After the death of his wife, Bond has been scouring the world in search of Ernst Stavro Blofeld, played this time by Charles Gray. Eventually, he tracks down his nemesis and drowns him in a pool of hot mud. With that out of the way, he is back on active duty for a new mission to infiltrate a diamond smuggling ring. With the smugglers being killed off by assassins Mr Wint and Mr Kidd, Bond follows the trail of bodies from South Africa to Amsterdam, where he takes the place of smuggler Peter Franks to collect the diamonds from girl of the week Tiffany Case, played by Jill St. John. The pipeline continues to Las Vegas, where Bond narrowly escapes being cremated alive before he continues to investigate.
Unfortunately, the film then gets stupid. I'm going to spoil it now, and say that Blofeld is revealed to still be alive, and is stockpiling the diamonds to create an orbital laser which he'll use to destroy the nuclear arms of the world's superpowers and then sell it to the highest bidder. I think they should have stuck with the down-to-earth story to break up the formulaic world domination plots that have been going on since Goldfinger. Don't get me wrong, those schemes can be entertaining, but I just don't think this one delivers. I also can't stand Tiffany Case, as she gets too bumbling to the point of parody.
However, there's still a good fight scene between Bond and Franks in an elevator, a car chase through the Nevada desert that spills into Las Vegas, and a gripping climax on board an oil rig. I would also like to give credit to Bruce Glover and Putter Smith as the really sinister duo that is Mr Wint and Mr Kidd. Even in the film's campy atmosphere, their methods of killing send chills down spines and get adrenaline pumping. At the time of writing, I'm almost 22 and their attempt to kill Bond by cremation still causes me to shudder.
Well, I'll be back soon with a new film and a new 007. Over and out.
No comments:
Post a Comment