By the mid-1990s, James Bond was hardly the cinematic powerhouse he once had been. In fact, due to legal disputes, it had been six years since the last James Bond movie, which was an eternity at the time for a franchise that had regularly delivered new installments every year or two since 1962.
Though hardly a box office bomb — it made $156.1 million worldwide on a budget of $32 million — the previous Bond film, 1989’s License to Kill, exemplified the tired, going-through-the-motions feeling the series had developed by then. Its attempt at a slightly darker and edgier Bond hadn’t worked at the time, and it couldn’t help that it also ran in the midst of a jam-packed summer surrounded by a ton of blockbuster crowd-pleasers. At the US box office, it had the indignity of opening in fourth place behind not just Lethal Weapon 2 (which opened the same week) but Batman and Honey, I Shrunk the Kids, the latter two of which had already been in theaters for a couple of weeks each by that point.
All of which is to say that, coming back from this longer-than-usual break, GoldenEye had something to prove when it hit theaters on November 17, 1995. And yet 30 years later, it’s clear it met that challenge in a big way, opening to great numbers — yes, it was easily number one at the box office this time — and also highly positive critical and audience reaction, with crowds actively cheering on Bond in a way they hadn’t in quite some time.
So what made GoldenEye a successful franchise reboot? Let’s look at what went right for the 17th film in the official James Bond series.
Acknowledging the World Had Changed
In the real world, a massive global upheaval had occurred since License to Kill was released that would clearly affect the globetrotting spy escapades of James Bond. This included the dissolution of one of his go-to enemies, the Soviet Union, in the early ’90s, effectively ending the Cold War aspects that loomed over the franchise. GoldenEye wisely leaned into this right from the start, with a prologue showing a younger Bond taking on the Soviets, only for the opening credits to vividly depict the Soviet Union collapsing in classic Bond-credit manner (which is to say, there’s also a lot of slinky, shadowy, beautiful women included). Much of the story would then involve the paths various Russian characters took after the Soviet Union ceased to exist, whether heroic, villainous, or something in between.
And then there was the matter of James Bond himself and shifting perceptions of how a movie hero should operate in the 1990s, compared to his exploits beginning in the 1960s. In one of her first scenes in the series, Bond’s boss, the new M (Judi Dench), declares to Bond, “I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War.” Notably, this scene was featured heavily in the film’s marketing, as it helped let the audience know that the people behind the franchise were well aware of how Bond could feel out of touch by this point, and that they wouldn’t ignore those traits or the accompanying negativity they might evoke under a more modern lens.
This aspect also lent the film a bit of a self-aware tone, but fortunately, it didn’t overtake it, because GoldenEye was also…
“Ready to save the world again?” 006/Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) casually asks Bond in GoldenEye’s prologue, a cheeky line that humorously reflects just how much world-saving style exploits James Bond had throughout his previous appearances. It’s one of several such touches Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein brought to their screenplay for the film, which incorporates winking nods to the past that let the audience know the filmmakers are well aware of Bond clichés and tropes and can have some fun with them. This includes his requisite flirtation with Moneypenny (Samantha Bond), who’s come across more direct with Bond than in previous films, flat-out telling him, “Some day you have to make good on your innuendos.”
But wisely, the movie doesn’t have too much fun of this sort, since GoldenEye thankfully never moves into full self-parody or satire in a way that would undercut the film’s drama. It simply acknowledges that people are familiar with these films and how they’ve worked in the past, and that we’re all on a mutual footing going in.
The Right Bond for the Right Time
After years of the often overly silly, sometimes outright campy exploits of the Roger Moore era, a change was needed. However, it was likely too extreme a shift into the far more serious, grounded vibe Timothy Dalton innately brought to the role in his two 007 films in the late 1980s. Today, the talented Dalton is rightly praised as ahead of his time, resembling Daniel Craig’s grounded take on Bond more than any of his predecessors, though his two films ultimately failed to resonate.
Pierce Brosnan’s history with Bond and how close he came to being cast as the character in the 1980s, instead of Dalton (were it not for his commitment to the TV show Remington Steele), is well documented. But it ultimately felt like Brosnan got the role when it was best suited for him and for the franchise. After all, The Living Daylights and License to Kill weren’t Bond at his best, even if Brosnan’s charisma might have helped elevate them. But with GoldenEye, he debuted his Bond in an especially fun and exciting chapter that also let him shine.
His Bond was still playful, charming, and, yes, flirty as hell, but he also could shift into a more serious, intense place when the story called for it. His sense of humor and snark in the face of danger feels like a clever way to disorient his enemies in the manner of Spider-Man, rather than the default setting it could be with Moore. We believe this guy is a badass spy who can be goofy at times, rather than a goofy guy who is competent in a fight.
Brosnan’s Bond feels cool, charming, charismatic, and, crucially, like an action hero of the modern world (well, the then-modern world of 1995), even while M notes he’s got some old-fashioned aspects he might want to take stock of as well. Oh, and it didn’t hurt that the handsome and debonair Brosnan looked great running around in a suit while shooting an AKS-74U or even driving a freaking tank down a city street.
It’s a Great Action Movie!
Of course, a major reason GoldenEye was so successful was the talent of its director, Martin Campbell. Having previously worked as an editor and second-unit director, John Glen went on to direct all five Bond films of the 1980s. While competent, his work often felt constrained by a formula that left little room for a distinctive spark. Campbell gave the franchise adrenaline it had long been lacking, bringing far more energy to the proceedings than had been standard for 007 for quite a while. Bond’s death-defying feats, whether he was bungee jumping off a massive dam or smashing that aforementioned tank through the streets, were exciting, clever, and dynamic.
On top of that, Campbell was able to bring a real spark to the character interactions throughout the film, assembling an especially excellent cast to make it all shine, including not only the likes of Brosnan, Bean and Dench — the latter of whom would be so well received, she’d continue into the complete continuity reboot that was the Daniel Craig era — but also the film’s Bond girls, Izabella Scorupco and Famke Janssen, plus a terrific collection of supporting performances from the likes of Joe Don Baker, Robbie Coltrane and Alan Cumming. All that, plus a funny cameo by Minnie Driver as a notably bad Russian singer! What’s not to like?
Oh, and the Theme Song Delivers
The epicness of Duran Duran’s terrific “A View to a Kill” aside, the 1980s were also a fairly lackluster decade for James Bond movie theme songs, like the films they were recorded for. Apologies to A-ha, but “The Living Daylights” was no “Take On Me!” That being the case, it’s worth noting that GoldenEye arrived with a terrific Bond song, sung by the legendary Tina Turner and written by U2’s Bono and The Edge. The best Bond songs are ones you can legitimately enjoy singing along to, and “GoldenEye” is absolutely just that. Seriously, play that sucker right now and be entranced by how catchy it is.
“Goldeneye, I found his weakness! Goldeneye, he’ll do what I please! Goldeneye, no time for sweetness! But a bitter kiss will bring him to his knees!”
Over the next decade, Pierce Brosnan would go on to star in four Bond films in total, all of which were box office hits, though none of the others were as strong overall as GoldenEye. But not only did his first movie as 007 finally let audiences see for themselves how great Brosnan was as Bond, it also let old and new fans alike know just how good a Bond movie could be again. No doubt this helped sell tickets for each subsequent installment, because it was hard not to keep the hope alive that maybe, just maybe, they’d deliver another GoldenEye again.
For England, James!
GoldenEye is available to stream on Prime Video and Pluto TV.
- Release Date
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November 16, 1995
- Runtime
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130 minutes
- Writers
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Ian Fleming, Michael France, Jeffrey Caine, Bruce Feirstein