Six years of Bond silence ended with Brosnan walking out of a shadow on a Russian weapons depot in 1986, and the nineties breathed a collective sigh of relief. GoldenEye asked what a Cold War spy does after the Cold War ends — and answered: drives a tank through St. Petersburg, apparently.
The plot
A Soviet weapons test site, a stolen attack helicopter, and GoldenEye — a satellite that fires an electromagnetic pulse capable of frying every circuit in a city. Behind it all: Alec Trevelyan, agent 006, presumed dead by MI6, very much alive and nursing a generational vendetta against Britain. The first film to give Bond a peer opponent: another double-0 who knows all his moves.
The villain
Sean Bean’s Trevelyan is personal — a friend betrayed, a mirror cracked. “I might as well ask you if all those vodka martinis ever silence the screams” is a line that cuts into the character rather than around him. The finale on the giant satellite dish, hanging by one hand over a drop, still rules.
The girls
Two this time, and both unforgettable in opposite registers. The girl of the night proper is Natalya Simonova — Izabella Scorupco as a programmer who survives the slaughter of her own station and keeps up with Bond by sheer competence and nerve. She’s the rare Bond girl who is useful in the plot and principled in her choices.
And then there’s Xenia Onatopp — Famke Janssen’s henchwoman who murders people with her thighs while visibly enjoying it. She is absurd, legendary, and easily the most quotable villain-adjacent presence of the Brosnan era.
The verdict
Also this film gave us the best video game ever made, and this dossier does not grade video games, but it’s worth noting. Brosnan’s best outing, full stop.
Filed: 4.5/5 — for Queen and country, one more martini.