“GoldenEye – UK cinema poster“. Via Wikipedia.
…And we’re off into the Pierce Brosnan Bond-era! But some things still stay the same, because we can still rely on those evil Russian Commies to fill our bad-guy dance card. Pierce Brosnan-Bond is also squarely within the late 80s/early 90s TOTAL ACTION MOVIE!!! genre. I mean, his falling speed is enough so that he can tumble into a plane going down and rescue it? I don’t even think this is something that Timothy Dalton would have thought a good idea. The continuity theory of Bond comes up again, when after the credits we see the movie is set “9 years later.”
Plot in twenty words or less: Alan Cumming plays a deranged, pervy Russian hacker. What else do you need to know?
How it’s aged: One of the most memorable lines is “Maybe you can finish debriefing each other at Guantanamo” — clearly spoken before everyone knew the post 9/11-Gitmo.
Something that was just weird and/or WTF y’all: They’re obviously trying to bring back a lot of the quippy early Bond humor. I don’t know how well Brosnan can pull that off…
Obligatory feminist commentary: Between forgettable-Natalya, terrifying-Xenia, and badass-M, there’s a lot of feminist analysis to throw down on. There’s a not-at-all subtle commentary about how Bond has entered a real ball-breaking era — figuratively when M says she has the cojones to send him to his death if need be, but also quite literally with Xenia’s absurd thigh-maneuvers. It probably won’t surprise any readers of this blog that I’m a diehard Judi Dench-as-M fan, so I’m pretty darn excited about her arrival. Fun fact: Judi Dench’s M is based on Stella Rimington who totally started her career as an archivist — my own occupation. I always thought that if it weren’t for my lefty politics, I’d make a damn good secret agent. Archivists are pretty good at reading between the lines…
Completely hypothetical cultural reference points: There are lots of 1990s-esque touchstones in this movie. The most obvious ones were Xenia’s Monica-esque hairstyle, and her smoking a cigar was reminiscent of the 1990s revival of cigar use (remember the First Wives Club poster?)
Superficial Thing that did not Amuse Me: The annoying American CIA agent who wouldn’t stop calling 007 Jimmy/Jimbo. Ugh, go away.
Superficial Thing that highly Amused Me: There’s a great scene set in what appears to be a government archives when Bond and Natalya break out and then commence the tank chase scene. I’m ready for James Bond to go whole-hog and dig around in the archives to turn up some juicy leads. Archives in movies, always a winning combination.
Interesting and possibly dubious thing I learned from Wikipedia: The opening scene’s bungee jump “set a record for the highest bungee jump off a fixed structure”
Martini rating: Five martinis 
Administrative information concerning this viewing:
Drinks consumed: Sierra Nevada Summer ale
Food eaten: Steamed green beans and this awesome beet and bean veggie burger.
Viewed on: July 19, 2014
Viewing Partner: Fiance and the Cat
*Not her real name. All my viewing buddies are getting Bond-girl aliases.
There is definitely a scene in an archives! I completely forgot that it from the movie but remember the short “Archives” level in the awesome N64 game, where it is identified as the GRU Military Intelligence Archives.
Good luck with the next two Brosnan films. There is a steep decline in quality after Golden Eye. Die Another Day, I recall being though, is not that bad, at least in comparison to TWINE.
Fascinating, thanks for sharing!
[…] Obligatory feminist commentary: Lots to choose from here. Bond’s X-ray glasses = literally the male gaze & TSA! Renard comments about raping Elektra while she was being held captive and “breaking her in.” The scene with M and Elektra still fails the Bechdel test because they’re talking about 007. And then there is that weird sadomasochism thing Elekra does to 007 on the garrote he’s shackled to — reminiscent of Xenia from GoldenEye. […]