Bond 17: GoldenEye (1995)

Elevator Pitch: At a Russian satellite monitoring station in Siberia an attack takes place involving a helicopter previously stolen at a display in Monte Carlo. Then an electronic pulse destroys the station. All is witnessed by MI6 using their satellites, and M sends Bond to investigate. In St Petersburg Bond finds that the leader of Janus, the criminal group who have stolen the Eurocopter, is Alec Trevelyan a former MI6 man. Bond is tranquilised and wakes up in the Eurocopter with Natalya the one survivor from Siberia. They eject and survive the destruction of the aircraft, and thereafter are alternately captured and escape from Trevelyan and his sidekick Xenia. There is a second GoldenEye satellite, programmed to destroy London. Can our heroes save the city?

Content: There is no nudity and a bit of implied sex. The shadowy figures in the title sequence may be the most sensual in the film, even though Xenia kills people by squeezing them with her thighs. We see Bond and Trevelyan carry out the raid in Russia where Trevelyan in captured and apparently shot. There are a number of large explosions. Maybe the high point in the whole film has Bond chasing a villain in St Petersburg driving a tank. Some scenes on the Janus armoured train (inspired by  Doctor Zhivago?) which is destroyed.

  A View: This film was the first after quite a long delay caused by rights problems, and also the first after the Berlin Wall. It was well liked by everybody and made a lot of money. I was never completely clear as to why things were happening in the order they did, nor was the writer of the Wikipedia entry it seems, but It was a fresh look, with a new Bond. Pierce Brosnan did well. So definitely worth a view even if you are not an 007 fan.

Additional Info: The Janus armoured train used standard British Rail rolling stock, modified for the event, on the Nene Valley Railway.