GOLDENEYE
A film review by Roger Snappy Rubio
Copyright 1995 Roger Snappy Rubio
Starring Pierce Brosnan Directed by Martin Campbell
Today I went to see GOLDENEYE, and then I came home and saw two reviews on CNN about the movie (one from Peter Travers and the other person I can't remeber). They completely missed the point. They said the new Bond is a total bust. They said Pierce Brosnan shows too much restraint and does not carry off his lines with the energy he did in REMINGTON STEELE. Boy, are they cynics.
They maintained that a whole generation of people will not see any of these problems. They said they will just accept the new Bond for who he is in GOLDENEYE and never complain that he was any worse or any better. OH BOY, are they wrong!
I personally was raised with James Bond. James Bond for me was Roger Moore, but when I got older I got a chance to see Sean Connery as Bond, and I can see why they say he is the best. Peter Travers and others would have you believe that a person like me would not see anything wrong with Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond. As a movie and James Bond lover, I take great exception to everything they have said.
GOLDENEYE is one of the best Bond movies I have seen. It is consistent with every previous Bond film in the characters, plot, storyline, action, romance, and thrills. Pierce Brosnan is remarkably yet appropriately restrained as the new James Bond, the way Bond has always been. Peter Travers would have James Bond act like REMINGTON STEELE. I think not. We are talking about the ultimate stud of the universe here. A man who can sleep with any woman, never use birth control, and make the women feel like they'll never have any better. James Bond has been, is, and always will be the greatest fantasy of men everywhere (most notably American). GOLDENEYE does not skimp on this fantasy.
My take on the Bonds of yesteryear: Sean Connery was the best because he was the first and, because he's Sean Connery. George Lazenby was a little underrated. Roger Moore was good for a while, and then his movies deteriorated into too much special-effects model destroying and far too many one liners. Timothy Dalton was brought in because he was cheap, did his own stunts, and tried a more strict interpretation of Ian Fleming's Bond, which is not what movie audiences wanted to see. Brosnan looks the part, feels the part, and I believe carries the part much like Connery did in the early days of Bond (a la DR. NO). If Peter Travers and others like to come close to panning him now, wait until he really gets his feet into this role. They'll take another look at GOLDENEYE.
GOLDENEYE is a very good statring vehicle for Pierce Brosnan. If you take a look at the movies where there is a new actor bearing the mantle of James Bond, you will see that they are all like this movie. THE LIVING DAYLIGHTS was such a movie, even though Timothy Dalton seemed like he was forcing every scene to come out. ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE was similar. The cars are fast, the women are beautiful, and the action is breathtaking. Everything a fantasy like this is supposed to be. If you take it too seriously, you might come out of the theater thinking that you were ripped off from your seven dollars (or whatever your admission price may be). If you were raised with James Bond like I was, and you go in expecting an early Connery-type James Bond, you won't be disappointed. This is Brosnan's introduction into the James Bond world; don't be too hard on him. With a little film history and what I like to call "future hindsight" under your belt, it becomes easy to see that Brosnan will be recognized as a very good Bond. Sure Brosnan is nervous; if you were handed the role of James Bond and were told you had to live up to its place in film history and its institution-like status, wouldn't you be too?
-- THE SNAPMAN rsnappy@unm.edu (Roger A. Rubio)
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