Most of the outlandish silliness of a few other Bond issues is mercifully absent, replaced by a greater emphasis on believable thrills.
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I had quite forgotten how good "For Your Eyes Only" is. After hitting his stride in "The Spy Who Loved Me" and "Moonraker," Roger Moore had settled comfortably into the 007 role, by 1981 finally taking our minds off Sean Connery.
In excellent picture and sound, this thirteenth entry in the series (fourteenth if you count the early television production; twelfth if you discount the silly "Casino Royale") makes a good DVD investment either singly or in a boxed set with six other Bond adventures.
Producer Cubby Broccoli decided to bring Bond back to Earth following the secret agent's high-flying sci-fi exploits in "Moonraker." This next adventure is free of complicated paraphernalia, fancy gadgets, elaborate special effects, or crime syndicates bent on world domination. Instead, the plot involves the relatively straightforward theft of a submarine control system by one of two potential bad guys and its sale to the Russians. Bond's job: Recover the device before the Russians get their hands on it, romance a few ladies, dispatch a few villains, and never lose his cool.
Moore not only remains unruffled, he has gained enough maturity to be more than a pretty face; with age he finally looks sufficiently tough to handle a difficult situation. There are enough nifty car chases, ski chases, and underwater chases to satisfy fans of chase scenes, and enough beautiful Bond women, Carole Bouquet in particular, to satisfy fans of beautiful women. Champion skater Lynn-Holly Johnson plays a spunky teenager keen on bedding Bond, a temptation Bond prudently resists.
And the scenery is gorgeous; filmed almost entirely around the Bahamas, the Mediterranean, Italy, and Greece, the settings are among the most attractive in any of the Bond films. Moneypenny is back (Lois Maxwell) and Q, of course (Desmond Llewelyn), but Bernard Lee had just passed away and his part as M was left out. On the debit side, the film's action slows down toward the end; there is no strong central heavy (Julian Glover and Topol play the likely suspects); and much of what goes on we have seen before.
But Bond is Bond, and we expect more of the same. The film was directed by John Glen, long associated with second-unit work on the series, who would go on to do the next four Bonds as well.
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