GoldenEye

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General		Extras
Category	Bond	Theatrical Trailer(s)	Yes, 1
Rating		Other Trailer(s)	None
Year Released	1995	Commentary Tracks	Yes, 1 - Martin Campbell (Director) and Michael G. Wilson (Producer)
Running Time	125 minutes	Other Extras	Booklet
RSDL/Flipper	No/No	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Menu
Region	4	Director	Martin Campbell
Studio Distributor	Warner Brothers	Starring	Pierce Brosnan Sean Bean Izabella Scorupco Famke Janssen Joe Don Baker
RRP	$34.95	Music	Eric Serra

    The basic premise of GoldenEye is that the Soviet Union has a space-based weapon which has the capacity to knock out all electronic devices in a targeted area of the Earth. Of course, the key to this weapon falls into the wrong hands, and it is up to Bond, James Bond, to save the day, all without a hair out of place or messing up his suit.

    In my opinion, this is a better movie than the other Bond movie currently available in Region 4, Tomorrow Never Dies. The cracking pace of the spectacular and way over the top opening sequence is kept up pretty much all of the way throughout, and we are given little time to recover from one action sequence before we are plunged into the next.

    My personal favourite sequences from this movie were the tank sequence, where Bond drives over the police cars, and the sequences involving the wicked-looking armoured train.

Video

    The transfer is presented at an aspect ratio of 2.35:1, 16x9 enhanced. The DVD cover indicates incorrectly that this disc is formatted at an aspect ratio of 1.85:1.

    The transfer was razor sharp and crystal clear. I felt that a few of the scenes with copious amounts of haze in them were very slightly grainy, but this was nit-picking. Shadow detail was spot on at all times. No low level noise was apparent.

    The colours were beautifully rendered and consistent throughout the entire movie.

    No MPEG artefacts were seen. Film-to-video artefacts were not a problem with this transfer. Even scenes which can cause aliasing problems were impeccably transferred. There was trivial aliasing seen on one shot of the grille of Bond's Aston-Martin, but that was about the extent of it. Film artefacts were extremely rare and pretty much went unnoticed.

Audio

    Dialogue was always very clear and easy to understand.

    There were no audio sync problems at all with this disc.

    The music by Eric Serra is suitably Bond, ranging from sophisticated background music to exciting chase sequence music. The musical score frequently underscores the on-screen action. Of particular note, the opening theme song, GoldenEye, by Tina Turner is more in keeping with the Bond style than is the opening theme song of Tomorrow Never Dies.

     The surround channels were aggressively used for music and special effects. I felt that the only improvement that could have been made to this soundtrack was to add in more surround ambience. I felt that some non-action scenes lacked a little in this aspect. Otherwise, this is a superbly enveloping and aggressively directional surround mix.

    The .1 channel was often used for the numerous special effects and for the music. You can expect complaints from the neighbours with this soundtrack, since there are a lot of crashes, gunshots and explosions to give the subwoofer a decent workout.

Menu

Audio Commentary

Theatrical Trailer

Booklet

    The video quality is reference quality.

    The audio quality is very near to reference quality.

    The extras present are good, with an excellent audio commentary, but even more would have been welcome.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Michael Demtschyna
6th February 1999