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movie review - Goldeneye

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-eight years and a million words

I watched this Bond flick with my son as part of our ongoing series. We're watching one per actor that portrayed Bond, and today's outing welcomes Pierce Brosnan. This story spans the end of the Cold War, partially set in the period of the Soviet Union, and partially set nearly a decade later in the chaotic '90s. Focusing on Russian organized crime and its ties to the Russian political elite, it deals with a plot to create a massive EMP in London. The EMP is designed to cover the tracks of a larger cybertheft but also to scramble electronic records of all sorts. This overlooks facts such as the financial world still largely running on media such as tape drives that would be unaffected by an EMP, but so it goes. It's Bond, one suspends disbelief.

This Bond differs from previous incarnations by being extremely physical: he's always running, leaping, and so on. This makes the considerable action scenes more believable but that only goes so far. In fact, there's an extended scene in which a British intelligence agent uses a small armored unit inside a Russian city - nothing can excuse this kind of insanity. It just pulls you out of the story.

This movie has its moments. But a senseless ending where inexplicable things pile up in a hurry (like the heroin appearing in a helicopter somehow) buries all the good that the movie does in a finale of facepalm. Not recommended.