Orpington Reviews

A View to a Kill (1985)

Arthritic conclusion to the Moore years

[5/10 · 15 September 2004]

Roger Moore initially intended to walk away from the Bond franchise after finishing Octopussy, which was a not unreasonable decision, given that he was now moving into his late fifties. Cubby Broccoli, however, persuaded him to stay on to make A View to a Kill, which thus became Moore's seventh Bond film, and also his last. Sadly, AVTAK is far from being a great farewell for the man who has starred in more official Bond movies than anyone else, as it is a dull film, devoid of real inspiration and unable to rouse itself from torpor.

Funnily enough, in spite of his age Moore's performance is one of the better things about the film, as he plays it fairly straight and does not just sleepwalk his way through, as he had been guilty of in some of his earlier outings. However, by now there was no hiding the fact that Moore was simply too old to still be playing James Bond; he had got away with it in For Your Eyes Only and (just) in Octopussy, but in AVTAK you can see the wrinkles clearly, and the credibility of the film is thus undermined from the start. It does not help matters that we see him in intimate scenes with a number of (much younger) women, most distressingly in bed with the Amazonian Grace Jones, a sight that is not for the faint-hearted. A jacuzzi scene with Fiona Fullerton also gives us ample opportunity to survey Moore's ageing body, and it does leave you wishing he had quit before this film.

Many others in the cast of AVTAK are of advancing years, including Willoughby Gray as an evil German scientist, Patrick Macnee as Bond's ally Tibbett, and Lois Maxwell, making her fourteenth and final appearance as a by now distinctly matronly Moneypenny. All of them give good performances, but the preponderance of ageing stars certainly helps to rob the film of real dynamism, and little in the way of sexual frisson can be generated between a Bond and a Moneypenny who are both a short way off collecting their bus passes. At least there is good nostalgia value in seeing Moore and Macnee, the Saint and the Avenger, working together and clearly enjoying doing so, and Macnee is very enjoyable in his role.

In fairness, the age of the cast wouldn't matter so much if the film was exciting, but sadly the pace is pedestrian and the story never takes off. From a deeply unimaginative pre-title sequence, which sees OO7 involved in yet another ski chase, AVTAK is quite happy to be Bond-by-numbers, and John Glen directs with less spark than in his other Bond films. The action scenes are uninspired and, in the case of a fire engine chase through San Francisco, pretty stupid, with only the final showdown on the Golden Gate Bridge generating any real excitement. There is also some horrendous back projection, which is quite incredible for a film made in the mid-80s, and just adds to its creaky feel. The villains, sadly, don't really give a lift to proceedings, even though Christopher Walken plays the psychotic industrialist Max Zorin, Bond's main opponent. Walken tries his best with the character, certainly making him nutty and disturbed, but the limitations of the script prevent him from making Zorin a convincing villain, and it is ultimately an unsuccessful performance. Grace Jones is more effective as May Day, mainly because she is such an imposing and intimidating figure, but the effect is rather spoiled when she is finally allowed to open her mouth towards the end. Someone else who opens her mouth far too much is the irritating Tanya Roberts as Stacy Sutton, who we are supposed to believe is a geologist but does little more than scream a lot. Undoubtedly, she is one of the worst Bond girls ever.

AVTAK is without question the worst Bond film of the 80s, and certainly one of the weaker entries in the franchise. Its only real saving graces are a handful of good performances and Duran Duran's dynamic title song, the last truly classic Bond theme. It is a pity Moore had to go out in this way; he may not have been the best Bond, but he turned in some effective performances during his reign, and ensured the continuation of the series. Some new blood and a new direction were, however, now needed urgently, and thankfully they would arrive in the next chapter of the Bond saga.

Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)

Action-packed and glitzy, but utterly shallow

[5/10 · 14 September 2004]

The huge success of GoldenEye ensured the future of the Bond franchise, and when Tomorrow Never Dies came along two years later it again did big business at the Box Office, confirming OO7's enduring popularity. Sadly, if falls a long way short of the standards set by its predecessor, sacrificing any attempts at plot or character development in favour of a non-stop succession of action sequences, flashy gadgets and hi-tech sets. The result is a film that is mildly entertaining but lacking in any real tension, threat or depth, making it one of the most forgettable and disappointing entries in the Bond franchise.

One of the big disappointments of the film is Pierce Brosnan's Bond. After his excellent debut performance in GoldenEye, which presented OO7 as a well-rounded character, Brosnan is given a script in TND which requires him to do nothing more than go through the motions. He therefore does all the usual Bond things - the fighting, the seduction, the quips - but the depth that he brought to the character in GoldenEye is totally missing, as this film is only interested in Bond as action hero. There is one particularly cringeworthy scene where Brosnan wanders around wielding a machine gun like Arnie or Sly Stallone, not exactly the behaviour you would expect from Ian Fleming's gentleman spy, but certainly what you would expect from filmmakers whose only concern is to make as many dollars as possible.

Brosnan's flat performance is matched by his co-stars. Jonathan Pryce's Elliot Carver is arguably the weakest villain ever to appear in a Bond film; he is not remotely threatening, and Pryce is so hammy in the role he just makes Carver camp and extremely irritating. As for the women, Michelle Yeoh's high-kicking Wai Lin certainly holds her own against OO7 in the fight scenes, but Yeoh is far from being either an accomplished actress or a great beauty, and Wai Lin is a forgettable and one-dimensional Bond girl. Teri Hatcher, as the doomed Paris Carver, scores over Yeoh in the looks department, but Paris is another character who lacks any real depth, and in any case she is disposed of quite rapidly. The film's lack of originality is also underscored by the appearance of yet another blonde, Red Grant-style henchman, who is about as unmemorable as you can get. The only cast members who really shine are Vincent Schiavelli as the comically evil Dr Kaufman, a classic "talking villain," and Judi Dench as M; Q is also back once more, in an all-too-brief scene, in order to give Bond his fancy remote-controlled BMW.

Rather like the characters, the plot takes second place to the action, although the premise of a media tycoon trying to engineer a war for ratings is at least contemporary, and if it had been fleshed out properly it could have been interesting. As it is, the story is just a peg on which to hang the action, and all it really does is retread the scripts of You Only Live Twice and The Spy Who Loved Me, albeit in glossier fashion. As far as the action sequences themselves are concerned, director Roger Spottiswoode undoubtedly pulls them off with flair, but for the most part they just feel formulaic and unexciting; indeed, there are points where TND feels more like a John Woo-style film than a Bond adventure. The look of the film is also very stylised and self-consciously "modern," so much so that it will probably seem quite dated in years to come, more so than some older Bond films. It is another element that makes the film all style and no substance.

In essence, TND is about as shallow as a Bond film can get. I did like David Arnold's Barryesque score, and Sheryl Crow's title song is quite good, but generally speaking the film is nothing more than mindless popcorn entertainment. There is nothing inherently wrong with that, of course, but Bond films can, and should, amount to something more, and for that reason TND is one of my least favourite in the entire canon.

On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969)

Not perfect, but a realistic, classic Bond

[7/10 · 17 August 2004]

On Her Majesty's Secret Service will probably always remain the most controversial entry in the Bond series, thanks both to its unusually human and romantic story, and the notorious casting of novice actor George Lazenby as OO7. Some think these elements ruin the film, while others hail OHMSS as the best Bond ever. I wouldn't go that far in my praise, but for me this is still one of the classic Bond films, true to Ian Fleming's original vision and arguably showing OO7 in a more realistic light than any other film in the franchise.

To get the Lazenby issue out of the way first, it is certainly true to say that he lacks the charisma of the man he (temporarily) replaced, Sean Connery, and his impossibly chiselled jaw is somewhat irritating. However, he does look the part, and for a first-time actor he turns in a remarkably assured performance, particularly in the fight scenes but also in Bond's more tender moments, most notably in the highly emotional finale. If Lazenby had gone on to make more Bond films (and it was his own decision not to do so) he could well have developed into a very fine OO7, but as it is I still find his performance in OHMSS perfectly acceptable, and not damaging to the film in any way.

The film itself represented a conscious attempt to get back to Fleming after the increasingly extravagant antics of Thunderball and You Only Live Twice. Director Peter Hunt, who had edited the classic early Connery films, was very keen to remain faithful to Fleming's original story, and as a result OHMSS has an unusually strong emphasis on character and plot, with the gadgetry and humour found in most Bond films largely jettisoned. Rather like From Russia with Love, OHMSS feels like a real spy adventure, as Bond tracks Blofeld down and even adopts a disguise as he infiltrates his arch-enemy's Alpine hideaway, Piz Gloria. Where this film is unique, however, is in the level of emotion it invests in OO7's relationships with others. We see this early in the film when Bond quarrels with M and submits his resignation, a sequence which really brings out the affection which both M and Moneypenny have for him, but which M especially prefers to keep concealed. This affection is brought out again near the end during Bond and Tracy's wedding, when Q sheds his normal exasperation and shows us his fondness and respect for OO7.

However, it is of course the relationship between Bond and Tracy which gives the film its emotional heart. OHMSS sees Bond fall genuinely in love for the first and only time, and personally I found the film's romantic scenes both tender and touching, particularly for being so unexpected in a Bond film. The casting of Diana Rigg as Tracy helps immeasurably in making us believe in this romance, as she is a rare example of a proper actress taking on the role of a Bond girl, and her dynamic, spirited performance makes it easy to see why Bond would fall for her and marry her. It also helps the film's tragic conclusion, itself unique in the Bond franchise, pack far more of an emotional punch than might otherwise have been the case.

Of course, the film has more going for it than just an unusually human Bond.

Hunt directs with great skill, and the Alpine scenery that dominates the film looks absolutely stunning. There is no shortage of great action either, the highlights being a tense and gripping ski chase and an equally thrilling bobsleigh pursuit. Telly Savalas makes for a very effective Blofeld, understated and sinister, and his Rosa Klebb-like henchwoman Irma Bunt is played with relish by Ilse Steppat. There are also echoes of FRWL in the character of Draco, Tracy's father, who is a charismatic Bond ally in the style of Kerim Bey. Special mention should be given to John Barry, who produced his greatest Bond soundtrack for OHMSS. The opening instrumental theme, with its sombre and foreboding tone, sets the serious mood of the film, while the classic We Have All the Time in the World, sung by Louis Armstrong, is the perfect soundtrack to Bond and Tracy's doomed love.

However, while OHMSS is undoubtedly a classic Bond film, it just falls short of my personal top five for two principal reasons. The first of these is that the film is too long, primarily because the central section, where Bond infiltrates Piz Gloria in disguise, is dragged out for far longer than was necessary. Blofeld's plan to use beautiful women as carriers of a devastating eco-virus is the other main weakness, because it is totally preposterous and does not fit into the film's serious nature. I must admit also that, good as Lazenby is, I do wish Connery had agreed to make this film, because with him on board, and a little more editing, I think it could have been the best Bond ever, even beating FRWL. As it is, OHMSS is still a very strong film, its bold deviations from the Bond formula paying off handsomely. It is just a crying shame that it did not perform better at the Box Office, because this would encourage the Bond producers to shift to the high-camp, comic style that would dominate the franchise during the 1970s; sadly, it would be more than a decade before a serious, Flemingesque Bond would reappear on the big screen.

Octopussy (1983)

Confusing but colourful Bond caper

[7/10 · 13 April 2004]

1983 was the year of the "Battle of the Bonds," as Roger Moore's Octopussy and Sean Connery's Never Say Never Again battled it out for Box Office supremacy. Octopussy, with all the advantages of being an official Bond film, predictably won the contest hands down. It deserved to as well, because not only is it the better film but it is also one of the most enjoyable of Moore's long reign as OO7.

After the serious approach adopted in For Your Eyes Only, Octopussy is at first a more light-hearted affair, following Bond to India as he investigates the activities of a smuggling ring headed by Indian prince Kamal Khan and a mysterious woman known only as Octopussy (subtlety is never a strong point of Bond films). As the film goes on, however, the tone becomes more urgent as Bond finds out that Kamal Khan is involved in a plot with renegade Soviet general Orlov to detonate a nuclear bomb at an American base in Germany, forcing our hero to become involved in a thrilling race against time to defuse the bomb. This is therefore another Bond film with a strong Cold War element and a good dose of espionage, like FYEO before it, and OO7's struggle to reach the bomb in time is tense and exciting. Indeed, the whole film is very well made, with director John Glen ensuring that there is plenty of incident and spectacle the whole way through, and never allowing the pace to drag too much. The scenes shot in India are colourful and atmospheric, and Glen crafts the numerous action sequences well, incorporating pretty much every traditional element of a Bond film (the car chase, the casino scene, the train fight, the plane fight and so on). This is one Bond adventure which certainly aims to cover all the bases, and another box is ticked with the return of John Barry, who provides a decent score. The title song, All Time High, is performed by Rita Coolidge and as Bond themes go isn't too bad.

As well as good action and spectacle, Octopussy also has a pretty decent cast. Roger Moore was now really starting to show his age, but he does turn in one of his better performances, and it helps that Octopussy, his main love interest in the film, is played by a more mature lady in the shape of Maud Adams. This was Adams' second turn in a Bond film after her earlier appearance in The Man with the Golden Gun, and she looks suitably mysterious and exotic. She can also act, and she and Moore work well together. As for the villains, Louis Jourdan is suitably urbane and sinister as Kamal Khan, and Kamal's huge glowering enforcer Gobinda is one of the more memorable Bond henchmen. Even tennis player Vijay Amritraj does not disgrace himself as Bond's Indian contact, and it is also good to see Q taking such an active role for a change, as he helps Bond in the field and even gets involved in the action. Indeed, he is probably more involved here than he would be in Licence to Kill.

Inevitably, however, the film has its weaknesses. Steven Berkoff, sporting a terrible Russian accent, does not convince as Orlov, while Robert Brown, in his first appearance as M, does not prove himself to be a very inspired successor to Bernard Lee. The plot is also overcomplicated, and it is never made terribly clear quite how the smuggling ring links in with Orlov's plans for attacking the West; in fact, it might have been better to leave Orlov out of the film and just have Kamal, who gets more screen time anyway, as the mastermind behind the whole scheme. There is also rather too much lame humour, particularly during the Indian sequences when Bond lets out Tarzan yells and tells a tiger to "sit;" I could also have done without OO7 struggling to defuse the bomb in a clown costume. To be fair, however, Octopussy is generally closer in feel to FYEO than Moonraker, and the comedy is toned down as the film goes on.

While not one of the very best, and more confusing than it needs to be, Octopussy is still an entertaining and accomplished piece of Bondage. It is a pity that Moore did not call it quits here, as he originally intended to do, because Octopussy would have given him a more dignified send-off from the franchise than the one he eventually got.

The Living Daylights (1987)

Fleming's Bond makes a stylish return

[7/10 · 25 March 2004]

The Living Daylights marked the end of an era for the Bond franchise in some ways, being the last film in the series to have a Cold War theme, thanks to the imminent downfall of the Berlin Wall, and also the last to boast a score by John Barry. In other respects, however, it marked a new beginning. With the aged Roger Moore finally stepping aside, TLD saw respected Welsh actor Timothy Dalton become the fourth official James Bond, a role he had first been linked with at the time of On Her Majesty's Secret Service. After the jokiness and campness that had pervaded the Moore era, Dalton was keen to play OO7 in a much more serious manner, and as preparation for the role he read all of Ian Fleming's original novels. The result in TLD is one of the most impressive interpretations of Bond to grace the big screen, an all-too human secret agent possessing a cold ruthlessness but also real emotions. Not since the early Connery films had OO7 been presented in such a realistic light, and Dalton's performance in both his Bond films is probably the closest any actor has got to portraying Fleming's original character.

Taken as a whole, TLD matches Dalton's sombre performance by being one of the more down-to-earth Bond extravaganzas, a stylish Cold War spy thriller focusing on the defection to the West of Koskov, a leading KGB man who turns out to be in cahoots with a renegade American general-turned-arms dealer called Whitaker. There is plenty of the great action and stunning locations we expect from Bond films, most notably when OO7 and Kara Milovy sledge downhill on a cello case, and in the superbly staged fight on the plane towards the end, in which Bond does battle with yet another blonde henchman. Although not one of the prettiest Bond girls, Maryam d'Abo does have charm and a certain amount of spirit as Kara, and there are also great performances from John Rhys Davies as Pushkin and Jeroen Krabbe as the villainous but charming Koskov. As for the MI6 regulars, Desmond Llewelyn turns in his normal reliable performance as Q, while Robert Brown returns as M and Caroline Bliss takes over from the long-serving Lois Maxwell as Moneypenny, although she doesn't get much of a chance to make an impression. Meanwhile Walter Gotell returns once more for a brief appearance as General Gogol (his last), and Thomas Wheatley is quite impressive as Saunders, Bond's ill-fated ally in the field.

TLD therefore has a lot going for it, but as it happens I think it falls just short of being a true Bond classic. One problem is the plot, which is too convoluted and becomes quite confusing by the time Bond and Kara reach Afghanistan. The major flaw, however, is the way the villains are underused. Koskov and Whitaker had promise as opponents for OO7, not least because for a change they are not seeking world domination, but you don't see enough of them. Joe Don Baker has fun with the role of Whitaker and his obsession with military history, but he does not get enough screen time to flesh the character out properly, and his final showdown with Bond is perfunctory. The film is also overlong, and A-ha's theme tune is pretty bad, a badly dated mess which could only have been recorded in the mid-to-late 80s.

Despite the flaws, however, TLD is still one of the better Bond efforts, not least because it puts OO7 back in touch with his roots and doesn't play things for laughs. In the final analysis, it gets Dalton's all-too-brief Bond career off to a good start, and paves the way for the gritty, hard-edged tone of the excellent Licence to Kill two years later.

Licence to Kill (1989)

Dalton bows out as Bond in dark, hard-hitting style

[8/10 · 7 October 2003]

Licence to Kill was the second and last of Timothy Dalton's Bond films, and it saw his mission of taking OO7 back to his Fleming roots being pushed to the extreme. This is one of the toughest and darkest films in the series, certainly the most violent, and perhaps because of this it did not do that well at the Box Office. However, it is also one of the best Bonds ever made, and it deserves a much better reputation than it enjoys.

Many complain that LTK is not like a Bond film, and while to an extent this is true it actually works to the film's benefit. There are no groan-inducing one-liners here, no spectacular gadgets or cartoon villains. Instead, we have a tight, simple plot that sees Bond resign from MI6 to pursue a ruthless vendetta against evil drug baron Franz Sanchez, who has murdered the wife of Felix Leiter and fed Leiter's legs to the sharks. As he goes after Sanchez Dalton's Bond shows himself to be a complex, realistic character, both driven and determined but also capable of showing human emotion, as he notably does when he is inadvertantly reminded of his late wife. It was always Dalton's intention to make his Bond as realistic and Flemingesque as possible, and he certainly succeeds here; only his rather dodgy hairstyle lets him down.

Dalton is well supported by other cast members. Robert Davi's Sanchez is in the top league of Bond villains, a ruthless and sadistic killer who is nevertheless fiercely loyal to those who serve him. He may only be a drug baron with no plans for world domination (which helps the film's realistic tone), but he is far more menacing than some of Bond's opponents who have had such plans, and Davi captures the contrasting sides of his personality very well indeed. As well as a quality villain, LTK boasts possibly the best Bond girls since the 1960s. Talisa Soto is suitably sultry as Lupe, the girlfriend of Sanchez, and Carey Lowell is very impressive as the gun-toting Pam Bouvier, who proves herself to be just as tough as Bond and is arguably the first truly "liberated" woman to share the screen with him. Pam's self-reliance discomfits OO7, and the verbal sparring between the two is one of the film's highlights. Also in good form is David Hedison, who becomes the only actor to play Felix Leiter more than once (he first did so in Live and Let Die). LTK will probably remain the final Bond film to feature Leiter because of the injuries he suffers, and Hedison rises to the occasion with a good performance, although he does look rather more cheerful than he should be at the end, considering he has just lost his wife and his legs. The regulars from MI6 are all present and correct, with Robert Brown and Caroline Bliss making what would prove to be their final appearances as M and Moneypenny. Desmond Llewelyn returns yet again as Q, and he enjoys his biggest ever part in the series, actively helping Bond in the field. Q's role was perhaps expanded to inject some light relief into what is essentially a dark film, and Llewelyn is excellent as always, his greater screen time enabling his relationship with Bond to be explored more deeply than usual. The film also features an early performance from Benicio del Toro, who is suitably sinister as a henchman of Sanchez.

As far as the look of the film is concerned, it does perhaps stray too far into Miami Vice territory on occasion, but makes up for it with some superb action sequences, particularly the climactic truck chase. This was veteran Bond director John Glen's fifth and final entry in the franchise, and it enabled him to go out on a high note after many years distinguished service to the Bond series in a number of different capacities. LTK marked the end of an era in several other ways, being the last Bond to be produced by Albert R Broccoli and the last to be scripted by Richard Maibaum. Michael Kamen provides the music, and Gladys Knight performs a decent, if unspectacular theme song.

Overall Licence to Kill is a highlight among the Bond films, delivering plenty of thrill and spills along with an unusually serious and hard-nosed plot. Naturally, some elements of the film do not stand up to close scrutiny. Would Bond really resign to pursue an illegal vendetta? Would Q risk his own position to help him? However, it is only a film, and I don't think this really matters very much. It is just a shame that the legal wrangles which stopped another Bond film from being made for the next six years led to Dalton leaving the series, because his two turns as OO7 certainly breathed new life into the part, and remain among the best interpretations of Bond in the history of the franchise.

GoldenEye (1995)

Brosnan gets off to a great start

[8/10 · 2 October 2003]

It seemed for a long while in the early 1990s that we would never see a James Bond film again, as the franchise became enmeshed in endless legal wrangles and a disillusioned Timothy Dalton decided to quit as OO7. However EON productions were eventually able to begin work on the 17th official Bond film, and GoldenEye exploded onto the big screen in 1995, six years after the release of Licence to Kill. Happily the wait was worth it, because GoldenEye is one of the best Bond films, featuring a satisfying mix of great action and memorable characters. It was a huge hit, reinventing Bond for the 90s and helping to ensure that the franchise would continue into the 21st Century.

The film succeeds in part because it feels a bit like a Bond "greatest hits," with such OO7 trademarks as the Aston Martin, beautiful women and big action set-pieces all playing a prominent role. Martin Campbell proves himself to be a worthy Bond director, orchestrating the impressive action scenes with great flair, particularly a memorable tank chase through St Petersburg. However, GoldenEye (named after Ian Fleming's home in the Caribbean) also acknowledges the fact that times had changed since OO7's Cold War heyday. Bond finds himself travelling to a newly capitalist Russia, and he also has to deal for the first time with a female M, played wonderfully by Judi Dench, who makes no bones about calling OO7 a "sexist, misogynous dinosaur, a relic of the Cold War," although underneath she already has a sneaking affection for him. There is also a feisty new Miss Moneypenny for Bond to contend with, Samantha Bond replacing Caroline Bliss in the role and making it quite plain that her Moneypenny will be no pushover for OO7. Q, however, is still played by the ageing but sprightly Desmond Llewelyn, and although he is only in one short scene it is a good one, providing another link to Bond's past.

Unlike many Bond films, GoldenEye has quite a good plot. It certainly helps that the chief villain is a fellow OO agent, who was once a close friend of Bond's. This set-up adds real spice to the scenes between Bond and Trevelyan, for in OO7's eyes Trevelyan has committed the ultimate sin of betraying both his country and his friend, giving the film a serious edge. Indeed, one of the most welcome features of the film is its lack of schoolboy humour, which the producers might have been tempted to include after the dark Licence to Kill's poor Box Office showing; thankfully they resisted the temptation, and GoldenEye is much the stronger for it. Another plus is the strength of many of the principle characters. Izabella Scorupco is one of the very best Bond girls, proving herself to be a good actress as well as a beautiful one, and her character fits in well with the serious, modern tone of the film by being both quite a realistic character and a skilled computer programmer. Sean Bean is good as Trevelyan, even if his rather forced upper-class accent prevents him from being one of the great villains. Still, he is menacing and his final showdown with Bond is gripping and effective. Stealing the show is Famke Janssen, who is gloriously OTT as the sex-mad henchwoman Xenia Onatopp. Onatopp kills men by crushing them with her legs, and she makes for a classic Bond femme fatale.

Then of course there is Pierce Brosnan, who makes a strong debut as OO7. Brosnan was of course invited to become Bond a decade earlier, before his commitments to Remington Steele prevented him from taking the part. Now the Walther PPK was finally his, and he makes the most of it with a performance that nicely blends toughness with humour, and also traces of humanity. In certain scenes Brosnan does a very nice job of portraying the essential loneliness of OO7, and also his fierce loyalty to his country. In doing so he maintains the welcome seriousness that Dalton brought to the role, but he also comes across as more relaxed and humorous than Dalton, making his Bond a more rounded character in the style of Sean Connery. Arguably, it is the most impressive debut performance of any Bond actor.

Naturally, GoldenEye is not perfect. It is a bit too long, and I found Alan Cumming's Boris a rather irritating character, although his eventual comeuppance was very satisfying. Robbie Coltrane's entertaining cameo as a former KGB agent could also have been longer, and I am not a fan of Tina Turner's dreary theme song. These, however, are minor quibbles. GoldenEye is a very entertaining and action-packed film, which captures the essence of Bond and has some real substance too in its plot and characterisation. I would rank it with From Russia with Love, For Your Eyes Only and Licence to Kill as one of the top Bond films, and subsequent Brosnan outings have not yet bettered it.

Never Say Never Again (1983)

Connery returns as Bond one last time in an entertaining Thunderball remake

[6/10 · 23 September 2003]

After walking away from the Bond franchise following the release of Diamonds are Forever in 1971, Sean Connery vowed that he would "never again" play the role of OO7. 12 years on, however, he was persuaded to pick up the Walther PPK for a seventh and final time in this, an unofficial remake of Thunderball. At the time NSNA was badly received, and it was trounced at the Box Office by a rival official Bond film starring Roger Moore, Octopussy. However, while it is not a great film NSNA is still worth a watch, and has some definite virtues.

The first of these is Connery's return to the part that had made him famous twenty years earlier. In truth, Connery was really too old by 1983 to be playing Bond (he was in his early fifties), but in spite of his lined face and rather obvious hairpiece he does turn in a spirited and charismatic performance, and seems to be enjoying himself. What is more, the film makes a few sly jokes about Connery's advancing years early on in proceedings, and sensibly does not try to convince us that we are watching a sleek secret agent in the prime of life; this tongue-in-cheek aspect is an appealing element of the film.

Generally speaking, NSNA follows the same storyline as Thunderball, and it is actually superior to the earlier film, which I consider to be one of the weaker entries in the Bond canon. The plot is fairly simple to follow, there is some good action, and the overlong underwater sequences that plagued Thunderball are absent. The villains are much better too. Klaus Maria Brandaeur is excellent as Largo, playing the part with far more style and charisma than Adolfo Celi managed, although he could perhaps have been a little more sinister. Barbara Carrera is also entertaining, if a bit too OTT, as the vampish Fatima Blush, and she steals many of the scenes she appears in. Max von Sydow makes for an effective Blofeld, although he does not have much in common with the Blofelds of the official films. Still, this will probably remain the last film to feature Bond's arch-enemy, and it is good to have him back, even if only for a limited amount of screen time. As for Bond's allies, Bernie Casey is good value as the only black Felix Leiter, and the great Rowan Atkinson puts in a welcome, if rather incongruous, appearance as a hapless British diplomat. Ironically, of course, Atkinson has gone on recently to spoof the Bond films in Johnny English.

Despite its good points the film also has some obvious weaknesses. For one thing it lacks the production values of the official series, and looks more like a cheap TV movie than a Bond film. The unofficial nature of the film also means that it lacks the normal title sequence we all know and love, and M, Q and Moneypenny are all played by different actors, who feel like impostors. Edward Fox makes for a poor M, and Alec McCowen's cockney Q (who for some reason is called Algernon in this film), is no match for the great Desmond Llewellyn. In one of her early acting roles Kim Basinger is adequate as Domino, but makes the character too weak and uninteresting to be regarded as a great Bond girl, although she does look nice. Michel Legrand's music and Lani Hall's weak title song also drag the film down, and so does a very dated scene in which Bond and Largo are involved in an arcade game duel, which is VERY early 80s and is not the kind of thing you would expect to find in a Bond film. The final showdown between the two men is also a little bit rushed and disappointing.

In spite of these weaknesses, NSNA generally manages to be an amusing and entertaining film, if rather naff at the same time. It is not a patch on Connery's classic early Bond films, but it passes the time well enough and enables Connery to make a reasonably dignified last bow as OO7.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

OO7 returns to form in the best film of the Roger Moore era

[8/10 · 16 September 2003]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

Following the gratuitous excesses of the feeble Moonraker, Albert R Broccoli wisely decided that the next Bond film should be leaner and tougher, bringing OO7 back towards the spirit of Ian Fleming. For Your Eyes Only achieves this objective stylishly, recalling the more serious Bond films of the 60s and easily standing as the best of Roger Moore's seven outings as the secret agent.

What makes the film work so well is the simplicity and realism of its story, probably the most realistic Bond plot since the classic From Russia with Love, eighteen years earlier. Rather than attempting to save the world from yet another megalomaniac supervillain, Bond's objectives here are much more straightforward, being simply to recover a British ATAC system from a sunken submarine before the Russians can get hold of it. This film therefore has the strongest Cold War element that the Bond franchise had seen in a long time, and OO7 actually has to do some real espionage work, something he had not bothered himself with too much during the 1970s. A novel feature of FYEO is that Bond actually has to work out who his enemy is, the choice coming down to the suave Kristatos and the wily Columbo, and the film does a good job confusing us as to which of them it is, until all is revealed.

The film harks back to the early days of the Bond films in other ways, such as in the opening sequence where OO7 lays flowers on his wife's grave, and then battles with a Blofeld lookalike in a well-staged confrontation involving a helicopter over London. First-time Bond director John Glen, who would go on to make all the 80s Bond films, keeps the pacing tight and stages some excellent sequences, particularly a fabulous alpine ski chase and a memorable rock climbing scene. This is played out without any background music and is the most tense and gripping scene in a Bond film for years, as OO7 battles to keep his footing on the cliff as an enemy tries to dislodge him. We really sense that Bond is in danger in this scene, and it is nice to see OO7 look vulnerable after several films in which he appeared to be turning into an invincible superhero. For this Roger Moore deserves credit, because he tries hard here to give his Bond more depth, and make him more than just a comedian. It is probably his most serious performance in the role, and he is even prepared to show OO7's ruthless side by killing an enemy in cold blood, doing so quite effectively. It is a pity Moore didn't play Bond like this more often, because FYEO shows he had more to offer in the part than just one-liners and a raised eyebrow.

The rest of the cast is largely impressive. Julian Glover's Kristatos is a refreshingly down-to-earth villain, interested in making money rather than destroying the world, and Topol's Columbo makes for a great, charismatic ally in the style of Kerim Bey from FRWL. Carole Bouquet is not a great actress, but she still makes for the best Bond girl since the 60s, coming across as a tough and self-assured woman, well capable of looking after herself and looking good at the same time. The one false note is struck by the teenage ice-skater Bibi, who is an irritating and frankly unnecessary character. Thankfully, the visibly-ageing Moore resists her "charms;" it would not have been a pretty sight if he had succumbed to them.

FYEO does have a few other problems. Sheena Easton's title song is good, but Bill Conti's grating incidental music most certainly is not; indeed, it is probably the worst soundtrack to any Bond film. There is also still a lingering attachment to lame comedy in what is mostly a serious film, particularly in an ill-advised ending featuring lookalikes of Margaret and Denis Thatcher. Not only is this unfunny, but it spoils the tough and serious atmosphere the film had built up, and feels like a leftover from a 70s Bond. Overall however, FYEO ranks among the top Bond films, showing once again that OO7 tends to be at his best if he is put on a realistic assignment.

Moonraker (1979)

Bond reaches space, but the series crashes to Earth

[3/10 · 9 September 2003]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I suppose it seemed like a good idea at the time. Star Wars had just become a huge box office phenomenon, the success of The Spy Who Loved Me had just put the Bond franchise back on track, so why not make a sci-fi OO7 adventure? From a commercial perspective the decision paid off, because Moonraker became one of the biggest grossing Bond films at the cinemas, but this really has to be the worst film in the entire series. After a promising start it descends into a pit of ever-increasing silliness and self-parody, completing the transition of James Bond from suave and sophisticated superspy to a smirking cartoon character, and I would not be surprised if the whole fiasco left Ian Fleming spinning in his grave.

To give the film its due, it does start off quite well. The opening sky diving sequence is pretty spectacular, and Bond's first encounter with supervillain Hugo Drax is entertaining, featuring some witty one-liners. It is also the only point in the film that Bond's life appears genuinely in danger, when Drax's henchman tries to kill him in a space flight simulator. This scene is one of the rare occasions in the whole of Roger Moore's reign as OO7 where he actually looks scared and near death, and it proves that Moore can act when he wants to. Unfortunately, for the rest of Moonraker he is back in semi-detached eyebrow-raising mode, strolling through the film with tongue relentlessly in cheek as the story becomes more and more absurd.

It is when Bond travels to Venice that things start becoming really silly, with the gondola episode and the infamous double-taking pigeon. After that it is downhill all the way, as we are treated to such delights as Jaws becoming a good guy and falling in love with a nerdish little girl with blonde pigtails, Bond fighting a very unconvincing snake and, to cap it all, a laser fight in space! This last scene must represent the absolute nadir of the Bond series, and it hammers the final nail in the film's coffin. In his previous two Bond films director Lewis Gilbert had favoured a lavish and OTT feel, but in Moonraker he goes too far, turning Bond into a joke. The storyline is laboured and silly as well, with Drax's predictable and absurd plan to destroy the world a carbon copy of Stromberg's in The Spy Who Loved Me, and even more unconvincing. Even Shirley Bassey's theme song is dull and tired, although John Barry's eerie incidental music is quite good.

The cast is not especially memorable either. Michel Lonsdale makes quite a good Bond villain, and has the best lines, but he is hardly the most original or distinctive foe OO7 has encountered. The return of Jaws, meanwhile, is a big mistake, for the joke of his invincibility had already worn thin by the end of TSWLM, and does not feel any fresher here; as for his "love" scenes with his cartoonish girlfriend, they are just embarrassing. The film scores no higher on the Bond girl front, with the wooden and relentlessly uncharismatic Lois Chiles making Barbara Bach look like a top-class actress. Chiles is not as bad as Britt Ekland or Tanya Roberts, but she certainly comes close. The only actor who lends any real dignity to proceedings is Bernard Lee, making his final appearance as M before he succumbed to cancer. Lee remains the definitive M, and to this day the Bond series misses his crusty gravitas.

Bond films, even the toughest and grittiest ones, do have an element of fantasy about them. The very best Bonds, however, do at least have some connection to the real world and a measure of believability. Moonraker has neither, and takes OO7 way too far over the border line between fantasy and reality, cheapening the character in the process. Thankfully, no Bond film since has ever reached the same heights of absurdity or stupidity, and hopefully never will.

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)

The Bond franchise revives with an epic, if flawed, adventure

[7/10 · 2 September 2003]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

After the Box Office failure of The Man with the Golden Gun, it looked as if James Bond's time may have gone, and he was regarded in some quarters as a relic of the 60s who was no longer relevant to 70s filmgoers. Matters were not helped either by the break-up of the partnership between Harry Saltzman and Albert R Broccoli, which had brought the first nine Bond films to the big screen. Broccoli, however, was determined to continue on his own, and in 1977 The Spy Who Loved Me duly appeared. A lush, epic film, it proved to be a huge hit and got the franchise firmly back on track, ensuring OO7's survival for many more years to come.

Watching TSWLM, it is not surprising it was so popular, even though it does have some serious flaws. Broccoli brought back Lewis Gilbert, who had made You Only Live Twice, to direct, and Gilbert brings the same epic scale to TSWLM that he supplied to the earlier film. This is established from the beginning in one of the greatest pre-credit sequences in the whole Bond series, as OO7 skis down a mountain slope, pursued by enemies, only to make a breathtaking leap off a precipice and then reveal that he has a Union Jack parachute. Arguably the film never tops this opening scene, although there are plenty of other great sights, particularly the stylish Lotus Esprit which turns into an underwater vessel and the villain Stromberg's grandiose hideout beneath the waves. The final shoot-out in Stromberg's HQ is also well-staged.

The plot is pretty much secondary to style in this film, but it is also suitably OTT, with Stromberg planning to cause a nuclear holocaust on land in order to create his dream undersea world. The film also attempts a departure from usual practice by making the Bond girl into a Soviet agent who has a grudge against Bond for killing her lover. This is a promising set-up, but unfortunately Barbara Bach is too wooden an actress to make Major Amasova believable, and not enough tension is generated between her and Bond after she finds out he is responsible for her boyfriend's death. Roger Moore is partly responsible for this, because in this film he abandons any attempt to explore the darker side of Bond, preferring to stroll through proceedings with the occasional raised eyebrow and a thoroughly laid-back demeanour, taking nothing very seriously. It is a suave but shallow performance, lacking any real depth of character, although the look on Moore's face when he throws a fish out of the window of the Lotus Esprit is priceless. The problem is that there is never really a moment where we feel as if OO7 is in genuine danger, and the film thus lacks an air of menace and threat, which in my view is a quality the very best Bonds possess.

The villains, sadly, do not help matters. Curt Jurgens is rather dull as Stromberg, not really coming across as a convincing megalomaniac, and in my opinion he is one of the more forgettable Bond baddies. The same cannot of course be said for the invincible Jaws, played memorably by Richard Kiel. A giant of a man with deadly steel teeth, Jaws proves himself a formidable opponent for Bond, but unfortunately he is just too absurd and cartoonish to take seriously. The running joke through the film about him always surviving mishaps that would kill ordinary men is amusing to start with, but it does grow tiresome and just helps to turn Jaws more into a comic character, rather than a menacing figure. Symptomatic of this is his fight on the train with Bond; it is well done, but because Jaws is more funny than scary it completely lacks the tension and excitement of the great Orient Express showdown between OO7 and Red Grant in From Russia with Love. Like other Bond films of this era, TSWLM is rather too keen on playing things for laughs, notably early on when OO7 enacts a pretty feeble Lawrence of Arabia parody.

Ultimately The Spy Who Loved Me is closer to fantasy than espionage, a triumph of style over substance, but in spite of the high quota of comedy and self-parody that it contains, and the lack of any real characterisation, it still manages to be a stylish and enjoyable film, with several great sequences. It also has the big plus of featuring the greatest of all Bond themes, Carly Simon's wonderful Nobody Does it Better, which really sums up the glamorous essence of OO7. It is not one of the great Bonds, and not even the best that Roger Moore made (that honour goes to For Your Eyes Only), but it does at least provide some decent entertainment and is certainly superior to the other Bond films of its decade.

The Man with the Golden Gun (1974)

No masterpiece, but still an underrated Bond

[6/10 · 18 August 2003]

The Man with the Golden Gun is one of the most reviled entries in the Bond series, and its poor performance at the Box Office, coupled with the breakup of the Saltzman/Broccoli production partnership after the film's release, made it look for a time as if OO7 had reached the end of the road. However, while it does have some serious faults, TMWTGG is in fact quite a reasonable OO7 adventure, and does not deserve the bad press it gets.

Among the positives is one of the more interesting plot lines of a Bond film, as OO7 engages in a personal duel with his alter-ego Scaramanga, a fearless assassin who has sworn to take our hero's life. Scaramanga is played with real charisma and presence by Christopher Lee, that master of villainous acting, who is in fact a cousin of Ian Fleming's. Lee was slated to play Dr No before the part was given to Joseph Wiseman, and having waited another 12 years before finally becoming a Bond villain he makes the most of the opportunity. Roger Moore, in his second appearance as Bond, tries to bring out the tougher side of the character, and in one scene he even strikes a woman. Moore is nowhere near as convincing a tough-guy actor as Sean Connery, and in most of his films he avoided portraying OO7's darker side, but it is refreshing that he at least gives it a go here, making TMWTGG a bit grittier than many Moore-era Bonds.

Another good thing about the film is Nick Nack, Scaramanga's tiny henchman. Herve Villechaize plays him with the right mix of impishness and menace, and he provides Bond with a pleasingly different challenge to the giant, silent henchmen found elsewhere in the series. As for locations, director Guy Hamilton (in his last Bond film) provides many excellent shots of the Far Eastern settings, and Scaramanga's luxury island hideaway is gorgeous to look at; I also like the deadly maze Scaramanga uses to trap and kill his enemies, a novel feature of the film which I think works quite well.

On the downside, there is once again far too much wacky humour. Unbelievably, the wretched JW Pepper was brought back for another round of feeble redneck "comedy," this time as a tourist in Thailand, and there is one particularly stupid scene where two young girls karate-chop their way through an entire martial arts schoool. There are also deficiencies in the Bond girl department, with Britt Ekland's stupid and bungling Mary Goodnight not only being a sexist caricature, but also unbelievably irritating to boot. She is one of the very worst Bond girls, and things would have been much better if Maud Adams had taken the Goodnight role. As Andrea Anders, Scaramanga's mistress, she is demure, impressive, and far more sympathetic than Ekland; she certainly deserved to come back for another bite of the Bond cherry, and would eventually do so in Octopussy. As for other faults, the film goes on too long (although the final showdown on Scaramanga's island is quite well done), and in Lulu's awful title song it has the worst Bond theme of the entire series-or at least it did, until Madonna came along. The silly whistle during the otherwise excellent car stunt is another black mark against the film.

Overall, however, I think TMWTGG probably ranks as the second-best Bond of the 70s, after The Spy Who Loved Me. It is not a very inspired film, but for all its flaws it provides some decent entertainment, and is a solid, diverting entry in the series.

Live and Let Die (1973)

Badly dated, but a reasonable debut for Moore

[6/10 · 11 August 2003]

Live and Let Die marked the start of a new era for the Bond franchise, as suave Roger Moore finally took over the role of OO7. Moore had first been considered for the part when the franchise was launched a decade earlier, but now he faced the unenviable task of following Sean Connery and trying to ensure the survival of the series. In this he would succeed, and he got off to quite a good start with this moderately entertaining, if flawed, film.

Just like Connery's first outing, Dr No, LALD finds Bond travelling to the Caribbean, this time to foil the villainous schemes of drug baron Kananga. After Diamonds are Forever, legal complications prevented the Bond producers from making any further use of Blofeld and SPECTRE, and Kananga is a refreshingly different kind of villain. Yaphet Kotto plays him in an understated but menacing way, and proves himself a tough match for Bond, as does Julius Harris as the memorable henchman Tee Hee, who has hooks instead of hands. Tee Hee belongs in the great tradition of silent Bond henchmen, and Harris plays him with real charisma. As for Moore himself, he wisely avoids trying to imitate the macho toughness of Connery's Bond, establishing his own identity in the role by adopting a more laid back persona. Moore would eventually go too far in doing this, making his Bond seem tame and wooden, but here he shows genuine charm, as well as his knack for the witty one-liner. Although he was in his mid-forties when he made the film, Moore also appears younger than Connery did in DAF, even though Connery is actually younger than Moore.

Overall, the film is a considerable improvement on DAF, with some great locations and stand-out scenes, in particular an excellent and intriguing pre-titles sequence and voodoo scenes which are actually quite disturbing. Bond also gets put in some genuine danger in this film, most notably when he is marooned on an island surrounded by alligators (the alligators nearly did Moore some damage when the scene was being filmed). Against these positives, however, are a number of serious weaknesses which prevent the film from being one of the great Bonds, in particular its very dated feel. LALD seems to have been conceived in part as a homage to the Blaxploitation movies of the early 70s, and there is no way you can watch the film without constantly being made aware, from the fashions and some of the dialogue of the black characters, that it was made in 1973. Apart from this, the film goes on too long and makes the mistake all the 70s Bond films made of trying to inject too much humour into proceedings. In this case the "comedy" is provided by Sheriff JW Pepper, a loathsome redneck who is monumentally unfunny. As bad luck would have it, Pepper shows up in the worst stretch of the film, an overlong and tedious boat chase; why did Guy Hamilton always have to include these boring chases in his Bond films? The other major flaw is the Bond girl. Jane Seymour looks stunning with her flowing hair, but Solitaire is painfully weak and feeble, constantly relying on Bond to save and protect her. She has none of the steel and toughness of a Pussy Galore, and is one of my least favourite Bond girls.

LALD is also an unusual Bond film in several ways. It is the only one to have a large number of black characters, and also the only one where Q does not make an appearance, although Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell once again return as M and Moneypenny. It is also the first Bond in which John Barry had no hand in the score, the job going instead to ex-Beatles producer George Martin. Through this connection Paul McCartney and Wings ended up doing the theme tune, but it does not rank among the great Bond themes.

All things considered, however, LALD gets the Moore era off to a solid start. Moore would go on to make better Bond films, but LALD does have its moments, and is certainly one of the better 70s Bonds, a decade which was generally not kind to OO7.

Diamonds Are Forever (1971)

Weak and tacky official farewell for Connery

[4/10 · 31 July 2003]

After the relative commercial failure of On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and the subsequent departure of the unlamented George Lazenby, the Bond producers were desperate to lure Sean Connery back for just one more outing as James Bond. Connery was reluctant, but the huge sum he was offered to come back was too good to resist, and Diamonds are Forever thus became his last official Bond film. Sadly it is a thoroughly unworthy exit, for DAF is an inane, flabby film that suffers from lazy scripting and an excess of camp humour, reducing Bond to the level of self-parody.

It seems that the aim of this film was to rekindle the spirit of Goldfinger, after audiences did not take kindly to the relatively serious OHMSS. Not only did Connery return, but so did Goldfinger director Guy Hamilton and other crew members who had worked on that film; even Shirley Bassey was back to sing the theme tune, which is one of the few good things about DAF. However, it lacks either the wit or elegance of Goldfinger, relying instead on a succession of bad puns and tedious chase sequences, including a particularly stupid one which sees Bond being pursued across the desert while driving a moon buggy. The decision to set most of the film in Las Vegas does not help matters, for it is a very un-Bond like place which just serves to make the film feel even more cheap and tacky.

The casting is a mixed bag. Connery never gave a bad performance as OO7, but he is at his most detached and uninterested here, going through the motions but never looking as if he is doing it for anything other than the money. Even though he was only 40 when he made it, he also looks rather old in this film, which does not help credibility. Charles Gray is OK as Blofeld, but plays it far too camp and never seems the slightest bit menacing, which is not a good idea if you are playing Bond's arch-enemy. Jill St John's Tiffany Case is a spirited Bond girl, but unaccountably she becomes more and more stupid as the film goes on, and never becomes as strong a character as she should have been. Wint and Kidd, Blofeld's homosexual henchmen, provide quite good comic value, even though they are outrageous gay stereotypes; nevertheless, their antics seem very out of place in a Bond film, being more suited to Are You Being Served. As for Jimmy Dean's Willard Whyte, I found him to be one of the most irritating characters in any Bond film, though thankfully he does not get much screen time.

There are some good points in the film, including an effective fight between Bond and Peter Franks in Amsterdam, and a memorable scene in which OO7 has to grapple with two striking young women called Bambi and Thumper. In general, however, DAF feels tired, trying to compensate for the lack of a decent script with its childish humour and endless stunts. It is all a long way away from the classic Connery Bonds of the early 60s, and indeed DAF is much closer in tone to the jokey Roger Moore films that would follow it during the rest of the 70s, although most of those have more going for them than this film. All in all, DAF is more of a feeble exercise in camp comedy than a stylish spy thriller, a sad way for Connery to leave the part that had made him a star. Of all the Bond films, probably only Moonraker is worse.

You Only Live Twice (1967)

OTT but fun Bond adventure

[7/10 · 28 July 2003]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

The release of You Only Live Twice was overshadowed by the news that it would be Sean Connery's last film as OO7. As things turned out it was not, but if Connery had resisted being lured back to the series YOLT would have provided him with a suitably grand exit, for this is one of the most epic and OTT Bond films ever made. Although it has its faults, it is also very enjoyable, and certainly the Austen Powers spoofs could not have been made without it.

By the time YOLT came out the Bond series had settled into quite a rigid formula, with gadgets, one-liners and big explosions winning out over the greater realism of Dr No and From Russia with Love. YOLT makes no big attempts to deviate from the formula, and indeed Q provides OO7 with some of his most outlandish gadgets yet, but what saves the film is its style, scale and musical score. John Barry provided one of his best Bond scores for this film, and Nancy Sinatra's lavish title song is a great one. The Japanese locales are well-used, and legendary designer Ken Adam surpassed himself with this film, doing a remarkable job with Blofeld's volcano HQ, which has become the stuff of Bond legend. On the directing front, newcomer Lewis Gilbert manages to hold the show together very well, not allowing the film to drag too much and helping to invest it with a truly epic look. Gilbert would go on to direct The Spy who Loved Me and Moonraker, which are also very ambitious Bond films, but unlike the latter YOLT does not descend into total silliness, though it does have some daft moments.

The cast is quite good in this film. Connery himself turns in a respectable performance, not his best as Bond but certainly not his worst either, even though he was now fed up with the part. Donald Pleasance has taken quite a lot of stick for his turn as Blofeld, but personally I thought he was quite sinister and effective. The moment he swivels around in his chair to finally reveal what he looks like is a great one in the Bond canon, and the scar on his face is suitably evil, even if, post-Powers, you immediately think of Dr Evil. Tiger Tanaka is one of the better Bond allies, a lively Japanese equivalent of Kerim Bey, and Karin Dor gives good value for money as Blofeld's evil henchwoman Helga, even if she is not quite up to Rosa Klebb standards. The Bond girls are not the most memorable, but they are at least quite spunky and, needless to say, very good to watch.

The real weakness of YOLT is the script, which is a shame because it was written by Roald Dahl, one of my favourite authors. SPECTRE's plot to steal rockets from the superpowers is a pretty lame one, although it does at least involve Bond in a race against time to stop nuclear war. However, the most stupid point in the film is when Bond goes "undercover" as a Japanese fisherman, allowing Sean Connery to attempt probably the worst impression of a Japanese man ever. It was silly elements like these which would come to plague the Bond films increasingly during the 1970s.

Overall, however, YOLT is a perfectly respectable entry in the Bond series, making up for what it lacks in story and character depth with excitement and spectacle. It is a daft film, but fun all the same, and probably ranks as the best of Connery's post-Goldfinger Bond outings.

Thunderball (1965)

Bond takes a dive

[4/10 · 24 July 2003]

After the huge success of Goldfinger, the producers of the Bond series wanted the follow-up to be bigger and even better, and Thunderball thus became the most "epic" Bond film yet made. However, although it made more money at the Box Office than its three predecessors, it is nowhere near as good as any of them. Indeed, Thunderball is arguably the weakest of all Sean Connery's Bond films, along with the tacky Diamonds are Forever.

One of the film's central problems is that it tries too hard to outdo Goldfinger. The lengthy underwater sequences look grand enough, but precisely because they are underwater it becomes difficult to follow the action, and confusion and boredom set in. Given the epic scale of the film, the editing is surprisingly shoddy, and most of the cast appear to have been dubbed. It is a shame that this was director Terence Young's last Bond film, because he had done a great job with Dr No and especially From Russia with Love. Thunderball, however, is just not up to the same technical standards, and it sadly meant that Young left the franchise with a whimper.

The cast is also a disappointment in this film. Connery himself is fine as OO7, but his performance is less intense than in earlier Bonds, and it seems as if he was already tiring of playing the role. Sadly, he gets little in the way of good support from other cast members. Adolfo Celi turns in a rather dull performance as the main villain, Emilio Largo, and although Claudine Auger looks good in a diving suit, she does not make Domino one of the more memorable Bond girls. The plot fails to hold the attention either, which is a pity because the basic scenario - SPECTRE steals two nuclear missiles and holds the world to ransom - had the potential to be much more exciting. This film, however, is much too pedestrian to generate the excitement required.

Thunderball looks big and epic, but it is really something of an empty shell, drowning in its own underwater world. There are some memorable scenes, and Tom Jones' title song is enjoyable, but ultimately it is one of the least satisfying entries in the series. Ironically I preferred Never Say Never Again, the much-lambasted remake.

Goldfinger (1964)

The Blueprint For the Franchise

[8/10 · 21 July 2003]

Goldfinger was the third Bond film and, on its release in 1964, proved itself to be the first blockbuster of the series, firmly establishing OO7 in the public imagination. Dr No and From Russia with Love had both been successful, but Goldfinger outperformed both at the Box Office, and in the process laid down the guidelines for nearly every Bond film that has followed since.

There is undoubtedly much to admire about the film, not least the memorable Shirley Bassey theme song, still one of the best. Guy Hamilton directs with impressive assurance, the locations are excellent and Sean Connery is once again the epitome of cool as Bond, although he is not as menacing as he was in the first two films. He is, however, still a believable character and finds himself in genuine danger during the film, having to rely on his wits to survive. Goldfinger is one of the great Bond villains, played with real bonhomie by Gert Frobe, who succeeds in making him a more fleshed-out character than many of the one-dimensional baddies of later films. The wonderfully-named Pussy Galore, meanwhile, is one of the best Bond girls. Honor Blackman plays her as a woman with real spirit and intelligence, and it is a pity she does not get more screen time.

Goldfinger also introduced several elements which have since become cliches of the Bond series. For the first time Bond visits Q's workshop to pick up his equipment, and for the first time he receives some fancy gadgets, packaged up in the famous and stylish Aston Martin. The film is also injected with a lot more humour than its predecessors, with OO7 throwing out one-liners more frequently and a somewhat camper tone being introduced to proceedings. As Oddjob, Howard Sakata is the first in a long line of totally silent but lethal henchmen. He is not as good as Red Grant in From Russia with Love (who spoke), but his deadly hat is memorable, and he is a formidable opponent for Bond.

Good as it is, however, it could be argued that Goldfinger had a malign influence on many of its successors. Because it was so successful, the Bond producers became convinced that later OO7 releases should follow the same gadget-led, tongue-in-cheek style, but on a grander scale. As a result, Goldfinger began the shift away from the relatively serious, hard-edged tone of the first two films towards the light-hearted visual spectaculars that would come to dominate the franchise in the 1970s. Taken on its own terms, though, Goldfinger certainly ranks as one of the best Bond films, and is much better than the later ones which tried hardest to mimic and outdo it. Personally I like the tougher films in the franchise the best, especially From Russia with Love, but Goldfinger is the most enjoyable Bond film of its kind, and deserves its classic status.

From Russia with Love (1963)

Best of the Bonds

[9/10 · 10 July 2003]

POSSIBLE SPOILERS

I first saw From Russia with Love when I was 14, and like many other people I thought it was boring and slow, certainly compared with other Bond films that I had seen. Watching it again recently, however, I completely changed my mind, so much so that I now regard FRWL as the greatest film in the franchise, and the standard against which all the Bonds should be measured.

Ironically, the main reason the film is so good is because it is so different from most Bond films. The plot, which I believe follows Ian Fleming's novel closely, involves real espionage and gripping tension, as SPECTRE try to trap and kill Bond by luring him to Istanbul to collect a valuable Russian encoding device. This set-up is probably the most plausible of any Bond film, and the tension mounts deliciously as OO7, knowing he is probably walking into a trap, collects the machine and begins his journey home on the Orient Express, where he is forced into brutal hand-to-hand combat with SPECTRE assassin Red Grant. The build-up to this fight is probably the most suspenseful section of any film in the series.

As well as a tight plot, the film boasts a superb cast. In his second appearance as Bond, Sean Connery is totally at ease in the role, turning in an even more impressive performance than he did in Dr No. Once again, Connery portrays Bond as a human being, someone who can be scared as well as ruthless but has the gift of finding ways out of seemingly hopeless situations. Lotte Lenya and Robert Shaw, who play the villains Rosa Klebb and Red Grant, establish themselves firmly as two of the most memorable and formidable enemies Bond ever encounters, and Pedro Armendariz provides sterling support as Bond's ally Kerim Bey, in a performance made all the more poignant by the fact that he was terminally ill during filming. Daniela Bianchi is a perfectly acceptable Bond girl, and Bernard Lee and Lois Maxwell return as M and Moneypenny respectively. Also, Desmond Llywellyn makes his first appearance as Q, a part he would continue to play for the next 36 years. In keeping with the realistic tone of the film, the only gadget Q gives Bond is a briefcase containing several useful devices, which OO7 naturally makes good use of. One other thing FRWL proves is that a Bond film does not need loads of fancy gadgets to be good.

Technically, the film is superb. Terence Young directs with aplomb, the locations are very atmospheric and well-shot, and Peter Hunt's remarkable editing helps to make the brutal train fight the most realistic and remarkable in the whole Bond series. The film, which was only of course the second Bond movie, also introduces now familiar features like the pre-credit sequence (one of the best), and the theme song, here performed by Matt Monero. We are also introduced for the first time to Bond's arch-enemy Blofeld, though here we don't get to see his face.

In summary, FRWL is a gripping, stylish film which does not let gadgets and one-liners get in the way of telling a good story, and telling it well. Sadly, most subsequent Bond films have tried to ape the blueprint of Goldfinger rather than FRWL, taking OO7 further and further into the realms of fantasy. FRWL proves conclusively that Bond works just as well, indeed better, if he is taken seriously.

Dr. No (1962)

Good, solid start to the series

[7/10 · 9 July 2003]

It may be over forty years old, but the first Bond film still holds up well today, thanks to great Caribbean locations, tight direction and scripting and an assured debut performance as Bond from Sean Connery, who looks at home in the part from the beginning. Compared to many later Bond films, Dr No is lacking in big action set pieces, and there is no hi-tech gadgetry in sight. However, this brings the film much closer to the spirit of Fleming than many of its successors, and allows Bond to actually do some espionage work, bringing a welcome flavour of realism to the proceedings. Bond in this film is not a quipping, invincible superhero, but a human being prepared to become a ruthless killer when required, and capable of being scared, as is plainly demonstrated when he finds a nasty-looking spider on his bed. This is a Bond who can also get beaten up, and look the worse for wear afterwards, not a common feature of most Bond films.

Having said that, many of the soon-to-be familiar elements of the Bond franchise do make their debut in Dr No, such as Bernard Lee's irascible M, Lois Maxwell's Miss Moneypenny, and Bond's CIA ally, Felix Leiter, well played here by Jack Lord. Q also puts in an appearance, but in this film he is played by Peter Burton rather than Desmond Llewellyn, and all he gives Bond is a Walther PPK. Dr No himself is the first in a long line of supervillains with some kind of physical abnormality and an impressive HQ, but he is well played by Joseph Wiseman and his scheme for knocking over NASA rockets is not as OTT as some of the fiendish plots of later films. The other big element present from the start is, of course, the Bond girl. There are some very good ones in this film, especially the lovely Ursula Andress, who remains one of the most iconic of Bond girls, even if she doesn't do very much after coming out of the sea.

It is not the greatest Bond film, but Dr No remains an impressive start to the series, setting much of the tone for the franchise while treating Bond more seriously than would often be the case in later films. 7/10