Sadly, time has not been kind to 1971's DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER. I know I was rather enthusiastic with this entry before, and I actually remember loving it the first time I saw it. But this final entry for Sean Connery has aged poorly over the years of not seeing it. While there are still a number of things I liked about it, there are moments that made me cringe this time around. Connery, who accepted the role only because he was getting paid big-time, is actually the best thing about this entry. As usual, he IS James Bond, with all the charms we know and love from him. And another, Blofeld's (This time, played by Charles Gray) ridiculous plot of using theft diamonds to power a laser is typical Bond movie hokum - another over-the-top plot for world domination and extortion. Good action and chase sequences at least prevent it from being boring. The title song was pretty good too (sung by the one and only Shirley Bassey).
But sadly, there are all too silly and mostly dull moments in DAF. Bond girl Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) remains one of the most annoying of the Bond girls (Lana Wood also appears as an even more thankless Plenty O'Toole). Elements such as Bond pitted against two sexy acrobatic women named Bambi and Thumper (!); an obligatory nod to a sillier and more comedic tone; and those two homosexual assassins (Putter Smith as Mr. Kidd and Bruce Glover as his sidekick Mr. Wint) are all dated now. But perhaps the biggest disappointment I had was Blofeld. Excellently portrayed in the first two movies he was in (though I should also note that he was so much more sinister in the earlier entries when his face is yet to be revealed), is reduced to an even more campy villain (he even disguises himself as a woman in one scene!). And by the way, what the heck happened to Bond's vendetta against Blofeld for the death of his wife? We were left dangling in the end of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE only to get Blofeld back as that same old baddie who plots to destroy the world's deadliest weapons if his demands are not met.
While I still did enjoy DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, chiefly to see one of Connery's final performances as 007, I now think it's one of the lesser entries in the long-running series. Though it's far from the worst (because at least, unlike MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, it's not boring), it's easily one of the Bonds that haven't aged well throughout the years. Watchable, but hardly Bond's finest hour.
Rating: **1/2 out of 5.
But sadly, there are all too silly and mostly dull moments in DAF. Bond girl Tiffany Case (Jill St. John) remains one of the most annoying of the Bond girls (Lana Wood also appears as an even more thankless Plenty O'Toole). Elements such as Bond pitted against two sexy acrobatic women named Bambi and Thumper (!); an obligatory nod to a sillier and more comedic tone; and those two homosexual assassins (Putter Smith as Mr. Kidd and Bruce Glover as his sidekick Mr. Wint) are all dated now. But perhaps the biggest disappointment I had was Blofeld. Excellently portrayed in the first two movies he was in (though I should also note that he was so much more sinister in the earlier entries when his face is yet to be revealed), is reduced to an even more campy villain (he even disguises himself as a woman in one scene!). And by the way, what the heck happened to Bond's vendetta against Blofeld for the death of his wife? We were left dangling in the end of ON HER MAJESTY'S SECRET SERVICE only to get Blofeld back as that same old baddie who plots to destroy the world's deadliest weapons if his demands are not met.
While I still did enjoy DIAMONDS ARE FOREVER, chiefly to see one of Connery's final performances as 007, I now think it's one of the lesser entries in the long-running series. Though it's far from the worst (because at least, unlike MAN WITH THE GOLDEN GUN, it's not boring), it's easily one of the Bonds that haven't aged well throughout the years. Watchable, but hardly Bond's finest hour.
Rating: **1/2 out of 5.