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Cinematic Tag


GoldenEye (BW Small) FilmNovelisationComicGamesSoundtrackSongCharactersReleases


Dimitri Mishkin: "Good morning, Mr. Bond. Sit. I'm Defense Minister Dimitri Mishkin. So, by what means shall we execute you, Commander Bond?"
James Bond: "What, no small-talk? No chit-chat? That's the trouble with the world these days, no one takes the time to do a really sinister interrogation anymore. It's a lost art."
―James Bond and Dimitri Mishkin.

GoldenEye is the seventeenth James Bond film and the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Ian Fleming's British secret service agent, James Bond. Made by Albert R. Broccoli's EON Productions (though listed as "Albert R. Broccoli presents") it was the second official James Bond film not produced by Broccoli (although oversaw the film as Consulting Producer) himself. While undergoing heart surgery, Broccoli entrusted the making of the film and the forthcoming generation of James Bond films to his daughter Barbara Broccoli and stepson Michael G. Wilson, both of whom had been executive producers of previous James Bond films. GoldenEye was released in 1995 and was directed by Martin Campbell. Campbell also directed 2006's Bond film Casino Royale.

GoldenEye is considered an important film in the Bond series in that it was successful in reviving interest in a character that many critics had suggested had become an anachronism in the post-Cold War world.

The previous film, Licence to Kill, had been released in June 1989, before the fall of the Berlin Wall. Although it was financially successful and critically acclaimed, it was not as popular as previous Bond films, suggesting interest in the series was waning at that point.

Judi Dench, the newly cast M, describes Bond as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War." This unusual candour, combined with a generally well-received performance by Brosnan as the new James Bond, helped to revitalize the franchise replacing Robert Brown. The role of Miss Moneypenny was also recast with Samantha Bond replacing Caroline Bliss and Desmond Llewelyn was the only actor to reprise the role of Q.

Plot summary

File:Bond and Trevelyan.jpg

Bond and Trevelyan infiltrate the chemical weapons plant.

Arkhangelsk

The story starts in 1986, in the Soviet Union. British secret agent James Bond and his fellow 00 agent and friend, Alec Trevelyan (006), have infiltrated a secret Soviet chemical weapons production plant with the intention of blowing it up via bombs. After finding their target, a large room filled with canisters that contain chemicals, James begins to plant the charges while Alec holds off the facility's guards. Alec is then suddenly captured by a ruthless Soviet colonel, Ourumov, who then orders Bond to surrender by pointing a gun to Alec's head. Alec tells Bond to "finish the job", to which Bond resets the charge timers from six minutes to three and walks out to surrender. Ourumov counts ten seconds for Bond to comply, as Bond does so, Ourumov executes Alec with a shot to the head when Alec tries to call out to Bond. Bond retreats to his hiding spot just as Ourumov's men fire. Ourumov stops and warns them any further gunfire will kill them since the place is filled with gas tanks, just as he calls out to Bond again. Thinking fast, Bond quickly takes cover behind a cart of chemical canisters and moves towards a cargo conveyor belt that leads outside. A nervous guard is killed by Ourumov when he shoots at Bond from the tension. Activating the conveyor belt, Bond is able to escape on it and shoots out the locks holding hundreds of other canisters which collapse on Ourumov's men. Outside the facility, a plane is taking off and Bond attempts to hitch a ride to safety. Ourumov sends troops out, together with motorcycling scouts. Bond manages to chase after the plane, but in a wrestle for control of the plane pulls himself and the pilot out. Knocking the pilot in the path of a motorcycle scout resulting in both killed in the collision, Bond uses the motorcycle to chase after the unmanned plane, heading to the cliff edge. Ourumov halts his men realizing Bond seems to be after an apparent suicide. With the plane and him falling off the edge, Bond dives for the cockpit. He successfully regains control of the plane and flies off as the chemical compound explodes.

Monaco

Nine years later, Bond is driving in the mountains near Monaco with a female psychiatrist from MI6 in his signature Aston Martin DB5. She is assigned to evaluate his mental state, but nervously notices he is driving very fast. Bond drives down a mountain road and becomes involved in a dangerous race with a beautiful woman in a Ferrari. The two drivers agree to a race, resulting in a bike entourage all falling down and a near collision with an oncoming tractor. After a while, the psychiatrist, citing Bond's reckless nature, demands that he halt the game. Bond does so by pulling the handbrake, then comforts her. He reveals there is some expensive wine in the car's storage, then kisses the psychiatrist.

Xenia Monte Carlo

Xenia Onatopp in casino of Montecarlo

Bond heads over to a casino, where he notices the girl in the car is there as well from the presence of her parked car. Seeing it is a stolen model Bond heads over to where she is. He plays and wins a game of Chemin de Fer against the girl. Finally losing after a winning streak, she gets outraged and storms off. Bond follows her and introduces himself, she likewise does the same revealing herself as Xenia Onatopp. Bond tries to warn her of driving a stolen car, but she tells him she knows a man in motoring business. She then proceeds to retire for the night with a Canadian Naval Admiral. After she leaves, Bond remotely observes her from afar, noting she and the Admiral are staying at a yacht where he photographs her and the yacht's launch-boat model. Bond learns, with the help of Miss Moneypenny on his car's radio transmitter that she belongs to crime syndicate "Janus" which operates out of St. Petersburg and M authorizes him to follow her. That night, Onatopp murders the admiral during sex by suffocating him by crushing his chest between her thighs. Just as she does so, a mysterious hand steals the admiral's identity card. The next morning, Bond proceeds to investigate the admiral's yacht, finding him dead in the closet. He then rushes to an aircraft carrier which is holding a military demonstration of the Eurocopter, a helicopter capable of withstanding electromagnetic shocks. It is being taken by Onatopp and a mysterious figure, who, moments before, killed both pilots and assumed their identities. Arriving too late, Bond is arrested when he tries to stop the theft and watches helplessly as Xenia and her co-pilot fly away.

Severnaya

In Siberia, at Severnaya, at a Russian satellite underground, Natalya Simonova does her usual rounds of programming just as her co-worker, Boris Grishenko reveals his hacking plans, self-proclaiming he is a genius. Natalya heads for some coffee as Boris heads outside for a cigarette. However, his smoke break is disrupted by the landing of the Eurocopter, housing General Ourumov and Onatopp as they land. Heading over to the facility for a surprise inspection, within the facility lies the new satellite weapons system called GoldenEye. Ourumov orders the commanding officer to hand over the activation keys and control disk for GoldenEye just as Onatopp opens fire on everyone working at the facility (as she kills, she shows signs of sexual excitement). Onatopp and Ourumov then activate the GoldenEye satellite, which contains a nuclear warhead capable of delivering an electromagnetic pulse (EMP). They decide to test the weapon, targeting Severnaya. Unknown however to Onatopp and Ourumov, Natalya wasn't in the room when the others were murdered. Natalya inadvertently blows her cover, signalling Onatopp to check. Just then, a barely alive technician activates an SOS alarm to which Onatopp shoots. Calculating that the military will be too late to respond, Ourumov suggests they leave at once. Onatopp heads for the pantry where Natalya was and finds the air conditioning grating loose. She fires at it but realizes nothing is there. Ourumov and Onatopp escape in the Eurocopter, just as Natalya crawls out of the cupboard under the counter where she hid from Onatopp in the pantry. Three Russian fighters are dispatched to the scene, called by the SOS. Natalya surveys the dead, before realizing the GoldenEye sets off it's EMP blast (noting the main screen's countdown). The facility has all its electronics exploding just as Natalya daftly runs for cover. The fighters are also affected by the blast, two are destroyed as their electronics fail and likewise self-destruct. The last one crashes directly into the facility's foundations, causing the radar dish above to collapse. Natalya is nearly killed from all the explosions but survives. She tries to escape from the facility but all the electronics are dead, trapping her. The weight of the radar dish, however, plunges down from above, giving Natalya a way out of the facility. She climbs out of the underground facility with the help of the girders and tries to find Boris whom she thought was outside.

At MI6 headquarters, in an observation room, Bond talks with Bill Tanner, a specialist, who tells him they found the missing Eurocopter at Severnaya by satellite imagery. M enters, just as Bill finishes briefing Bond. All three witness the total disruption of images and electronics in the region resulting from the GoldenEye EMP blast, but are shocked by the sudden blackout of imagery. As their systems are rebooted and Bill informing them it indeed was an EMP blast. On a screen, Bond spots a survivor crawling away. It is Natalya, and she manages to find a fallen dog-sledder whose ride is still intact. Realizing she is alive and could be a lead, Bond tells M that Natalya could know more. In M's office, Bond is further briefed about the GoldenEye, which leads to data on Ourumov who has been recently promoted to General. Following a brief and tense conversation where M senses Bond doesn't trust her judgement, she tells him he is a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and a "relic of the Cold War". She however orders him to go St. Petersburg to investigate the connections between the GoldenEye weapons system (possibly finding Natalya), Ourumov and a mysterious Russian crime syndicate Janus. She also warns him to complete his mission and not to focus on revenge on Ourumov for 006's murder. Bond drops by Q's lab and is given a wristwatch with a laser, a belt loaded with a cable that can support his weight and a ballpoint pen which doubles as a grenade when clicked three times. Bond is also shown his new car, a BMW Z3 which Q reminds Bond he is "not to break the traffic law" with it despite it being fully loaded with the essentials.

St. Petersburg

Ourumov meets with Russia's defence council, headed by Defense Minister Mishkin, in a hearing about Severnaya. Ourumov reports that he investigated the matter and deduces the attack being done by Siberian separatists, he then states his resignation which shocks the council. Mishkin however rebukes him and tells him of their actual findings of two survivors from the attack at Severnaya. Ourumov states he knows about only one survivor, Boris who was captured by him and Onatopp earlier, now labelled missing. However, he didn't realize that Natalya had survived the blast and Mishkin updates him on it. Ourumov states he will look into the matter himself, before leaving. Natalya makes it to St. Petersburg, knowing she is being wanted by the authorities. She makes her way to a computer station, borrowing its system to contact Boris whom she deduced is out there somewhere. Managing to get in contact with Boris, Natalya revealed all she knew about the attack. Boris, now working for Onatopp and Ourumov, upon knowing Natalya is alive summons her to a chapel via email to which she meets him there. When Natalya reaches, she is promptly captured by Boris and Onatopp.

Bond arrives at St. Petersburg airport and proceeds to meet his CIA contact, Jack Wade. Wade tells him that nobody knows about Janus except an old KGB agent Zukovsky who is one of Janus' business rivals. Wade agrees to take Bond to the hideout of Valentin Zukovsky, whom Bond had wounded and given a permanent limp years before (Bond had also stolen Zukovsky's woman). Given Zukovsky is the only known connection of meeting the leader of Janus, Bond is eager to meet him. Zukovsky is still quite bitter about his wounded leg though, nearly shooting Bond but agrees to aid Bond when offered a bribe and explosives. Zukovsky also gives Bond a bit of history about Janus' leader; who is the child of Lienz Cossack parents whose tribe had worked with the Nazis during The Second World War and were given refuge by the British government. However, they were betrayed by the British and remanded back to USSR where they were all executed under orders from Stalin. Bond wants Zukovsky to set him up with a meeting of Janus, to which Zukovsky agrees, now satisfied him and Bond are even.

Goldeneye - Trevelyan reveals himself

Trevelyan reveals himself to Bond.

At his hotel's pool and steam room, Bond meets Onatopp herself, who tries to kill Bond. The two start fighting, with the combat being sexually exciting to Onatopp. Bond refuses to be seduced or injured and after a struggle, trains his pistol on her and orders her to take him to Janus. Onatopp then drives Bond to a graveyard of old Russian political figures, stating he will find his target there. Bond knocks Onatopp unconscious and walks out to meet Janus. As Bond stands alone in the graveyard, a figure appears and greets him. Natural re-flexing, Bond points his gun towards the figure. The figure walks towards Bond, and comes out of the shadows, revealing to his amazement that he is his old friend Alec Trevelyan, alive and well, with his right side of the face scarred because of the explosives nine years earlier that Bond had set to three minutes instead of six. He took the name "Janus" as a reference to the two-faced Roman god. Trevelyan explains his origin to Bond how his parents escaped Stalin's execution of their people and fled to England but later killed themselves because of the shame. Closing their conversation, Bond attempts to shoot Alec but gets shot in the neck with a tranquillizer dart. Awakened by Natalya screaming in the backseat, Bond wakes up in the pilot's seat of the Eurocopter. It has been programmed to fire its rockets at itself, to which Bond tries to override by activating the Eurocopter's engines. Too late to stop the firing sequence, Bond is able to hit the emergency eject button at the last second with his head and the two are ejected away from the blast. Bond frees them both and they are almost immediately arrested by the Russian army and both are taken to a holding center in St. Petersburg.

Archives

Bond protecting Natalya at the St. Petersburg archives.

While waiting to be questioned, Bond tells Natalya that he is aware of her role in Severnaya who she is, by pointing out that her watch is permanently stopped which is a sign of the EMP that destroyed Severnaya. Initially denying, she proceeds to tell him she knows little else besides Ourumov's theft of the GoldenEye control disk and that Boris is working with the general. Minister Mishkin then walks in the room and threatens Bond with execution for terrorism (for supposedly stealing the Eurocopter and GoldenEye). Bond rebukes every statement Mishkin makes, claiming that an act of treason is involved. Natalya quiets them both and tells Mishkin that Ourumov stole GoldenEye, letting him know that there is a second satellite with the same nuclear weapon.

Trevelyan

Trevelyan shortly before escaping

Ourumov suddenly bursts into the room and protests that Mishkin is interfering with his investigation. Mishkin quiets down Ourumov but Ourumov seizes Bond's Walther PPK and kills a guard and Mishkin, intending to then shoot Bond and make it look like he "tried to escape", returning Bond's pistol in the process. Bond is able to knock Ourumov unconscious, then a few guards and he and Simonova escape into the archives. After Natalya is captured by Ourumov, Bond manages to escape the building. Seeing Ourumov escape with Natalya in a car, Bond steals a Russian tank and chases after them, destroying most of St. Petersburg. He finally tracks them to a train yard where Ourumov and Natalya board a large, black Russian missile train that serves as Alec's HQ. Further down the tracks, Bond plans to derail the train by driving the tank into the train. Just as it nears the tank, Bond opens fire but the train still cruises towards the tank despite the brakes being activated. With the train crashing into a halt and destroying the tank, Bond then continues to confront Alec in the train, holding him and Onatopp at gunpoint. Alec calls Ourumov into the room with Natalya whom he holds hostage. Causing a minor Ourumov to question Alec's orders by telling Ourumov of Alec's Cossack heritage, Bond is able to shoot Ourumov but Alec escapes with Onatopp. Alec locks the train remotely, trapping Bond and Natalya inside, and tells Bond that he's planted explosives on the train with timers set for the same six minutes Bond gave him years before (which means he's actually set them for three minutes) before escaping in a helicopter. Bond cuts through the floor with a laser planted in his watch while Natalya, on a computer console, finds Boris backing up his files. With aid from Bond on Boris' riddle password, Natalya manages to track Boris' location somewhere in Havana, Cuba. Realizing he has been detected, Boris frantically removes the hard drives from the system, cutting off the transmission. The two escape the train before it explodes. After sitting on the tracks and planning their next move Bond and Natalya share a moment together kissing.

Cuba

Bond and Natalya travel to the Bahamas to meet Jack Wade, who flies in a plane, giving Bond a gadget from Q (a remote detonation mine). Wade and Bond exchange their information, and Wade agrees to exchange his plane for Bond's car. Bond and Natalya spend a romantic night together, but Natalya is angered on the fact of Bond's cold nature. Bond answers by saying that he must kill his old friend in order to stop him. She later asks if she meant anything in his eyes, to which he playfully says she was not. The next morning the two fly over the approximate location where Natalya had traced Boris' computer signal; a seemingly idyllic lake. A missile is fired from under the water which cripples their plane and they crash in the jungle. At the crash site, Bond carries Natalya out into a clearing before knocking out himself. Soon he is awakened to a chopper flying overhead, where Onatopp rappels down from and attacks Bond. She starts to squeeze Bond with her legs, intending to kill him for good but Bond is able to re-hook her restrains back to the chopper. Grabbing her gun and shooting the chopper down, it pulls her into a tree and killing her. Bond and Natalya soon discover that the lake really hides a giant satellite dish. In an underground control center, Alec and Boris have activated the second satellite's EMP to have it target London. Alec's plan is one of revenge against England's betrayal due to his parents and the EMP will destroy every computer system causing nation-wide chaos. The blast will also erase all electronic records, but not before Alec has had Boris break into the Bank of London and steal all of its cash reserves.

Xenia - a good squeeze

Xenia ironically ends by enjoying a good "squeeze".

Bond and Natalya find a way inside, which triggers the facility's intruder alarm. Bond and Natalya split up; Bond will make a distraction while Natalya goes to reprogram the satellite. Natalya finds a computer terminal, hoping to block Boris's programming of the GoldenEye satellite. A brief gunfight ensues between Bond and the guards, but Bond places his mines on the fuel tanks just before he surrenders. The fuel tanks leak their contents, and the facility soon subtly floods with fuel. Bond is captured first, as is Natalya but not before she encrypts her programming, and both are brought to Alec, who quickly and easily disarms the bombs Bond planted by pressing on his watch. Reuniting with Natalya, Boris is tackled by her and is knocked into a corner where he inadvertently picks up Bond's grenade pen instead of his own. Noticing the pen is clicked multiple times, Bond focuses his attention on Boris' pen clicks. After the satellite shows Natalya's doing which she sets it to re-enter orbit into the Atlantic, Boris then discovers that Natalya has changed his access codes for the satellite and Alec threatens to kill Bond if Natalya doesn't undo her work. Nervously clicking the pen, Boris frantically tries to reprogram the system. Boris activates the C4 mechanism of three clicks on the pen just as he angrily demands the codes from Natalya. Bond knocks the grenade into the nearby pool of leaking fuel where it explodes, combined with the mines Bond planted despite disarmed, causing a fire that threatens to blow the entire facility. Alec orders Boris to take back control of the satellite or be shot. Alec runs off to kill Bond and follows him to the satellite dish's large antenna. As Bond and Natalya finalize to finish things off, he gives her his pistol. On the antenna, Bond and Alec start fighting. After both James and Alec run out of ammo from their rifles, they resort to their fists. Bond manages to injure Alec and throws him down to the lower levels of the antenna. Before heading down, Bond notices and blocks the gearing mechanism with a pipe, which prevents Boris from regaining control of the satellite in orbit. As per what Natalya programmed, the GoldenEye safely explodes in the atmosphere.


Still fighting hand-to-hand, Alec soon gains the upper hand but Bond manages to escape down a maintenance ladder. Alec calls for a helicopter to his aid before heading down to finish Bond. Reaching the bottom stalk of the antenna, the fight ends with Bond throwing Alec over the side, not before grabbing onto his former partner's boot before he falls. Hanging, Alec asks if Bond intends to drop him "for England?" to which Bond replies "No, for me" and he lets Alec falls to the bottom of the dish but is still conscious. Alec's helicopter arrives but Natalya holds the pilot at gunpoint, saving Bond. Natalya brings the helicopter close to Bond where he then leaps to safety from the burning antenna onto the helicopter and flies off, just as the antenna collapses, landing directly on Alec, crushing him to death. With the facility in ruins, an unharmed Boris rises out of the wreckage; stunned to be alive. He declares himself invincible one last time, before being ironically frozen to death by a wave of liquid nitrogen. The pilot leaves Bond and Natalya in a nearby field where they share a moment. Just then they are met by Jack Wade who commands a small unit of U.S. Marines. Wade, understanding Bond and Natalya's passionate moment he interrupted decide to take them safely to Guantanamo where they can continue. Natalya, laughing, insists on no planes but Bond replies "Darling, what could possibly go wrong, eh?"

Cast and Characters

Crew

Production

The troubled Bond 17

Bond 17 promotional material, 1990 Cannes Film Festival

Bond 17 promotional material on The Carlton Hotel, during the 1990 Cannes Film Festival.

Dalton's second Bond outing, "Licence to Kill" (1989) is met poorly at the box office, especially in the USA with a lack-lustre marketing campaign up against some stiff competition. Pre-production work for the third James Bond film starring Dalton, fulfilling his three-film contract, began in May 1990. A poster for the then-upcoming movie was even featured on the Carlton Hotel during the 1990 Cannes Film Festival. In August, The Sunday Times reported that producer Albert R. Broccoli had parted company with writer Richard Maibaum, who had worked on the scripts of all but three Bond films so far, and director John Glen, responsible for the previous five instalments of the series. Broccoli listed among the possible directors John Landis, Ted Kotcheff, and John Byrum

Several plot details on the original drafts have been revealed about Bond 17's plot before the subsequent re-writes that would culminate with GoldenEye. After terrorists target a Scottish nuclear facility, James Bond is deployed to the Far East to investigate the prolific businessman Sir Henry Lee Ching. In Hong Kong, Bond rendezvous with retiring spy Denholm Crisp who was a mentor to Bond early in his career. He crosses paths with the Chinese Secret Service and teams up with jewel-smuggler Connie Webb to get to the bottom of Ching's shady past and prevent global pandemonium that could spark World War Three.

The MGM/Pathe global television rights are challenged in the courts causing further delays. In May 1993, Variety reports that Michael France has been hired to pen the new Bond adventure, Richard Smith is also brought on to plot "future" Bond stories. MGM/UA legal debates draw to a close and in 1993 a more "Bond-friendly" view is taken by the execs. By August 1993, France turned in a second draft. In April 1994, with still no sign of Bond 17 going to production, Dalton bows out from the role. Many of France's ideas prove too similar to Schwarzenegger's spy-picture, "True Lies", new screenwriters are sourced to polish the James Bond outing. On 12 April 1994, Timothy Dalton announced he was quitting the role, leading to Pierce Brosnan being cast as the fifth official James Bond actor. The reworked and re-cast 007 outing, GoldenEye finally made it to the cinemas in November 1995.

Film Title

While GoldenEye is technically the third original James Bond movie that doesn't contain any reference to an Ian Fleming novel or short story, the title comes from Fleming's Jamaican estate he dubbed "Goldeneye" where he wrote all the Bond novels. The estate could have been named "Goldeneye" for a number of reasons. The first is that the estate is located in Oracabessa, which is Spanish for 'golden head'. Fleming is also reported to have read Carson McCullers' novel Reflections In A Golden Eye around the time he had his house built in Jamaica. More notably, Fleming was in charge of the defence of Gibraltar during the Second World War; the operation dubbed by Fleming, Operation Goldeneye. Despite persistent, but unfounded, rumours that the ill-fated Bond 17 would have been titled "Property of a Lady", writer Alfonse Ruggiero recounted that Michael G. Wilson first raised "GoldenEye" as a possibility for their 1990 screenplay.[1]

Soundtrack

See GoldenEye (soundtrack)

Featured equipment

Vehicles & gadgets

Main articles: List of James Bond vehicles and List of James Bond gadgets

  • BMW Z3 — A convertible, it comes fully loaded with all the usual Q refinements including a self-destruct system and stinger missiles located behind the headlights. In the movie, Bond uses none of the car's gadgets (except for the covert receipt-like printer disguised as a mobile CD player). He ends up trading it for Jack Wade's plane in the Caribbean region.
  • Grappling Belt — Q gives Bond a size-34 belt containing a 75-foot rappelling cord and a piton-shooting buckle. When fired, it shoots a grapple attached to high-tensile-strength wire designed to support Bond's weight.
  • Aston Martin DB5 — Registration BMT214A. Note this is not the same car as seen in Goldfinger and Thunderball (that car was registered BMT216A). This appears to be Bond's personal car and re-appears in the next film Tomorrow Never Dies (its appearance at Castle Thane in The World Is Not Enough did not make it into the final film). The car is equipped with a refrigerator in the centre armrest to hold champagne and two glasses, and also a communications system including fax and voice commands.
  • Explosive Pen — Q-Branch gives Bond a pen that doubles as a "class four" (fictional designation) grenade. Three clicks arms the four-second fuse, another three disarms it.
    Omega goldeneye watch

    Wristwatch

  • Omega Watch — This watch, standard issue of MI6, has a built-in laser that can cut through steel and iron, and can also remotely detonate mines.
  • Grapple and Laser Gun — In the intro sequence Bond bungee jumped off of a dam. To ensure he doesn't bounce back up he uses this gun to latch on to the complex below using its grapple function. Once down, Bond uses the laser built inside the gun to infiltrate the venting system that leads into the bathroom.
  • T-55 — Bond steals it from a Russian military building.

Firearms of GoldenEye

Main article: List of firearms
  • Walther PPK — James Bond's standard-issue pistol. Shown in the poster below with silencer. Chambered for the 7.65mm x 17 Browning (or .32 ACP) cartridge.
  • Makarov PM pistol — Standard-issue pistol of the Soviet/Russian armed forces. The pistol was prominently used by General Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov in a number of scenes in the movie. Natalya Simonova was seen using a Makarov PM when she commandeered one of the Janus helicopter gunships to rescue Bond from the satellite dish's antenna before it exploded. Chambered for the 9mm x 18 Makarov cartridge.
  • Browning DA (double action) pistol — Alec Trevelyan's pistol of choice. At the beginning during the facility infiltration, he is seen with a Browning Hi-Power Standard, but the ending battle scene at the antenna cradle is seen with a Browning DA. Both guns are chambered for the 9mm x 19 Parabellum cartridge.
  • Kalashnikov AK-74 automatic rifle — Standard-issue assault rifle of the Soviet/Russian armed forces and has been in Soviet/Russian military service since 1974/1975. Chambered for the 5.45mm x 39 Soviet M74 cartridge.
  • Kalashnikov AKSU-74 carbine— Standard-issue carbine of the Soviet/Russian vehicle crews and certain internal security forces. The AKSU-74 is an SMG (Submachine Gun) version of the AK-74 for issue to vehicle crews and people operating in confined spaces, it uses the same ammunition as the AK-74. The AKSU-74 (or AKS-74u) was prominently used by James Bond at the Arkangel Chemical Weapons Facility in 1986 and in St. Petersburg in 1995 when he and Natalya were escaping from the Russian military base. The AKSU-74 was also used by Xenia Onatopp when she used the weapon to kill the personnel at the Severnaya satellite control centre after General Ourumov got control of the two GoldenEye satellites. Bond can be seen wielding it on Trevelyan's Train. Also chambered for the 5.45mm x 39 Soviet M74 cartridge.

In the movie GoldenEye, a number of the AK-74 rifles that were used were not real AK-74s but non-Russian made Kalashnikov rifles that were made to look like the AK-74 rifle. The folding-stock variant AK-74 rifles that were seen in GoldenEye were Chinese-made Norinco Type 56/AKM rifles that were fitted with AK-74-style muzzle brakes and Russian-make red bakelite plastic magazines that were made for the AKM rifle in the 1970s. The rifles that were fitted with fixed buttstocks were real, Russian-made AK-74 rifles.

Locations

In-Film Locations Shooting Locations

Map

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Video games

Main article: GoldenEye 007 (1997 game) and GoldenEye: Rogue Agent

GoldenEye was adapted into a highly regarded video game for the Nintendo 64 by Rareware. At the time of its release, it was considered a flagship game for the new N64 console, and was considered revolutionary in its use of the first-person shooter format which led to many imitators; it is still widely regarded as one of the best games of all time.

In the Autumn of 2004, Electronic Arts released GoldenEye: Rogue Agent for Xbox, PlayStation 2, GameCube and later the Nintendo DS. This is the first game based on the 007 franchise in which the player does not take on the role of James Bond himself; rather they control an aspiring 00-agent (named GoldenEye) who is recruited by Auric Goldfinger, the villain in the movie and book Goldfinger. The game has little to do with either the film GoldenEye or the N64 game, and was released to mediocre reviews and was criticized for using the "GoldenEye" name in an attempt to sell the game by riding on the success of Rare's game.

In 2010, Activision and Eurocom produced a re-imagining of the N64 Goldeneye game, albeit with major changes to the plot and graphics (Rare had been acquired by Microsoft). Some changes include the likeness of Daniel Craig as Bond instead of Pierce Brosnan, the removal of Boris, and different level layouts. Originally a Wii/DS exclusive, it was later released on the Xbox 360 and PS3 as Goldeneye: Reloaded. It was moderately well-received, though not to the extent of the original game.

Trivia

  • While this is the first appearance of Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, he was actually picked to replace Roger Moore in the film The Living Daylights, but due to his contract with the television show, Remington Steele he had to drop out of the film and the role was given to Timothy Dalton.
  • GoldenEye was the first James Bond film to have filmed on location inside the former Soviet Union, a country which had banned all sixteen previous movies.
  • For a time it was rumoured that Brosnan's contract specifically stated that he was not allowed to wear a full tuxedo in other films and that Brosnan had apparently worked around this in the film The Thomas Crown Affair by leaving his tie untied during a black-tie ball, thus not wearing a full tuxedo. This rumour turned out to be false.
  • GoldenEye features the highest bungee jump from a structure in a movie, performed by British stuntman Wayne Michaels. The drop was more than 722 ft.
  • Reportedly, the script had to be rewritten as it was found to be too similar to a plotline in the James Cameron film True Lies.
  • Maurice Binder, the title sequence designer for most of the James Bond films since Dr. No, died in 1991. The job of title designer for GoldenEye as well as several future James Bond films was then passed to Daniel Kleinman.
  • "Cubby" Broccoli died shortly after the film was released. He had been too ill but could visit the Pinewood studios by being a consulting Producer. The next Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies, was dedicated to his memory.
  • One of the tanks used in the filming of the St. Petersburg chase sequence was later used in the Beyond A Joke episode of Red Dwarf.
  • During the tank sequence, the tank can be seen running over a Russian vehicle, clearly crushing the driver (presumably a mannequin). This depiction of "collateral damage" may have been unintentional as it is followed by a quick shot of the driver getting out of the car.
  • When Bond meets Wade for the first time, Wade asks "Do you do any gardening?" after Bond says his name. In reality, Ian Fleming based Bond's name in gardener James Bond.
  • The uniform of the Canadian Admiral was incorrect. The admiral was shown with two bars and an executive curl on the cuffs of his tunic. As this was filmed in 1995, the admiral's uniform should have one solid bar on the cuffs, and three maple leaves on the shoulders, and without the wings on the sleeve. The Canadian Navy would have these restored in 2010.
  • Boris the programmer's global tracking software features the outline of a united Czechoslovakia on its map, even though the country had (peacefully) split into the Czech Republic and the Slovak Republic in 1993, two years before that part of the film takes place.
  • Xenia Onatopp is shown to kill men by squeezing their chests with her thighs. In the previous Bond film The Living Daylights, Q reviews a range of Soviet KGB female assassins, one of which, Ula Yarkhov, kills using her thighs.
  • GoldenEye has the distinction of being the first - and currently, the only - EON-produced James Bond film to include a semi-explicit sex scene, specifically the scene in which Xenia kills the Canadian Naval Admiral while making love to him. Despite this, the film was still released with a PG-13 rating.
  • This was the only Brosman Bond film to not release in the same year as a Austin Powers movie. The series that parodied James Bond.

Videos

External links

Template:Wikiquote

  1. Edlitz, Mark (13th September 2020). "Timothy Dalton’s Unmade Third Bond Film - Alfonse Ruggiero", The Lost Adventures of James Bond (in En-UK). Bowker. ISBN 9781234567890. 
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