Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Goldeneye (1995)

I'm not quite sure how I missed this movie. Could it be that the only time I've ever fallen asleep in a movie theater was while watching the opening of Brosnan's 007 in Die Another Day (2002)? I guess that came after this one, but you can understand why I wasn't in a hurry to rent this one. If this wasn't part of my Famke-Film-Extravaganza (FFE) I wouldn't have watched it now. No disrespect meant to Mr. Brosnan whom I actually liked as Bond, but once Daniel Craig came along with Casino Royale, none of teh earlier Bonds did anything for me. To be honest, I don't mind the Brosnan or the Timothy Dalton Bonds now, it is just they are more comic booky than I like in a spy film, which is kind of ironic coming from me. I don't think you could pay me enough money to sit through a Roger Moore Bond film and the only way I would put myself through a Sean Connery Bond flick is if I had the right motivation, like a bunch of martinis and a pretty lady.
Speaking of Sean, Sean Bean is the bad guy in this movie. It's nice to look back and see what he was doing pre-Lord of the Rings, much in the same way it's fun to see what Famke was doing when she wasn't playing Jean Grey. I know I've said this before, but he needs to get his named worked out. It needs to be either pronounced "Shon Bon" (like a bon-bon but more rugged) or as "Seen Bean" as in, "Have you seen my grean bean?" This having it both ways is a little too much to ask.
Famke's character Onatop was, um, interesting. She was pretty much the main bad ass in the film. And if someone is going to kill you, being crushed to death by her thighs would not be the worst way to go. Onatop didn't seem to have the most consistent accent throughout the flick and I'm going to blame that on how much make-up she was wearing. I knew that Fameke was playing Onatop going in, but she was young enough and wearing enough make-up that it was a couple of minutes before I recognized her.
Judi Dench was great as M. I don't think I had realized just how long she had been playing the character. Or, that 20 years ago she looks almost exactly like she does now, perhaps a bit more white where she was grey, but alarmist exactly the same.
This was an okay film. Not a ringing endorsement, I know. But, as far as pre-Craig Bond movies go, it was pretty good. You can actually see that they've taken Bond away from the Mooreian Bond and ahd started the slide towards the Craigsian Bond.

Goldeneye at IMDb

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