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Scott Ventura >> Movie Commentary >> June 1999 >> Goldeneye

Goldeneye

Movie Commentary by Scott Ventura

Details

Scott's Rating:
4 / 5
Times Seen:
1
Viewing Date:
June 1999
IMDB Name:
Goldeneye (1995)
Director:
Martin Campbell
Keywords:
action, james-bond
Made:
1995
MPAA Rating:
PG-13 for a number of sequences of action/violence, and for some sexuality.

Ridiculous Rating

Will someone explain to me how Goldeneye gets away with a PG-13 rating from the MPAA? I'd think the innuendo in this one, especially Xenia's linkage of sex and violence, would be enough to push it into R territory. I shouldn't be complaining, now that I'm old enough to see any rating I like, but I can't believe Bond's aggressive sexuality doesn't ruffle enough feathers to keep the young'uns out. I don't say this out of any sense of moral righteousness, just out of wonderment at the inconsistency of the prudes who decide these things. Of course, the violence doesn't bother them too much.

Perfect Pierce

I don't pretend to be an expert on things Bond. This is only my sixth proper Bond movie, but it's currently my favorite. Pierce Brosnan glides effortlessly through the role, having just enough fun with it while drowning in class. He doesn't have Connery's aloofness, but he makes up for it with elegance.

Requisite Bond Girl

Izabella Scorupco doesn't seem to have any English-speaking roles in her filmography other than this one. Doesn't bother me one bit! I'm surprised that the writers didn't choose a more sultry initial appearance for her. Actually, they probably wanted to disguise her eventual role as the heroine, as evidenced by the non-suggestive name they gave her character. It's always nice when filmmakers are willing to toy with audience expectations.

How nice, though, is it to see Famke Janssen as the henchperson? Her character's name, Onatopp, certainly sets her up to be the next girl in Bond's life, but not her actions. Her association of violence and sex was infinitely more interesting than Stamper from Tomorrow Never Dies.

Pseudo-Villain

Although the villain is introduced early in the movie, I was too distracted by the pseudo-villain to notice. I don't want to give it away in case you haven't seen it, but I will say that his non-presence for most of the movie detracts from his overall threat. It is nice to see a villain who is up to Bond's standards in hand-to-hand combat, but I didn't find his motivations entirely convincing.

DVD Comments

Apparently some magazine listed the Goldeneye DVD as being particularly good. Don't ask me why. I suppose it may have been the transfer quality, and perhaps the soundtrack, but there's nothing else to cause praise. Low on extras, the disc contains only the trailer, and at 1.85:1, even though movie is 2.35:1. The scene navigator is particularly cumbersome, as ten screens of scenes must be paged through to get to the end. The postage-stamp stills used to evoke scenes are worthless. The menus also featured some bad text color choices. The movie proper looked excellent, but the end credits looked awful.

See the IMDB information on Goldeneye's DVD.

Other Opinions




Copyright 1999-2001 by Scott Ventura. All rights reserved.