Plot: Agent 007 (Roger Moore) races against time to stop a power-mad industrialist (Christopher Walken) who plots to kill millions in order to corner the world's microchip supply. From the Eiffel tower to the top of the Golden Gate Bridge, James bond can't be stopped!
Firsts: Oscar winner to play a Bond villain, Bond actually seen on Russian soil.
Gadgets: Microchip tracker, electric shaver that detects microphones, sunglasses that see through tinted windows, ring that takes photographs, check copier, and credit card that unlocks windows
Girls Bond slept with: Kimberley Jones, May Day, Pola Ivanova, and Stacy Sutton
Elaborate murder attempt that Bond escapes: trapped underwater in a car, trapped in an elevator on fire
Personal review: I may lose my Bond cred for saying this, but I actually really enjoy this movie. In my opinion, there are only two major flaws; one being that Roger Moore was too old at this point. And I'm not sure if he had work done before this film, but his face always looks like he's surprised throughout the film. If he does this a few years earlier or if it's done by a different Bond, it would have improved things tremendously. The other is Tanya Roberts as the shrill Stacy Sutton. Not since Jill St. John has there been such an annoying Bond girl. Isn't it interesting how they both came during the final Bond films of Connery and Moore. Roberts' shrieking throughout the movie gets annoying very fast. I mean Bond tells her "hang on" or "I'll be right back" and she's still yelling at him like he's abandoning her. At that point I probably would have left her to burn in the San Francisco City Hall.
But now let's focus on what I like about this entry. First, you gotta love the choice of Christopher Walken as your villain. He brings an excitement to the villain role that had not been seen for a while. It helps that he's more active than most of the villains and we get a significant backstory to understand why he is the way he is. He also surrounds himself with a decent cadre of henchmen. Dr. Mortner is sufficiently creepy as the steroid doctor. And then there's May Day who works really well as a female villain. However, I could have done without the sex scene between her and Bond. They had a problem with Bond sleeping with Bibi and not her?
I also love the addition of Peter Macnee as Sir Godfrey Tibbett. You could tell that him and Moore were having a lot of fun working together. Their whole master/servant schtick produces a lot of laughs.
Kudos for the production team for coming up with a couple of new venues for some epic scenes. The Eiffel Tower and Golden Gate bridge scenes are impressive and feel different than a lot of the Bond action scenes.
The film does drag a bit in the middle with a lot of tangential scenes (Bond cooking quiche (how manly!), sharing a hot tub with the Russian agent, the fire truck chase scene), but they aren't enough to damper the fun of the overall film.
Finally, I must say that Duran Duran's theme is one of the best in the series. It does a great job of kicking the film into high gear right from the start. And I always love when the song and the opening credits do a good job of connecting with the film's theme. Unlike the generic ones that just have silohuetted girls dancing around, this one sticks in your mind with the day-glo motif and the fire and ice symbolism.
I recognize that the film has its flaws, but for me this one is just altogether too enjoyable to rate it negatively. Unlike Octopussy, which seems new everytime I watch it since I never remember anything from that film, I can recall everything from this one. I'm glad that Moore left after this one as opposed to his previous work. 8/10
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