Project Bond: GoldenEye

Another film, another new actor. Timothy Dalton’s two-film reign as Bond came to an end after a copyright dispute caused a six-year gap between two films, the longest yet in the Bond franchise. By the time they were ready to make another, Dalton’s contract had expired, and he did not want to continue in the role. The lead was then offered to Pierce Brosnan, who had been considered before, and indeed offered the job ahead of Dalton last time. My first impression: he’s not bad at all.

The delay in starting this film seems to have prompted some major changes behind the scenes, with some updates to the MI6 office, and a more modern feel to the film overall, with CGI used for the first time. The role of M has been recast, with Judi Dench taking over, and one of her first acts is to call Bond on his misogynistic bullshit. Moneypenny, now played by Samantha Bond, also has a word with him about his stringing her along, so it was nice of the series to move into the 20th century just as the rest of us were preparing to leave it. This film also offers our first view of post-Cold War Bond, so there might be a reduction in the over-the-top Russian accents and stereotypes (although not if Robbie Coltrane and Alan Cumming have anything to say about it).

The film opens with Bond and his best pal Alec Trevelyan (AKA 006, AKA Sean Bean) being captured by some Russians. Trevelyan tells Bond to get out of there and blow the place up, which had been the plan all along, although he hadn’t bargained on killing his best pal. Still, his loyalty is to the mission, not his pals, so off he goes. Nine years later, though, he’s still awfy sad about it, so M cheers him up by sending him off to investigate Xenia Onatopp of the Janus crime syndicate.

Skip to the middle: turns out Sean Bean is still alive, which was hardly a surprise, even though he dies in everything; he’s too big a deal to die before the opening credits. He was mega angry because Britain killed his mum and dad, so he faked his death and formed a crime syndicate to rob the Bank of England.

There follows some pretty decent action stuff, including a tank chase, shot-down helicopters, and a big burning train. Bond eventually gets the better of his old pal by dropping him a few hundred feet into a satellite dish, where he dies again.

I quite liked this one; Brosnan did a decent job, and Sean Bean is always good value. Plot-wise, it was nice to see real world events taken into account, and a bit of modernisation as well. This is, for obvious reasons, the best-looking of the Bond films so far, and I expect further improvements will follow.