Not even Sean Connery.

Easily the sexiest James Bond to grace the screen since Connery left the role in 1971, Pierce Brosnan shoots, fights, blasts and bungee-jumps his way through MGM/UA’s Goldeneye with panache.

In his first outing as Ian Fleming’s superspy, Brosnan brings to the role all the best qualities that marked his predecessors’ performances Moore’s charm, Timothy Dalton’s icy composure and Connery’s wit yet he is more than a composite of the earlier Bonds.

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Although he is believable as a professional killer, Brosnan lends the role a level of sensitivity that makes Bond seem more like a real human being and less like a two-dimensional comic-book hero.

The story is typical Bond:The bad guy, Janus, (Sean Bean) is trying to expand his personal wealth by means of a nefarious plot that will inconvenience and/or kill several zillion innocent people through the use of a really big laser beam.

Bond, of course, must drink a martini, rescue a beautiful girl (in this case, Russian computer programmer Natalya Simonova, played by actress Izabella Scorupco), untangle the evil plot, kick the bad guy’s butt and save the world in just over two hours.

What distinguishes Goldeneye from the other 17 Bond flicks is Janus’ number-one henchman or in this case, henchwoman. A former KGB fighter pilot, Xenia Onatopp (Swedish actress Famke Janssen) is essentially a seductive cross between Pussy Galore and Jaws.

Onatopp is a perfect foil for Bond. As strikingly beautiful as any femme fatale should be, she shares 007’s primary interests:fast cars, baccarat, danger and vodka martinis shaken, of course, not stirred.

Unfortunately, she is on the bad guy’s side, so this match made in heaven never comes to pass which is a good thing for Bond, since Onatopp’s specialty is crushing men to death with her thighs during sex. (And Suzanne Sommers thought she was cool in those Thighmaster ads.)

The film’s only real disappointment was Bond’s much-publicized BMW.

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Sure, Brosnan and Scorupco looked cool in it as they drove past lush tropical vegetation with the top down, but Bond and his women don’t need a car to make them look cool. They need a car to fire laser beams, track villains on a built-in radar screen and blow up enemy vehicles. The BMW did none of the above, despite the special equipment Q installed on it.

Fortunately, the film has enough spectacular action scenes including a lengthy chase through the streets of St. Petersburg, Russia, with Bond pursuing the bad guys in a stolen tank to more than compensate for the less-than-spectacular BMW scene.

Other highlights include Desmond Llewellyn’s usual appearance as gadgetry wizard Q, Judi Dench’s performance as the first female M since the series started and Scorupco’s portrayal of the smartest Bond girl since Octopussy.

With its strong female charac-

ters, impressive stunts (including a record-setting bungee jump in the film’s opening sequence) and dazzling special effects, Goldeneye brings the series into the ’90s without giving up any of the conventions Bond’s fans have come to expect. Sell the Beemer and I’ll give this film 10 stars.

Goldeneye, starring Pierce Brosnan as James Bond, is rated PG-13 and is currently playing at University Place 8.