James Bond Marathon: License to Kill

Miami Vice, anybody?

The film opens with Bond in Key West acting as the best man for his old friend Felix Leiter, who has now transferred to the DEA. En route to the wedding, the pair make an unexpected stop to apprehend the notorious drug baron Franz Sanchez, played by Robert Davi. Unfortunately, Sanchez escapes and has Felix maimed by a shark and his wife murdered. Bond promptly embarks on a vendetta, losing his licence to kill and becoming a rogue agent in the process. His crusade takes him from Florida to the Bahamas to the Republic of Isthmus, a small Latin-American nation which Sanchez has made his kingdom. Fortunately, he receives assistance from Q along with two girls of the week: CIA informant Pam Bouvier, played by Carey Lowell, and Sanchez's mistress Lupe Lamora, played by Talisa Soto.

This film is much darker and edgier than any of the previous films, probably a little too much for some people. Personally, I'm fine with it. After all, that's why it stands out. There's also the issue with having Bond go through a revenge story. Previous films have already established that Bond and other 00 agents are trained to treat assignments coldly and objectively, so a revenge plot could feel out of place. Personally, I think they could have done it a little differently. Perhaps Bond could have been sent to Isthmus for an official mission rather than a personal one, which could present an opportunity to explore a personal conflict.

Issues with the premise aside, they still turned out a great film. Dalton is much more cynical, and is regarded as being closer to the Bond of the Fleming books. I'd have to read some more of them to share that sentiment. Meanwhile, Sanchez is a very menacing villain, with a wide assortment of henchmen. Pam Bouvier is pretty active as well, saving Bond on more than one occasion. And of course, there are some great action sequences, such as the opening with Bond 'going fishing' to apprehend Sanchez.

It's a shame that the franchise went into a weird limbo state for six years after this one, as it is still a noteworthy film. Then again, this was 1989; the same year we had Batman, Back to the Future Part II, Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, and an array of other high-grossing films to dominate the box office.

So yeah, a good film, but could have been better.

James Bond Marathon: The Living Daylights

Time for a new mission, introducing Timothy Dalton as the new 007.

Bond is on a mission in Bratislava to aid the defection of General Georgi Koskov of the KGB, played by Jeroen Krabbé, by acting as a counter-sniper as the general attends a concert. However, he disobeys orders by refusing to kill the sniper, a virtuoso cellist and girl of the week Kara Milovy, played by Maryam d'Abo. Back in England, Koskov claims that General Leonid Pushkin, the new head of the KGB played by John Rhys-Davies, is planning to kill several British and American agents. He is abducted by the KGB shortly afterwards, and Bond is assigned a mission to assassinate Pushkin as he attends an event in Tangier. However, he secretly investigates Milovy and learns that she is romantically involved with Koskov, suggesting his defection was staged, and that he may be involved with General Brad Whitaker, an American arms dealer played by Joe Don Baker.

Set pieces include a car chase with a gadget-laden Aston Martin V8, an escape across the rooftops in Tangier, and a skirmish at a Soviet airbase in Afghanistan. I did have some doubts about the girl of the week, feeling she might be a gullible damsel, but even she gets an active role in the film's climax. She did present herself as a load at first, wanting to take her cello with her to Vienna, but even that proves to be useful when they have to leave the car and escape down a slope.

There's not really that much I can say without spoiling the surprises this film throws. I especially think that the down-to-earth story is a welcome break from the superweapons and world domination schemes of most of the films so far. Necros is a pretty cool henchman too.

All in all, this one is pretty good, and worth checking out. In fact, I might rate this one quite highly.

James Bond Marathon: A View to a Kill

Well, it looks like Roger Moore was deciding to call it quits.

After discovering a microchip on the body of another 00 agent in Siberia, Bond is assigned to investigate the manufacturer, Zorin Industries. On a trail that goes from Ascot to Paris to San Francisco, Bond initially discovers that Max Zorin, played by Christopher Walken, is allegedly fixing horse races. But his real scheme is to somehow destroy the microchip industry at Silicon Valley so he can gain a monopoly on the market. Right.

I'd say this film has a similar issue to Octopussy, in that I just don't see how the two schemes really intertwine, but this one does explain it a bit more than previously. Perhaps.

Zorin is an ex-KGB agent and is the product of some genetic experimentation conducted by a Nazi scientist. He is a genius, but is also completely psychopathic. It's a neat idea, but all I really see in him is Christopher Walken playing himself. It's a pity he didn't have more dialogue or a dancing sequence, otherwise it would be perfect.

The story seems a little convoluted. That's typical for Bond film, and I'm usually fine with it, but here it wasn't done very well. Tanya Roberts plays the girl of the week, impoverished heiress and State Geologist Stacy Sutton. And frankly, I can't stand her. The concept could have been expanded on, but instead they just made her a screaming damsel. The set pieces include an Arctic chase, a dressage (wait, what?), an escape from a burning elevator, and a fight involving a blimp and the Golden Gate Bridge. Interesting ideas, but either underwhelming or ruined by the annoying damsel or poor soundtrack choices.

But if I could praise something about this film, it would be Grace Jones as Zorin's henchwoman May Day. She's tough, strong, and very intimidating. Not the sort of person you want to trifle with.

Overall, I regard this as one of the weaker films of the series. It's not the worst, but it doesn't do the best of jobs.

Better luck next time, 007.

James Bond Marathon: Octopussy

This is going to be another comedy, isn't it?

A function at the British embassy in East Berlin is gatecrashed by a 00 agent dressed in a clown suit with a mortal wound and a fake Fabergé egg. This prompts a new M, played by Robert Brown, to send 007 to an auction for the genuine article at Sotheby's. He enters a bidding war with exiled Afghan prince Kamal Khan, played by Louis Jourdan, and trails him to India. Soon, he discovers Kamal's accomplices. First is the renegade Soviet General Orlov, played by Stephen Berkoff, who is stealing Russian treasures and replacing them with forgeries. Second is an all-female group of smugglers led by the mysterious yet familiar Octopussy, played by Maud Adams, who transport the jewels under the guise of a travelling circus. However, the smuggling was only the tip of the iceberg, as Orlov and Khan are about to hatch a plot to destabilise Western Europe and bypass Mutually Assured Destruction.

My greatest issue with this film is what really connects jewel smuggling and terrorists with nukes. I think the writing around it seems rather tenuous. On top of that, the film is a really goofy one. Bond's Indian contact Vijay initially greets Bond by posing as a snake-charmer and playing his leitmotif. There's also a scene where Bond impersonates Tarzan, and later has to infiltrate the circus dressed as a clown.

OK, I'm starting to nitpick a bit. But do the goofy moments wreck the film as they did other films? I'm quite surprised by this, but they don't. Even when Bond is trying to disable a bomb in front of an audience dressed as a clown, there is still the right amount of tension. I don't know how they managed that, but they did.

Overall, it's not the greatest Bond film out there, but it certainly isn't a horrible one. They seemed to get lucky with the balance of goofy and tense.

James Bond Marathon: For Your Eyes Only

I think this might be one of my favourites.

After a cold open where Bond is visiting his wife's grave and takes care of some unfinished business, a more realistic story follows. A British spy ship is sunk in the Ionian sea after trawling an old naval mine, prompting the Secret Service to enlist the aid of a marine archaeologist to try and salvage a sought-after ATAC guidance computer used for sending orders to nuclear submarines. After the archaeologist is killed by an assassin, 007 is sent in to investigate. When the assassin is killed by his target's daughter, Bond follows a tenuous lead through Cortina to Greece, where he embroiled in a feud between two smugglers: Aristotle Kristatos, played by Julian Glover, and Milos Colombo, played by Chaim Topol. Both had been war heroes, and now one of them is conspiring to steal the ATAC for the KGB (no prizes for guessing which one).

Bond is aided in his mission by girl of the week Melina Havelock, the aforementioned vengeful daughter played by Carole Bouquet. She's a good sharpshooter, favouring a crossbow, and manages to help out quite a bit with the resources at her disposal. While her desire for revenge hinders Bond at first, it is played for drama rather than for humour, and I find it rather heart-warming when Bond is able to talk her down. Especially because this film delivers one of Roger Moore's coldest moments when he kicks the henchman's car off a cliff.

The gritty realism adds to the set pieces really well. In one particularly hilarious scene, Bond's gadget-laden Lotus is blown up when someone tries to break the window, so he is forced to escape with Melina in a Citroen 2CV, known to users as 'The Flying Dustbin'. There's also a ski chase, a tense deep-sea diving sequence, an equally tense mountaineering sequence, and a precarious death trap where Bond and Melina are keelhauled.

If there's anything strange about this film, it's the number of fake foreigners. You've got a Greek character played by a British actor, a Greek character played by an Israeli actor, an Anglo-Greek woman played by a French actress, and I don't know what nationality 'Bibi Dahl' originated from, but she sounds very American. But the best case is for an Austrian countess who is actually from Liverpool, played by an Australian actress.

As stated above, I enjoy the more realistic and edgy tone of this film, along with the somewhat deeper relationship between Bond and Melina. The music by Bill Conti (of Rocky fame) adds a lot to this as well.

Also, is one of those goons Charles Dance?

James Bond Marathon: Moonraker

Hang on a minute, I thought For Your Eyes Only was going to be the next film. But instead we get this impromptu Star Wars cash-in.

Bond is assigned a new mission to investigate the possible hijacking of the Moonraker, a space shuttle developed by Drax Industries. Travelling to California, he meets up with Hugo Drax, played by Michael Lonsdale, at his French château in California (Yes, he is said to have had the building transported brick by brick from France). After surviving an assassination attempt involving a centrifuge, Bond follows a series of clues that lead from Venice to Rio de Janeiro, to outer space, where Drax is planning to eradicate mankind with a nerve agent while creating a master race from those with physical perfection.

You'd think something with an elevator pitch like 'James Bond in Space' would be a neat idea. Unfortunately, I don't think it delivers. Once they go up into space and have a zero-gravity laser battle, the film loses all credibility. Drax seems like a rehash of Carl Stromberg from the previous film, Jaws makes a return but has gone from menacing henchman to Wile E. Coyote, and good God there are some really stupid moments. That state-of-the-art gondola was impressive though, even though it's not very subtle. It even causes a pigeon to do a double take.

OK, I've been a bit harsh. There are still some good set pieces on Earth, like another boat chase and fight on top of a cable car. And I would also like to give credit to Lois Chiles as the girl of the week Dr Holly Goodhead. She's an astronaut working as a trainer for Drax, but is secretly monitoring him on behalf of the CIA. While the gadgets she seems to have don't get used (except for pen with a poisoned needle), she is still a capable fighter and effective as a shuttle pilot.

People either love or hate this movie. Personally, I don't think it works despite being one of the highest grossing Bond films of the time. It should be more spy opera and less space opera.

That's about it. But on a final note, this film was Bernard Lee's last appearance as M. The actor was diagnosed with stomach cancer not long after the film's release, and died as they began shooting the next one.

Well, I'll be back next time with a film that is wisely down to earth.

James Bond Marathon: The Spy Who Loved Me

If there was Bingo game for the Bond films, this would get a full house.

A British nuclear submarine disappears under mysterious circumstances, so Bond is pulled out of a mission in Austria to investigate. After evading KGB assassins in an awesome ski chase, he is sent to Cairo to try and acquire blueprints for a submarine tracking system which has emerged on the black market. Soon, he is facing competition from the girl of the week, Barbara Bach as KGB agent Major Anya Amasova. Also searching for the plans is the metal-toothed giant known only as Jaws, played by Richard Kiel. Soon enough, the two agents find themselves working together after their respective agencies opt to pool their resources to investigate the real culprit: Kurd Jurgens as the shipping magnate Karl Stromberg, who wants to create a world beneath the sea.

They certainly did retain the goofiness of the previous film, but it's done better here, in my opinion. Stromberg is as stereotypical a Bond villain as you can get: He's a megalomaniac, he has boiler-suited minions, he has two villainous lairs, he gloats, he feeds people to sharks, the list goes on. I have no problem with that though. What I do have a problem with is Major Amasova. There is some interesting tension between the agents at first, but once they work together she becomes a useless damsel.

But the best part of the film is the Lotus that Bond drives, with the ability to turn into a submarine. Jaws is also a pretty threatening henchman, but does seem a bit too indestructable. He survives collapsing scaffolding, falling off a train and going off a cliff but only dusts himself off. To be honest though, I think were playing that for laughs.

Overall, I think this was a very silly film, but an enjoyably silly one. The director of You Only Live Twice might have something to do with that.

James Bond will return in For Your Eyes Only.

James Bond Marathon: The Man with the Golden Gun

I'll start right now by saying I don't like this film. It plays out like a comedy that's paying tribute to martial arts films. I'd sooner watch Kung Fu Hustle if that's the case.

Christopher Lee plays Francisco Scaramanga, the world's greatest assassin and the eponymous 'Man with the Golden Gun'. After a golden bullet is sent to MI6 with '007' written on it, M sends Bond on a sabbatical, pulling him out of a mission to find a missing expert on solar energy (The film had been made during an energy crisis). So, he tries to find Scaramanga on a trail that leads him from Beirut to Macau, to Hong Kong, to Bangkok, to a private island in the South China Sea. Soon, he learns that Scaramanga was hired to kill the expert on the orders of a wealthy energy magnate Hai Fat. But Scaramanga wants some kind of maguffin relating to solar energy so he can gain a monopoly on that market.

They certainly did turn up the comedic elements in this film, but I find that they overdid it. There's a kind of 'love triangle' between Bond and the two girls of the week: Britt Ekland as the inept MI6 agent Mary Goodnight, and Maud Adams as Scaramanga's mistress Andrea Anders. I don't think Britt Ekland does the best job as a Bond girl. She always seems to be making mistakes and I can't help but feel like she's a stereotypical 'blonde bombshell'.

There's a fight scene with a group of students at a dojo, followed by a boat chase, and a car chase with a jump across a broken bridge. It's a good stunt, but they had to ruin it with a comedic sound effect (a slide whistle).

However, the best aspect of the film has to be the late Christopher Lee. He's a great villain, both charming and sinister, and he carries the film any scene he's in. Accompanying him is his manservant, a French midget called Nick-Nack. Well, OK then.

Overall, I think I could give this one a miss. If you want a martial arts comedy, you might like it, but I think other films did that better.

Oh yeah, and Sheriff Pepper makes a comeback. I'd like to see what he adds to the story.

James Bond Marathon: Live and Let Die

Well, it's time to start a new era of Bond, with our favourite secret agent now being played by Roger Moore.

007 is now assigned a mission to investigate the deaths of three MI6 agents who were investigating Dr Kananga, the Prime Minister of the Caribbean island of San Monique, played by Yaphet Kotto. Bond's mission takes him between New York, San Monique and New Orleans, as he soon uncovers a connection between Kananga and Harlem crime boss "Mr Big" in the form of a large heroin-smuggling operation with strong links to the occult and Voodoo. This includes the legendary Voodoo figure Baron Samedi, and the clairvoyant girl of the week Solitaire, played by Jane Seymour.

The film seems to be paying tribute to the growth of the 'blaxploitation' films of the 1970s. For those who don't know, these were independent films with predominately African-American casts, often with funding from Civil Rights groups. But when Roger Moore is added to the picture, you could say the film has some unfortunate implications when presented to a modern audience. But I'm not going to talk about that.

It may seem odd the occult has a major part in a James Bond film, but they used it enough that I don't have an issue with it. What I do have an issue with is Solitaire. She is used by Kananga to anticipate Bond's every move, but loses her clairvoyance when Bond sleeps with her - after seducing her with a stacked Tarot deck - essentially coercing her into helping him. Once that's done, she more or less becomes your typical damsel. Also present is a bumbling redneck sheriff who tries to pursue Bond in Louisiana, serving little purpose except comic relief.

On the other hand, I do enjoy some of the villains they created. Baron Samedi has an almost mystical reputation on San Monique, with a suitably sinister laugh and deep voice that will make you want a 7-Up. Also facing Bond is 'Tee Hee', an enforcer with a mechanical arm.

Set pieces include an escape from the San Monique police in a double decker bus, a boat chase through the Louisiana bayous, crocodile jumping, and agents who are killed watching their own funeral with a very upbeat send-off. I also really enjoy Paul McCartney's theme song he wrote for it.

Overall, I like this one. It's probably not the best Bond film around, but I think Moore did a pretty good job with this one. I look forward to seeing him again.

James Bond Marathon: Diamonds Are Forever

I might consider this one to be one of the weaker films of the series. George Lazenby had bowed out following a recommendation from his agent - a decision he would later regret. With nobody else suited to the role of 007, Sean Connery made his return with a large degree of reluctance.

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.

James Bond Marathon: On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Hang on a moment, that's not Bond.

Sean Connery had fallen out with the producers, so the role of James Bond was to be fulfilled by a new person: A rookie actor called George Lazenby.

This new, vaguely Australian Bond finds himself repeatedly saving the girl of the week: a depressed Countess, Teresa 'Tracy' di Vincenzo, played by Diana Rigg. After multiple encounters with her, Bond is soon brought before her father Marc-Ange Draco, the leader of the Corsican Mafia. Draco hopes that Bond can wed Tracy so she will have a reason to live, offering Bond information about SPECTRE, as Ernst Stavro Blofeld has disappeared. Eventually, Bond is required to pose as a genealogist after learning that Blofeld is seeking a noble title, gaining him access to an allergy research lab in the Swiss Alps where several young women are being treated. Being Bond, he blows his cover when he can't keep his weapon holstered, and learns that Blofeld is brainwashing the women to release a deadly virus that will destroy the world's agriculture, demanding amnesty for his past crimes and recognition of the noble title.

I have to say that the first part of the film isn't that great. The fight scenes aren't shot very well and difficult to see, and most of it is a montage of Bond courting Tracy. However, it does improve later on, with the humour of Bond trying to maintain his cover while...stretching his legs. But the best part is the second half, when Bond escapes from the facility. There's a ski chase followed by Bond being rescued by Tracy and eluding SPECTRE's goons through a stock car race. Overall, Tracy is actually a pretty good Bond girl. She saves Bond's skin, and when she gets captured she devises her own escape.

Not only did we have a new Bond, but a new Blofeld too. Telly Savalas is more charming compared to the unstable Donald Pleasance in the previous film. I preferred Pleasance myself, but I have no problem with Savalas. In fact, I think Savalas might be closer to the unseen Blofeld of the earlier films.

Overall, I think the film has a weak start, but truly delivers once the bullets start flying. And the final scene might be one of the most poignant in the franchise.

Oh yeah, and I really love that music they use.