear radar from 0600 hours, but to remain below 500 feet. Jack protests that the dish they are looking for doesn’t exist, but Natalya thinks otherwise. She says it’s a duplicate of Severnaya. Jack takes Bond’s BMW and gives instructions on how to fly to Cuba.
This next scene has a very different tone from the rest of the film. In my view, it doesn’t seem to fit, add anything to the story, or make sense in context to everything that has happened.
The sun starts to go down as James sits on the beach, staring out at the horizon. Natalya approaches and sits beside him. They discuss that Alec was once his friend, but now he is an enemy, and Bond will have to kill him – it’s that simple. She’s not impressed with the so-called heroes, their guns, killing, and death. For what? she asks. How can you be so cold?
007 replies that it’s what keeps him alive. She counters that it’s what keeps him alone. They sit in silence for a moment before they lean in to kiss. As they make out on the beach, they head back to their room. Later, as they lie in bed, she asks Bond if he meant it when he said, “She means nothing to me.” Bond looks at her and answers, “Yes… basic rule: always call their bluff.”
The next morning, they fly towards Cuba, still looking for the dish, but as they approach the target area, James and Natalya see nothing. They fly over a mountainous lake area, which is reminiscent of the scenes from You Only Live Twice. Suddenly, a rocket is fired at them from the water. It hits their plane, sending it tumbling. The aircraft skips across the water before crashing into the trees. Both Bond and Natalya collapse on the ground, escaping the wreckage, battered but alive.
007 wakes to see a helicopter above them, lowering a rope. Xenia slides down, kicking Bond to the floor with her powerful legs. She tries to overpower him, using her strength to pin him down. Natalya regains consciousness and grabs a log to strike Xenia, but the Russian agent blocks it with ease and head-butts Natalya back to the ground.
Bond, however, manages to recover. He sneaks up behind Xenia and attaches the helicopter’s winch to her. He then opens fire on the chopper, taking out the pilot. As the helicopter falls, the winch pulls Xenia into the crook of a tree, knocking her unconscious. The helicopter crashes to the ground in a fiery explosion.
In the control room, Alec approaches Boris and instructs him to prepare the dish. The satellite is still six minutes out, but he wants to be ready. Outside, the lake begins to drain as the dish rises from the water. James and Natalya make their way toward the dish, unaware of the imminent danger. Alec and Boris prepare the card and keys for the launch.
007 and Natalya are seen on CCTV, and Alec coldly instructs a guard to “kill him.” It’s revealed that the target is London.
Guards fire at Bond and Natalya as they scramble to find a way to stop the signal to the satellite. They roll onto the dish, narrowly avoiding gunfire, and find a ladder that leads them down into the facility. Meanwhile, Alec and Boris turn the keys to initiate the satellite’s targeting.
Inside the control room, Bond takes out a few guards as Natalya rushes to find a mainframe computer. 007 sets a remote control mine near a leaking fuel tank and surrenders to the guards, causing a diversion to give Natalya more time.
Bond is taken to Alec, who instructs the guards to find the girl. Alec takes James’s watch, knowing exactly which button to press to disarm the remote mine. As Bond watches, Alec reveals his plan: he intends to break into the Bank of England’s system, transferring vast sums of money just seconds before GoldenEye erases any record of the transaction.
Natalya, meanwhile, is caught by the guards just as she manages to reroute the attack towards the Atlantic and encrypt the access codes. Alec explains to 007 that it’s more than just a bank robbery; it’s erasing every computer in Greater London, including tax records, stock market data, credit ratings, land registry, and criminal records, sending the UK back to the Stone Age.
Natalya is brought into the room and starts attacking Boris for his betrayal. Boris is trying to find out what Natalya did in the mainframe. He picks up Bond’s pen and starts spinning and clicking it. Alec grabs James and points a gun at his head. She returns his early quip, “Go ahead, shoot him. He means nothing to me.”
Boris insists he can break her codes. He drops the pen as he is working to gain access, picks it up again, and clicks the correct number of times. 007 hits the pen out of Boris’s hand and pushes Natalya to the floor. The pen hits the fuel leak and explodes, taking the facility with it. Bond and Natalya escape in an elevator and go to destroy the transmitter in case Boris can break her codes.
Natalya lays on the floor of the lift going down to the dish, seemingly unconscious. A guard approaches. James jumps him and hands Natalya a gun. Alec goes after them and instructs a guard to kill Boris if he moves. He takes a cable car up to the dish and starts firing at 007. They both run out of machine gun ammo and revert to pistols. This is a fast-paced and fun action scene.
Boris manages to break the codes and starts to re-position the antenna. Bond pushes Alec down the stairs as he jams the mechanism with a steel rod. They get into a brutal fistfight in one of the mechanical rooms. Alec thinks he’s got him held at gunpoint when James breaks through the floor and onto a ladder. Hanging high in the air, Alec calls in a reinforcement helicopter as he slides down, trying to push 007 off the ladder. Bond is holding on with one hand as Alec steps on his fingers and pushes him off the ladder and onto the final piece of the antenna.
They continue to fight as Boris tries to regain control. The helicopter arrives, with Natalya on board holding the pilot at gunpoint. James kicks Alec off the antenna and holds him by his boot.
“For England, James?”
“No, for me,” he replies and lets go.
Alec falls onto the dish hundreds of feet below, and Boris is inconsolable as the satellite breaks up on re-entry. 007 jumps onto the railings of the helicopter, and they fly away as a fireball rips through the antenna, causing it to explode and crushing Alec to death. As everything is burning around him, Boris exclaims, and not for the first time, “I am invincible!” before being frozen by exploding Liquid Nitrogen tanks.
Bond and Natalya are dropped off by the helicopter as they make out. They hear Jack Wade coming towards them, as he reveals the 30-ish marines around them, hiding in the grass. James picks up Natalya as she protests getting on another mode of transport with him.
They all head to Guantanamo, and the credits of the film roll.