GOLDENEYE
A film review by Gerard Martin
Copyright 1995 Gerard Martin
Directed by: Martin Campbell Photographed by: Phil Meheux Written by: Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein Based on a story by: Michael France Edited by: Terry Rawlings Music by: Eric Serra Starring: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Judi Dench, Robbie Coltrane
James Bond is back! And isn't he better than ever? After what amounted to a six year hiatus, GOLDENEYE is the latest Bond movie addition to the long-running 007 series tradition. It has been estimated that half the world's population has seen a James Bond movie. Meanwhile, hasn't the world changed?
This time, the premise of the story concerns two lost secret military first-strike earth orbiting Russian satellites with the potential to burn ever so brightly enough to produce a burst of electromagnetic energy overcharging and obliterating the electrical circuits of every instrument and light-bulb within its target range ... including, of course, flying MiG jets, computers, and other orbiting eyes in the sky. Such tactical precision, however, is not without its disadvantages. Once triggered, the spectacular fiery explosion also takes the `Golden Eye` satellite down with it. So it is also with almost every device, every deception and every appendage that makes the James Bond spy-adventure epic bond so well together. Yes, "Bond, James Bond" is back and this time REMINGTON STEELE's Pierce Brosnan is the debonair secret service agent with the Aston Martin, a penchant for vodka martinis, all of the luck and most of the toys.
GOLDENEYE's addition to the 007 licensed-to-kill epic truly frames a golden age of James Bond spy action and adventure. The cinematic event holds a rich history behind it - a rich tapestry of traditions upon which this latest edition stands. Afterall, depending upon how one counts them, GOLDENEYE is the eighteenth motion picture adventure adaptation of the literary works of Ian Fleming and later, John Gardner. Though Pierce Brosnan is no David Niven, in some respects GOLDENEYE can be said to be the culmination of all nineteen Bond movies. Along with the usual measure of repartee-style satire, there is a bomb of sorts, there is a James Bond nemesis and there are love interests that probe the mantel of the story and the characters of all the participants.
Natalya Simonova, played by Izabella Scorupco, is the Internet-savvy computer programmer in step with an information-driven society. She's a protagonist with Bond. There is also the CIA and the marines, a new "M," another Miss Moneypenny and good old "Q" played once again by Desmond Llewelyn. For antagonists, there is Xenia Onatopp (rhymes with "on the top"), played with carnal abandon by Famke Janssen. She is a Georgian ex-fighter pilot in vacuous partnership with former secret service agent Alec Trevelyan, as played by Sean Bean. As surely as death follows asphyxiation, the fate of such relationships are fastened.
Relationships to the old and usual are crucial. In the all familiar casino scene, the playing cards have no numbers. Unless one takes the time to count, only the shapes made by the configuration of clubs, hearts, diamonds or spades on the cards are there to indicate the card's value. The idea that information counts is meaningful to the story. Afterall, in a world with no electrical circuits, there can be no flow of information. Just like the way in which a deck of playing cards complete with numbers must in history precede the deck of playing cards without any numbers at all, the flow of knowledge from one utility to another is all essential. Such is the legacy of history.
But does one need to know the historical significance of villain Alec Trevelyan's Cossack parentage, or how historically the Zaporozhian Cossacks became an authority unto themselves and with their hetmans elected chieftains who proceeded to initiate schemes and designs rivaling even those of SPECTRE? No, enjoyment of GOLDENEYE makes no absolute claim on this knowledge. But the weight of history is another matter. What's bred in the bones of this epic are so many monumental remains. Though they provide ballast, they also exact a heavy toll. GOLDENEYE confronts both the forces of our expectations and the ongoing presence of our departed history.
In GOLDENEYE, James Bond is indeed back and, chances are, he will be back again to serve the interests of world peace and movie-screen carnage. But, if nothing else, he will also serve as sometimes poignant testimony to the passage of time.
-- gmartin@well.com
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