Classic 90s Movie: “GoldenEye”
May is Classic 90s Movie month. Today’s guest post comes from Jon Stark.
Movie Title: Golden Eye
Year: 1995
Writers: Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein penned the screenplay. Story by Michael France based, naturally, on the characters of Ian Fleming
Lead Actors: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, and Judi Dench. Since it’s Bond, we should include Izabella Scorupco and Famke Janssen, too.
Director: Martin Campbell (who returned for 2006’s Casino Royale, another series ground breaker).
IMDB Plot Summary: When a deadly satellite weapon system falls into the wrong hands, only Agent 007 can save the world from certain disaster. Armed with his license to kill, Bond races to Russia in search of the stolen access codes for “Goldeneye,” an awesome space weapon that can fire a devastating electromagnetic pulse toward Earth. But 007 is up against an enemy who anticipates his every move: a mastermind motivated by years of simmering hatred. Bond also squares off against Xenia Onatopp, an assassin who uses pleasure as her ultimate weapon.
Why I Think This Is A Classic 90s Movies: GoldenEye made Bond fun again. Things had gotten both too serious and over-the-top with License to Kill and the series needed a reset. This film had all of the classic elements without the baggage. Brosnan brought a fresh face that mixed old and new seamlessly — “Bond, James Bond” was delivered flawlessly in a Monte Carlo casino. Cliché? Of course. But the best kind.
The film captured the brave new world of the 90s — enemies without national allegiance, a more open Russia (they actually filmed in St. Petersburg), and bungee jumping. The production quality and story were on par with honest blockbusters. It was a Bond film, but it didn’t need Bond to work and held its own against Mission Impossible.
GoldenEye isn’t my favorite Bond film of all time, but in 1995 I sat in a theater covered with goose bumps when Tina Turner started to sing and when the ending credits rolled I hadn’t been disappointed.
My Favorite Moment In The Movie: I doubt there’s another scene in the film that comes close to the in-theater WOW of the St. Petersburg tank chase.
Full disclaimer: My actual personal favorite moment is when everyone is gathered in the operations center watching the air strike and Bond comments on the real-time imagery. M retorts that, “Unlike the American government, we prefer not to get our bad news from CNN.” I spent a few years of my youth as an intelligence analyst for the U.S. Air Force and relied on CNN extensively for my briefing products. That was capital ‘H’ hilarious to me.
My Favorite Dialogue In the Movie: Of all the dialogue, I believe that the first meeting between Bond and M is the most spectacular. Its subtext carries into every subsequent film with Dame Judi even as the character of Bond transitioned between Brosnan and Craig.
M: You don’t like me, Bond. You don’t like my methods. You think I’m an accountant, a bean counter more interested in my numbers than your instincts.
James Bond: The thought had occurred to me.
M: Good, because I think you’re a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though wasted on me, obviously appealed to that young woman I sent out to evaluate you.
James Bond: Point taken.
Key Things You Should Look For When Watching This Movie
How Brosnan plays Bond so much better than Dalton. Okay, that was cheap. But notice it anyway.
My boys and I love to count the pen clicks and they still say, “I am invincible” any chance they can including Nerf gun fights, Call of Duty matches, and riding skate boards.
As aspiring screenwriters, we should also note how the film follows classic Bond structure and includes all of the tropes — exotic cars, insane villains, globetrotting, gadgets — but manages to keep them all fresh. Same but different. Watching this film is like catching up with an old friend.
Thanks, Jon! To show our gratitude for your guest post, here’s a dash of creative juju for you. Whoosh!
We already have a set of 80s Movies. This month we cover 90s movies. So thanks to all of you for your participation in this project, creating a resource for writers, movies they should watch to help learn the craft of screenwriting!
Comment Archive