For Your Eyes Only (1981) Review

 "Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned."
-James Bond



A British spy ship accidentally sinks off the coast of Albania.  On board is the ATAC system, which is used to coordinate the fleet of British submarines.  When the marine biologist in charge of recovering the ATAC is murdered, James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to track down the killer before a mysterious figure of the Greek underworld can retrieve the ATAC and sell it to the Soviets.


What Works:

After going to space in the previous movie, For Your Eyes Only was made to be much more grounded and realistic.  On that front, the filmmakers succeeded.  It's a nice change of pace for Bond and it's definitely Moore's lest fantastical film.

It's also Moore's darkest film and I am here for it.  I think my favorite moment from all of Roger Moore's movies comes from this one.  Interestingly, Moore didn't want to do it because he felt it was too dark.  The scene where he kicks Emile Locque (Michael Gothard) off a cliff is simply badass.  Locque killed two of Bond's allies and I love seeing him get some vengeance here.

Another interesting aspect is that we don't know who the the villain is until about halfway through the movie.  We are introduced to two men in the Greek smuggling game and one of them is the big bad, but we aren't really sure who it.  It's an interesting twist to the formula and well done.

The action is, as per usual, phenomenal.  The chases in both Spain and Italy are a lot of fun and really creative.  The opening sequence with Bong dangling outside of a helicopter looks great.  And the underwater and mountain climbing sequences are well done and thrilling.  It's also very well paced and the movie moves from set-piece to set-piece without much of a dull moment. This is a really fun and exciting film.

Finally, the music kicks a ton of ass.  Each of the aforementioned action sequences has its own unique score that adds a ton of energy to the film.  The music is really funky and there are a few tasty jams amongst the soundtrack.  Plus I love the title song.


What Sucks:

The biggest problem with the movie is the ultimate villain.  For the first half of the movie, Kristatos (Julian Glover) pretends to be Bond's ally, so of course we never see him do anything villainous.  By the time we learn he is the villain, Bond only has two interactions with him and one of them is very brief.  Ultimately he doesn't get to do anything very memorable and comes across as rather spineless and unthreatening.  Out of the all the main villains from all of the Bond movies, Kristatos is my least favorite.

Finally, the other problem we have comes from Bibi (Lynn-Holly Johnson), a wanna-be Bond girl who is a figure skater being financially supported by Kristatos.  She spends her screen-time hitting on Bond and being whiny and annoying.  She doesn't ultimately add anything to the film besides making Bond uncomfortable.  She's not interesting in the slightest.  Cut her from the movie and nothing changes.


Verdict:

For Your Eyes Only is probably the most middle-of-the-road Bond movie.  Granted, I love the entire series, so being an average Bond movie is fine with me.  The action and music are great, the story has a interesting spin, and I appreciate the change in tone, but Bibi is super annoying and Kristatos is the weakest Bond villain of them all.  That said, this movie has still got it going on.

 8/10: Really Good 


#1. The Spy Who Loved Me

#2. From Russia With Love

#3. Goldfinger

#4. Moonraker

#5. On Her Majesty's Secret Service

#6. Live and Let Die

#7. Dr. No

#8. For Your Eyes Only

#9. Thunderball

#10. You Only Live Twice

 #11. The Man with the Golden Gun

#12. Diamonds are Forever



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