I write these Bond reviews with the expectation that everyone has seen all the movies, if not read the all the books. So, tread as carefully as it seems prudent.
These are short stories and as such can only offer an inspiration for movie adaptations. When the filmmakers ran out of novels they turned to the short stories for titles and sometimes that's about all.
A View to a Kill was adapted in 1985 and stars Roger Moore as Bond. The movie is probably most notable for its cast. Tanya Roberts was a vivacious Bond Girl in this one. Patrick MacNee gets some big screen time in a Bond movie, the second member of The Avengers to land a role in the franchise that inspired the outstanding TV show. Grace Jones was unleashed upon the world yet again, fresh from her memorable role in Conan the Destroyer. The great Christopher Walken was the villain in this one, and darn good at that. He chewed the scenery with glee and giggled all the way to his death. The Bond series was in the doldrums when this one landed. I remember seeing it and for some reason a whole reel was dropped. When the movie was over only me and one other couple asked for a refund. I don't think anyone else noticed, or perhaps they just didn't care.
For Your Eyes Only from 1981 of course has only one story and features Roger Moore as well. But it was one stitched together from two of the stories in the collection -- "Risico" and or "For Your Eyes Only" -- along with various bits and bobs from other Bond yarns. But the question with this kind of operation is always, is the whole greater than the sum of its parts. It's by and large a seamless whole, but also a somewhat unexciting one. The previous movie was Moonraker, a hard one to recover from, but to its credit this movie does return to the more spy-laden tropes of its 1960's predecessors. Though like so many of Moore's movies, without the sense of urgency and threat which marked early Bond films with Connery. (To be fair, Connery himself fell victim to this in Diamonds are Forever, so it's not necessarily the actor.) Carole Bouquet is a splendid addition to the Bond-Girl cast, and one who can take care of herself. Lynn Holly-Johnson is too young to be a true Bond-Girl, as having sex with her is out of the question given the fact she's presented as a precocious teen. Perhaps the strongest performance was turned in by Topol as the head of a smuggling ring.
Quantum of Solace lends its name to the second Daniel Craig outing as Bond in 2008. Craig had revitalized the role in his first outing. This one was less impressive, but it's not the fault of anyone in it. It's a sturdy case with Olga Kurylenko offering a heartfelt performance that rose above that of just a Bond Girl. I much enjoyed Gemma Atterton in this one as well. With this one it was clear the creators were insisting on a more coherent continuity for the revived Bond. This is hurt an underwhelming finale. There's a lot of explosions and that's about it.
"The Hildebrand Rarity" supplies some key characters for Timothy Dalton's debut as James Bond in 1989's Licence to Kill. Bond is tracking down drug smugglers in his first outing as Bond. There was a smart attempt to inject some more reality into the proceedings. Bond had gotten dull because there was little sense of real danger. The show had become too familiar and a bit bloodless. In this one Dalton's Bond was hurt and had to sweat quite a bit to win the day against Robert Davi, the drug kingpin. Talisa Soto is exotic, and Carey Lowell is exceedingly pretty, but somehow the spark was missing in the Bond Girl corner this time. Anthony Zerbe is a fave of mine and he's delightful as the doomed henchman who actually has the yacht that ties the movie to its source material.
James Bond Returns in Thunderball.
Rip Off
I quite enjoyed For Your Eyes Only, and it's perhaps Rog's equivalent to Sean's FRWL in that it qualifies as more of a spy movie. I also thought the ski chase sequence was brilliant. Unfortunately, by the time of A View To A Kill, John Glen's 'point and shoot' style of direction was tired and merely functional, with stunts being recycled from other (non-Bond) films. Same with LIcence To Kill, where stunts are swiped from DAF and Raiders Of The Lost Ark, and whose only good points were Desmond Llewelyn receiving a more substantial role as Q and increased screen time, and David Hedison returning as Felix Leiter.
ReplyDeleteThey definitely seemed to want to re-establish the spy aspect of the series with For Your Eyes Only, and were somewhat successful in that regard.
Delete