Even though I grew up in the 80s, James Bond was never a series that appealed to me. Here in the UK, a Bond movie on TV during the Christmas period was a staple. However, for whatever reason, the adventures of James Bond never appealed to me. That was until 1995’s GoldenEye!
How to Download GoldenEye
GoldenEye was released on 17 November 1995. You can download or stream the film from a digital platform. Click on the Download button at the end of this review and make your choice.
The Movie Review
Introduction to GoldenEye
Look, I will not pretend to know all the ins and outs about how this movie was not based on an actual book or how the production head was different. However, it was James Bond for a new generation and I remember seeing the trailers a lot during 1995 and it looked pretty exciting, way more badass and cool than the James Bond I had seen on TV before.
Pierce Brosnan as James Bond
GoldenEye would be the first time that Pierce Brosnan would play the super spy and I think that he did a great job. He was cool, he was badass and he had a ton of charm, to me, he is James Bond! It is funny how many of us have our own James Bond and for me, it is always going to be Pierce Brosnan, even though Daniel Craig (Casino Royale (2006), Quantum of Solace (2008), Skyfall (2012), Spectre (2015), No Time to Die (2021) did a hell of a job.
The Villain of GoldenEye
The plot of the movie is quite simple. Sean Bean plays the role of Alec Trevelyan. Alec was a friend and fellow MI6 agent with James Bond, but he faked his death after a mission and started a terrorist organization! Sean Bean is great in this role, he has a real menace about him. He feels kind of crazy, but a more controlled crazy if that makes sense.
The Mission and Conflict
James Bond is called into action to go against his old friend. You see, Alec has a satellite weapon and he plans to target London, causing devastation to the world’s financial system. By modern Bond standards, I guess you could say that the plot here is not quite as spectacular, but at the time I thought that it was fun. The best part was Bond going up against his old friend, a person who knows him perhaps better than anyone else.
Bond’s Cinematic Action
GoldenEye has some great action and while I do feel that the modern Bond movies are more exciting and have more epic set pieces as far as the action goes. GoldenEye still gets you pumped up and I think that Pierce Brosnan did a great job of really making people warm to this new James Bond.
Bond and the World of Gaming
Of course, as a huge video game fan, I do have to talk about how a huge part of the reason I took to Pierce Brosnan so much was the James Bond games that were made during his era. Yes, GoldenEye on the Nintendo 64 is awesome. I and my friends would play it all the time, our only rule was that no one was allowed to be Odd Job. However, as great as that was, Everything or Nothing is the best James Bond game with Pierce Brosnan, it is like you are playing an actual Bond movie!
GoldenEye’s Legacy
I feel that GoldenEye holds up pretty well. It is not my favorite Pierce Brosnan Bond movie, but I always have fun and am entertained when I have watched this. I am not a Bond expert by any means, but you do have to wonder if Pierce Brosnan had not made this role his own in the 90s if the franchise would be as huge today as it is!
