Binge-watching Bond part 17: 'GoldenEye'

Pierce Brosnan

Before I even get into the merits of Pierce Brosnan's first outing as James Bond in GoldenEye I feel compelled to defend his tenure in the role.

A fascinating thing has happened since Daniel Craig put his own stamp on 007, audiences everywhere have suddenly decided they have buyer's remorse about Brosnan.

He never gets enough credit for saving a franchise that was close to extinction by the late 1980s. Although GoldenEye came just six years after License to Kill, it felt like a lifetime for the millennial generation. In fact, for most filmgoers under the age of 30, Brosnan was the first Bond they came to know and love.

It may be hard for some purists to believe now but there was a time where he was routinely ranked as the next best 007 after Connery. Today, arguably no Bond's stock has fallen further than Brosnan's. Even the man himself has thrown shade at his four films as 007 -- and I think that's a shame.

Did his films put more of an emphasis on pyrotechnics over plot -- absolutely. And with each film the quip-happy dialogue gets a little more grating, but Brosnan was still devilishly charming in the role and he brought back some of that nasty, even smug edge that had been missing from Moore and Dalton's interpretations.

He certainly looked the part -- Brosnan may be the most traditionally handsome 007 ever and he was the first person to play the character with a certain self awareness of the role's history and iconic status. He was a Bond fan playing Bond, and that comes across.

Still, his films have not aged as well as the classic 007 films because they are all victim to the pacing of the modern blockbuster action movie. Even the much maligned Die Another Day starts off with a very intriguing and engrossing plot before devolving into an endless collapsing ice castle finale complete with the ever-so-controversial invisible car.

Famke Janssen, one of my all-time favorite Bond girls

In GoldenEye, some think Bronsan gave his best performance as 007. It's definitely one of his more assured and consistently entertaining outings. From the opening death-defying jump to one of my favorite chases in Bond history (featuring a tank demolishing much of St. Petersburg) -- its clear the producers wanted to get a new, younger audience hooked on 007. And they mostly succeed.

Much of that is due to Bronsan and a strong cast of supporting players. Sean Bean is solid as a colleague of Bond's gone rogue, Famke Janssen is sexy and unforgettable as a somewhat perverted henchwoman (she nearly steals the movie) and Judi Dench makes a strong first impression as the first female M.

It does have the flaws that would permeate all four of Brosnan's outings -- a few climaxes too many, it sometimes just hurtles from action sequence to action sequence. The one liners are forced and cringeworthy and the plot gets muddled somewhere around the halfway point.

Still, I give this film high marks for injecting fresh life into the Bond series and for being a return to the fun of 007 after the sometimes dreary days of Dalton. One moment perfectly captures Brosnan's unique charm: when he adjusts his tie in the middle of the tank chase -- one of my favorite Bond moments ever.

1) From Russia With Love
2) The Spy Who Loved Me
3) Goldfinger
4) For Your Eyes Only
5) Live and Let Die
6) Dr. No
7) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
8) The Living Daylights
9) GoldenEye
10) Octopussy
11) You Only Live Twice
12) Diamonds Are Forever
13) Thunderball
14) Moonraker
15) The Man with the Golden Gun
16) A View to a Kill
17) License to Kill

Sean Benn on GoldenEye

Liz's take: I initially thought that this is the least dramatic shift in the character between actors, because I feel like Pierce Brosnan's Bond is pretty similar to Timothy Dalton -- but Brosnan is just a  lot more suave. Still, the difference between them doesn't feel as stark as it did between say Connery and Moore. However, I do think Brosnan brings a certain sophistication that Dalton didn't have -- or any of them really.

I feel like Famke Janssen's character is the first bond girl to be bad the whole way through, she relishes being evil. She's memorable because she brings a lot of joy to a villainous role and is one of the factors that makes the film feel more modern -- the way she embraces sex and violence in a way that you don't see in other Bond films. The other Bond girl is fine, she's actually believable as a smart woman, but she's a little overshadowed by Janssen.

I like the plot and specifically the fact that Brosnan's Bond seems to come across as a true believer in "Queen and Country" in a way that his predecessors didn't. The action was solid -- although some of the special effects, especially at the beginning didn't age and the same goes for the techno babble. But several other sequences pay off, particularly the finale where Bond is hanging perilously on a satellite.

Sean Bean's villain is not a caricature. He doesn't wear a monocle and a red glove -- he's a plausible bad guy. By having a less over-the-top villain and someone who's really the other side of the coin to 007, it helps put Bond's persona in greater focus.

I think Brosnan and GoldenEye deserve more credit for making the character more fully realized and for introducing him effectively to a new generation.

Liz's rankings: 

1) On Her Majesty's Secret Service
2) For Your Eyes Only
3) Goldfinger
4) Dr. No
5) Live and Let Die
6) The Man with the Golden Gun
7) The Spy Who Loved Me
8) GoldenEye
9) The Living Daylights
10) Octopussy
11) Moonraker
12) A View to a Kill
13) License to Kill
14) You Only Live Twice
15) From Russia With Love
16) Diamonds Are Forever
17) Thunderball