For Your Eyes Only
By the time we get to this entry in the series, it is clear that Roger Moore is finally starting to show his age. Yes, his fifth go around in the part is not a bad movie, but Father Time is starting to clearly catch up with Sir Roger here, even as the high quality and consistency of his entries remains. This is especially evident when Bond has an uncomfortable flirtation with a teenage ice skating princess who instantly falls in love with him and hops into his bed, giving us perhaps the first and only time that Bond has declined having sex with a female. That being said, this marks the first time in the director’s chair for John Glen, and he manages to bring a brisk pace, serious tone, great chase scenes, and an obvious quelling on Moore’s penchant for humor. Starting the film off with Bond settling some unfinished business with Ernst Stavro Blofeld (an undignified end for the legendary villain mostly because producer Albert Broccoli had lost the rights to the character and wanted to show that he could be disposed of quickly), and moving right on to Sheena Easton’s epic rendition of the theme song, easily the best since Live And Let Die and one of the best ever. The plot this time involves the British losing an important military control device and Bond setting out to retrieve it even as he has to deal with an ultra-rich Greek smuggler (Julian Glover) who wants it so he cans sell it off to the Russians. Glover sadly, proves to yet again to be an underwhelming villain (as he was in the third Indy Jones film), and his master plan makes little to no sense: Unlike previous super wealthy Bond baddies who naturally wanted to rule the world, why this seeming billionaire would take the risk of drawing so much heat on himself just to commit an act of mere espionage seems a bit unwieldy, though his attempt to trick Bond by telling him that his smuggling rival is the true culprit is a somewhat different approach. In other roles, Carole Bouquet is yet another piece of robotic Bond Girl eye candy as the daughter of a murdered archaeologist who vows revenge on the villains with her weapon of choice, a crossbow; Topol (aka The Fiddler On The Roof) as the aforementioned rival who winds up forming an alliance with Bond brings a lot of charisma to the film despite limited screen time, even if his character has an unnecessary fondness for pistachios; Lynn Holly Johnson as the ice princess who falls for Bond (and whose Olympic dreams are being sponsored by the bad guy, who also has romantic intentions on her AFTER she wins the gold medal) is certainly a ditsy airhead, but nonetheless has cuteness and sex appeal; and Cassandra Harris as a Countess and ally of Topol’s makes her mark on the series in more ways than one as she was the one who first introduced her husband Pierce Brosnan to the producers. As stated, the film moves at a good clip, and features some well done chases, particularly a near legendary ski chase / shootout where Bond is pursued by several bad guys. Overall, a good taut Bond film where the script manages to carry its aging star to glory…
7/10