History YMMV / GoldenEye

** Thanks in large part to its multiplayer function, ''[=GoldenEye=]'' for the Nintendo 64 is regarded as one of the best games of all time.

* ItWasHisSled: Janus is Alec Trevelyan.

** [[spoiler: Trevelyan predicting that Bond will have a very small memorial service with only Moneypenny and a few tearful restauraunteers in attendance]] eerily predicted ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', where [[spoiler: Bond does actually die and the [=MI6=] regulars hold a small tribute]].

* FunnyAneurysmMoment:

* HarsherInHindsight:

* DryDockedShip: The way James Bond reacts to Alec Trevelyan's betrayal seems more like a lover's reaction than a co-worker's. Cue FoeYay.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: A woman being pressed against a tree and then asphyxiated. Said woman kills countless people with a machine gun and with her thighs during sex, and tries doing this to Bond twice. Notably, the BBFC [[SameContentDifferentRating reclassified]] the film on home media from a 12 (the equivalent of a PG-13) to a 15 (the equivalent of an R-rating) in 2006, presumably due to concerns over the violent content. [=GoldeneEye=] remains one of the only Bond films to receive a 15 rating.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids: A woman being pressed against a tree and then asphyxiated. Said woman kills countless people with a machine gun and with her thighs during sex, and tries doing this to Bond twice.

** The return of Creator/DesmondLlewellyn's Q is delightful as always, snarking up a storm and just generally being a CoolOldGuy.

** [[spoiler:Trevelyan predicting that Bond will have a very small memorial service with only Moneypenny and a few tearful restauraunteers in attendance]] eerily predicted ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', where [[spoiler:Bond does actually die and the [=MI6=] regulars hold a small tribute]].

** Boris' ''ridiculously'' obvious choice of password that he tests Natalya with, which takes her the entire middle act of the film to figure out, and only after Bond guessed it correctly without needing more than half a second to dwell on it. Although it is suggested earlier on that Natalya is used to more convoluted answers to his passwords, having spent months or years stuck with him, and Bond, not knowing Boris' lecherous habits, can instead go for the obvious answer, it's still ridiculous.

* TheWoobie: Natalya, she's just an innocent girl who happens to work at an outpost containing the Goldeneye control device. She manages to [[HopeSpot cleverly escape getting massacred like her co-workers,]] only to spend the rest of the movie having the villains trying to kill her because SheKnowsTooMuch.

** Brosnan's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hK9PBcRM9c 'painface']], initially shown in this film.

* WhatAnIdiot:
** Alec escapes in a helicopter when the train car crashes, leaving Bond and Natalya behind and trapped.\\
'''You'd expect''': Alec would go on his merry way or at least just kill Bond and then leave.\\
'''Instead''': He calls Bond over the radio to taunt him about the bomb and tells him that he is going to give him "the same six minutes that you gave me." Not only does Bond now know about the bomb, but gloating over the six minutes also alerts Bond to the fact that the bomb actually has three minutes on the timer instead of six since it signifies how Bond detonated a bomb much earlier in his past mission with Alec.
** Bond encounters a lustful Onatopp in a steamy bathhouse, clearly trying to appeal to him sexually. Bond - aware of her background in a criminal organisation - draws his gun on her, even hinting at some awareness of her deadly proclivities with a remark on 'safe sex'.\\
'''You'd expect''': Bond would keep his gun trained on her and hold a discussion about Janus - or be taken to him - as planned, given - again - Bond appears to be aware of how dangerous Onatopp is and at least knows of her involvement in a man's death (if not the outright means of death) and her theft of a helicopter.\\
'''Instead''': Bond allows her to enter close proximity, kiss him and relieve him of his weapon, and then merely delivers an EyeTake after Xenia bites him and subsequently enjoys his pushing her off him. He then takes too long to retrieve his gun, allowing Xenia to floor him, toy with him, and then handle him like a ragdoll before mounting him and squeezing him, subjecting Bond to her idea of pleasure. Bond can't escape by throwing her around, and is foolish enough to kiss her once more where she seemingly proceeds to break bones; he ''barely'' escapes with his life thanks to the heater in the bathhouse.

** Perhaps also HilariousInHindsight, but in this film, M criticizes Bond as "A relic of the Cold War." In ''Film/{{Skyfall}}'', [[HauledBeforeASenateSubCommittee this same M is hauled before a government committee]] which criticizes her and [=MI6=] as a whole for the exact same thing.

* SeinfeldIsUnfunny: Although it is still regarded as a phenomenal movie, modern viewers might raise an eyebrow at the emphasis of Bond being ''modern''. Even though the franchise has been wrangling with that issue, the fact is that it has been a cinematic mainstay for the past twenty years. However, in 1995, the issue was more valid, as TheGreatPoliticsMessUp was more recent, and Bond had been on a six-year hiatus and changed actors.

** Bond encounters a lustful Onatopp in a steamy bathhouse, clearly trying to appeal to him sexually. Bond - aware of her background in a criminal organisation - draws his gun on her, even hinting at some awareness of her deadly proclivities with a remark on 'safe sex'.
'''You'd expect''': Bond would keep his gun trained on her and hold a discussion about Janus - or be taken to him - as planned, given - again - Bond appears to be aware of how dangerous Onatopp is and at least knows of her involvement in a man's death (if not the outright means of death) and her theft of a helicopter.

* WhatAnIdiot: Alec escapes in a helicopter when the train car crashes, leaving Bond and Natalya behind and trapped.\\

*** Similarly, many viewers question the nature of her interactions with Bond, whether she's genuinely attracted to him just like any other Bond girl but cannot express it by any other means than trying to kill him, or if she views him as just another target to kill and use to gain pleasure; this is perhaps the most unclear thanks to the spa scene, with [[Creator/PierceBrosnan Brosnan]] himself remarking that it appears to be both a fight ''and'' the two 'making the beast with two backs'. There's also the added suggestion that Xenia's actions in the spa are fuelled by him besting her at cards and rattling her cover in the casino, and that her more vicious approach in the jungle is due to Bond escaping her in the spa - is Xenia a professional killer doing her job, or does she feel like a spurned lover at that point?

** [[spoiler:Trevelyan predicting that Bond will have a very small memorial service with only Moneypenny and a few tearful restauraunteers in attendance]] eerily predicted ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', [[spoiler:where Bond does actually die and the [=MI6=] regulars hold a small tribute]].

** [[spoiler:Trevelyan predicting that Bond will have a very small memorial service with only Moneypenny and a few tearful restauraunteers in attendance eerily predicted ''Film/NoTimeToDie'', where Bond does actually die and the [=MI6=] regulars hold a small tribute]].

* FirstInstalmentWins: Generally regarded as Brosnan's best Bond film. There ''are'' fans who prefer ''Film/TheWorldIsNotEnough'', but that one is a more [[BrokenBase divisive]] entry than [=''GoldenEye''=].

* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognise: While Creator/SeanBean had found mainstream success with ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' at the time he was cast, he wasn't quite the famous international star he would later become, making it more plausible that he would be cast as a minor yet significant role as a comrade of Bond's who gets killed before the end of the BondColdOpen... and more of a surprise when he later shows up again alive and well as Janus. However, in addition to ItWasHisSled, thanks to ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones'' among others modern viewers will be familiar enough with him to suspect that he's not likely to play the kind of character who gets unceremoniously killed off before the movie starts proper (if not entirely surprised that he's [[MemeticMutation likely to die at some point]]).

** For some fans, Xenia is this. While she is meant both to be attractive, badass, and scary, some fans see her as neither:
*** To explain: Supposedly, she is a badass and scary assassin. The thing is, aside of her killing signature move (which is ridiculous and unrealistic), she is a pretty lousy assassin when it comes to facing a target who fights back. I mean, if you are only effective against defenseless people you ain´t very capable. She had Bond dead to rights in two occasions, and yet instead of simply killing him she had to submit him to her signature move. Bond beats her twice. Sure, her sadism is supposedly a part of her character, but it was still pretty idiotic. Not to mention Severnaya, when she shoots the vent and believes the person is dead without actually checking. Now, her sexual sadism is supposed to make her look as scary, but the way it is played in the movie, and the way it is done, (with her ridiculous and exaggerated moans, and her choke hold, which end up being funnier rather than scary or arousing), it becomes hard to take seriously, and she ends up looking pretty unrealistic and ridiculous, like something you would find in a parody or in a porn movie. The scene in Severnaya ends up being less scary, and more of a mixture of ridiculous, arousing, and just "not cool" (I mean, even then, this is a Bond movie, we are not really supposed to care for people in general. Bond himself kills a lot of innocent Russian soldiers through the movie, who only made the mistake of believing him to be a criminal). Not helped by the fact she is such an uber sexualized stereotype of a Russian woman does not help her, and she ends up being more of a caricature of a femme fatale than an actual femme fatale. And again, it does not help the fact the movie tries to portray her as the things mentioned at the beginning, when, if you come to the facts, she ends up being neither. For those who think like that, not only she is totally overrated and one dimensional, but she also sticks out and sort of ruins the serious feeling of the movie overall.
*** That is if Goldeneye is taken seriously, rather than 'classic Bond with some modern layers on top'; if the effectiveness of Xenia as a 'realistic assassin' is at question because she doesn't murder Bond while she has the chance, you may as well question the entire franchise's rogues gallery who spend time messing around toying with Bond rather than murdering him.
* NarrowedItDownToTheGuyIRecognise: Retroactively, coupled with an element of LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt for modern viewers. While Sean Bean had found mainstream success with ''Series/{{Sharpe}}'' at the time he was cast, he wasn't quite the famous international star he would later become, making it more plausible that he would be cast as a minor yet significant role as a comrade of Bond's who gets killed before the end of the BondColdOpen... and more of a surprise when he later shows up again alive and well as Janus. However, in addition to ItWasHisSled, thanks to ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' and ''Series/GameOfThrones'' among others modern viewers will be familiar enough with him to suspect that he's not likely to play the kind of character who gets unceremoniously killed off before the movie starts proper (if not entirely surprised that he's [[MemeticMutation likely to die at some point]]).

** The return of Desmond Llewellyn's Q is delightful as always, snarking up a storm and just generally being a CoolOldGuy.

** There are also several [[ObviousStuntDouble rather obvious instances of stunt doubles]], particularly during the sauna scene. Even when not pointed out thanks to the commentary, the recent remasters of the film have made it obvious that it is not Creator/FamkeJanssen kicking Creator/PierceBrosnan around or pushing him onto the bench during the distance shots.
** The very first shot of Creator/PierceBrosnan as James Bond isn't him, it's pretty obviously a stuntman jumping off the dam.

* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments: Q's ActuallyPrettyFunny reaction to Bond's [[IncrediblyLamePun lame]] "the writing's on the wall" joke is actually pretty sweet, like the joke actually caught him by surprise. It shows that even though Q and 007 are often at odds with each other, [[TheyReallyDoLoveEachOther Q still has a lot of affection for him]].

** Bond's coy car race with Xenia and her determination to win become a lot more uncomfortable after the reveal of her nature as a {{sadist}}, assassin, and SoreLoser, meaning that she might have driven through that group of bicyclists if Bond hadn't let her win the race.