In 1986, MI-6 agents James Bond (Pierce Brosnan) and Alec Trevelyan (Sean Bean) sneak into a Soviet chemical weapons facility in Arkhangelsk. Trevelyan is captured by Colonel Arkady Grigorovich Ourumov (Gottfried John) and presumed killed, but Bond escapes, destroying the site in the process. Nine years later, following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Bond tries to stop Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) and the Janus Crime Syndicate from stealing a Eurocopter Tiger helicopter at a military demonstration in Monte Carlo, but he fails. Returning to MI-6 in London, he oversees an incident in Severnaya, Siberia, where the stolen helicopter turns up. An electromagnetic pulse hits the site, knocking out the satellites above. Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) survives.
M (Judi Dench) assigns Bond to investigate when they discover that an electromagnetic pulse space-based weapon is deemed responsible, but Bond suspects that General Ourumov is involved. He travels to Saint Petersberg and is advised by the CIA’s Jack Wade (Joe Don Baker) to meet the former KGB agent Valentin Zukovsky (Robbie Coltrane), now a gangster, to arrange a meeting with Janus. Bond learns that Janus is led by former MI-6 agent Trevelyan, who had faked his death at Arkhangelsk. He is descended from the Lienz Cossacks, who were betrayed and repatriated to the Soviet Union after collaboration with the Axis powers during World War II. In the explosion Bond set back then, Trevelyan was severely disfigured. He is seeking revenge against Britain for betraying his parents.
Bond is trapped in the stolen Tiger helicopter along with Natalya Simonova and they survive an attack. They are taken into custody and interviewed by Russian Minister of Defence Dmitri Mishkin (Tchery Karyo). Natalya affirms that Ourumov was involved with GoldenEye and that programmer Boris Grischenko (Alan Cumming) is alive and working for Janus. They have a second GoldenEye satellite. Ourumov kills Mishkin and captures Natalya. In an amazing chase, Bond pursues them through the city streets in a tank, but Ourumov boards a Janus missile train. So does Bond and he finds Trevelyan, Onatopp, and the captive Natalya. Bond saves her by killing Ourumov, but Trevelyan and Onatopp escape in a helicopter. Bond and Natalya escape from the rigged train just before it explodes.
Bond and Natalya travel to Cuba, where Boris is hiding out. Onatopp tries to kill them, but Bond kills her in a fight. The survivors discover a hidden base beneath a lake, featuring a satellite dish which Trevelyn intends to use to devastate London. Natalya hacks into the satellite and reprograms it to destroy itself. Bond triggers a grenade hidden in a pen, allowing him and Natalya to escape. Bond sabotages the dish antenna so it cannot be used again. Trevelyan and Bond battle for control and Trevelyan is killed. Natalya rescues Bond in a commandeered helicopter and the facility explodes, killing everyone, including Boris after he declares his invincibility. Wade and a team of U.S. Marines escort Bond and Natalya to Guantanamo.
The film was directed by Martin Campbell, from a script by Michael France. It was the first Bond film to contain nothing written by Ian Fleming, the first not produced by Albert Broccoli because he had passed the baton to his daughter Barbara, the first to feature a female M (Judi Dench) and the first for Samantha Bond as Moneypenny. It had been six years since the previous Bond film and Timothy Dalton was replaced by Pierce Brosnan. It received positive reviews, was a financial success, and was nominated for sound and for special effects by BAFTA. What was supposed to be Timothy Dalton’s third film was scuttled by legal troubles with MGM and United Artists. Broccoli had insisted that Dalton stay for several films, but he didn’t want to be Bond for the rest of his life.
Goldeneye was the name of Ian Fleming’s estate in Jamaica, named after Operation Goldeneye, a real World War II spy-operation planned by Ian Fleming himself. Filming took place in an old Rolls-Royce factory in Hertfordshire, at the Contra Dam in Switzerland, Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, and in the streets of Saint Petersburg. The theme-song, GoldenEye, was written by Bono and the Edge because the Rolling Stones had declined, but the soundtrack by Eric Serra was not considered a success. The film was at the time the third biggest grossing film after Jurassic Park and Batman Forever.
Scenes censored for the PG-13 rating were restored for the James Bond Ultimate Edition DVD. The film received 87% positive on Rotten Tomatoes. The opening bungee jump from the Contra Dam was the highest ever done in a film—over 722 feet. The original script was altered because it was virtually identical to that of True Lies (1994). Pierce Brosnan had injured his hand and in some shots his hands were doubled by his 22-year-old son Christopher. Liam Neeson had turned down the role of Bond because he didn’t want to be in an action film. The bad guy, Alec Trevelyan, was named after John Trevelyan, the British Censor who despised James Bond movies.