Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘Goldfinger’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

One would think that when it comes to James Bond, his lucky number would have to be seven, courtesy of his MI6 callsign, but one would be wrong. For it turns out that James Bond's lucky number is three, because of the fact it only took three films to finally achieve perfection if you will for the character and the franchise.

Because after getting to know 007 for two motion pictures all the magic came together in his third outing. For the action that we loved in Dr. No was merged with the cunning and intelligent spy we got to know in From Russia with Love and combining those two elements with incredible adventure and a high stakes cerebral showdown with a madman is what brought about the utter perfection that is Goldfinger.

In fact, this is the film where the franchise essentially brought forth all of the elements we know and love today. There was plenty of exotic travel as James traversed the globe to hunt down the mysterious Auric Goldfinger, and that travel became a staple in all of the later films and speaking of Goldfinger... he was our first tried and true maniac super villain and man... he was glorious. He was an egotistical nightmare, sure of himself and his abilities and his plan was so crazy and over the top that you want to see 007 put him in his place as quickly as possible.

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Goldfinger was so good a super villain for that matter, that this is the film that brought us the iconic visual/moment of Bond being strapped to a table as a laser beam creeps along to slice him in half, a visual that we often associate with the character, and technology was a huge part of this film as well. I loved that this was the moment when Bond began to adopt all his incredible lifesaving gadgets and that Aston Martin is truly the stuff of beauty to this day. 

But what matters most... is that this was the film where Sean Connery mastered the role of James Bond. I'm not saying he was bad in any way at all in the first two films, but it was obvious that the talented Mister Connery was doing his best to find out exactly who the man was in those early adventures and how he should portray him on screen, and this is the film where that all came together. I say that because you see how comfortable he is in the role from beginning to end and that also helps the story because his ownership of the role is sorely needed to balance out the wild acting Gert Fröbe brings forth as Goldfinger.

Either way, once you get past all of the iconic moments that make you giggle with delight... Goldfinger is an absolute blast of a motion picture. There's plenty of action and adventure, and while it may not be Bond's most cerebral adventure to date... who cares? Because you really cannot go wrong with a crazy super villain and his equally as crazy henchman and James Bond swooping in to save the day. This was an important Bond film to say the least, because the rest of the Connery era would remain big and bold and those early, larger than life adventures would leave big shoes for his predecessors to fill for quite a long time.

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