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Awesome / GoldenEye
aka: Golden Eye 1997

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Awesome moment in GoldenEye.


  • Bond replying to the villain's "For England, James?" with "No. For me."
  • Bond. St Petersburg. TANK.
  • Bond escaping from the chemical weapons plant on a motorcycle, which he then rode off a cliff and caught up with a plane.
  • At the beginning when Bond jumps from the top of the dam. The free-fall and eventual landing scene that follows is several seconds, maybe even up to a minute, of a single sound of whooshed air. When this movie first came out, that was the moment when people knew this Bond film would revive the series.
  • If only for the acting, General Ouromov's first meeting with Defense Minister Dimitri Mishkin. Ouromov's expression when he learns that Natalya survived his treachery at Severnaya is glorious.
  • Bond's flippant bemusement in the face of an interrogation and possible execution:
    James Bond: What, no small talk? No ... chit-chat? That's the trouble with the world these days, nobody takes the time to perform a really sinister interrogation. It's a lost art.
    • Followed by Bond shooting his way out of the military headquarters.
  • The scenes with Judi Dench as M, particularly the Right Behind Me moment.
    Bill Tanner: Seems your hunch was right, 007. It's too bad the Evil Queen of Numbers wouldn't let you play it. (winces as M clears her throat in a "By the way" manner)
    M: You were saying?
    Bill Tanner: No, no, I was just... just um...
    M: Good. Because if I want sarcasm, Mr Tanner, I'll talk to my children, thank you very much.
  • The conversation between M and Bond after he points out the mistakes of her analysts.
    M: You don't like me, Bond. You don't like my methods. You think I'm an accountant, a bean counter more interested in my numbers than your instincts.
    Bond: The thought had occurred to me.
    M: Good, because I think you're a sexist, misogynist dinosaur. A relic of the Cold War, whose boyish charms, though wasted on me, obviously appealed to that young woman I sent out to evaluate you.
    Bond: Point taken.
    M: Not quite, 007. If you think for one moment I don't have the balls to send a man out to die, your instincts are dead wrong. I have no compunction about sending you to your death. But, I won't do it on a whim. Even with your cavalier attitude towards life.
  • Xenia Onatopp's preferred method of assassination. Out with a Bang indeed! Onatopp's sauna fight with Bond also qualifies - the idea of Bond nearly being hoisted by his own petard is great, and it actually follows through in some ways in what Goldeneye is trying to do with its female characters; It's the only time since Bond's fight with Bambi and Thumper of Diamonds Are Forever that Bond has been rendered vulnerable by a Bond Girl. To Bond's credit, the scene and his encounters with Onatopp are made more awesome by the fact that Bond is still able to get out of her death-grip twice. Even when the second time was assisted. To Onatopp's credit, Bond only escapes both times arguably by cheating. He's unable to stop her by himself physically and she essentially laughs off and finds pleasure in his attempts to do so, which is pretty impressive for a Bond Girl.
    • Also awesome for Famke Janssen in only her second high-profile role - she did a number of her own stunts, including driving Onatopp's Ferrari. She also threw herself into the role so much so that she managed to break a rib during the filming of the spa fight and actively managed to intimidate Pierce Brosnan after winding stuntmen and accidentally hurting her co-star during her love scene aboard the yacht.
    • There's also how Bond takes her out. He shoots the pilot flying her helicopter, which causes Xenia to be whiplashed by her own attached line and harness partway through the crotch of a tree; crushing her between the branches in a manner not unlike how she'd kill her own victims with her thighs.
    • During the car race, Xenia has to go off road to avoid hitting an approaching truck and goes spinning in circles on the gravel for several seconds, but then manages to regain control of the vehicle and get back on the road. At that moment, Badass Driver applies to her more than Drives Like Crazy.
  • Valentin Zukovsky:
    Valentin: Walther PPK, 7.65 millimeter. Only three men I know use such a gun. I believe I've killed two of them.
    Bond: Lucky me.
    [A gun is pointed at the back of Bond's head]
    Valentin: I think not.
  • Also, the final fight between Bond and Janus. Competing for the title of best fight in the series with the fight between Bond and Red Grant in From Russia with Love. Word of God says the similarity was intentional.
  • Bond barely acknowledging that he's being fired upon while setting bombs in Janus' base, just giving a slight flinch when bullets hit his cover.
  • When Bond mockingly calls Janus "a common thief," Trevelyan did NOT look happy when 007 deconstructed his revenge scheme by calling it petty and idiotic.
    • Bond does labour on in his "Reason You Suck" Speech speech enough for Alec to tell him outright to "Spare [him] the Freud", and counter with his own speech chiding Bond for looking to women for forgiveness of all those he failed and died. Right as Natalya is brought into the room.
  • For a supposed keyboard jockey, Natalya is exceedingly resourceful:
    • From the moment her colleagues are massacred, whilst utterly terrified, she has the presence of mind to prop open the air vent enough to give Xenia a target to shoot, distracting her from her actual hiding spot.
    • After barely escaping Severnaya with her life, she makes it to Smolensk and walks into a computer store with nothing but sheer audacity and bluffs her way to net access by posing as a buyer from a university.
    • To top it off, Natalya, not Bond, is the one who ultimately foils Janus's scheme by reprogramming the satellite to drop out of orbit. Made even sweeter by Boris smugly taunting that she can't stop GoldenEye from firing: "She works on the guidance system." Yes, and a lot of good being able to fire the thing will do you when it's burning up over the Atlantic, won't it? When Boris exclaims that Natalya changed the access codes, it's her "You're goddamn right I did" look that sells it.
    • She is surprisingly strong in addition - after a Forceful Kiss from the Big Bad, Natalya responds with a meaty slap so hard it staggers Janus briefly.
    • Natalya also beats the crap out of Boris when she meets him in Janus's control room. It took two mooks simply to restrain her. And judging from the cut to Janus's smirk, even he thought it was pretty awesome.
  • The title sequence, both because it was a new take on the classic Bond opening that set the scene for those in later films, and the powerful imagery with the Communist iconography being destroyed.
  • After using a tank to stop Alec's train, Bond manages to get on board and beats his old friend to the nearest gun.
    Alec: Why can't you just be a good boy and die?
    Bond: You first.


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