Watched GoldenEye today.

Was extremely impressed with the sound design of the original 5.1 mix. In some places they used old and somewhat lo-fi sound elements, and a lot of the bass is of the one-note kind, but it is put together so well that it hardly matters. A lot of 5.1 mixes, including the Star Wars special editions, rely on 'flashiness' and really call attention to themselves in a distracting and bad way, but GoldenEye is definitely one of the better ones I've heard. The sound field is very natural and immersive at all times, during explosive action scenes and quieter moments alike.

Later on I put in the ultimate edition dvd to compare a few scenes, which confirmed my earlier recollections. While the remix does eliminate some distortion evident in certain effects in the original, the LFE volume in most cases is only about half as loud, causing many effects to seem subdued and quiet in comparison. I definitely recommend watching the older dvd version because of this!