Bond fans are weary too, 007.
The Daniel Craig introspective James Bond should be over. We know where he came from. We know how he got here. Now let’s have a true, formulaic James Bond movie in the Craig era.
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When I think of James Bond at his happiest, I think of this (very brief) scene from GoldenEye (1995) where Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) are in Cuba after escaping the cold Russian weather and treacherous train.
Seemingly without a care in the world, the couple travel in a BMW Z3 convertible in the beautiful Caribbean climate. The combination of the sweeping, delightful soundtrack, Natalya’s barely-there dress and blissful gaze to Bond as they drive through a luscious jungle-like setting would make anyone jealous. Bond conveys a similar joyous feeling to Natalya with a beaming smile. Heaven!
The feeling is short-lived, however, as the tricked-out Q Branch car picks up an airplane on radar that spoils the party – prompting Natalya to gripe about Bond’s track record while on the go.
Oh, well. It was good while it lasted!
Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) and James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) are relaxed in Cuba in GoldenEye (1995)
The six actors that have portrayed 007 in the official movies have changed since their first and last on-screen appearances. Below, you can see each actor’s first and last appearances as James Bond.
Sean Connery as James Bond at the beginning of Dr. No (1962) and Sean Connery as James Bond and Jill St. John as Tiffany Case at the end of Diamonds Are Forever (1971)
Xenia Onatopp (played by Famke Janssen) and General Ourumov (played by Gottfried John) arm the GoldenEye satellite in GoldenEye (1995)
The GoldenEye Launch code: 194668PT
Although in reality a northern Russian island, the Severnaya location shown in the movie is inaccurate.
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Brosnan Bond’s first interaction with Moneypenny in GoldenEye (1995) was…interesting. Aside from Craig’s Bond’s tryst with Moneypenny, Brosnan’s Bond always had the most sexual tension and blatant innuendos with Moneypenny during his tenure. This of course after the long portrayal of the character by Lois Maxwell from the series start until the late 1980’s – in which the Bond/Moneypenny relationship was a lot more playful and tame. It continued with a naive and relatively forgettable Moneypenny (Caroline Bliss) that served with Timothy Dalton’s Bond but then took the hard turn to Brosnan’s Moneypenny we see here.
But I digress – it’s true that GoldenEye‘s Moneypenny could hold her own in spite of Brosnan’s advances and we see it in this scene, but some of his remarks elicit eye rolls at best and at worst add fuel to the misogynist 007 stereotype. I’d say that this scene wouldn’t be written in today’s post-“#metoo” era. Regardless, it was neat to see M and others scramble from their personal lives (with Moneypenny in a highly formal dress from a date) to the office to assess the issues at Severnaya.
