|
The Spy Who Loved Me (1977)  Bond: Roger Moore The Evil Mastermind: Curd Jürgens as Karl "frumpy" Stromberg The Henchperson: JAWS The Bond Girl: Mrs. Ringo Starr as Major Anya Amasova Director: Lewis Gilbert Scripting:Christopher Wood, Richard Maibaum et. al. IMDB:http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076752/ Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eexojewr74 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Eexojewr74 "Still, you did save my life" -Bond "We all make mistakes, Mr. Bond." -Anya James Bond is in hot water. Things didn't look good after Man with the Golden Gun . The production staff was in a tempest after Broccoli had had a falling out with Saltzman (they sound like a couple of characters from the videogame "Burgertime"), and the previous movie was not exactly a commercial and critical success. The thing about Bond is, whenever the series is on life support and things look grim, the production staff wisely reinvents the franchise into something different that gives some life back into a wheezing 007.They may say you only live twice, but for all of the talk of a 'reboot' of Bond with Casino Royale, in reality Bond has been reincarnated several times in the past. This time the pendulum swings back to the more serious Bond adventures of the past.  Have you tired the Egyptian? It's quite good! The main plot is a bit water-logged this time, offering nothing terribly new. There's hardly much of an attempt to cover up the recycled megalomaniac plot from You Only Live Twice. But that's not what makes this movie stand out. Even the most jaded Roger Moore hater would probably have to admit that there is a part of this film that does work - the interaction between Bond and Anya. In the most refreshing move since From Russia with Love, the most over looked element of most Bond films is brought back to the forefront, the relationship between Bond and, well, anyone. Typically, the Bond girl doesn't live long enough to even share reasonable screen time to develop into anything more than set decoration, and when they do stick around, they usually are force fit into a Bimbonic cookie cutter mold that leaves them to act as the comedy relief. Some of the recent Bond efforts had really been a string of action set pieces held together with plot-shaped bandages, so it must have taken some effort to actually consider a movie where the action steps to the background. But what have we here? A Bond Girl who is not only a match for Bond, even beating him on occasion, but equally confident to Bond, both in the field and in the bedroom. Intelligent, able, and even ruthless. She even uses the promise of sex to trick Bond into essentially failing a mission, leaving 007 to fall for his own tricks. The Bond that was so confident that he could never fail was suddenly playing second fiddle to a women. It's as if the producers woke up one day, and realized that all that talk of Women's Lib was not going to quietly go away. After all the posturing in Man with the Golden Gun is over, we find that Bond has indeed met his match in this movie, and it's only the power of mojo that's going to save his rear end.  This movie is like "Where's Waldo?" for adults. If this was the only factor in this movie that shined, it would still be only a slightly better than average Bond adventure. But the way that there relationship develops is what really makes this a great movie. They start out as rivals. Eventually the forces that be put them together as comrades, then one thing leads to another, and they are in love. Then they break up, and...well, it sounds like the plot to just about every rom-com ever made, but mostly because the specifics of what happens can't be discussed without spoiling the movie. Suffice to say that being in the business that Bond and Anya are, there is only a matter of time where it's business before pleasure, and either one or the other is going to end up being a target. How and why can only be found out by watching the story unfold. It's the emphasis on relationships over action like this that made Casino Royale succeed so well where other Bond films had not. But that's not to say that The Spy who Loved Me is lacking in the action department. This film is made back in the day when stunt men didn't hesitate to jump off a cliff if it looked good, and the movie starts with a great opening scene that not only advances the story in a meaningful way, but ends with a terrific stunt of 007 falling of a cliff to his doom, only to be saved in true Bondian fashion. There are so many iconic action scenes in this movie that most of them are still remembered today, like the Lotus Esprit submarine car. If you remember the scenes long after you've seen the movie, then they must have done something right. The movie concludes in a giant firefight aboard another huge Ken Adam set that rivals the volcanic lair from You Only Live Twice. It's probably the longest action scene in almost all of the movies, but it's well thought out, and worth the effort.  Stromberg was outmatched by Bond in every way...except one. The only part of this movie that capsizes is the villain, Stomberg. The predecessor to Drax, we have another evil mastermind who is on a mission to put the viewer to sleep with an exceeding boring personality. His only interesting feature is webbed appendages (a detail that's hard to catch, but explains why he hates shaking hands.):  I often wonder what sort of drab world would result if these monotonous Übervillains actually succeeded in killing off the population and reseeded the planet with their offspring. An entire planet of people living out their lives, waiting to get home to watch the Weather Channel? Countries evolving where the nation sport is crocheting? Perhaps dying wouldn't be such a bad option, after all. At least you could live your life like Bond does for one second, and go out with a bang. The Good: Bond or Anya, you just don't know who to root for. The Bad: Some kooky comedy still manages to show up. The Ugly: Sorry, but that first girl in the cabin looks like a cross dresser... FINAL SCORE As a Bond Flick:   As a movie in general: The secret Trivia: The supertanker set lighting was supervised by Stanley Kubrick, only under the secrecy of his involvement. Now that I've told you, you must be eliminated. Yabanjin fucked around with this message at 05:33 on Dec 15, 2009 |
#
?
Dec 14, 2009 11:51
|
|
|
|
| # ? Apr 24, 2024 22:06 |
|