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After lawsuits and tepid box office cooled the ongoing adventures
of James Bond, producers where left again to revitalize the franchise
that had now spanned over three decades. After a six-year gap
(the longest in the series' history) GoldenEye took James Bond
to new box office heights and introduced a whole new generation
to the superspy's exploits. I'll be the first to admit that this
is one of my absolute favorite Bond entries, a film that thrust
007 into the 90s in grand style. It may not quite be a return
to the Connery days, but it sure is close.
A rogue Russian agent has just stolen GoldenEye, a weapon created
to emit electromagnetic pulses in space and effectively shut down
all technological advances world-wide, Bond is again called to
action to find the device and those behind the theft. In typical
Bond fashion, 007 must travel the world, with stops in St. Petersburg
and ending up in Jamaica, before facing the enemy that leaves
him the most conflicted, 006. In the tradition of great Bond women,
bring on Famke Janssen as Xenia Onatopp, the kinky, sadistic Russian
assassin and Izabella Scorupco as the "nice' girl object of Bond's
affections.
One of the complaints I continually hear about GoldenEye is that
it's just too 90s for a Bond film. Just this make any sense for
anyone to complain about? I like the fact that they finally tried
to update the series. You can't just keep working with a formula
that was in step in 1962 and expect people to still be interested
thirty-years later. These are usually the same type of guys that,
at sixty-years old, start getting earrings, buying sports cars,
and typically start having midlife crisis because they just can't
let go of their youth.
Video: How Does The Disc Look?
This new edition of GoldenEye features the same 2.35:1 anamorphic
widescreen transfer that was used for the MGM first wave, movie-only
edition. The picture here is very good, but just short of greatness.
Detail is strong and black level and shadow detail a plus. The
problem here is a slight variance in fleshtones. Sometimes they
drift toward a bit too pink, other times leaning into more orange
territory. There is a minimum of grain and only slight instances
of any pixelization.
Audio: How Does the Disc Sound?
Long considered a reference Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, GoldenEye
is one in-your-face experience. Surrounds are used, right off
the bat, very aggressively and discretely. The front soundstage
is wide and very directional. Dialog is clear without distortion
or masking. My problem with this soundtrack, and your going to
think I'm crazy, is the bass. The .1 LFE track is strong. There
are many instances of overpowering bass that end up sounding muddy
and thick. When I initially compared this to the DTS laserdisc
soundtrack, the instances were immediately noticeable. Bass was
much better contained on the DTS soundtrack while being just as
strong and loud. It was just better handled at the higher bitrate.
A French 2.0 surround track is also included, along with English
and French subtitles and English Closed Captions. No Spanish,
as Bond would say, "Pity."
Supplements: What Goodies Are There?
GoldenEye set a bit of a standard for affordable laserdisc special
editions when it was released in May of 1996. Chock full of extras,
at $45, GoldenEye was definitely a bargain. The bargain continues
here for $10 less. Almost all of the SE content from that laserdisc
has been transplanted here for all Bond fan's enjoyment.
This is the only disc of the first set that contains only one
audio commentary. It's also, unlike most of the set, a
screen specific commentary instead of audio edits of interview
bits. Director Martin Campbell and Producer Michael G. Wilson
detail much of the production and controversary surrounding the
seventeenth Bond adventure. One particular item they mention is
the music score by Eric Serra, which apparently upset many Bond
purists. I happen to love the Serra score and found it much better
than the paint-by-numbers approach taken by David Arnold for Tomorrow
Never Dies. It's a good listen and will definitely keep Bond fans
interested.
Another holdover from the laserdisc is the nearly hour long World
of 007 documentary hosted by Elizibeth Hurley. Produced to
coincide with the release of GoldenEye in theaters, "World" documents
all the films, gadgets, and villains prior to Pierce Brosnan's
debut. A new addition to this disc is The GoldenEye Video Journal,
a fifteen-minute look at the making of the film. The second and
final featurette from the prior disc is purely promotional
with on-set interviews with cast and crew. Don't worry, you won't
learn anything new from it.
Rounding out the GoldenEye special edition DVD are all promotional
materials. Both the teaser and theatrical trailers
are included, plus no less than 12 TV spots which illustrate
the interesting progression of how a film is marketed based on
the intended audience and season of the year. Finally, the Tina
Turner "GoldenEye" music video showcases the Bono and The
Edge written title track, plus the usual 8-page collectible
booklet with some nice photos and brief Bond factoids.
DVD-ROM Exclusives: What do you get when you pop the disc
in your PC?
No ROM extras have been included.
Parting Thoughts
This was probably the disc I was most looking forward to in this
first collection. Yes, I'd seen all the supplements before, but
I couldn't wait to see them again. I love this movie and this
disc is a fabulous way to experience it.
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