A View To A Kill

Yeah this movie is a bit weird.

Roger Moore's last bow as James Bond is set amid a strange yet still kind of enjoyable movie. The plot is somewhat akin to Goldfinger, Bond is investigating an electronics tycoon with intents to level Silicon Valley and create a monopoly on the microchip, and while the story isn't half bad the devil is in the details. Even Roger said he didn't very much like this movie and felt it was way out of left field for the series at that point and I do have to agree, and said he was far too old to play the part which I sort of see. Granted yes, the stunt doubles are so prevalent you could start a drinking game, it is odd to see Roger get in bed with such young women but honestly the man could charm anything and anybody, the villains though great are just bizarre, and I feel this would have made a fantastic first Bond film for Timothy Dalton. Regardless Roger does fine work in his last installment and it is a shame to see him go but what an impact he left which is still felt even today. Tanya Roberts is...not teeth grindingly annoying as some would suggest and she does have a nice moment here or two but the character was missing something for me. Honestly I would have loved this movie ten times more if we stuck around with that Russian spy, she seemed quite fun and had some history with Bond. Now let's get to the best part, Christopher Walken as the villain and flipping Grace Jones as May Day. Oh God it is simultaneously a stroke of genius and one of the most weird casting choices in cinema. But aside from the neverending fun that is Christopher Walken, I do genuinely dig Max Zorin's backstory of a product of nazi experimentation and that he worked for the KGB is endlessy fascinating and is a pretty great origin especially for a Bond villain. Grace Jones is not out of place in the weirdness that is A View To A Kill, and is a matchmade in heaven with Walken but I just don't know what to make of this character, but I'll be lying if I said she isn't fun to watch at times. The action is okay this time around but it certainly picks up in the next few movies but I can't blame it, Moore was 57 when they were shooting and I'm not going to say he should have doubled down on the physical aspects of the role. The whole film just feels off, not bad but off, if they changed two or three aspects of the film including our main star I wouldn't mind it a bit but the way the production feels is like they just wanted to make another Bond movie and not the next best Bond movie. It doesn't feel like an appropriate end to Roger Moore's tenure, whereas Octopussy ended just right. Despite the issues it has I don't hate the movie, and would give it 2.5 stars, 6.5/10, but would only really recommend it for the hardcore Roger Moore fans or if you're having an all out marathon of the series. Tune in next time for Timothy Dalton's The Living Daylights.

Octopussy

This might be my favorite Moore movie of the series.

This is one of the easiest Bond movies to watch, it returns to the more lighthearted and fun tone of the Moore era and is never a dull watch. 007 is issued a case after the death of 009 where honestly a lot of threads are strewn together but basically is investigating a smuggling organization run by the mysterious woman only known as Octopussy. It's not a difficult plot to follow but there are several parties with their hand in the smuggling ring, but it's all laid out clearly and each has a resolution. Roger Moore is a lot of fun in this movie with tons to do in both action and humor and this particular movie has always been a favorite of mine. Maud Adams returns as a Bond girl, which makes me beyond happy to see her in another role and I'm just gonna say it Octopussy and James are the best combination of the Moore era. Not necessarily to say I hated the other Bond girls of this stint of movies, but the chemistry that Moore and Adams have is simply the best and feels like it could genuinely go deeper than just a fling like so many other women. I'm just glad to see her have more of a role and stake in the story, and needless to say the woman is a work of art she is so beautiful. Louis Jourdan is excellent as Kamal Khan our main villain of the story, his screen presence is strong and is just a lot of fun to watch. Alongside him we have Kabir Bedi as Gobinda, a memorable henchman that has a lot of screen time like Jaws and Oddjob, and while not having much personality is still a strong point of the movie for me. I think a small reason I love this movie so much is because we actually get Q out in the field, a rare occurence for the series but always a highlight for me, in fact Q is my favorite of all the MI6 personnel and Desmond Llewelyn is a treasure in my eyes. I just love him to bits and pieces. The action has a stronger stance in this movie with a great pre-title sequence, good chases, good shootouts, acrobatic asskicking women who work for Octopussy, it's easily one of the most fun and enjoyable watches of the series much like Goldfinger, Live And Let Die, and a few more yet to be seen. I enjoyed myself very much with this movie, and it kinda makes me sad Roger Moore only has one more movie but if memory serves he certainly didn't leave on a bad note. 4 stars, 8/10, definitely recommend even if just to watch it on a lazy Saturday afternoon. Next time, the most strangely awesome villain and a farewell to Roger Moore in A View To A Kill.

For Your Eyes Only

It was better than I remembered.

I seriously didn't like this movie much when I first saw it some few years back and truly dreaded seeing it again, but looking at it now it's actually pretty good! I appreciate the producers wanting to go for a more small scale personal story, and I have to say it works great! Bond is on the hunt this time for a missile communique machine which leads him to cross paths with a woman named Milena who is on her own personal vendetta, as they work together for simultaneous different and similar reasons. Something I never thought I would see in a Bond movie, in this case a more personal story about revenge is done amazingly in my opinion with Milena seeing her parents gunned down and is hell bent on finding the person who ordered them to be killed, is genuinely interesting and actually segueways with Bond's recent actions in the pre-title sequence where he finally gets vengeance on Blofeld after visiting his wife's grave. I simultaneously like that opening and hate it, Diamonds Are Forever should have been the revenge story but they tried to distance themselves so far from Lazenby's film and it's a shame. I see what they try to do, to make a compelling and grounded story about how vengeance is not really the answer, and while it does have it's moments it's not really touched on too deeply. This film and The Spy Who Loved Me were Roger Moore's favotite Bond films and I can see why, he just has such good material and situations to work off on, including a downright ruthless killing that may not suit the Moore era greatly but is still such a good scene I honestly don't mind. Carole Bouquet is damn good in this, though I will say her personality flip flops from stone faced dead eyed killer, to a charming yet broken woman still grieving for her family, but she handles both sides very well. Julian Glover though a fantastic actor has nothing to really play off with the character of Kristatos, now I'm not sure if that's just the fact we've had so many colorful and full of personality villains that he just pales tremendously in comparison, or if it's just not a well defined character that while suiting the more grounded reality of this film just isn't terribly interesting. Again, I know Julian Glover is fantastic and I'm always happy to see him in a new movie but the character just had nothing going for him. Surprisingly most of all, Charles Dance appears with this being his first theatrical film and I couldn't even believe it. It's sad he didn't have much to do in fact he's really in a blink and you miss him scene, but just the fact we have two great actors from Game Of Thrones appearing in a single Bond film is really neat. There's not much action in this one, but it has the best car chase in the series so far! I'm serious this car chase floored me, and the fact that it's not in Bond's Lotus Esprit but a little dinky car that looks like a mix between a Volkswagen Beetle and a 1940s mafia car just makes it even better in my opinion. This movie had an awful lot that I enjoyed and really shot up in my estimation this time around, I just had a blast with this movie. It's going to be tough ranking each individual Bond movie collection, especially with Roger's cause I've enjoyed every last one of them greatly. I give this movie, 3 stars, 7.5/10! Next time, Roger Moore's penultimate Bond movie Octopussy.

Moonraker

It's not a Star Wars ripoff. Everyone says it but they're full of it.

I know for a fact I am in the small majority that likes Moonraker, I don't see it as that big of a leap that Bond goes into space. It's not like he's dogfighting TIE Fighters or facing the Gorn, yes there's lazer guns but this is the same series with a guy with metal hands, a guy with metal teeth, a voodoo cultist who is quite possibly undead, and some of the most ludicrously awesome gadgets in history. I think I'll cut it some slack. It's pretty decent in quality, and the space scenes are handled with logic and reservation. So how does Bond travel to the final frontier? Well an american space shuttle has vanished without a trace leading James to meet with the developer Hugo Drax, and shock of all shocks uncovers a dastardly plan that must be foiled. To spaaaaaace! Is it wrong I kind of like this movie better than the last? Come to think of it, there's a handful of similarities between the two. Crazy genius builds a personal fortress and seeks to recreate the world with his own people, Jaws appears in both films, and both movies open with a parachuting stunt, some people say it's just a more out there remake of The Spy Who Loved Me but I strongly doubt it. Though Roger Moore poked fun at the movie for decades after it was complete, he does very well with the material and treats it seriously like any professional actor would. Now I could seriously bash on Lois Chiles as Holly Goodhead for her deadpan delivery and complete blazae attitude when it comes to acting, but I won't. She's not great, and I hate to bash actors especially if they try so I'll just leave it at that and move on. Michael Lonsdale is the best actor in the entire movie, and is the most underrated Bond villain ever. I'll fight you on that. He plays the part eloquently, and goes for the more soft spoken background villain but when he gets to shine, man does he just kill it. They gave him a bloody speech for crying out loud, not a monologue but a speech. Why? Because he's amazing and deserves a place next to Blofeld, Goldfinger, and Scaramanga (with many more on the way). Jaws is back, yay! More comedic than last time but I don't even mind, and yes I do love the fact he gets a total little cutie pie girlfriend and I ship it perhaps a little too hard, but damn it they're cute together and I am living for it! That alone gets this movie a point or two. But all the aspects of the production are done really really well, special effects are executed almost flawlessly, the action is very strong at the climax and of course is peppered in throughout, some of the sets are outstanding, and even the music is better than it should be with one particular track that rivals the love theme from OHMSS for most beautiful Bond music. I really do enjoy this movie, yes the producers said it was a way to capitalize on the success of Star Wars but they showed great restraint and didn't do anything that would seem out of place for Bond, and just used the space backdrop as not only a new villain setting which was crafted around the plot but also to let viewers see something new and create incredible sets and special effects. And I don't think I need to quote a certain somebody on the use and importance of special effects, so I'll just do my final rating. 4 stars check it out, 8/10, I may have lost some credibility but when haven't I, I'll see you next time!

The Spy Who Loved Me

I don't know why I always thought this was the first Bond movie of the 80s, the soundtrack clearly states otherwise.

Roger Moore's best outing as 007? More likely than not. After the less than positive reception of the last movie, the producers took a 3 year hiatus to create the best Bond movie of them all. Did they succeed? Well I can safely say this is the best film of Roger's era so far, and it does indeed rank up there with Goldfinger so yeah. Roger Moore returns in top form, as Bond is looking for any leads on both soviet and british submarines as he encounters a severe marine obsessive man by the name of Stromberg bent on creating a world war so he can rebuild human society from his underwater lair. It's the perfect blend of realistic spy thriller, and entertaining tongue in cheek cinema. I will say the pre-title sequence is one of the best in the entire series ending on one hell of a high note. All elements of the series have been executed wonderfully in this installment, with damn good action, memorable characters, an interesting story, and the highest production values we've seen to date. Roger Moore is wonderful as always, being the cheeky secret agent many have said to be the best Bond (and I'm so far agreeing with them). Barbara Bach is one of the most unique Bond girls, being an opposing secret agent from Russia that has to work with Bond, and while their chemistry and different characters work very well, her acting is incredibly wooden. Is this what people saw with George Lazenby? Cause this, this is not good. Though I have seen far far worse in my time so I can't be that rough on her. Stromberg is a surprisingly dull villain despite an amazing lair, and while the performance is by no means bad at all there just really isn't that much to work with, he's just an evil capitalistic crazy person. Gee, what a new and inspired character for the James Bond series. I heard it was originally meant to be Blofeld, now that would have been interesting to see! However with the disappointing villain of Stromberg, we gain the most recognizable henchman in the whole series, Richard Kiel as the metal mouthed killer Jaws. He is one of my most favorite characters in these movies, and whether he down right scared the living daylights out of me or made me have a good laugh in this movie, I can't express in words how awesome he is. Richard Kiel, you are the man and I cannot wait to see more of him in the next movie! This is one of the better films for sure, and it was a favorite among the producers, Bond actors old and young, and the public even today. 3 stars, 8/10 from me, and we will join Bond in a very underrated adventure next time with Moonraker.

The Man With The Golden Gun

I know this is one of the lesser good James Bond movies but I still like it a bit.

I will admit the movie has problems, some making absolutely no sense whatsoever but it is more smaller things. The story is told well with Bond having to face off against the world's deadliest assassin for a solar device which could end the energy crisis which was a very real thing for Britian at that time. It's a decent movie in the series, it has issues yes but the good stuff still stands strong. I somewhat pin the issues of plot and character on the straining relationship between Albert "Cubby" Broccoli and Harry Saltzman the producers of every single James Bond film up to that point, and the fact that a lot of the elements of the production were rushed, this movie released just one year after Live And Let Die. Now granted the first four Bond movies were released one year after the other but it had adverse effects on the main star, and now the producers of this empire were falling on hard times. For better information than I could ever give I absolutely recommend the documentary Everything Or Nothing released in 2012, it is one of the best documentaries I have ever seen and a heartfelt telling of the history of the series. Yet through all the issues, they still gave us a decent story with a damn good cast. Roger Moore still delivers his own style of James Bond but takes on a bit of a rougher edge, more akin to how Sean Connery would act the scene in some circumstances and it just doesn't work for Roger. I certainly don't blame him for it but it was a misstep regardless. Christopher Lee is practically god-tier Bond villain for me as Francisco Scaramanga, able to play both the ice blooded killer and yet shows great levity and joy in certain scenes, giving us something of a window into how Lee really was in life, a charismatic, lovely, full of life gentleman known the world over. He is the reason I hold this film highly, and damn it I really want that golden gun. Not only is it geniusly crafted but I've been familiar with that weapon years and years before I saw the film, so thanks Goldeneye for the N64 you still rock today. Anyway, Britt Eckland is more of a bubbleheaded Bond girl as Mary Goodnight and was obviously showcased more for her looks than acting talent, but I still appreciate her for being a part of this series. And whatever faults I take with Goodnight are almost washed away by the character of Andrea played by the stunning Maud Adams who brings such a tragic light to a character and while not in the film for long still left a big impression on me, and I was thrilled to know she is in another Bond film but all in good time. Herve Villechaize is yet another memorable henchman and has some good personality that adds just that bit more to the screen. The action is more subdued in this one, with yet another instance of throwing their hat into the ring and having some martial arts fighting which was growing popular at that time, but it really is all about the final duel between Bond and Scaramanga and it does incredibly well! The pacing, editing, and setting are practically flawless and really was the best scene in the movie for me. All in all, I enjoy this movie and while I can acknowledge the faults it has it never detracts from my enjoyment. 3 stars, solid 7/10, and we'll be back for what could be Roger Moore's best movie of the series, The Spy Who Loved Me.

Live And Let Die

Man, if I could pull off that Baron Samedi look I would.

Roger Moore's first outing as 007 is a pretty good one in my eyes, now you might be thinking how does Bond and a somewhat blatant Blaxploitation format mix? You'd think it would be an oil and water situation and fail miserably, but it turns out to be a pretty good movie. Bond is quickly assigned a new case after three agents have died, and investigates the prime minister of the fictional country San Monique, where he quickly discovers a heroin organization, voodoo cults, and a woman able to tell the future through tarot cards. It quickly sets the tone for Roger's tenure, able to have a bit of fun and joke while still being a credible spy movie and while I'm all for a serious spy thriller, the James Bond series has always been a bit bonkers since the beginning. The cast is one of the best we've had so far, Roger Moore though not being the Bond of my childhood grew on me very quickly and I love his performance more so than Connery and Lazenby. He has a cool, almost laidback personality, always with a witty retort or quip to ease the tension and to show his character, he can be serious when he needs to be but it's definitely a different interpretation of this character. Jane Seymour does well as Solitaire and I will admit her character is one of the most interesting in Bond history without even counting the foresight she has, she's a sheltered woman under the thumb of a cruel villain and is very conflicted when she meets James, she's a good character. I absolutely love Yaphet Kotto as Dr. Kananga, he's menacing, intelligent, charming, and even a bit fun but he never loses the edge throughout the film, he does damn fine work and I appreciate his hard work to make Kananga something different. In fact all the villains are class with every last one of them memorable and fun, Whisper though not used much is unsettling, Tee Hee poses a physical threat while still being very fun, and the master of the dead himself Baron Samedi played to honest to God perfection by Geoffrey Holder is a marvel to behold, he doesn't do much and is yet another criminally underused villain but the impact he leaves is undeniable. I fully believe he is an undead fiend, they straight up kill him twice and he still is around, the perfect mix of downright creepy and incredible fun I can almost recommend the movie on just him alone. The action isn't half bad either, with the highlight being the speedboat chase in the bayou's of Louisiana and while some say it's like proto-Smokey And The Bandit with some pretty good stunts, an emphasis on comedy, and the inclusion of fan revered or fan reviled Sherrif J.W. Pepper, I enjoy it nevertheless and it's great to watch but this movie came out first about 4 years before Smokey And The Bandit so I like to think it might have inspired something. I know this is one of the devisive entries in the series, some people love it and some people don'tgo for it, but I lean more toward loving it and do recommend seeing it. 3 stars, 7/10, a fine beginning for Mr. Moore. Next time though we get even more divisive so join me next time when we pay a visit to The Man With The Golden Gun.