Eps 4: James Bond Just Got a Second GoldenEye

— The 000 Agent Podcast

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Tom Shelton

Tom Shelton

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So, let us look at 2010s GoldenEye, as well as Bloodstone, to see stories in which Craigs Bond, played by the man himself, is at his peak. GoldenEye is very much a James Bond movie for its time, from a time in the 1990s when computers were vaguely new and exciting -- whereas, obviously, Craigs Bond is part of the more dry, post-9/11, post-Bourne vision for the franchise. To this day, I am still rather impressed with how well the team at the now-defunct developer Eurocom, and the various outside collaborators, did at adapting the original stories both for Craigs Bond, and for an entirely different decade. GoldenEye introduced a fifth actor to portray British super-spy James Bond within his own film franchise, Pierce Brosnan, while updating other elements of the canon to fit into the 90s, and reinvigorating the characters iconic yet revered financial influence among film audiences.
GoldenEye was the first British super-spy James Bond movie not produced by Eon head Albert Broccolis Michael G. Wilson. GoldenEye was the first film to establish British super-spy James Bond was orphaned, with Timothy Dalton playing 007, as well as Russian computer programmer Natalia Simonova grilling Bond on what makes him tick. Tomorrow Never Dies might not be the darker Bond movie, or the film to feature the darker killings of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, but it is definitely the film to take the franchise into the modern age. The 1995 film James Bond is a 1995 crime film, the seventeenth installment of the James Bond franchise produced by Eon Productions, and the first film starring Pierce Brosnan as fictional MI6 agent James Bond.
Although Pierce Brosnans first Bond film featured plenty of explosive action, audiences would not get their finally-contemporary entry into the franchise until the most critically underrated Bond movie, the second Pierce Brosnan film. However, Pierce Brosnans first Bond movie was still committed to dealing with the Cold War as its main subject, as evidenced by GoldenEyes flawless opening sequence featuring Bond and 006 sneaking into a Soviet weapons facility at Arkhangelsk. GoldenEyes and Casino Royale are considered to be the two best James Bond films, with both films relaunching the franchise by debuting a new 007 in Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig.
While Pierce Brosnans later entries into the franchise did not always match the promise of GoldenEye, the legacy of GoldenEye can still be seen in films from the Daniel Craig era, and no doubt in who takes on the mantle next. Narratively, GoldenEye in 2010 was thrilling, and in retrospect, when looking at Daniel Craigs Bond era as a whole, rather unique. There is perhaps more thrilling gunplay in GoldenEye than any of the previous films in the franchise, making GoldenEye the ideal adaptation to N64, truly cementing the films place in the canon for the younger generations of fans. It is been 25 years since GoldenEye redefined James Bond, detaching himself from author Ian Flemings works, and it has enticed an entirely new generation of Bond fans that were unable to buy into the same thrills that had mesmerized their fathers and grandfathers.
On 17 November 1995, the GoldenEye movie was released in full, becoming the 17th film to feature writer Ian Flemings fictional British agent, and the first to take place within six years--the longest gap to date between Bond films--since author Ian Flemings 1989 License To Kill. His first Bond effort, 1995s GoldenEye, came on the heels of a six-year hiatus, and introduced Pierce Brosnan as a softer-spoken 007 in the vein of Timothy Daltons humorless Timothy Dalton. While it is always fun to ponder what Timothy Dalton would bring to GoldenEye, given his potential status as the Bond that existed in the cold war and beyond, Brosnan provided a new face for the 90s franchise, though some elements of GoldenEyes plot and dialogue suggested the older Bond. In his portrayal as Pierce Brosnan, Brosnan is brilliant, managing to blend approaches that other Bond actors gave; he managed to be dark like Timothy Dalton, witty and engaging like Moore, and as straight-laced and businesslike as Connery (sorry, Lazenby, who did not get the chance to put your mark on the franchise with as much of an old-school Bond.
Martin Campbell has certainly been discussed coming up, and it almost seems a safe gamble to have him again lend his skills in order to make Bond 26 tread on ground in a way that 1995s Goldeneye did. Hearing Martin Campbell speak on what drew Martin Campbell to the James Bond franchise, the man is certainly not someone who is going to simply stick with the formula that he is already played around with in Goldeneye. Ian Fleming is certainly the mind behind the lead in Bond 17, though the story is not based off of one of his books -- it is the first time that an entirely original take on Bond has made it onto screen. It is the first released after the six-year gap following License to Kill, the first to take place mostly in Russia and Cuba, the first made in the 1990s, the first directed by Martin Campbell, the first to reference Bonds deceased parents , and the first to feature Pierce Brosnan.