GoldenEye (film)



The first James Bond film after a six-year hiatus following Licence to Kill, the first done after the end of the Cold War and the first to star Pierce Brosnan. For many younger people, this was the first James Bond film they've seen in a theater. His Bond Girls included heroine and computer programmer Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco) and villainous assassin Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen).

In this film, someone steals the control disc for a pair of satellites that go boom. Bond is sent to St. Petersburg to investigate and has to fight a former comrade who was Left for Dead after a mission to infiltrate and destroy a Soviet military facility went wrong. Particularly memorable for the chase scene where Bond goes after one of the bad guys in a tank.

A quick note on the origin of the name. It's named after Fleming's house in Jamaica, Goldeneye, which is in turn named after Ian Fleming's (who was at the time in British Naval Intelligence) plan for maintaining control of Gibraltar in the event that fascist Spain entered World War II on the side of Nazi Germany.

Bonus confusion: the fiction film GoldenEye should not be confused with the documentary film Golden Eye, which is about the aforementioned house in Jamaica. Especially not if you're a British newspaper giving away the latter on DVD bundled with the paper itself, and supporting said offer with a TV advertising campaign, Daily Mail. It tends to get you shouted at by the advertising regulator.

Click here for the Nintendo 64 video game adaptation, or click here for the Nintendo Wii remake.

This film contains examples of:
"Q: Need I remind you, 007, that you have a license to kill, not to break traffic laws."
 * Actually Pretty Funny: Q can't help but laugh at Bond's "writing's on the wall" joke.
 * Air Vent Passageway: Subverted. Xenia shoots the vent when she sees that the cover has been pushed out of place, but
 * The Alcoholic: Janus asks Bond if "all those vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you've killed".
 * The Alleged Car: Jack Wade's Zaporozhec.
 * Always Save the Girl:
 * Analogy Backfire: "Shut the door, Alec. There's a draft."
 * Anti-Villain: Janus/Alec set up his elaborate scheme in order to
 * Not really actually, see Disproportionate Retribution below.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking

"Bond: You break into the Bank of England via computer, then transfer the money electronically, seconds before you set off the Goldeneye, which erases any record of the transactions. Ingenious.
 * Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other: After receiving an epic Reason You Suck Speech, M still says to Bond before he leaves for Russia, "007, Come back alive."
 * Big Bad: Janus
 * Blasphemous Boast: Minor example. Janus tells Ouromov "...in 48 hours, you and I will have more money than God..."
 * Bond One-Liner: "She always did enjoy a good squeeze.". How wrong they were.
 * Bond Villain Stupidity: This is a James Bond movie after all. Repeated examples, made more ridiculous because the villains have tangled with Bond before and lost, so they should know better.
 * Not nearly as bad as most of the Bond films, but Ouromov has Bond at his mercy in the interrogation room and decides to gloat to Bond about his plan to frame Bond  and then kill him.
 * It's entirely justified by Janus though, as On the flipside it's averted at several points since Janus is --he has good reasons not to just kill Bond. See Genre Savvy below.
 * Bond is captured by Janus's henchman in Cuba, and Janus insists on talking to him rather than just killing him. However, a few minutes later when Natalya is captured, it's revealed that she . Janus then holds Bond at gunpoint to make her fix it.
 * Bookshelf Dominoes: Bond and Natalya push over a row of bookshelves to block a door.
 * Boring Insult: Bond uses this on Janus to describe the villain's grand plan. What makes this especially hilarious is the look Boris gives Janus after the exchange.

Janus: Thank you, James.

Bond: But it still boils down to petty theft. In the end, you're just a bank robber. Nothing more than a common thief."

"Bond: Ourumov, what has this Cossack promised you? You knew, didn't you? He's a Lienz Cossack.
 * Bottomless Magazines: Just how long is Xenia standing there massacring those programmers on a single magazine? And how long can Bond fire an AK-74 before reloading?
 * Attempted to be Averted Trope by showing Bond pick up new AK-74s as he goes.
 * Bowdlerise: A small amount of content, mostly fight footage, was cut so the film could be released in British cinemas with a 12 rather than a 15 following the lackluster commercial success of the 15-rated Licence to Kill - an uncut DVD edition was later released.
 * Brick Joke
 * There's lines between Xenia and Bond in their encounters about the 'pleasure being all theirs' - first after the Casino, where Bond says it, next after the sauna, in which it's more cynically given to Bond by Xenia - despite her actually having an orgasm during the sauna scene and clearly enjoying herself - and finally in the jungles of Cuba, where she beats on Bond and pretty much demands that the pleasure will be all hers.
 * And Boris' Catchphrase 'I am Invincible!', which he deploys toward the film's end after declaring it earlier on.
 * Call Back: Boris' situation at the end mirrors Natalya's one earlier, as he survives a destruction of a satellite control station and ends up in something cold.
 * Camping a Crapper: Bond knocks out a guard in a men's room.
 * Car Fu: "Use the bumper! That's what it's for!"
 * The Casanova: Bond of course. Though in this film it gets lampshaded a few times.
 * M gives Bond a Reason You Suck Speech and calls him "a sexist, misogynist dinosaur" in regards to his womanizing ways.
 * Janus asks Bond if he "found forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect".
 * Natalya gets angry at Bond for treating her like a Girl of the Week.
 * Catch Phrase: Beyond Bond's classics, there are:
 * Alec's "For England, James?"
 * After beating Xenia at Baccarat, Xenia tells Bond in regards to the money he's won, "Enjoy it, while it lasts" to which Bond replies that those are the very words he lives by
 * Boris' "Yes! I AM INVINCIBLE!"
 * Xenia's screaming "Yes!"
 * Natalya's "Boys and their toys!"
 * Chase Scene: This entry avoids the usual Bond movie car chase scene, due to BMW signing on too late for their Product Placement and only providing the film makers with a prototype, so it couldn't be damaged in any way. However, it more than makes up for it by having a chase scene with a tank. One of the most memorable in the Bond franchise.
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * Bond changing the timers on the explosives from six minutes to three.
 * Boris's habit for clicking and spinning pens. The use of the seems to have a natural conclusion.
 * The oil leak in Janus's base.
 * It's a James Bond movie, so of course, all the gadgets Bond receives at Q Branch. The only exception is the, which isn't shown or talked about, so it ends up as a Deus Ex Machina. It's inadvertently subverted with the BMW. Q explains all of the awesome things it does, and then Bond uses it to .... drive to a meeting point. The reason for this is that not only it entered production too late to write a scene with it, but also BMW lent the only prototype for production of the film, so they couldn't use it in any stunts or action scenes where it might get damaged in any way. Otherwise we would've seen it do what Bond cars usually do.
 * It's made up for in the tank chase, which is conveniently foreshadowed when Bond is on the run in the Archives Library, as he looks down through the window at the motorpool.
 * Boris' "Spike" computer attack.
 * Boris explaining the way "spiking" works to Natalya.
 * Q explaining how his gadgets work. In particular, when Q explains how the belt grappling hook works, and Bond asks "What if I need additional support?" to which Q replies, "It's tested for one." which becomes prominent later when, while preparing to use it,
 * Valentin explaining Bond about the Lienz Cossacks.

Janus: It's in the past...

Bond: He'll betray you! Just like everyone else.

Ourumov: Is this true?

Janus: What's true is that in 48 hours you and I will have more money than God..."

"Mishkin: So, by what means shall we execute you, Commander?
 * Wade telling Bond that if he needs help, to get on the horn, and Wade will send in the Marines.
 * Collapsing Lair: Janus's base in Cuba.
 * Comic Book Time: The first Bond film to really avert this. While previous films in the series had made mention of incidents in other films, this is the first where a serious jump in time occurs with nine years passing in between the pre-title scenes and the rest of the film. Emphasis is placed on the fact that the scenes before the title sequence took place during the Cold War and that it's over now.
 * Completely Missing the Point: Mishkin pretends to be interrogating Bond, but Natalya Simonova is his real target. Bond even suffers a Take That one-liner from Mishkin after Simonova spills the beans.
 * Complexity Addiction: This is a James Bond movie after all. However, unlike most movies in the series this one has a justification.
 * Janus puts Bond in a helicopter that's about to blow itself up, which he escapes from. Justified, since Janus's goal in doing this wasn't to kill Bond in the explosion (he was pretty sure Bond would get out of it), but to incriminate him for crimes Janus had committed against the Russians with that very helicopter. When the Russians show up after the explosion and find Bond with the wreckage, they assume the worst and take him into custody.
 * It's played straight when Janus tries to kill Bond in the train car rigged to explode in feeling the need to give Bond a Karmic Death, and of course, it's just enough time for Bond to escape. There was no reason Janus couldn't have set the timers just long enough for his chopper to get clear or have used explosives that could be detonated by remote or simply not told Bond about them.
 * This gets a Lampshade Hanging by Bond when he's being interrogated by Mishkin.

Bond: What? No small talk? No chit chat? See, that's the problem with the world these days; nobody takes the time to do a really sinister interrogation anymore."

"Bond: How do you take it?
 * Bond himself does it. When asked by Valentin why Bond just shot him the leg and didn't kill him, Bond replies, "Call it professional courtesy."
 * Concert Kiss: It's a James Bond movie after all.
 * Cool Train: Janus's missile train base.
 * Cowboy Bebop at His Computer: Part of the St. Petersburg tank chase was filmed on site. They faked all of the relevant statutes and treasures and smashed replicas on a UK Backlot, but that didn't stop a few breathless "They're destroying our art!" newscasts in Russia.
 * Creepy Cathedral: Where Natalya goes to meet Boris and.
 * Cut the Juice: The Goldeneye does this by destroying everything electronic in its blast. It's essentially the Kill Sat version of an EMP.
 * Cyberpunk: Arguably, seeing as the film was made when the Internet was only young and computing was really beginning to take off. This can be seen in Boris being a wizard 'hacker' as well as Natalya demanding to use several IBMs with jargon-infused specifications at a computer shop.
 * Death by Looking Up
 * Subverted by Natalya in Severnaya when the set of computer screens falling from the ceiling stop right above her.
 * Decon Recon Switch: Begins by asking if Bond's still relevant in a post-Cold War world. Answers that question with "He drives a tank around St. Petersburg."
 * Deus Ex Machina: that Bond uses to escape from the train car. Not exactly far-fetched since it's James Bond movie, but what makes it fall under this category is it not being shown during the scene with Q where all the other gadgets are shown and talked about. Since it's a Bond film, a Type 3 Chekhov's Gun "to write the story out of a corner" variant occurs with the other Q gadgets.
 * Dirty Communists: Referenced throughout the film, as the characters talk about the Cold War and the post-Cold War world.
 * Disproportionate Retribution: "A worldwide financial meltdown, and all so  can settle a grudge with the world fifty years old."
 * Doomed Love Interest: Janus asks Bond "if you've found forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect."
 * Double Entendre: Boris' passwords. "They're right in front of you, and can open very large doors." This becomes a plot point later, when Natalya is trying to crack one with a string of Double Entendres, but the answer is actually innocuous. "You sit on it, but can't take it with you."
 * And of course it wouldn't be a Bond film without 007 using them.
 * "As you can see, I have no problem with female authority."
 * "Let's drink to your evaluation. A very... thorough evaluation."
 * Drink Order: When Bond and Xenia are in the casino, Bond orders his usual vodka martini, shaken not stirred, and Xenia orders the same, resulting in this exchange.
 * Drink Order: When Bond and Xenia are in the casino, Bond orders his usual vodka martini, shaken not stirred, and Xenia orders the same, resulting in this exchange.

Xenia: Straight up, with a twist."

"Valentin: He wants me to do him a favor!"
 * Dueling Hackers: Boris' favorite pastime.
 * Elaborate Underground Base: Janus's lair in Cuba. Doubles as an Underwater Base while it's submerged.
 * Embarrassing Tattoo: Wade has a tattoo on his leg of a rose and the name of this third wife, Muffy.
 * EMP: Possibly the best example in modern cinema.
 * Empty Quiver: The entire plot is set off by the theft of the Goldeneye weapon. (It's a nuclear warhead in orbit, designed to shoot a concentrated EMP at a single target when detonated, rather than making a burst that destroys everything in range of the blast.)
 * Enemy Mine: Bond gets Valentin to help him by using their common enemy in Janus.

"Wade: So let me get this straight. Jimmy; you shot him in the leg, you stole his car, you took his girl, and now you want Valentin Zukovsky to set you up with Janus? What are you gonna do? Appeal to his heart?
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Xenia's orgasmic massacre of the Severnaya satellite control center's staff shocks even General Ourumov, albeit briefly.
 * Ourumov is also taken aback to learn that.
 * Every Man Has His Price: Wouldn't be Bond without him using money to deal with at least one situation; in this case, getting Valentin to set up a meeting between Bond and Janus.

Bond: No, his wallet."

"Q: Don't say it...
 * Evil Counterpart: Janus, the renegade 00 agent.
 * Explosive Instrumentation: Severnaya and "Cuban Severnaya".
 * Face Heel Turn: Janus
 * Ouromov, who betrays the Russian government to join Janus.
 * First-Name Basis: Janus is the only Bond villain in the series to address Bond as "James" instead of "Mr. Bond." It may also double as Something Only They Would Say. Bond, already on edge, instinctively points his gun in the direction of the voice, but gradually lowers it in shock and surprise, well before Janus's face is visible.
 * Ouromov at first addresses Mishkin by his title of "Defense Minister" and does so at first when he is yelling at Mishkin after he bursts in on Mishkin interrogating Bond and Natalya. After a brief argument, he addresses Mishkin by his first name of "Dmitri" when he calms down and asks him a question, prompting Mishkin to yell for the guards.
 * "Friend or Idol?" Decision: "So, what's the choice James? Two targets; time enough for one shot: the girl or the mission?"
 * Funny Background Event: The airbag-equipped phone booth (twice!) and the car airbag in Q's workshop.
 * Gallows Humor:
 * When Q demonstrates the pen-grenade to Bond, by sticking it in a suit-clad dummy's pocket and running. After the explosion:

Bond: ...the writing's on the wall?

Q: Along with all the rest of him! (laughs)"

"Bond: Are you sure you wanna do this? The last guy who dropped in their uninvited went home air freight in very small boxes.
 * When Wade is dropping Bond off at Valentin's lounge:

Bond: Make sure they send me home first class"

"Mishkin: So, by what means shall we execute you, Commander?
 * When Bond is being interrogated by Mishkin.

Bond: What? No small talk? No chit chat? See, that's the problem with the world these days; nobody takes the time to do a really sinister interrogation anymore."

"Bond: I know the Russian fail safe system. You don't just walk in and ask for the keys to the bomb. You need the access codes.""
 * Gender Flip: Judi Dench becomes the first female M in the series.
 * Genre Savvy: The film is full of Lampshade Hanging, so it's only appropriate that some of the characters be this.
 * In the chemical plant, when Ourumov orders Bond and Alec to "come out with their hands up", Bond replies to himself, "How original".
 * Ouromov isn't concerned when one of the Not Quite Dead Severnaya programmers hits the alarm, as he knows the best response time in 19 minutes.
 * Bond knows there must have been an insider in the Goldeneye theft.

"Janus: Oh, please, James, put it away. It's insulting to think I haven't anticipated your every move."
 * Janus at a few points. Justified as.
 * He knows that Bond won't shoot him in the statue park when Bond points a gun at him.

"Janus: The watch. So, how is old Q? Up to his usual tricks? A new model. Still press here, do I?"
 * When Bond asks him where Natalya is, he replies, "Ah, yes, your fatal weakness."
 * He asks Bond if "All those vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you've killed, or if you've found forgiveness in the arms of all those willing women for all the dead ones you failed to protect."
 * He knows to check Bond's detonator watch in Cuba in order to deactivate the explosives Bond has planted.

"Bond: Good morning, Q. Sorry about the leg. Skiing?
 * Girl of the Week: Lampshaded. Natalya becomes angry at Bond for treating her like this. (Not that it stops it from occurring).
 * Minor gender inversion; Xenia seems to treat Bond in this way, albeit in her unique fashion.
 * Good Scars, Evil Scars: Janus, which is the reason he uses that name.
 * Go Out with a Smile: The Canadian admiral that was at the casino with Xenia.
 * It's more of a horrible grimace...
 * Grappling Hook Belt. One of Q's gadgets, which, of course, Bond uses to get himself out of a tight spot.
 * Groin Attack: Narrowly averted. Valentin shoots between Bond's legs when Bond disparages his mistress' singing, but doesn't hit him. Intentional, considering it was fired from barely 50 cm away.
 * Gunship Rescue: Janus tries to call one in to get rid of Bond while on top of the transmitter.
 * Handicapped Badass: Played with in the scene in Q branch. Bond encounters Q in a wheelchair with his leg in a cast. However, it's just one of his gadgets; a concealed rocket launcher.

Q: (fires a rocket out of the cast and blows up a target) Hunting."

"Janus: For England, James?
 * Hannibal Lecture: Janus to Bond, on multiple occasions.
 * Heroes Want Redheads: Bond and Natalya.
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Janus. Prior to Bond meeting him it's mentioned that he hasn't been seen by anyone outside of his syndicate.
 * High Altitude Battle: The final fight between Bond and Janus on top of the transmitter dish.
 * High Concept: In-universe, Bond describes Janus's plan as just "petty theft" and Janus as a "common thief".
 * Hoist by His Own Petard: Not an entirely straight example, but.
 * Hollywood Hacking: Like you wouldn't believe. Still, it was 1995, and some of it can be attributed to Technology Marches On.
 * Hollywood Tone Deaf / Irony as She Is Cast: Irina, Valentin's mistress, played by Minnie Driver, absolutely massacres "Stand By Your Man", which is funny considering Driver is actually a very good vocalist. Then again, it must take talent to sound like you're "strangling a cat", as Bond put it.
 * Hope Spot: After "Cuban Severnaya" explodes, Boris survives and yells "I AM INVINCIBLE!".
 * Human Shield: Ouromov uses Natalya as one.
 * If I Wanted X, I Would Y: M putting down Tanner's "Queen of Numbers" quip by saying if she wanted sarcasm she could get it from her children.
 * Incredibly Lame Pun
 * Natalya's reaction to Boris's dirty jokes.
 * From Valentin to Bond: "James Bond. Charming, sophisticated secret agent. Shaken but not stirred?"
 * It's later subverted with James when he meets Natalya. "I'm a little tied up...never mind."
 * Interplay of Sex and Violence: Bond and Xenia's fight in the steam room.
 * Invincible Villain: Boris thinks he is one. He's not.
 * Iron Lady: "I hear the new M ... is a lady?"
 * Ironic Echo
 * "For England." This line is used by Alec on his and Bond's mission in Archangelesk when they say it to each other. It's first repeated a few minutes later as a Meaningful Echo right before, but it then becomes an ironic echo twice. The first time is after  and . The second is right before . This time Janus asks it to Bond, which enables Bond to.

Bond: No. For me."

"Helicopter Pilot: I think I've gone to Heaven.
 * "Set timers. Six minutes." During the Archangelsk mission Alec tells Bond to set the explosives on the gas tanks for six minutes, but when Alec is captured, Bond changes the timers to three minutes. Later, when Bond and Natalya are trapped on Janus's train base, which he's rigged to explode, he comes over the speaker and says "Good luck with the floor, James. . It was the least I could do for a friend."
 * Boris does this to himself unintentionally with the line "I am invincible." While at Severnaya programming computers, Boris jumps up and yells the line. He does so again in the same manner after surviving the destruction of Janus's lair right before the.
 * After Bonds beats Xenia at cards and introduces himself to her, Bond uses the line "The pleasure, I'm sure, was all mine." Later, after he survives her Murderous Thighs, Bond forces her to take him to Janus. After doing so, she says "Well, once again, the pleasure was all yours." Xenia then attempts to make this an ironic echo later when she attacks Bond in Cuba, saying, "This time, Mr. Bond, the pleasure will be all mine.".
 * I Surrender, Suckers: Bond plants explosives in Janus's base while under fire from Janus's henchmen and then surrenders to them, so they'll take him out of the blast radius. However, Janus turns out to be Genre Savvy.
 * It's Personal
 * Janus's motive for terrorism.
 * Bond's motive for going after Janus later in the film: "No. For me."
 * Before leaving for Russia, M tells Bond, "Don't make it personal," in regards to Ourumov.
 * Just Following Orders: Janus is angry at Bond for Bond's loyalty being "always to the mission, never to his friend."
 * Just Plane Wrong: The real-life Eurocopter Tiger is not, in fact, any less prone to EMP than the aircraft sent after it, does not have an ejection system, and cannot lock missiles onto itself. The MC of the demonstration announces it as a prototype with new features.
 * Kansas City Shuffle: After Xenia kills the programmers at Severnaya, she hears Natalya in the kitchen and sees the crooked ceiling vent. She shoots it up and leaves satisfied.
 * Karmic Death
 * Janus attempts to kill Bond in this manner
 * Kick the Dog: Ouromov's moment is in the chemical plant when he shoots a Soviet soldier who gets nervous and fires on Bond using chemical tanks as cover after Ouromov orders the soldiers not to.
 * Possibly Justified, as Ouromov is worried that the resulting explosion/chemical leak will kill them all.
 * Kill It with Ice:.
 * Kill'Em All: Xenia at Severnaya.
 * Kill Sat: The weapon GoldenEye itself.
 * Lampshade Hanging: Cold War spy drama and modern gender politics had moved on from the Bond template, prompting a lot of this throughout the film as well as lots of Genre Savvyness. Janus asks Bond if their missions "For England" were really worth it, and whether all the vodka martinis and willing women dull the pain. The new M is a woman and considers Bond a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and "relic of the Cold War". Natalya becomes angry at being the Girl of the Week. Even Moneypenny tells Bond she has a life outside him. However, despite bringing up all these points, the formula plays out as usual.
 * Large Ham
 * Alan Cumming as Boris "I AM EENVEEEENCEEBULLL" Grishenko
 * Famke Janssen also has great hammy fun as Xenia.
 * Leaning on the Fourth Wall: While Natalya and James are making out, Natalya says, "Suppose someone is watching?" Then.
 * Leave No Witnesses: After acquiring the Goldeneye key, Ouromov has Xenia kill the Severanya facility's entire staff.
 * Lighter and Softer: Pierce Brosnan was a considerably less serious Bond, using much more humor than his predecessor, Timothy Dalton.
 * Lzherusskie: At least ten of them.
 * MacGuffin: The Goldeneye Key
 * Meaningful Echo:
 * "For England, James.", the first time it's echoed.
 * After beating Xenia at Baccarat, Xenia tells Bond in regards to the money he's won, "Enjoy it, while it lasts" to which Bond replies that those are the very words he lives by.
 * When Natalya is held at gunpoint by Ouromov, Bond attempts to bluff by saying "Kill her. She means nothing to me". She gets to say those words right back to his face when they get captured in Cuba, and he's the one being held at gun point.
 * Meaningful Name: In the 60's, one of the fiercest critics of the early Bond films was a guy named John Trevelyan.
 * Multi-Track Drifting
 * Murder-Suicide:.
 * Murderous Thighs: Xenia
 * The New Russia
 * Nice Job Fixing It, Villain
 * Boris, though there was really no way he could have known.
 * If they hadn't shot down Bond's plane, he never would have found the secret base. He was even saying how he was about ready to give up just as the missile hit.
 * Nobody Poops: Averted near the beginning. Bond sneaks into the chemical weapons plant through the bathroom and knocks out a guard taking a dump.
 * No One Could Survive That: Alec in the Soviet chemical plant.
 * Not a Game: Natalya says this to Boris in Cuba about the use of the Goldeneye when she's captured.
 * Not the Fall That Kills You: Played with, Alec survives the fall from the antenna, but it crushes him a minute later, killing him before the audience knows if the fall was fatal.
 * No Plans, No Prototype, No Backup: Defense Minister Mishkin thinks this is the case with the Goldeneye, but he is oh so wrong.
 * Obsession Song / Stalker with a Crush: "You'll never know/how I watched you from the shadows as a child..." Tina Turner's Thematic Theme Tune, written by Bono and The Edge, has some pretty stalkerrific lyrics.
 * Oh Crap
 * Bond when he sees Alec being held at gunpoint by Ouromov.
 * Natalya when she realises Severnaya is about 4 seconds away from destruction.
 * Ouromov when Mishkin tells him that Natalya, and not just Boris, survived the destruction of Severnaya.
 * Bond in the Tiger helicopter when he sees the missiles it's just fired have just turned around and are now heading back to it.
 * Ouromov again when he sees the tank crash through the wall. The novelization expands on this and adds the fact that Ouromov is a veteran of the Soviet-Afghan War and had a bad experience with a tank.
 * Boris after receiving the message on his computer telling him the transmitter dish is malfunctioning.
 * Old Soldier:
 * Bond, which is part of M's verbal beatdown of him when she refers to him as "A relic of the Cold War".
 * Valentin is both one himself, being an ex-KGB agent, and lampshades this about Bond when he asks Bond, "So, still working for MI6 or have you finally decided to join the 21st century?"
 * Ouromov as well.
 * Outrun the Fireball: Done by Natalya after the Goldeneye fires on Severnaya. Later by Bond and Natalya in Janus's base in Cuba after.
 * Out with a Bang: Xenia only feels pleasure when killing people, and does it while having sex. This results in . Shooting people is probably Xenia's method of masturbation.
 * Pay Evil Unto Evil: Valentin's description of the fate of the Lienz-Cossacks, despite the collateral damage, is as "Still, ruthless people. They got what they deserved."
 * Janus views his actions with the Goldeneye satellite as this.
 * Percussive Maintenance: "No, the bigger one, the sledge.
 * Pierce Brosnan Is About To Shoot You!
 * Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner: "Beg your pardon. I forgot to knock."
 * Precocious Crush: The film's title song makes mention of this, with the lyrics, "You'll never know how I watched your from the shadows as a child."
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Wouldn't be Bond without them.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Wouldn't be Bond without them.

Xenia:Not yet. (Then shoots the pilots).

[[spoiler:Janus: For England, James?

Bond: No. For me.]]"

"Valentin: Walther PPK. 7.65 mm. Only three men I know use such a gun. I believe I've killed two of them.
 * Product Placement: Bond's BMW. It is a James Bond movie after all.
 * Also, the Perrier truck.
 * Punny Name: This is a James Bond movie after all, so at least one of the girls has one. Xenia definitely likes to be Onatopp. This is the same franchise that brought us Pussy Galore, after all.
 * This works even better in the German version, where Bond butchers her name into "Ohne Top" (Topless).
 * Railing Kill
 * Ramming Always Works: Janus attempts this when Bond parks his tank on the track that Janus's train base is heading towards. Janus orders the train to go to full speed to ram Bond. It might have worked if . Xenia is, of course, entirely too excited by this turn of events.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech
 * Judi Dench's new M verbally dismantles the new Bond in the first third of the movie. As Bond's first female boss in the series, and as a female considerably older than Bond, M takes the Broken Base Audience Surrogate Up to Eleven by telling him exactly what she thinks of him as a "sexist, misogynist dinosaur" and "a relic of the Cold War". This may be exactly what some viewers thought when the movie premiered, because of world events in between this film and the last one, 1989's Licence to Kill. As in, "this is ANOTHER James Bond movie?"
 * Bond also gets one from Janus in the statue park.
 * Red Scare: Subverted. Ourumov looks like he's trying to revive the Soviet Union with himself at the head. However, he's only trying to make money by assisting Janus's real plan.
 * Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: Janus, which is a reference to his facial scars.
 * Renegade Russian: Ourumov and the Janus Syndicate seem like this, but are just criminals.
 * The Reveal:, which the movie's trailer gave away.
 * Right Behind Me: Happens to Tanner with M right as he's describing her as the "Evil Queen of Numbers".
 * Right Under Their Noses: Xenia and Ouromov steal the Tiger helicopter in this manner.
 * Russian Guy Suffers Most: Janus's motive.
 * Sadistic Choice: "So what's the choice, James? Two targets. Time enough for one shot? The girl or the mission?"
 * Sarcasm Mode: Wouldn't be Bond without his usual snarking. However, Natalya gets in on it too; "I'm fine, by the way" and "By the way, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." respectively after the two tims Bond rescues her and informs her of a bad situation.
 * Save the Villain:
 * She Cleans Up Nicely: Moneypenny, when she shows up at the office after a date, prompting a reaction from Bond.
 * Shell-Shocked Veteran: Sort of. Janus asks Bond if "all those vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you've killed".
 * Shoe Phone: Played straight (explosive pen) and parodied ("Don't touch that! That's my lunch!").
 * Sociopathic Soldier: Xenia fits the soldier part by being an ex-Soviet fighter pilot, and the sociopath part is made very evident throughout the movie.
 * So You Were Saying:
 * Said by M to Tanner after he describes her as "The Evil Queen of Numbers" as standing right behind him.
 * When Bond goes to Valentin's lounge and hears the click of Bond pointing a gun at his head.

Bond: Lucky me. (One of Valentin's mooks appears and points a gun to Bond's head.

Valentin: I think not."

"Boris: GIVE ME THE CODES, NATALYA! GIVE THEM TO ME!!!"
 * Stay in the Kitchen: Addressed by M when she accuses Bond of being "a sexist, misogynist dinosaur."
 * Stock Foreign Names: Boris and Natalya, almost the same ones used in Rocky and Bullwinkle.
 * Super Window Jump: This is how the tank chase begins...
 * Survivor Guilt:
 * Take That
 * M pointing out that the satellite pictures at HQ are live, because unlike the Americansgovernment, the British government prefers not to get its bad news from CNN.
 * The Big Bad is named after a British film censor who didn't like the early Bond films.
 * The teaser trailer has Pierce Brosnan swagger into the light until the audience can see his face. He looks at the camera and asks if we were expecting someone else. Possibly a reference to the 4th and previous Bond; Timothy Dalton, who wasn't as well received as his predecessors, and a reassurance that we had nothing to worry about now that the part had been recast.
 * Tank Goodness: So awesome the next movie decided to counter with Bond driving a smaller vehicle (a motorcycle).
 * Technology Marches On: The movie came out in 1995. Natalya goes to an IBM office so she can contact Boris via the internet, and gives the sales rep a purchase order as a rather clever lie to use their connection. Computers using 500 megabyte hard drives, with 14.4 kbps modems, seem woefully underpowered today.
 * Bond's digital camera, and the on-board computer in his car, which he used to send a picture of Xenia that MI 6 analyzed on the spot, are within current smartphone or tablet capabilities.
 * Tempting Fate: I AM EENVEENCIBLE!
 * There Is No Kill Like Overkill
 * The St. Petersburg chase scene involves Bond facing off against police cars...in a tank.
 * Trademark Favorite Drink: Wouldn't be Bond without him ordering a vodka martini, shaken not stirred. Janus lampshades this when he asks him "if all those vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you've killed".
 * Trailers Always Spoil: The Reveal that the head of the Janus Syndicate is would have made an intriguing plot twist, if everything referencing the movie hadn't spoiled it.
 * Try Not to Die: M's last words to Bond before he heads to Russia are, "Come back alive."
 * Two Keyed Lock: Needed to operate the Goldeneye satellites
 * Underwater Base: Janus's base in Cuba. Double as an Elaborate Underground Base after it emerges.
 * Variable Terminal Velocity: Bond jumps off a cliff on a motorcycle and somehow manages to catch the plane before it crashes. Yeah. What makes it worse is that the plane is doing a nose-dive with the propeller running, meaning its going faster than if it were merely falling.
 * Villainous Breakdown
 * Boris, when Natalya has . Boris tries to reprogram it...but can't break her access codes. He promptly flips his borscht.
 * Boris, when Natalya has . Boris tries to reprogram it...but can't break her access codes. He promptly flips his borscht.

"Boris: (violently shaking the monitor) SPEAK TO ME!"
 * Boris again, while he has a pistol pointed at his head.

"Janus: Oh, by the way, I did think of asking you to join my little scheme, but somehow I knew that 007's loyalty was always to the mission. Never to his friend."
 * Weaponized Car: Bond has a BMW Z3 that is supposedly armed to the teeth but none of its gadgets are actually used in the film. See above under Chekhov's Gun. Despite this, it was still a big sell, and in fact, the limited edition "007 Model" sold out within a day of being available to order.
 * Weapon Stomp: Bond does this to Alec Trevelyan's AK-47 during the train scene.
 * We Can Rule Together: Subverted by Janus towards Bond.

"Bond: Why?
 * What Measure Is a Mook?:
 * When the Russians have taken Bond into custody, believing him to be responsible for the attack on Severnaya as the result of a frame job by the Big Bad, Bond shoots lots of guards during his escape. Even though they're shooting to kill, the guards are decent guys who are only doing their jobs. The sole reason they are trying to stop Bond is because they've been led to believe he is a terrorist with lots of innocent blood on his hands,, though given the situation, Bond's options are limited.
 * Minor Lampshade Hanging by Janus when he asks Bond ""if all those vodka martinis silence the screams of all the men you've killed" implying that Bond does actually feel guilt about killing mooks.
 * Why We're Bummed Communism Fell: This comes up a few times throughout the movie with characters talking about post-Soviet Russia, how things have changed since the Cold War, and M referring to Bond as "a relic of the Cold War." It's also revealed to be Janus's major motivation for his actions.

Janus: (laughs) Hilarious question. Particularly from you. Did you ever ask why? Why we toppled all those dictators? Undermined all those regimes? Only to come home. Good job. Well done. But, sorry, old boy. Everything you risked your life and limb for has changed."


 * It's never outright stated, but this could easily be the reason Ouromov and Xenia betray the Russian government by working with Janus.
 * Why Won't You Die?: Janus to Bond on the train; "Why can't you just be a good boy and die?"
 * Woman Scorned: The narrator of the film's title song; "You'll never know how it feel to get so close and be denied."
 * Would Hit a Girl: The first real time in the series this happens. Bond gets into a fight with Xenia in the steam room and is willing to slam her against a wall and throw her onto the steam rocks. He then knocks her out after she drives him to the statue park. Later, when she attacks him again, . Then again, she's one of the few women ever to try to directly kill him. Maybe  should've taken note before Tempting Fate by saying "You wouldn't kill me" to Bond.
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: Non-fantasy version. Valentin uses a cane to walk because of a limp on his right leg that Bond gave him by shooting him.
 * You!: Not said out loud, but the look on Bond's face definitely says this as.
 * You Look Familiar: Joe Don Baker, who plays Jack Wade, earlier played Big Bad, Brad Whitaker, in The Living Daylights.
 * You Have Failed Me: Wouldn't be a Bond movie without this. "Either you've brought me the perfect gift, General Ouromov, or you've made me a very unhappy man."
 * You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Did we mention this a James Bond film? Immediately after having the officer in charge of Severnaya bring him the Goldeneye key, Ouromov has Xenia shoot him, along with the entire Severnaya staff.
 * You Killed My Father:
 * You Taste Delicious: Janus, licks the cheek of his hostage, Natalya. A few minutes later he tells Bond that she "tastes like strawberries."