Hammerman Ikon

Hammerman Ikon Film Guide

GoldenEye
1995
***½
Director: Martin Campbell
Cast: Pierce Brosnan, Sean Bean, Izabella Scorupco, Famke Janssen, Joe Don Baker, Robbie Coltrane, Tchéky Karyo, Gottfried John, Alan Cumming, Judi Dench, Samantha Bond

After two boringly straight-faced Timothy Dalton movies, The Living Daylights and Licence to Kill, Pierce Brosnan brings the fun back to the James Bond franchise. Otherwise this is very much business as usual. 007 loses a fellow agent and the Russian government loses a powerful satellite weapon system, and these two incidents turn out to be connected. Martin Campbell's first Bond movie is fast-paced and relatively entertaining. Judi Dench makes a brief debut as M. Famke Janssen's performance as the sadistic Xenia Onatopp has not aged well.