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GoldenEye

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For other uses, see Goldeneye (disambiguation)

Template:Infobox Film Bond GoldenEye is the seventeenth James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's British secret service agent, James Bond. Made by Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions (though listed as "Albert R. Broccoli presents") it was the second official James Bond film not produced by Broccoli himself. While undergoing heart surgery, Broccoli entrusted the making of the film and the forthcoming generation of James Bond films to his daughter Barbara Broccoli and stepson Michael G. Wilson, both of whom had been executive producers of previous James Bond films. GoldenEye was released in 1995 and was directed by New Zealander Martin Campbell. Campbell will also direct 2006's Bond film Casino Royale.

Goldeneye

While GoldenEye is technically the third original James Bond movie that doesn't contain any reference to an Ian Fleming novel or short story, the title comes from Fleming's Jamaican estate he dubbed "Goldeneye" where he wrote all the Bond novels. The estate could have been named "Goldeneye" for a number of reasons. The first is that the estate is located in Oracabessa, which is Spanish for 'golden head'. Fleming is also reported to have read Carson McCullers' novel Reflections In A Golden Eye around the time he had his house built in Jamaica. More notably, Fleming was in charge of the defence of Gibraltar during the Second World War; the operation dubbed by Fleming, Operation Goldeneye.

In the film, "GoldenEye" is the code name of a secret Russian military satellite, which uses a nuclear explosion's electromagnetic pulse to disable electronic devices.

Overview

GoldenEye is considered an important film in the Bond series in that it was successful in reviving interest in a character that many critics had suggested had become an anachronism in the post-Cold War world.

The previous film, Licence to Kill, had been released in June 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Although it was financially successful and critically acclaimed, it was not as popular as previous Bond films, suggesting interest in the series was waning at that point.

Judi Dench, the newly cast M, describes Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War." This unusual candor, combined with a generally well-received performance by Brosnan as the new James Bond, helped to revitalize the franchise.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The story's beginning shows James Bond, agent 007, and his friend Alec Trevelyan, agent 006, infiltrating a Soviet chemical weapons factory in Arkhangelsk, USSR, now Russia. Trevelyan is captured and shot by Colonel Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov, but Bond escapes.

Nine years later, after the collapse of the USSR, a prototype attack helicopter, the Eurocopter Tiger, is stolen from the French frigate La Fayette. Former Soviet fighter pilot Xenia Onatopp, whom Bond was investigating following a chance encounter, made that possible by seducing and killing a Canadian Admiral. She accomplished this by crushing his chest with her thighs during sex, thus allowing her male accomplice to impersonate the admiral at the Tiger's demonstration flight the following day. She also shoots and kills two of the helicopter's pilots. Xenia's yacht, the Manticore moored off Monte Carlo, was identified by MI6 as leased to a front company of the Russian crime ring, the Janus Syndicate.

Bond discovers the dead Admiral, but is too late to stop the theft of the Tiger. The helicopter is tracked by a British spy satellite when it lands at a supposed disused satellite control center in Severnaya, Russia (depicted as being in central Siberia). Moments later, Bond, M, and Chief of Staff Bill Tanner witness the sudden electromagnetic pulse explosion that disables their satellite and severs their visual link to the Russian satellite control centre. Ourumov, by now a general, and Xenia Onatopp detonated one of two GoldenEye EMP weapon satellites over Severnaya to hide their theft of the remaining, second GoldenEye satellite. They escape from the control centre in the stolen Tiger helicopter, which was designed to withstand the electromagnetic pulse, produced when they detonated the GoldenEye satellite. A female computer programmer, Natalya Fyodorovna Simonova (surname pronounced Sim-yo-no-va) is the only innocent survivor of the attack on Severnaya; Simonova becomes a target for Janus when Gen. Ourumov learns she survived.

Bond is charged with finding the GoldenEye satellite weapon, finding out who stole it, and stopping its use. His only clues are the lone survivor he saw escaping Severnaya once the visual satellite link is reconnected and that the Janus group provided the helicopter to steal the weapon.

Using a new CIA contact, Jack Wade and an ex-KGB agent, Valentin Zukovsky, he discovers, that Alec Trevelyan not only is alive, but is the mastermind behind Janus. His 'assassination' in Arkhangelsk was successfully staged, although Trevelyan's face was seriously burned from Bond's action of resetting the mine to three minutes instead of six. Allied with General Ourumov and Xenia Onatopp, Trevelyan plans to detonate the GoldenEye weapon over London, sending Britain "back to the stone age", in vengeance for his Lienz Cossack parents, who were betrayed by the British Army, at the end of World War II, and returned to the Soviets, who had them executed. Before detonating GoldenEye, his plans are to steal from the banks of London, thus having the transaction erased after GoldenEye goes off.

Cast and characters

Crew

Soundtrack

Original GoldenEye soundtrack cover

The theme song, "GoldenEye", was written by Bono and The Edge, and was performed by Tina Turner. The Swedish group Ace Of Base were also involved at one point, producing a song also called "GoldenEye". This song was later released with slightly revised lyrics as The Juvenile on their 2002 album Da Capo. In addition to the Bondian bass line, it seems that the lyric 'The Juvenile' simply replaced 'The Goldeneye'. The other lyrics, most notably the line "Tomorrow's foe is now a friend" obviously refer to the plot of this film.

The film features the song "Stand By Your Man" by Tammy Wynette. The song is sung in the film by Minnie Driver in the scene in which Bond confronts Zukovsky. Intended to be a comic moment, Driver intentionally sings the song off-key in an exaggerated Russian accent.

The soundtrack was composed by Eric Serra. Serra's score is often criticized by Bond fans and is considered the farthest departure from a traditional Bond score in the series history. 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". The incidental music for the film has thus far been the only collaboration on a James Bond film. Parisian Eric 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.

Track listing

  1. GoldenEye - Tina Turner
  2. GoldenEye Overture: (Pt.1) Half of Everything Is Luck (Pt.2)
  3. Ladies First
  4. We Share the Same Passions: (Pt.1) the Trip to Cuba (Pt.2)
  5. Little Surprise for You: (Pt. 1) Xenya (Pt.2) D.M. Mychkine
  6. Severnaya Suite: (Pt.1) Among the Dead (Pt.2) Out of Hell (Pt.3)
  7. Our Lady of Smolensk
  8. Whispering Statues: (Pt.1) Whispers (Pt.2) Two Faced
  9. Run, Shoot, and Jump
  10. Pleasant Drive in St. Petersburg
  11. Fatal Weakness
  12. That's What Keeps You Alone
  13. Dish Out of Water: (Pt.1) a Good Squeeze (Pt.2) the Antenna
  14. Scale to Hell: (Pt.1) Boris and the Lethal Pen/(Pt.2) I Am Invincible
  15. For Ever, James
  16. Experience of Love

Vehicles & gadgets

Main article: [[:List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets]]
  • BMW Z3 — A convertible, it comes fully loaded with all the usual Q refinements including a self-destruct system and stinger missiles located behind the headlights. In the movie, Bond uses none of the car's gadgets, except for the navigation system. He ends up trading it for Jack Wade's plane in the Caribbean region.
  • Grappling Belt — Q gives Bond a size-34 belt containing a 75-foot rappelling cord and a piton-shooting buckle. When fired, it shoots a grapple attached to high-tensile-strength wire designed to support Bond's weight.
  • Aston Martin DB5 — Registration BMT214A. Note this is not the same car as seen in Goldfinger and Thunderball (that car was registered BMT216A). This appears to be Bond's personal car and re-appears in the next film Tomorrow Never Dies (its appearance at Castle Thane in The World Is Not Enough did not make it into the final film). The car is equipped with a refrigerator in the centre arm rest to hold champagne and two glasses, and also a communications system including fax and voice commands. There is also a fax machine that can print faxes, which is disguised as an in-dash CD player.
  • Explosive Pen — Q-Branch gives Bond a pen that doubles as a "class four" (fictional designation) grenade. Three clicks arms the four-second fuse, another three disarms it.
  • Omega Watch — This watch, standard issue of MI6, has a built-in laser that can cut through steel and iron, and can also remotely detonate mines.
  • Grapple and Laser Gun — In the intro sequence Bond bungee jumps off of a dam. To ensure he doesn't bounce back up he uses this gun to latch on to the complex below using its grapple function. Once down, Bond uses the laser built inside the gun to infiltrate the venting system that leads into the bathroom.
  • T-55 — Bond steals it from a Russian military building.

Firearms of GoldenEye

Main article: List of James Bond guns
  • Walther PPK — James Bond's standard issue pistol. Shown in the poster below with silencer. Chambered for the 7.65mm x 17 Browning (or .32 ACP) cartridge.
  • Makarov PM pistol — Standard-issue pistol of the Soviet/Russian armed forces. The pistol was prominately used by General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov in a number of scenes in the movie. Natalya Simonova was seen using a Makarov PM when she commandeered one of the Janus helicopter gunships to rescue Bond from the satellite dish's antenna before it exploded. Chambered for the 9mm x 18 Makarov cartridge.
  • Browning DA (double action) pistol — Alec Trevelyan's pistol of choice. In the beginning during the facility infiltration he is seen with a Browning Hi-Power Standard, but the ending battle scene at the antenna cradle he is seen with a Browning DA. Both guns are chambered for the 9mm x 19 Parabellum cartridge.
  • Kalashnikov AK-74 automatic rifle — Standard-issue assault rifle of the Soviet/Russian armed forces and has been in Soviet/Russian military service since 1974/1975. Chambered for the 5.45mm x 39 Soviet M74 cartridge.
  • Kalashnikov AKSU-74 carbine— Standard-issue carbine of the Soviet/Russian vehicle crews and certain internal security forces. The AKSU-74 is a SMG (SubMachine Gun) version of the AK-74 for issue to vehicle crews and people operating in confined spaces, it uses the same ammunition as the AK-74. The AKSU-74 (or AKS-74u) was prominately used by James Bond at the Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility in 1986 and in St. Petersburg in 1995 when he and Natalya were escaping from the Russian military base. The AKSU-74 was also used by Xenia Onatopp when she used the weapon to kill the personnel at the Severnaya satellite control centre after General Ourumov got control of the two Goldeneye satellites. Bond can be seen wielding it on Trevelyan's Train. Also chambered for the 5.45mm x 39 Soviet M74 cartridge.

Trivia

In the movie GoldenEye, a number of the AK-74 rifles that were used were not real AK-74s but non-Russian made Kalashnikov rifles that were made to look like the AK-74 rifle. The folding-stock variant AK-74 rifles that were seen in GoldenEye were Chinese-made Norinco Type 56/AKM rifles that were fitted with AK-74-style muzzle brakes and Russian-make red bakelite plastic magazines that were made for the AKM rifle in the 1970's. The rifles that were fitted with fixed buttstocks were real, Russian-made AK-74 rifles.

Locations

Film locations

Shooting locations

Italics indicate the locations in the movie portrayed by each shooting location.

Novelisation

File:GoldeneyeNovel.jpg
1995 British Coronet Books paperback edition.

GoldenEye was the second and last Bond film to be adapted as a novel by then-current Bond novelist John Gardner. GoldenEye is based upon the screenplay by Bruce Feirstein and Jeffrey Caine. The book follows the movie storyline fairly closely, however Gardner adds a rather violent sequence prior to the opening bungee jump in which Bond wipes out a group of Russian guards. This scene does not appear in the movie, although the popular GoldenEye 007 video game based on the film featured something similar.

This was also Gardner's penultimate Bond novel; after one more entry in the series (COLD), Gardner would retire from chronicling the adventures of 007. Raymond Benson would take over the series and also write the novelisations for the remaining three Brosnan Bond films, Tomorrow Never Dies, The World Is Not Enough and Die Another Day.

Template:Bondbook

Comic book adaptation

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. For reasons unknown, Topps canceled the adaptation after only the first issue had been published, and to date the adaptation has never been released in its entirety.

Video games

Main article: GoldenEye 007 and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

GoldenEye was adapted into a highly regarded video game for the Nintendo 64 by Rareware. At the time of its release, it was considered a flagship game for the new N64 console, and was considered revolutionary in its use of the first-person shooter format which led to many imitators.

In the Autumn of 2004, Electronic Arts released GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and later the Nintendo DS. This is the first game based on the 007 franchise in which the player does not take on the role of James Bond himself; rather they control an aspiring 00-agent (named GoldenEye) who is recruited by Auric Goldfinger, the villain in the movie and book Goldfinger. The game has little to do with either the film GoldenEye or the N64 game, and was released to mediocre reviews and was criticised for using the "GoldenEye" name in an attempt to sell the game by riding on the success of Rare's game.

Trivia

  • For a time it was a rumored that Brosnan's contract specifically stated that he was not allowed to wear a full tuxedo in other films and that Brosnan had apparently worked around this in the film The Thomas Crown Affair by leaving his tie untied during a black-tie ball, thus not wearing a full tuxedo. This rumor turned out to be false.
  • Reportedly, GoldenEye's script had to be rewritten as it was found to be too similar to a plotline in the James Cameron film True Lies.
  • Maurice Binder, the title sequence designer for most of the James Bond films since Dr. No, died in 1991. The job of title designer for GoldenEye as well several future James Bond films was then passed to Daniel Kleinman.
  • "Cubby" Broccoli died shortly after the film was released. He had been too ill to visit the set during filming. The next Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, was dedicated to his memory.
  • During the tank sequence, the tank can be seen running over a Russian vehicle, clearly crushing the driver (presumably a mannequin). This depiction of "collateral damage" may have been unintentional as it is followed by a quick shot of the driver getting out of the car.
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