Review of GoldenEye: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

James Bond 007 played by Pierce Brosnan in this adventure witnesses the death of a fellow agent and friend during a mission to destroy a chemical weapons factory. Upon escaping and years after he finds out that a top secret satellite weapon codenamed Goldeneye has been stolen and the crime covered up professionally. With another satellite in orbit the Goldeneye can be used for terrorist use yet again and it is up to Bond to find the Goldeneye and who took it and what they plan to do next. Along the way he gathers Natalya Simonova a second level programmer from space division in Severnaya; which is where the Goldeneye was stolen from and the witnesses slaughtered except for her. He also pays a visit to an ex KGB member named Valentin Zukovsky in order to get information on the Yanos syndicate, the possible favorites behind the crime.
His mission leads him finally to Cuba where he finds out that London is the next target and the man responsible, Alec Trevelyan his friend.

Video

The picture is in anamorphic widescreen 2.35:1, the picture is very clean and clear with no grainy bits, dropouts or flecks of any sorts and has a bright resolution to it. The opening credits are put together well and has Tina Turner’s ‘Goldeneye’ theme playing over them, the movie has some brilliant widescreen shots included starting with the opening scene on top of the damn near the Arkangel chemical factory, these shots really do show off the scale and height.
On par with the various widescreen shots are the numerous excellent sets and locations used, the harbor scenes are bright and vast and under the gloom of darkness the graveyard of statues looks eerie and sinister and makes a suitable scene for 007 and his enemy. Even the small confines of a cell for Bond and Natalya looks effective; light floods through small windows into the gloom but no detail is lost. During the drive in the Caribbean inside the BMW Z3 the scenery is bright and exotic, a lovely contrast between the cold St. Petersburg or London and makes Bond look more along the lines of Thomas Crown in the movie, ‘The Thomas Crown Affair’ utilizing his casual look. The interior set design for the Cuba firing control room is very technical but office looking too, screens and multi level structures give off this look, the hidden radar is also just as impressive.
Top marks go also to the filming of Goldeneye and the techniques and angles used, there is some good front bumper cam shots on the car chase scene through the winding roads against the Ferrari. The tank chase is definitely one vehicle 007 has never driven in other previous adventures especially in this way, it’s fun to watch the destruction he causes shifting through the streets and traffic after one car and taking a quarter of most buildings with him! Bottom marks for the plane stunt at the start, even an avid 007 fan like myself have to shake my head at the far fetched stunt presented in this scene, he blindly just throws himself at the plane not even thinking of failure or death, any human would probably and naturally not even attempt that! This part was too ‘superhero’ like which Bond is not.
The special effects and model work is highly rated, the electrical charges and explosions during the destruction of Severnaya are all detailed and realistic. The optical effects during the radar fight and hanging are to a good standard but still can be spotted, better than the earlier 007 adventures obviously. The advantage of the region 1 versions is that you do get the fully uncut movie; during Goldeneye 2 scenes have been cut down to my knowledge the first is in the jungle where Xenia drops down from the helicopter to deal with Bond and Natalya, and is when she delivers a crucial head butt to Natalya while fending off 007; the second being in one of the most realistic and best fight scenes in a James Bond movie I’ve known, and is between 007 and 006 in the closing scenes. Once again intact with a head butt the fight is very rough looking like a street fight, different weapons are used and you can feel every blow I’m surprised the whole scene wasn’t cut.

Audio

The audio track for Goldeneye is Dolby Digital 5.1 and features clear sound effects some using the rear speakers, controlled sub woofer and appropriate music to match the scenes. The dialogue is clear and even from the Russian characters, rear surround effects can be heard during the opening credits sequence containing Tina Turner’s tune and the bullet firing and exploding, good use also in the interior shots of the Arkangel chemical factory at the beginning. Listen also to the rear speaker effects during the fly over of the allied jets; they produce some good sub also so crank up your system for optimal realism!
The sub effects are used well in the scenes when the tiger helicopter lands in Severnaya and emphasis on all explosions. The sound effects are of a good quality also, the engines of the Aston Martin and Ferrari sound great on the chase scene, all the 007 gadgets used are clear as are all machine guns and other weapons.
As stated earlier the music score in this movie goes well with the scenes and Russian theme but still being Bond like. There are some tense moments in the music when Bond is doing his usual creeping around and has say just one solo instrument playing or percussion triangle. More bass is added to the louder action scenes or 007 themes hidden with in the score, there are smooth moving strings in the tune during the casino and a more spooky approach during the statue graveyard scene and featuring some low male chorus for effect. The music inside the church where Natalya waits around is a suspenseful tune that matches the panic of the scene well. I noticed some slight speaker distortion that was only a minor glitch and it is during the scene at the end when Boris is covered by exploding canisters, maybe the loudness is just a little too much!

Features

Upon activation the menu presents a globe in the centre of the screen and surrounded by a metallic device, a montage of movie sequences loop over in a filtered blue color to the left and right of the globe. You can choose from play, special featured, scene selection and languages. Under languages you can choose from French or English spoken and subtitles, sound effects from the movie and samples of audio speech can be heard and the Goldeneye suite theme also plays over.
In the special features there is a movie audio commentary, a ‘Goldeneye video journal’ which is the making of and lasts about 14 mins, there is also a documentary called ‘The World of 007’ hosted by Elizabeth Hurley and runs about 45 mins. There are 2 trailers, 12 TV spots, a promotional featurette that lasts about 5 mins and even Tina Turner’s Goldeneye music video is included plus the game trailer for ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ on Playstation. All features are presented on nice backdrops similar in design to the main menu.

Conclusion

Pierce Brosnan does a superb job of James Bond in this first outing and fits the role well, Famke Janssen who plays Xenia looks quite hot during the casino scenes and it’s hard to believe that a lass with a nice accent and funny name was a baddie! She also looks the part in the seductive bedroom scene on board the Admiral’s boat. Ooh missus! Alan Cummings who plays Boris the hacker has a comical approach to his character but also is big headed and rough looking; Jack Wade also adds a down to Earth humor to his character. I prefer the look of Valentin Zukovsky in Goldeneye better than in ‘The World Is Not Enough’, he seems more of a menace in this one and has the connections where as in TWINE he seems a bit softer and not serious enough.
As usual Bond’s enemy which in this case is 006 had many, many easy opportunities to kill him off, but as usual the villain does too much talking as stated in the movie ‘The Last Action Hero’, where as Bond just drops him after a few words during the radar scene. Apart from this and the tongue in cheek plane stunt, Goldeneye is a cracking James Bond 007 movie and is of a high standard especially the uncut region 1 version.