Review of GoldenEye: Special Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

GoldenEye is Pierce Brosnan’s debut Bond film and I remember seeing the teaser trailers and posters and eagerly awaiting the cinema release – and enjoying the film immensely when I finally saw it on the big screen.

This DVD is the second appearance of GoldenEye on DVD in Region 2, causing a great deal of annoyance to people like myself who already own the original release but wanted to have a full-set of the “special editions”.

Despite world politics having moved on somewhat from time of the previous Bond movie, the film still features the usual Bond elements – a stunning opening sequence that really announced that Bond was back, great locations, some crazy stunts and of course some rather attractive women. The GoldenEye is a Russian space-based weapon that is hijacked and Bond of course is given the assignment of saving the world...

Video

Video comes in 2.35:1 anamorphic widescreen and is very crisp and stable throughout the film with no visual problems in evidence.

Bond films are usually visually spectacular and this is no exception with the opening dam jump sequence beautifully shot giving the viewer a great sense of scale. Other scenes of note include the tank-chase and the final showdown.

There are of course plenty of special effects and most look very good. My only grumble is that a couple of shots of an aircraft crashing at the Siberian outpost clearly look like models. Back-projection in GoldenEye is very good, unlike many other Bond movies!

Audio

The sound is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1 and is of very good quality throughout the movie.

All channels are used to good effect, with music, effects and atmospheric sound filling the soundstage. The dialogue is clear and understandable at all times.

My biggest complaint with GoldenEye is the music, which is quite frankly drivel. I hadn’t really noticed it before, but it doesn’t suit the film at all and is nowhere near the standard of David Arnold’s scores in the next two movies. To be honest, the poor music spoiled my enjoyment of the film.

Features

As usual, there are a good number of extra features for Bond fans to drool over. These include an audio commentary from the Director Martin Campbell and Producer Michael G Wilson, a “The GoldenEye Video Journal” featurette, “The World of 007 Documentary” which is presented by Liz Hurley (and being made for American TV has plenty of advert break “stay with me, fade, welcome back” moments which is annoying, Tina Turner’s music video, a “promotional featurette”, trailers and TV ads.

The main documentary is interesting but not in the same league as the ones on previous releases, which is a shame, considering that I’ve bought the film twice! Overall, the extras are a little disappointing and not as good as I had hoped.

The film comes in a black Amaray case which also houses the excellent booklet.

Conclusion

I watched The Rock (Criterion 2 disc edition) the night before I watched GoldenEye. This was probably a mistake, as almost every aspect of The Rock is more satisfying and it shows up GoldenEye’s many weaknesses. Brosnan is great as Bond, and the two Bond Girls look great and play their parts well, but aside from the great set-piece stunts, there’s very little substance to the film. In fact, some scenes are painfully tedious – for example the opening scene within the Siberian complex with Boris setting off “spike”, and Bonds first meeting with Robbie Coltrane (which also features Minnie Driver in the most cringeworthy role in her career!).

Visually GoldenEye is great, but the feeble score lets the film down badly, particularly during some of the lulls where it just adds to the tedium.

The extras are good enough, but sadly not as good as the ones we’ve had in the rest of the series, and not worth buying the film again for. In fact, the only reason to get the “special edition” is to complete the 007 logo on your DVD shelf.

Overall, GoldenEye hasn’t stood the test of time as well as most other Bonds and as an avid Bond fan, I’m sad to say that it really disappointed me this time around.