GoldenEye

When a stolen Soviet-era weapons system known as GoldenEye falls into enemy hands, James Bond is sent to stop a plot that could cripple modern infrastructure with a single electromagnetic strike. Bond tracks the theft to Alec Trevelyan, a former MI6 agent with a personal grievance, and links up with Natalya Simonova, a computer programmer who survived an attack on her workplace. Their pursuit takes them from Monte Carlo to a derelict satellite control facility, with deadly encounters against Xenia Onatopp, a sadistic assassin who uses seduction as a tactic. The film keeps its major twists under wraps while delivering high-stakes spycraft, tense chases and set-piece action.

Directed by Martin Campbell and written by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein, GoldenEye premiered in 1995. The screenplay draws on Ian Fleming's legacy and marked a clear tonal reboot for the franchise, introducing Pierce Brosnan as the new James Bond.

The movie arrived six years after the previous official Bond outing and proved a commercial comeback, reestablishing the series as a box office draw in the 1990s and ensuring further sequels.

GoldenEye left a larger footprint than many contemporary action films because of its tie-in media. The 1997 Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007 brought the movie's locations and weapons to millions of players, shaping first-person multiplayer shooters and keeping the title in public conversation for decades.

Contemporary reviews tended to praise the film's energetic action, production design and Brosnan's confident take on 007, while some critics debated shifts in tone compared with earlier entries. The narrative emphasizes betrayal and the uncertain politics after the Cold War, and it plays on anxieties about advanced weapons and the vulnerability of interconnected systems. Overall it updated classic Bond elements for a 1990s audience without losing the series' core mix of espionage, style and danger.