GoldenEye
United Artists | Release Date: November 17, 1995 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
65
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 19 Critic Reviews
Positive:
13
Mixed:
6
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
88
LarsenOnFilmJosh Larsen
Brosnan is excellent, wearing Bond more lightly than any of his predecessors. Read full review
80
Washington PostHal Hinson
And yet, Goldeneye proves the character's viability as a pop icon: It isn't a great movie, but it's great, preposterous fun. Read full review
80
Chicago ReaderJonathan Rosenbaum
There's something a mite pathetic about our culture still clinging to 007, but it's hard to deny that this is one of the most entertaining entries in the Bond cycle, which started with "Dr. No" (1962). Read full review
80
EmpireStaff (not credited)
This is the best bond movie since "On Her Majesty's Secret Service". Read full review
80
VarietyTodd McCarthy
Most crucially, Brosnan makes the grade as 007. He handles the action capably and gets the standard quips out in a commendably straightforward way that's wry but not dismissive. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger Ebert
This is the first Bond film that is self-aware, that has lost its innocence and the simplicity of its world view, and has some understanding of the absurdity and sadness of its hero. Read full review
75
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
Also, there's more action in Goldeneye than in previous 007 entries -- enough to keep a ninety-minute film moving at a frantic pace. Unfortunately, this movie isn't ninety-minutes long -- it's one-hundred thirty, which means that fully one-quarter of Goldeneye is momentum-killing padding. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChroniclePeter Stack
When the action is extreme, GoldenEye is supercharged with spectacular, thundering, brain-numbing fun. Read full review
75
San Francisco ExaminerEdvins Beitiks
It is both the best-looking James Bond film and the best-looking James Bond. Read full review
75
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
The writers get the mix just about right, and first-time Bond director Martin Campbell moves things along fairly briskly. Read full review
70
Washington PostDesson Thomson
New Bond man Brosnan can't be faulted for much. He's always been generically sexy, a sort of programmed cover boy. In this new venture, he's appropriately handsome, British-accented and suave. Read full review
70
Los Angeles TimesKenneth Turan
A mildly successful attempt at updating a relic, its appeal depends greatly on an audience's willingness to go along for a familiar ride. [17Nov1995 Pg. F.01]
63
USA TodaySusan Wloszczyna
The musical score is a dud, and the film is one firebomb too long. But GoldenEye's vision is 20/20 when it comes to reviving a legend. [17Nov1995 Pg.01.D]
60
The New YorkerAnthony Lane
Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein's script promises more fun than it delivers, slowly frittering away its store of jokes and thrills. Read full review
58
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
Still, just about everything in Goldeneye, from its rote nuclear-weapon-in-space plot to the recitation of lines that sound like they're being read off stone tablets (''Shaken, not stirred!''), has been served up with a thirdhand generic competence that's more wearying than it is exhilarating. Read full review
50
The New York TimesElvis Mitchell
Mr. Brosnan, as the best-moussed Bond ever to play baccarat in Monte Carlo, makes the character's latest personality transplant viable (not to mention smashingly photogenic), but the series still suffers the blahs. Read full review
50
NewsweekJack Kroll
Technology has squeezed character to a few measly pixels on the digital screens. Explosions have replaced dramatic climaxes. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
For devotees of the genre, the bad news is the best news: Bond is back and nothing has changed except the stuntman's canvas - it's bigger than ever, duly pumped up to Schwarzeneggarian standards. Read full review
50
TimeRichard Schickel
How well do Bond's established conventions survive after a third of a century's hard use, the post-cold war deglamourization of espionage and the arrival of yet another actor in the central role? The short answer is, on wobbly knees. Read full review
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