GoldenEye

GoldenEye (1995) is the film where Bond returned after six years and asked what he was for in a world where the Cold War had ended. The series had been stopped since 1989 by legal disputes. In the meantime the Soviet Union dissolved and Bond's reason for existing went with it. The film does not hide this; in one scene the new M tells him to his face that he is a cold war relic and a thug. Judi Dench is the series' first female M. The change altered the function of the character: M is no longer Bond's superior so much as his critic. The story: a weapon system in orbit is seized, and the name behind it turns out to be a former colleague. This time the enemy went to the same school. The dam jump in the opening was shot at a real dam in Switzerland with a real stuntman and is counted among the best stunt work in cinema. Nothing digital. It is Pierce Brosnan's first Bond. He had been offered the part years earlier and lost it to a television contract. The Nintendo 64 game that came out of it was discussed for longer than the film and is counted among the founders of the console shooter. Martin Campbell directed; eleven years later he would restart the series again with Casino Royale. It runs 130 minutes. Good for: Bond, nineties action, and espionage. Less good for: some effects have dated and the middle section runs long.