PG, 2 hr. 7 min. Directed by: John Glen. Release Date: June 26, 1981. DVD Release Date: October 19, 1999.
This is arguably one of my least favorite movies in this long-lived, but frequently struggling series. These days, I suspect a lack of funds and a decent Fleming-ish story are keeping Bond… 26 (?) from being made a reality and I’m planning on being thoroughly annoyed if Daniel Craig only gets two shots at bat as the world’s favorite spy. In the 80s, I’m pretty sure pop culture was the culprit behind the miraculous and marked plunge in quality of these movies… although I’m also willing to blame Roger Moore, who seemed to suck his way through like half of the existing series films.
Now why do I hate this movie in particular? It’s got vaguely what I look for in a Bond movie: what was then considered big-budget action sequences, exotic locations, a hot Bond girl, a semi-plausible plot. But, I have complaints (Surprise!), and quite a few of them. It seems like half the scenes are borrowed directly from other movies, although this may be because I didn’t even come close to seeing these movies in chronological order. I don’t really like the whole revenge theme that appears in the very early scenes and keeps rearing its ugly head until the very last few moments of the film. I appreciate that they’ve tried to give some substance to the movie, a rarity in the Bond world, but it falls a little flat. I miss the gadgets in this movie… well, in every movie of the franchise made during the 80s. And, I hate the Bond girl. She’s wonderful to look at, but they use her like an annoying plot battering ram that talks too much and is kind of stupid. It’s not cute.
The story and set up seem to be a big change from earlier Bond flicks, but I’m not sure I really think any of the changes are improvements. I know there was some political stuff as well as business stuff going on in the background that probably prompted all this stuff that I hate, but it seemed to take them a few pretty crappy pictures before the people making these movies realized just what the problem was.
I guess finally I dislike the villain, which is a common problem for me throughout the franchise, but this is an especially vexing issue because this particular villain reappears in at least three other Bond movies. It must be difficult to come up with a decent villain when you’re making the archetypal villain for an espionage thriller, but I don’t even feel that this guy represents a decent attempt.
Basically, I’d avoid this movie. If I hadn’t bought the box sets of the existing Bond movies in 2002 or 2003, I certainly wouldn’t own a copy of this movie.
