For Your Eyes Only

Rating:
Summary: Return to thriller mode
Review: Roger Moore's fifth James Bond film, "For Your Eyes Only," harks back to the simpler thriller mode of the first three entries in the series, a welcome relief after the far-fetched, and often laughable travesty that was "Moonraker."

With his smirk on hold, Moore gets down and dirty for once, even exhibiting a touch of heartless sadism in a scene involving a villain whose car is teetering on the edge of a cliff. The plot, involving a sunken British ship whose cargo contains an important nuclear device, is comparatively down to earth for a change, and there's the great Israeli actor, Topol of "Fiddler on the Roof" fame, as a good/bad guy who seems to inspire the often wooden Moore to new acting heights.

The action is well-staged, including a memorable mountain climbing sequence, but on the downside too much derring-do occurs on skis, inviting unfavorable comparisons to the superior snow bound action of "On Her Majesty's Secret Service," the black sheep in the series whose memory hangs heavy over this film thanks to the pre-title sequence (which I find unbearably silly, unlike the remaining film) with Bond placing flowers on his late wife's grave.

Also preventing this film from being fully bonded is the score by Bill Conti of "Rocky" fame. It has a tinny, generic quality that reminds me of the canned music found in old sports themed short subjects. Despite those faults, this is, along with "The Spy Who Loved Me," Moore's best film in the series.

Rating:
Summary: The Best of a Bad Lot
Review: On the Roger Moore meter, "For Your Eyes Only" is a definite improvement over the depressing wretchedness of "Live and Let Die," "Man With the Golden Gun" and "Moonraker" -- and it has a bit more depth than the lavish yet redundant "Spy Who Loved Me." However, it isn't a terribly memorable adventure and the villains are forgettable. On the other hand, Moore gives his best 007 performance and the pre-credit sequence is quite fun. Even though "For Your Eyes Only" is a nice change of pace from the usual Bond formula, it still lacks the sparkle of the early Connery classics.

Rating:
Summary: The best Bond film ever
Review: While it is debateable which actor made the best James Bond, "For Your Eyes Only" is the best Bond film, hands down. The film works so well because it retains all that is attractive about the Bond series, while avoiding the weaknesses. Unlike in most other Bond films, the plot is a realistic espionage and underworld story. There is no villain out to take over the world. The believability of the story enhances the viewer's enjoyment of the film.

The portrayal of Bond himself is more realistic as well. Unlike in many of the other films, he seems like he could be a real secret agent. He doesn't ludicrously stand out--like when he is sent to the Caribbean or Japan. The sexist features of other Bond films are not found here. Carole Bouquet, as Melina Havelock, is a strong and courageous woman, while still breathtakingly gorgeous. Columbo (played by Topol) is a very appealing character as well. He is a passionate, deeply human man, with immense charisma. One would like to be friends with Columbo.(Columbo is Bond's ally. He doesn't work with Kristatos, as the previous review said).

"For Your Eyes Only" also has a very human, sympathetic quality to it. The theme of "just revenge" is convincingly presented. It is easy to sympathize with Melina as she seeks to avenge her parent's murder--she saw them killed with her own eyes.

Finally, "For Your Eyes Only" contains the best single scene in the entire Bond series. The sequence where Roger Moore pushes the villain Loque's car off a cliff, with Loque in it: "You left this with Ferrara, I believe", is priceless. Moore's icy coldness, and cool satisfaction in killing Loque, is extremely satisfying--just what a man in Bond's position should be like.

Rating:
Summary: For all Eyes
Review: It seems that the quality of Roger Moore's Bond films was up and down continuously. After the silliness of "Moonraker" I wondered whether Moore was going downhill. As it turns out the follow up to "Moonraker" was one of the best Bond films ever. In this film Moore plays a serious secret agent in the tradition of "From Russia with Love," which is perhaps the closest previous Bond film in tenor to this film.

The plot of the film is from the heart of the cold war. A British spy ship is off the coast of Albania gathering information when it is accidentally sank in a bizarre accident. Included on this ship is the A.T.A.C. system, which is capable of launching submarine ballistic missiles. The British government doesn't know whether the ship's crew was able to destroy the A.T.A.C., so they try to find the ship.

Soon we meet one of the best casts from any Bond, including the stunningly beautiful Carole Bouquet as Melina Havelock, daughter of ocean archeologists that attempt to locate the ship for the British government and are murdered. Julian Glover plays Aristotle Kristatos, as coldly evil as Christopher Lee in "The Man with the Golden Gun." The equally evil Topol as Columbo aids Kristatos. Working with Bond is Michael Gothard as Emile Locque, a smuggler but a Greek patriot as well. The only point of silliness in the cast is the inclusion of the lovely Lynn-Holly Johnson, who was incredibly effective with Robbie Benson in "Ice Castles."

Bond struggles figuring out who the good guys are and who the bad guys are, aided by Melina all the way. Moore's Bond in this film is serious with minimal one liners, as close as Moore ever got to Sean Connery. The gadgetry is minimal with much of the action focused on Moore in one of his most physical roles. The scenes flow smoothly, with good action throughout while keeping a plausible story line.

While I usually find a lot to complain about regarding the technical aspects of Bond films, in this one I'll only point out one obvious flaw. Melina talks about how she has been around the world with her parents as they have investigated underwater archeological sites. Clearly Melina is an expert diver as we see in several scenes. Yet when Bond and she go looking for the A.T.A.C., Bond explains patronizingly to her regarding the air mix they'll use and other details regarding the dive. Melina should have been an expert in this area, but in order to show how knowledgeable Bond is he explains what should have been obvious to Melina. A minor point that was only minimally distracting.

Following the tradition of Bond films, the music for this film was by then mega-star Sheena Easton, filmed with bare shoulders during the opening credits. The opening credits for this movie were not nearly as inspired as the movie itself, but another minor point given the excellence of the movie.

Most Bond films are enjoyable to watch, even when they are silly. Fortunately this one is a good spy film with Roger Moore at the peak of his game. This Bond film is one of the best of the 20+ Bond films and worthy of having in any film collection.

Rating:
Summary: Roger Moore's best!
Review: It would be very difficult to play James Bond any better than Roger Moore did in this film. This was the first Bond film that I saw in the theater and I instantly became a fan. This film has all of the qualities that make the Bond films great: scenery, exciting plot and great stunt work. The only disappointment is that there was not enough action with the Lotus (what happens to it is hilarious, however). The opening sequence is my favorite of the series.

Rating:
Summary: The best Bond film with the third- or fourth-best Bond
Review: If this had been Roger Moore's _only_ Bond film, he'd have gone down in the history of the series for it. Unfortunately, by the time the franchise got around to this one, Moore's Bond had filled the series with a whole lot of silliness (which, in all fairness, had begun at least as early as _Diamonds Are Forever_).

Here, for the first, last, and only time in Moore's run as Bond, he's the icy-cool secret agent envisioned by Ian Fleming. There's a crisp plot here, an engaging heroine played with much derring-do by Carole Bouquet, villains who have more in common with real crime lords than with Doctor Doom, and the wonderful Topol.

The only bits that don't ring true are the ones with the teenaged figure skater. Everything else is right on. If you want to know more about the plot, read the other reviews, which summarize it nicely.

I go way back with Bond. I was born just before _Goldfinger_ was released and one of the very first songs I learned was 'Finner' (as I then called the movie's title track). As far as I'm concerned, no one is going to top Sean Connery in the role; the magic of the first few films (especially our first view of Connery's face in _Dr. No_, as he lights his cigarette and says, 'Bond. James Bond.') isn't going to be recaptured with anyone else. (Nor with Connery. If you haven't seen _Never Say Never Again_, don't.)

But Moore does nearly as well here as Dalton does in _Licence to Kill_. (I like Pierce Brosnan but he hasn't really gotten to be as chilling and deadly as Bond is in these two films.) If you want to see Moore play Bond for real, this is the one to see.

Rating:
Summary: An okay movie
Review: Finally after the bomb of a movie that Moonraker was they make one that is better but there are too many conflicts going on within the situation and a bunch of stuff that shouldn't have been in there like that wierd ice skater girl who was like 18. Rodger Moore was 54 (he was old enough to be her father!). An overall good movie but with some tweaking could have been good.

Rating:
Summary: Roger is at his VERY best here
Review: For Your Eyes only is in my favorite bond film category. The others include Goldfinger, On her majesty's, From Russia with love, The living daylights and the Spy who loved me. IN For Your Eyes Only, it is evident that Roger is nearing the end of his reign as the world's most debonair double 00 agent, but that does not mean it is a weak entry. After Moonraker, Cubby Broccoli decided that BOND needed to go back to his roots as an agent and not an astronaut. I agree and this Bond film establishes Moore as a great actor. He leaves the Humor at the door for this film and it pays off greatly. Bond is supposed to be a Cold Killer and not a comedian/agent. This film revolves around two crimelords, Kristatos and Columbo, who are trying to get the ATAC. The ATAC is a device that is capable of setting of deadly missles from afar and promises the one who has it great power. The atac is on a British ship that sinks at the beginning due to an explosive mine. This is one of Bond's most dangerous and entertaining missions. John Glen is truly the greatest director of any Bond film. This movie was so good that Roger Moore would get more respect for his portrayal of Bond if her retired after this one. I am glad he didn't though because I like him. I still think Timothy Dalton was the best James Bond ever though. No one will ever come close to him. The Living Daylights is just as good as this moive, if not better.

Rating:
Summary: A super abundance of perils and Babes
Review: Sean Connery is the only 007 as far as I'm concerned. All others are just pretenders. But FOR YOUR EYES ONLY compels me to salute Roger Moore for an exemplary effort.

A British spy ship is lost in the Med along with all hands aboard and some super-duper, top secret, submarine communication gear. The salvage expert employed by Her Majesty's government to locate the wreck is murdered along with his wife. Bond is brought in to find out which villain has an apparent interest in recovering the device for fun and profit, and, of course, to foil the plot by getting there first.

FOR YOUR EYES ONLY is perhaps 20 to 30 minutes too long, part of that time taken up by the screen appearance of superfluous Bond Babe Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson), a hyperactive and sexually precocious teenage gymnast/figure skater who has designs on 007's virtue. The role was so pointless that I was left wondering what debt was called in for the director or producer to write her into the script. The other Bond Babes, Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), the daughter of the assassinated salvager, and Countess Lisl von Schlaf from Liverpool (Cassandra Harris), at least had the benefit of maturity. Indeed, I would like to have seen more of the inscrutable Melina and her deadly crossbow.

The movie as a whole is redeemed by a succession of cleverly contrived and artfully choreographed perils - in the air, on the snow, on and under the sea, and against a sheer cliff face - thrust upon Bond to test his sangfroid. Indeed, our hero's feats of escape and derring-do are so inventive and absorbing that the conclusion of the film is almost anti-climactic. Julian Glover is particularly effective as the Bad Guy, especially when he goes trolling for sharks.

And keep an eye out for a depiction of Prime Minister Thatcher doing domestic chores in an apron. That bit was inspired.

Rating:
Summary: The best for quick-action lovers
Review: Roger Moore perfectly played the part in this action packed 007.
The tale has some twists in it.But Moore should put some effort in his accent.Anyway,the story is great and good for both children and adults.Be sure not to miss any skiing stunts!But nothing compared to the 007 movies of the new millenium