I'll be honest, this is probably the best that the film has ever played for me. I've generally been of the opinion that it's a solid, mid tier entry, but the thing actually went up a few notches in my estimation, mainly due to the fact that the film has a really nice flow to it. Glen made a pretty big leap forward in terms of direction and storytelling compared to FYEO. The action sequences seem sharper and there's an actual degree of tension to some of them that was missing in the prior film.
The acting is good (better than the prior film), the return of John Barry is welcome, and it's overall a fun way to spend a few hours. Some of the humor doesn't work (the Tarzan yell, especially) but it doesn't bring the film down.
The wife really liked this one for some reason. This was probably her favorite of the Moore films.
Current rewatch rankings:
OHMSS>FRWL>TSWLM>YOLT>MR>OP>DN>FYEO>TB>TMWTGG>GF>LALD>DAF
I know it's a failing in me, but I just can't get past the Tarzan yell. I've tried, really I have, but along with double the taking Pigeon and the Margaret Thatcher piece it blights the whole era for me. It's a shame but it makes me cringe.
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
It helped considerably that my wife was very into this particular film for some reason.
Octopussy is a film that I'm kinda embarrassed to watch with anyone due to the tarzan yell etc, however when I do they really seem to love it. Like I can tell they are really into it.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
About the flow, 1h45m's great, the return to India feels like an afterthought.
I don't understand what people mean about the clown suit. As you said in the millennials thread, context has to be taken into account.
It isn't like he wore a poncho on horseback for his own personal satisfaction.
How could he blend in and disarm the bomb without being disguised? Sure it may be unfortunate but Sir Roger shines through.
Interesting about the two opposing thought processes, I always thought about it but I had never seen it spelled out that way before.
I introduced my friend to the world of Bond by watching Goldeneye. I think he really enjoyed it. I wanted something closer to the year we're in but still older. He said it was a good movie and that the action in it was awesome. Now to introduce him to Sean Connery next.
1. Goldfinger 2. Skyfall 3. Goldeneye 4. The Spy Who Loved Me 5. OHMSS
Check out my Instagram: @livingthebondlife
"I never joke about my work, 007."
My issue with the clown suit is that he apparently gets into the costume and applies all of the face makeup in something like 30 seconds. Seriously. Watch the scene and you’ll see him enter the trailer to put on the clown costume with 5 minutes left before the bomb explodes. It stretches credulity.
I don’t take issue with the costume itself, merely with the hand waving regarding the time spent putting it on. Still, movie. It doesn’t kill the thing and it’s pretty trivial in the big picture.
My issue with the clown suit is that they could have easily put him in the one of security guard outfits instead. All he needed to do was to knock one of them out and take their shirt. Would have been more in tone with the seriousness of the moment. Either way I see the clown suit as a flaw but it doesn't kill the movie for me either
My issue with the clown suit is that he apparently gets into the costume and applies all of the face makeup in something like 30 seconds. Seriously. Watch the scene and you’ll see him enter the trailer to put on the clown costume with 5 minutes left before the bomb explodes. It stretches credulity.
- Roger, in general, looks really good and does a good job. He looks particularly fit and trim here, and he out-acts everyone.
- The Duran Duran song is still great.
Happy that you've called these out, Duran Duran's AVTAK IMO is the best song in the series and Roger's performance is brilliant.
Despite my love and fascination for AVTAK I agree with your negative points. While OP certainly is a better film, the style of the Glen films doesn't differ all that much, I would've thought you might enjoy AVTAK a bit more. I suspect your review of LTK will be bad if you're calling out production/acting.
I get the impression that being Roger's final film and the relationship with Cubby over shadowed the production and influence of Glen in the making of this.
I've been watching a lot of Bond lately as my 7 year old son has gone crazy over the series
We have recently seen TB YOLT DAF LALD TMWTGG MR OP. He likes Roger the best and TMWTGG is his favourite so far.
Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
-Every generation has its definite Bond film.
-My generation was lucky, it got two.
The Living Daylights and GoldenEye.
I was 13 when TLD hit the theatre and Dalton become "my Bond".
When GoldenEye graced the screens I was 21 and was not really prepared for another Bond after 6 year of nothingness.
As I knew the suave Brosnan from Remington Steele I was looking forward to seeing Pierce as Bond despite the fact I wanted Dalton back.
-GoldenEye defined my 20s.
From the first moment when the airplane is flying over the famous dam in Switzerland I knew this would be a great experience. The stunt left me as breathless as seeing the three 00 agents jump from the military plane in the PTS of TLD.
Coming out of the cinema I and my army buddies were celebrating life and everything it can offer. We talked about the film for days, weeks, months. And went to see it again and again.
-GoldenEye turned my generation into James Bond die hard fans and Pierce Brosnan became the symbol of how we wanted to be. Suave, good-looking, charming, womanizing, witty, cool, hard hitting, gun-toting awesome agents or soldiers in our case. At least we got to live some of the things Bond did on screen.
GoldenEye was everywhere and so was Pierce Brosnan. With one film Pierce became a living legend and GoldenEye influenced pop culture in unseen formats.
From the usual like magazines, news-stories and posters and toys there was suddenly the world of gaming that got revolutionised by what must be the most famous, legendary game ever. GoldenEye 64.
The score has a huge part in all of this. At the time it sounded like what a modern Bond sound was imagined to sound like. The film delivered and so did the game.
We all spent an unimaginable amount of hours with the game and lived through the film therefore again and again.
-A little over 20 years later, what's left of the legendary GoldenEye?
The film that defined how my generation looked at action-thrillers, how we wanted video-games to be (GoldenEye64) and how we wanted Bond to sound (Tina Turner, GoldenEye Overture).
My answer is a resounding GOLDENEYE IS AN ETERNAL CLASSIC
Everything falls into place flawlessly with the film. Even the very first moment, the gun-barrel shows that this marks a new beginning.
The PTS is Bond perfection. Nothing less. The coolest ever introduction to a Bond in the most cool of surroundings. Switzerland, once more, provides the perfect location and Serra's GoldenEye Overture is the sound of modern Bond.
The stunt of all stunts bar skiing off the cliff in TSWLM's PTS. In a cinematic sense.
The titles from newbie Daniel Kleinman also mark a new beginning. Combined with Tina Turner's fantastic GoldenEye this title sequence remains one of the most memorable and very best.
The DB5 is back and it looks good on Brosnan, very. Xenia Onatopp, the wonderful Famke Janssen, is introduced in the most fun way and the casino scene that follows it is the next best thing to the casino scene in DN.
At this point latest it becomes clear, GoldenEye's intention is to belong to the best of the best, rivalling the iconic ones like GF and TSWLM. And so far nothing suggests it wouldn't be.
What is evident by the end of the Severnaya sequence, is the quality of the cast. I've never had a problem with the cast in the Dalton films, but GoldenEye truly surpasses anything in the cast department at least since a couple of decades.
Alec Trevelyan. A legend. And please forgive me if I use that word a bit inflationary.
The same goes for Xenia and the new M.
Natalya is the kind of Bond girl that we want to see in the mid 90s and she'd even work today.
But even the supporting characters like Mishkin, Ourumov, Boris and Jack Wade are cast perfectly and they work so well and do what they are supposed to do. My favourite though may be Valentin Zukovsky.
Samantha Bond as Moneypenny feels so right. She's perfect for Brosnan.
-Judi Dench certainly was someone to get used to.
Dench is so different to her predecessors. For starters the dynamic between Bond and M is strongly affected by the fact M is now a woman. Immune to Bond's charm and she makes that clear pretty strongly.
The reason this M works so well, is Dench's acting ability and her chemistry with Brosnan.
Another perfect match.
And it seems Brosnan is a perfect match for really anyone. He's got tons of charisma and it seems he can work with anyone and make anything work on screen.
The Severnaya destruction is a work of art. While CGI already was available in 1995, EON decided still to use model work for the most important scenes that needed special effects.
The satellite dish destruction and the jet fighters destruction are done beautifully and while you can probably tell it's model work it still looks real and it looks REAL GOOD.
The middle section in St. Petersburg is another reason GE has become such a joy to watch.
It evokes the times of the cold war that were not that far behind in 1995 and still you'll get that feeling of the new Russia that has been born a few years back.
Ourumov and Mishkin represent the old and new ways and it's written so well.
The script is fantastic anyway. Bond has so much meaningful dialogue interaction with Alec, M and Natalya. But it's so subtle you don't ever get the feeling that it's contrived. Which is also due to the fine acting jobs everyone is doing.
The dialogue in general is memorable and some characters get all perfect lines. Xenia, Alec, M, Valentin, Ourumov. And Brosnan delivers every reply, every witticism with such panache you want to stand up and clap.
GoldenEye puts a smile on my face from start to finish.
-A drive in the country Russian style.
EON must have thought, how can we possibly go the extra mile to deliver yet another unique and defining action sequence the cinematic world has never seen before.
There is no chance for subtlety left once the tank crashes through the wall to the street and chases Ourumov and Natalya in a car. It's maybe the most memorable of all memorable moments in GoldenEye. That crashing through the wall. In your face!
And we know what to expect from that moment on and the next 10 minutes or so deliver. And how they deliver.
In the midst of all the mayhem the ever cool and suave Brosnan. Truly, nobody could have done it better.
But it's not enough, now Bond actually intends to crash the tank frontally into an incoming train.
-Bond. Only Bond.
-He's going to derail us.
Even Bean and Janssen are in awe of such audacity! And it feels like they deliver their lines as the actual actors and the characters they play.
Bond. Only Bond. Indeed!
Once we are at the satellite dish and the main lair of Alec it's already clear, this film is worth Gold.
But unlike so many other Bond films, GoldenEye doesn't falter in its last act.
Au contraire!
The set is believable, huge and so very impressive. It's not there for the sake of it but it has a real function for all the scenes that are played in it.
Alec, Boris, Natalya and Bond have a foursome of wonderful, part hilarious repartee. And everything is acted so believably by Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Scorupco and even Cumming who's Boris is obnoxious but in the end Boris serves a purpose and he excels at it.
We've already got a taste of how relentless and brutal Brosnan Bond can be at the sauna scene but his long fight with Alec on the satellite dish is so realistic and bloody and well edited that it's clearly the best sort of thing we got since the Connery era.
The use of the surroundings and the choreography of the many punches and fights is such great cinematic achievement.
Even the last lines of Alec and Bond are for the ages. Everything comes full circle from their first scene in the PTS to Alec's brutal shocking ending.
Martin Campbell truly was the perfect choice for GoldenEye and I guess in the end EON was lucky on some things. Perfect casting decisions, perfect new crew members like Daniel Kleinman or Martin Campbell.
GoldenEye is the film where all the parts worked and the sum of all the parts is a pop-culture influencing film that has long become one of the defining films of the last decades.
It's quite difficult to put this film in a ranking if I tried to be as objective as I can.
-It's my personal No 1 film for all time.
The only other film that is more or less on the same level for me is Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Batman (1989). And of course The Living Daylights.
I guess in the end GoldenEye does belong into a top five or maybe even top three of Bond films, objectively speaking.
Nothing outside the 60s does qualify though, to be at GoldenEye's side in a top five except TSWLM.
What most YouTube reviewers miss or never talk about is Martin Campbell's brilliant direction in GoldenEye.
The movie has it own rhythm and each and every shot makes sense, was given some thought and looks good and cool.
One of the times the editing really shines is when Pierce walks into the shot and looks at the F355 in front of the casino.
It's a moment that could've been much duller if it were at the hands of just about any other director but somehow a stationary camera angle with some movement works.
Tracking shots are also masterfully done in the next scene with Pierce walking through the casino.
Side note: what the latter part of the Brosnan era lacks are good locations and GoldenEye's the only film that I liked all of its locations.
Compare that to the snooze-fest list of locations in TWINE.
Watched Die Another Day last night as a follow up to Goldeneye. The drop in quality was astounding.
There were still moments of greatness though, where I felt a sense of excitement just to be a Bond fan.
I particularly enjoy the PTS, sword fight and the car chase.
It was painful to watch the actors trying to deliver serious lines around Jinx while she seems to treat everything like a joke.
After she is saved (darn!) from the ice palace there is really nothing left worth watching as the cargo plane finale is a total loss. The only highlight is the brief clip of the exotic cars falling into the mud.
Brosnan's ends his reign as Bond with some of the lamest dialog ever. I wish they had given him at least one more film.
My current 10 favorite:
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Even still...the locations aren't half as interesting, the jokes in Moonraker are that...jokes and the film doesn't take itself that seriously but even if you do you're in for a treat. There's also a villain worth watching and an ending that leaves you breathless and the end to a great era of Bond (77-79).
Totally disagree with you on LTK but that's a struggle for another time. Will you ever do pros and cons on their respective threads?
Another thing that I like about him is that it always looks like he's thinking.
Must
resist
And why must you resist?
I remember reading a quote somewhere from a Dalton basher that criticized him for always looking like he's doing a math equation in his head. While I agree with the 'math equation' thing, I disagree that it's a detriment to the performance. Bond should be thinking and planning at all times.
Don't goad him. He'll just trot out his 'misty eyed/weepy ' shtick... :007) B-)
Of that of which we cannot speak we must pass over in silence- Ludwig Wittgenstein.
I have for at least one movie. Is the preference that I not do a recap here and instead move my discussions to those forums?
speaking for myself I like the essay style reviews you're doing here, you organise your thoughts well. And you're two thirds done, I want to see the complete set!
I tend to use the Pros & Cons threads because I have trouble organising my thoughts into a formal essay style review, I prefer to just drop a jumble of random observations while they're fresh in my mind. That's the way my goofy brain works.
The problem with that format is it enforces value judgements to the random observations, which is not always appropriate. Some things just are.
I have for at least one movie. Is the preference that I not do a recap here and instead move my discussions to those forums?
speaking for myself I like the essay style reviews you're doing here, you organise your thoughts well. And you're two thirds done, I want to see the complete set!
Well, looking strictly from a longevity standpoint, it'd be nicer to have your thoughts further, neatly organised in their respective threads and it'll be easier to look for one of your reviews in the future, rather than them being lost in this thread.
It was merely a suggestion. I like your short reviews and whether I agree with them or not is besides the point.
You...do you. Keep up the good work!
there actually are formal review threads per movie, one per each movie I imagine, but they're well buried.
I had to go back four pages and the first one I found was Tomorrow Never Dies. https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/43350/tomorrow-never-dies-review/
For some reason the Pros & Cons threads have become more popular, they're often just general discussion.
Maybe I'm not the only one who's more comfortable just posting random thoughts? but I sure like reading formal reviews from people who can write them.
I think those Review threads were all last bumped by Jason, who contributed his usual high standard of enthusiastic colorful and well illustrated opinion pieces. Lookit that one he wrote on TND: there's three GIFs in there!
Oh wow! Went to the TND review thread and found a long review I did last year on page 1
It's a nuisance I can't remember things like this. But reading it, I kind of remember doing it, I think.
Anyway, I'll have to see what reviews I did in the past, because I was planning of doing reviews soon. But I shouldn't repeat myself.
I'm still only on GoldenEye. First and only Bond film I watched since waking up to my new life 2.0
But I'm probably going to watch another one later this week.
- Roger, in general, looks really good and does a good job. He looks particularly fit and trim here, and he out-acts everyone.
- The Duran Duran song is still great.
Happy that you've called these out, Duran Duran's AVTAK IMO is the best song in the series and Roger's performance is brilliant.
Despite my love and fascination for AVTAK I agree with your negative points. While OP certainly is a better film, the style of the Glen films doesn't differ all that much, I would've thought you might enjoy AVTAK a bit more. I suspect your review of LTK will be bad if you're calling out production/acting.
I get the impression that being Roger's final film and the relationship with Cubby over shadowed the production and influence of Glen in the making of this.
I honestly think AVTAK is a great solid entry, even if it is the worst bond film in the 80's. Thought Zorin and May Day were two of the best and most memorable villains of the series, and Patrick McNee is great for the short time he is in it. The Silicon Valley plot and second half of the movie are quite suspenseful and exciting, but all that is ruined a lot by Roberts not being that good, Roger Moore's charm not being here (because he's too old) and mostly the stunt doubles - just shouts out lazy production by JOHN GLEN and the rest of the crew. I still like this movie more than LALD, TMWTGG and possibly MR, but not as much as the others.
Comments
I know it's a failing in me, but I just can't get past the Tarzan yell. I've tried, really I have, but along with double the taking Pigeon and the Margaret Thatcher piece it blights the whole era for me. It's a shame but it makes me cringe.
Octopussy is a film that I'm kinda embarrassed to watch with anyone due to the tarzan yell etc, however when I do they really seem to love it. Like I can tell they are really into it.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
I don't understand what people mean about the clown suit. As you said in the millennials thread, context has to be taken into account.
It isn't like he wore a poncho on horseback for his own personal satisfaction.
How could he blend in and disarm the bomb without being disguised? Sure it may be unfortunate but Sir Roger shines through.
Interesting about the two opposing thought processes, I always thought about it but I had never seen it spelled out that way before.
Check out my Instagram: @livingthebondlife
"I never joke about my work, 007."
My issue with the clown suit is that they could have easily put him in the one of security guard outfits instead. All he needed to do was to knock one of them out and take their shirt. Would have been more in tone with the seriousness of the moment. Either way I see the clown suit as a flaw but it doesn't kill the movie for me either
What did she think of it?
Happy that you've called these out, Duran Duran's AVTAK IMO is the best song in the series and Roger's performance is brilliant.
Despite my love and fascination for AVTAK I agree with your negative points. While OP certainly is a better film, the style of the Glen films doesn't differ all that much, I would've thought you might enjoy AVTAK a bit more. I suspect your review of LTK will be bad if you're calling out production/acting.
I get the impression that being Roger's final film and the relationship with Cubby over shadowed the production and influence of Glen in the making of this.
"Better make that two."
We have recently seen TB YOLT DAF LALD TMWTGG MR OP. He likes Roger the best and TMWTGG is his favourite so far.
-My generation was lucky, it got two.
The Living Daylights and GoldenEye.
I was 13 when TLD hit the theatre and Dalton become "my Bond".
When GoldenEye graced the screens I was 21 and was not really prepared for another Bond after 6 year of nothingness.
As I knew the suave Brosnan from Remington Steele I was looking forward to seeing Pierce as Bond despite the fact I wanted Dalton back.
-GoldenEye defined my 20s.
From the first moment when the airplane is flying over the famous dam in Switzerland I knew this would be a great experience. The stunt left me as breathless as seeing the three 00 agents jump from the military plane in the PTS of TLD.
Coming out of the cinema I and my army buddies were celebrating life and everything it can offer. We talked about the film for days, weeks, months. And went to see it again and again.
-GoldenEye turned my generation into James Bond die hard fans and Pierce Brosnan became the symbol of how we wanted to be. Suave, good-looking, charming, womanizing, witty, cool, hard hitting, gun-toting awesome agents or soldiers in our case. At least we got to live some of the things Bond did on screen.
GoldenEye was everywhere and so was Pierce Brosnan. With one film Pierce became a living legend and GoldenEye influenced pop culture in unseen formats.
From the usual like magazines, news-stories and posters and toys there was suddenly the world of gaming that got revolutionised by what must be the most famous, legendary game ever. GoldenEye 64.
The score has a huge part in all of this. At the time it sounded like what a modern Bond sound was imagined to sound like. The film delivered and so did the game.
We all spent an unimaginable amount of hours with the game and lived through the film therefore again and again.
-A little over 20 years later, what's left of the legendary GoldenEye?
The film that defined how my generation looked at action-thrillers, how we wanted video-games to be (GoldenEye64) and how we wanted Bond to sound (Tina Turner, GoldenEye Overture).
My answer is a resounding GOLDENEYE IS AN ETERNAL CLASSIC
Everything falls into place flawlessly with the film. Even the very first moment, the gun-barrel shows that this marks a new beginning.
The PTS is Bond perfection. Nothing less. The coolest ever introduction to a Bond in the most cool of surroundings. Switzerland, once more, provides the perfect location and Serra's GoldenEye Overture is the sound of modern Bond.
The stunt of all stunts bar skiing off the cliff in TSWLM's PTS. In a cinematic sense.
The titles from newbie Daniel Kleinman also mark a new beginning. Combined with Tina Turner's fantastic GoldenEye this title sequence remains one of the most memorable and very best.
The DB5 is back and it looks good on Brosnan, very. Xenia Onatopp, the wonderful Famke Janssen, is introduced in the most fun way and the casino scene that follows it is the next best thing to the casino scene in DN.
At this point latest it becomes clear, GoldenEye's intention is to belong to the best of the best, rivalling the iconic ones like GF and TSWLM. And so far nothing suggests it wouldn't be.
What is evident by the end of the Severnaya sequence, is the quality of the cast. I've never had a problem with the cast in the Dalton films, but GoldenEye truly surpasses anything in the cast department at least since a couple of decades.
Alec Trevelyan. A legend. And please forgive me if I use that word a bit inflationary.
The same goes for Xenia and the new M.
Natalya is the kind of Bond girl that we want to see in the mid 90s and she'd even work today.
But even the supporting characters like Mishkin, Ourumov, Boris and Jack Wade are cast perfectly and they work so well and do what they are supposed to do.
My favourite though may be Valentin Zukovsky.
Samantha Bond as Moneypenny feels so right. She's perfect for Brosnan.
-Judi Dench certainly was someone to get used to.
Dench is so different to her predecessors. For starters the dynamic between Bond and M is strongly affected by the fact M is now a woman. Immune to Bond's charm and she makes that clear pretty strongly.
The reason this M works so well, is Dench's acting ability and her chemistry with Brosnan.
Another perfect match.
And it seems Brosnan is a perfect match for really anyone. He's got tons of charisma and it seems he can work with anyone and make anything work on screen.
The Severnaya destruction is a work of art. While CGI already was available in 1995, EON decided still to use model work for the most important scenes that needed special effects.
The satellite dish destruction and the jet fighters destruction are done beautifully and while you can probably tell it's model work it still looks real and it looks REAL GOOD.
The middle section in St. Petersburg is another reason GE has become such a joy to watch.
It evokes the times of the cold war that were not that far behind in 1995 and still you'll get that feeling of the new Russia that has been born a few years back.
Ourumov and Mishkin represent the old and new ways and it's written so well.
The script is fantastic anyway. Bond has so much meaningful dialogue interaction with Alec, M and Natalya. But it's so subtle you don't ever get the feeling that it's contrived. Which is also due to the fine acting jobs everyone is doing.
The dialogue in general is memorable and some characters get all perfect lines. Xenia, Alec, M, Valentin, Ourumov. And Brosnan delivers every reply, every witticism with such panache you want to stand up and clap.
GoldenEye puts a smile on my face from start to finish.
-A drive in the country Russian style.
EON must have thought, how can we possibly go the extra mile to deliver yet another unique and defining action sequence the cinematic world has never seen before.
There is no chance for subtlety left once the tank crashes through the wall to the street and chases Ourumov and Natalya in a car. It's maybe the most memorable of all memorable moments in GoldenEye. That crashing through the wall. In your face!
And we know what to expect from that moment on and the next 10 minutes or so deliver. And how they deliver.
In the midst of all the mayhem the ever cool and suave Brosnan. Truly, nobody could have done it better.
But it's not enough, now Bond actually intends to crash the tank frontally into an incoming train.
-Bond. Only Bond.
-He's going to derail us.
Even Bean and Janssen are in awe of such audacity! And it feels like they deliver their lines as the actual actors and the characters they play.
Bond. Only Bond. Indeed!
Once we are at the satellite dish and the main lair of Alec it's already clear, this film is worth Gold.
But unlike so many other Bond films, GoldenEye doesn't falter in its last act.
Au contraire!
The set is believable, huge and so very impressive. It's not there for the sake of it but it has a real function for all the scenes that are played in it.
Alec, Boris, Natalya and Bond have a foursome of wonderful, part hilarious repartee. And everything is acted so believably by Sean Bean, Pierce Brosnan, Scorupco and even Cumming who's Boris is obnoxious but in the end Boris serves a purpose and he excels at it.
We've already got a taste of how relentless and brutal Brosnan Bond can be at the sauna scene but his long fight with Alec on the satellite dish is so realistic and bloody and well edited that it's clearly the best sort of thing we got since the Connery era.
The use of the surroundings and the choreography of the many punches and fights is such great cinematic achievement.
Even the last lines of Alec and Bond are for the ages. Everything comes full circle from their first scene in the PTS to Alec's brutal shocking ending.
Martin Campbell truly was the perfect choice for GoldenEye and I guess in the end EON was lucky on some things. Perfect casting decisions, perfect new crew members like Daniel Kleinman or Martin Campbell.
GoldenEye is the film where all the parts worked and the sum of all the parts is a pop-culture influencing film that has long become one of the defining films of the last decades.
It's quite difficult to put this film in a ranking if I tried to be as objective as I can.
-It's my personal No 1 film for all time.
The only other film that is more or less on the same level for me is Star Trek: First Contact (1996) and Batman (1989). And of course The Living Daylights.
I guess in the end GoldenEye does belong into a top five or maybe even top three of Bond films, objectively speaking.
Nothing outside the 60s does qualify though, to be at GoldenEye's side in a top five except TSWLM.
enjoy it. {[]
The movie has it own rhythm and each and every shot makes sense, was given some thought and looks good and cool.
One of the times the editing really shines is when Pierce walks into the shot and looks at the F355 in front of the casino.
It's a moment that could've been much duller if it were at the hands of just about any other director but somehow a stationary camera angle with some movement works.
Tracking shots are also masterfully done in the next scene with Pierce walking through the casino.
Side note: what the latter part of the Brosnan era lacks are good locations and GoldenEye's the only film that I liked all of its locations.
Compare that to the snooze-fest list of locations in TWINE.
Must
resist
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
There were still moments of greatness though, where I felt a sense of excitement just to be a Bond fan.
I particularly enjoy the PTS, sword fight and the car chase.
It was painful to watch the actors trying to deliver serious lines around Jinx while she seems to treat everything like a joke.
After she is saved (darn!) from the ice palace there is really nothing left worth watching as the cargo plane finale is a total loss. The only highlight is the brief clip of the exotic cars falling into the mud.
Brosnan's ends his reign as Bond with some of the lamest dialog ever. I wish they had given him at least one more film.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
Totally disagree with you on LTK but that's a struggle for another time. Will you ever do pros and cons on their respective threads?
Don't goad him. He'll just trot out his 'misty eyed/weepy ' shtick... :007) B-)
Considering that Pam openly mocked her saying that is pretty funny. I'd give the film +1 point for that.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK
I tend to use the Pros & Cons threads because I have trouble organising my thoughts into a formal essay style review, I prefer to just drop a jumble of random observations while they're fresh in my mind. That's the way my goofy brain works.
The problem with that format is it enforces value judgements to the random observations, which is not always appropriate. Some things just are.
It was merely a suggestion. I like your short reviews and whether I agree with them or not is besides the point.
You...do you. Keep up the good work!
I had to go back four pages and the first one I found was Tomorrow Never Dies.
https://www.ajb007.co.uk/topic/43350/tomorrow-never-dies-review/
For some reason the Pros & Cons threads have become more popular, they're often just general discussion.
Maybe I'm not the only one who's more comfortable just posting random thoughts? but I sure like reading formal reviews from people who can write them.
I think those Review threads were all last bumped by Jason, who contributed his usual high standard of enthusiastic colorful and well illustrated opinion pieces.
Lookit that one he wrote on TND: there's three GIFs in there!
It's a nuisance I can't remember things like this. But reading it, I kind of remember doing it, I think.
Anyway, I'll have to see what reviews I did in the past, because I was planning of doing reviews soon. But I shouldn't repeat myself.
I'm still only on GoldenEye. First and only Bond film I watched since waking up to my new life 2.0
But I'm probably going to watch another one later this week.
Dalton - the weak and weepy Bond!
Well I've got to watch Spectre first obviously, but for Brosnan and Dalton there's no chance in hell I'll ever not like them
I honestly think AVTAK is a great solid entry, even if it is the worst bond film in the 80's. Thought Zorin and May Day were two of the best and most memorable villains of the series, and Patrick McNee is great for the short time he is in it. The Silicon Valley plot and second half of the movie are quite suspenseful and exciting, but all that is ruined a lot by Roberts not being that good, Roger Moore's charm not being here (because he's too old) and mostly the stunt doubles - just shouts out lazy production by JOHN GLEN and the rest of the crew. I still like this movie more than LALD, TMWTGG and possibly MR, but not as much as the others.
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Lazenby 5. Craig 6. Brosnan
That's LTK
"Better make that two."
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Sorry, I meant to say "in my opinion". But yeah, I'd rank them as FYEO, TLD, LTK, OP and AVTAK.
1. Dalton 2. Moore 3. Connery 4. Lazenby 5. Craig 6. Brosnan
Nah, pretty much everything we write on here is our own opinions. Don't need an IMO after every sentence.
Maybe if you said "least favorite" instead of "worst" it wouldn't leave any room for debate.
My personal favorite 80's Bond film is AVTAK, but I can't consider it the best of the decade due to some of weak points.
1. GE 2. MR 3. OP 4. TMWTGG 5. TSWLM 6. TND 7. TWINE 8.DN 9. GF 10. AVTAK