MOVIE REVIEW : Name, and the Game, Remain the 007 Same : ‘GoldenEye,’ the 17th film in the James Bond series, stops at all the way stations that viewers expect to visit.

Like men of a certain age who persist in wearing tiny ponytails, “GoldenEye,” the latest James Bond film, is a middle-aged entity anxious to appear trendy at all costs. A mildly successful attempt at updating a relic, its appeal depends greatly on an audience’s willingness to go along for a familiar ride.

“GoldenEye” is the 17th Agent 007 film in a series that dates back to “Dr. No” in 1962, and while Bond is no rival to either Charlie Chan or Sherlock Holmes in the numbers department, that span is long enough for certain traditions to have developed. And, like conscientious pilgrims, the makers of “GoldenEye” have ensured that the film stops at all the stations of the cross of this particular religion.

So Bond fans will be relieved to know that Britain’s preeminent secret agent still drives an Aston Martin DB5 (as well as a new BMW Z3) and fiddles with gadgets like a ballpoint pen that becomes a grenade, all courtesy of the venerable Q, played by Desmond Llewelyn, who’s had the part for more than 30 years. And 007 is still a font of glib remarks and pithy comebacks who delights in trading ribald ripostes like “one rises to the occasion” with an assortment of eye-catching women.

Pierce Brosnan, the fifth actor to play Bond (don’t forget George Lazenby), won’t replace Sean Connery in anyone’s mind, but that is really asking too much. Brosnan does have the right kind of self-confident swagger and he bears up as well as possible under the film’s determination to bring Bond into a world where his unrepentant sexism is not quite as charming as it may once have seemed.

So while Bond is allowed to leer at villainess Xenia Onatopp (Famke Janssen) and captivate heroine Natalya Simonova (Izabella Scorupco), he is taunted with accusations of sexual harassment and has to put up with a tongue-lashing by M (tartly played by Judi Dench) for being “a sexist, misogynist dinosaur.” It’s all more creaky than convincing, like a homework assignment no one was particularly eager to carry out.

One traditional Bond element that retains its appeal is the impressive pre-title sequence. This one involves what may be the world’s longest bungee jump (nimbly executed by stuntman Wayne Michaels), a stunning 750-foot leap off the top of a dam that gets Bond into position to take on a chemical weapons plant in the old USSR.

Mostly, however, “GoldenEye” takes place in the new Russia, where criminal mafias have more power than the enfeebled state. In fact Onatopp, a feisty operative who finds violence sexually exciting, works for Janus, a potent crime syndicate that is a major player among the world’s arms dealers.

When Janus manages to get its hands on a top-secret helicopter and activate GoldenEye, a terrifying weapon based in outer space, Bond is called into action once again by a reluctant M. Aided by Simonova, much too attractive to have died with everyone else in a GoldenEye attack, Bond takes on turncoat Russian generals, renegade Cossacks and all manner of threats to the world’s peace and security.

Working from a shaky script by Jeffrey Caine and Bruce Feirstein that is, if anything, overloaded with plot turns, director Martin Campbell has concentrated his attention on keeping the explosions coming at a regular clip. Not much time is allowed to pass without people fleeing from either a plane, train or car crash--the showier the better.

Though “GoldenEye” is an acceptable Bond picture, it’s a reasonable facsimile more than any kind of original, and it’s hard not to feel a certain weariness while watching it unfold. Despite Brosnan’s smile and amusing touches like Joe Don Baker’s CIA operative calling Bond “Jimmy” and “Jimbo,” the gap between then and now makes this one Bond picture that isn’t as light on its feet as its protagonist.

* MPAA rating: PG-13, for a number of sequences of action violence, and for some sexuality. Times guidelines: The violence is more of the blowing-up than the beating variety.

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‘GoldenEye’

Pierce Brosnan: James Bond

Sean Bean: Alec Trevelyan

Izabella Scorupco: Natalya Simonova

Famke Janssen: Xenia Onatopp

Joe Don Baker: Jack Wade

Judi Dench: M

Robbie Coltrane: Valentin Zukovsky

Albert R. Broccoli presents released by United Artists. Director Martin Campbell. Producers Michael G. Wilson, Barbara Broccoli. Executive producer Tom Pevsner. Screenplay Jeffrey Cane and Bruce Feirstein, based on a story by Michael France. Cinematographer Phil Meheux. Editor Terry Rawlings. Costumes Lindy Hemming. Music Eric Serra. Production design Peter Lamont. Supervising art director Neil Lamont. Set decorator Michael Ford. Running time: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

* In general release throughout Southern California.