Plot: When a British ship is sunk in foreign waters, the world's superpowers begin a feverish race to find its cargo: a nuclear submarine control system. And 007 (Roger Moore) is thrust into one of his most riveting adventures as he rushes to join the search...and prevent global devastation!
Firsts: Film without M, Bond theme singer shown in credit sequence
Gadgets: Burglar protected Lotus, Identograph
Girls Bond slept with: Lisl Von Schlaf, Melina Havelock
Elaborate murder attempts that Bond escapes: Death by remote control helicopter, dragged behind a motorboat
Personal review: To me this is one of the most confusing entries in the Bond cannon. After reaching the height of wackiness with Moonraker, I can understand the producers wanting to try a more grounded approach because there was no way to top an intergallactic fight with laser guns. But if they were going to take a new approach, then they shouldn't have gone halfway with it. As much as I enjoy Roger Moore's Bond, he seemed out of place here.
First off, you have the opening sequence referencing Tracy Bond and showing an appearance by Blofeld; two characters which have never been seen or mentioned since Moore took over. You also have the Russians back to being the primary villains here. After The Spy Who Loved Me, it seemed odd that they would use General Gogol here trying to get the ATAC. In fact that whole scene at the end of the film between Bond and Gogol is really weird. When Bond smashes the ATAC, Gogol acts like it's no big deal and leaves (then why was he so desperate to get it in the first place) and Bond doesn't even attempt to arrest or punish Gogol for his actions. Weird.
Of course, the film's actual villain is Kristatos who may be one of the most forgettable Bond villains in history. You don't learn he's the villain until over an hour into the film and then he only has about one 'evil' scene. This is not a guy bent on world domination and is really nothing more than a glorified courier since he has no intentions of using the ATAC itself.
Then there is an odd collection of Bond girls. Melina is fine in her role. Plus 10 for the producers choosing someone who looks authentically Greek, but -20 for forcing us to look at her mustache for the entire film. There's also the Countess in what has to be one of the more superfluous Bond girl roles ever. Really, Bond gained nothing by sleeping with her that he couldn't have figured out elsewhere. And then there's the one he doesn't sleep with, Bibi. Seeing Bond choose not to sleep with someone is just bizarre. Some say the character is supposed to be underage, but that's never made abundantly clear in the film and the actress portraying Bibi was in her 20s. I have a feeling either Moore or the producers felt it looked odd seeing Moore sleeping with someone that young, which is another reason why I think a new, younger Bond would have been better here. And since Bond doesn't sleep with her, Bibi's presence is really grating. She serves no other purpose to the plot and has a shrill personality.
The action sequence are decent in here, but nothing truly memorable. I also think they could have been better served being shot by a different director. John Glen has an annoying habit of doing jump cuts and loud noises to produce cheap scares (i.e. the parrot screeching when the Havelocks are murdered). I'll also give credit to Sheena Easton as 'For Your Eyes Only' is one of the better Bond themes. Sure, it'll be stuck in your head for days, but it's still a decent theme.
Overall, there's just too much disconnect for this to be rated highly. It seemed as if they were ready for a change, but couldn't quite commit to it. To me, this is Moore's Diamonds are Forever 7/10
No comments:
Post a Comment