Plot: James Bond (Roger Moore) and the beautiful Soviet Agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) team up to investigate missing Allied and Russian atomic submarines, following a deadly trail that leads to billionaire shipping magnate Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens). Soon Bond and Anya are the world's only hope as they discover a nightmarish scheme of global nuclear Armageddon!
Firsts: Appearances by Jaws and the Minister of Defense, film not to be based on a Fleming novel, and M's first-name being mentioned (Miles)
Gadgets: Ski-pole gun, portable microfilm camera, amphibious car, and portable jetski.
Girls Bond slept with: 'Log Cabin girl', one of Shiekh Hosein's women (presumed), and Anya Amasova (aka Triple X)
Elaborate murder attempts that Bond escapes: Any encounter with Jaws, trapdoor leading to shark tank, and long-barreled gun underneath the table.
Personal review: The film is so strongly centered behind the Bond/Triple X relationship that your opinions of the film depend on your feelings of their chemistry. Personally, I find Barbara Bach, while beautiful, to be painfully dull here, which sours my feelings of the film. They tried to go with the whole sexual tension vibe that existed in On Her Majesty's Secret Service, but Bach is no Diana Rigg. In fact, I would have prefered if Bond had forgotten about Anya and hooked up with Stromberg's henchwoman, Naomi instead. Now she was hot! But back to Bach, not only does she not work as a good sexual foil for Bond, but she's pretty lousy as a spy as well. No wonder the Russians lost the Cold War.
Because so much of the time is spent on their relationship, the film's main villain, Carl Stromberg is treated like an afterthought. That just adds to the forgettable nature of this creepy villain who's out to create a whole new world under the sea. The fact that Bond merely shoots Stromberg instead of giving him a more elaborate death just cements his status as one of the weaker Bond villains. As an aside, I always laugh when the British secret service first begin to suspect the villain and someone like Q will exclaim, "Stromberg? Why he's one of the richest shipping moguls in the world!" As if being rich would eliminate someone from being considered as a villain. If anything, that would make me more suspicious of the person.
While Stromberg is forgettable, we do get a decent henchman in Jaws. I really wish they would have left him as is here instead of bringing him back, but we'll touch upon that next week. For now, we can just place Jaws alongside guys like Oddjob in the annals of classic Bond henchmen.
One other thing I'll point out is that the soundtrack (created by Marvin Hamlisch) is really annoying in this film. I'm not fond of the opening title and his wocka-wocka version of the Bond theme stinks too. In general, most of the music is too loud and overbearing in this film. Then again, maybe I just noticed it more because of my boredom with the main romance.
I will say that the action does pick up nicely near the end. The shootout in the Liparus is some top-notch action. And while it may seem hokey now, I can still appreciate the amphibious car for its creativity. These scenes make this feels more like a Bond film than The Man With the Golden Gun, but there still not enough to rise this one from mediocrity. 7/10
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