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FOR YOUR EYES ONLY (1981)
Directed by John Glen
"A feast for my eyes."
One 4th and one 5th place were FYEO's highest finishes. Seven more placements were found in the lower half of the top 10.
Only four members rated it lower than the top 15, three of those were bottom 5's, out of which one penultimate ranking was the lowest.
The first entry of the 80's went back to basics and it seems the community mostly tends to rank it somewhere between 5th and 15th. Ergo, generally well-liked.
In total FYEO obtained 128 points.
Yes, FYEO at 12, I find very entertaining. Moore looks great and and it's a very stylish entry, lovely Greek locations. The storyline is back down to earth after the excesses of MR. Great action set pieces, such as the pts helicopter scene, and Bond is back on skis, the keel hauling section is also very well done! Carole Bouquet is lovely, though has little chemistry with Rog, and Kristatos is fairly bland villain, Topol is wonderful! The score is lively, and I like the theme song ( a word too for one of my favourite Binder titles) I always have a good time with this one! By the way GG, I do like the image you have picked! Nice!
It’s just not my thing to be honest. I don’t like the PTS (some cool shots of the helicopter but otherwise a bit lacking in tension, and it’s a bit random if you don’t know it’s an f- you McClory). I feel it’s a film trying to grasp at ideas like revenge, and Bond trying not to let Melina lose her soul. He just comes across as hypocritical considering he kills two people out of revenge in this film, and Moore doing a more sympathetic performance makes it all come off as Bond finger wagging. Weak villain (even the twist is nullified considering Kristatos is sporting a rather obvious devil’s moustache/beard combo). Not the most exciting film in terms of visuals or pace either really. I’m really not a fan of the score, and there are some ridiculous scenes such as Bibi trying to ‘seduce’ Bond or the ending with Thatcher.
For me, it’s not quite the down to earth adventure many see it as (it’s rather silly in places actually). It’s more akin to something like TMWTGG for me - low key but a bit ridiculous. The only difference is this one’s more boring than TMWTGG. Again, just not to my taste, but I enjoy a lot of those sequences and have happily watched it whenever it’s on tv or whatever.
But recent viewings have greatly diminished my appreciation of it and it has now plummeted to 18th place.
Apart from Topol and quite a decent PTS, there is nothing really that stands out to make it memorable.
Weak and uninteresting villain, Moore really starting to show his age and despite his best efforts, him and the lovely Bouquet just don’t click together.
If Barry had scored it, I have no doubt it would have ranked higher, but Conti’s horribly outdated score and Easton’s syrupy ballad don’t do this film any favors.
I'm trying to find the best version of my thoughts regarding this film in this forum, I have one, but couldn't find it, so would settle down for a new review 😪
It's a film for me that despite of its potential had been downplayed by its many, many flaws:
1. Let's start with the PTS, that lousy PTS, yay! After 11 years, we finally see Bond remembering Tracy (explicitly) 🙄, for a reason I still don't get, regarding the Producers' decision (after avoiding any marks of OHMSS, they've used it again here, okay, there's TSWLM reference, but it's subtle, a blink and miss reference, here, it's explicitly done), so are the Producers telling us that DAF existed in its own universe? Or doesn't exists, completely that they need to turn 130° and have Moore's Bond a continuation of Lazenby's Bond?, Okay, so here we are, we see him mourning her death, that's a bit poignant, but minutes later, if people could criticize Felix's reaction towards the ending of LTK, then I think this is much more worse as it's completely turned into a joke, the killer of Bond's wife, Blofeld was planning to sabotage Bond through the helicopter, and Bond treated Blofeld as if he's a joke?! Patted his head in a playful manner then that's it? How funny is to give my remark that the PTS had no relationship to the main plot of the film and was even an incoherent story on its own unlike GF or TB, it's confusing.
2. There's a supposed plot twist in this film about Kristatos and Colombo, the funny thing is, there were so many signposting and red flags that was shown to the audience that it's very easy to see miles away that Kristatos is the villain, how many times was Bond attacked after he met Kristatos? The most obvious scene was in Cortina after he'd talked with him, Bond was later attacked by Kriegler whom Bibi Dahl knows, so one could guest to whom Kriegler may have worked for, it's already a suspicious scene.
3. Melina is a headstrong Bond Girl, if anything, was letdown by Carole Bouquet's stiff acting and the script, again, for a film that's full of mishaps, Melina, the should be central figure of the film like Bond himself (and what Camille had succeeded to do later in QoS) had been put at the backseat, Bond never allowed her to be in danger? Didn't he trusted her? Heck, she had even saved his life when he's nearly killed by Gonzales' men, so why Bond would not trust her to take her in his mission? She's finding justice for her parents' sake and her parents are Bond's primary subject in his mission, if she had killed a man with her crossbow earlier in the film and Bond had seen it with his own eyes, then why to warn her about the "digging of two graves"? She had digged two graves long before even she had met Bond, why to avoid her killing Kristatos in the end? I don't get it, Bond was mostly irrational in this film, and yes, hypocritical because he had killed people in this film, although I get it, he's an agent, Melina's not, but the point still stands, Melina had killed one of Gonzales' men with her crossbow, so she had killed a person already, or probably more, considering she's in the midst of her revenge.
4. Do I need to mention Bibi Dahl? She's an obvious criticism of this film, a distraction and had a weird infatuation for Bond who's old enough to be his father or grandfather, not good looking.
5. The supporting characters were to say, never left an impression on me, mostly forgettable: Erich Kriegler, Countess Lisl, Ferrara, and many other more.
6. The cinematography, say what you say about LTK, but this film made LTK looked like a high definition cinematic film compared to this, this film felt like a TV soap opera Latin series, very cheap, what happened? Moonraker was successful and one of the highest grossing Bond films in the series, then what followed is this? Very dull and bleak, what happened to the money they've earned from Moonraker's box office success?
7. The scores downplayed some of the tense scenes in this film, like the car chase and the ski chase for example, those are supposed to be tense and thrilling but turned into a TV skit because of those scores that downplayed those scenes into a joke, this is not Pink Panther action, this is James Bond for sake and you're putting scores like that? Even The Persuaders could at least put a serious score that would fit some serious scenes.
8. This film was very much low key, low key in a sense that it's almost a bit boring like very simplistic, very minimalistic, and it's a bit unmemorable as a film in general because it just couldn't stand compared to others that were giants, this felt more like a TV episode more than a film.
9. Bond and Melina (Roger Moore and Carole Bouquet) have no chemistry and the age gap made it more uncomfortable to watch when they're romancing towards the end, Bond in the first half was meant to be paternal towards Melina but suddenly in the end, they had a one night stand?
10. The plot also had a potential, it's a reminiscent of FRWL, but what ruined it was the ending in which Bond thrown away the ATAC machine, like after all the sacrifices, the danger, the killed victims like Ferrara and Countess Lisl, suddenly all of that went to nothing because Bond realized that the ATAC machine doesn't really matter? So this whole mission and this whole plot was kinda nonsense if one may think of it, because at the end, it all came to nothing.
11. The Thatcher scene and the Parrot at the end? It looked like something came out of a comedy skit show, very corny.
The only good points, perhaps the mountain climbing scene which I would admit is a very tense scene, and the theme song by Sheena Easton, the rest? Nah..... One of the least memorable Bond films for me, would I still watch it? Depends on my mood.
I had it at #7.
What takes it slightly down is a spoon-fed message on revenge that doesn't really manage to convince, a fairly forgettable villain ensemble and a general lack of eccentricity.
Having said that, a solid entry that just misses a little touch of magic to end up higher for me. 15th on my list.
SKYFALL (2012)
Directed by Sam Mendes
"New digs."
SF claimed one gold medal, three silvers and one bronze, while it also ended up 5th on three occasions. Two more top 10's were noted, as well as two more top 15's.
There are however a lot of voters that put SF between 15th and 20th: seven!
In addition three members ranked it in their bottom 5: all three of them gave it the penultimate spot.
SF is generally considered one of the very best Bond films and with eight top 5 finishes, it has several avid fans on here too.
With ten members putting it outside their top 15, it is though noticeably less well-regarded by some fans than what general audiences might expect.
In total SF obtained 129 points.
Unfortunately, there is very little I find myself enjoying in this movie, even if it’s a well shot one.
DN
FRWL
GF
TB
OHMSS
TSWLM
OP
TLD
GE
CR
7 of which are in my top 10.
My guess is either TB or OP will come next.
The dialogue and acting is really good here, and then I'm pretty much through my positives.
Cinematography could have been one, but I just do not like the way this film looks. I'm sure it's technically superb, but I don't feel it. It's either too dark, or too bleak, and it also feels really artificial and empty to me... Maybe it was shot digitally?
I'm not fond of the story either. I takes itself so seriously, yet it has a plot that makes no sense at all. I usually don't mind the latter, but I do in case of the former.
In the end, I feel like I'm watching fan fiction, it distances itself so explicitely from its colleagues, but it tries to make up for that by inserting some fan service.
A Bond film that feels like it is only a Bond film in name, the Hawaiian pizza of the franchise.
That's just my opinion, of course. No offense to those who do love it.
Took me many years to come around to SF, and accept that it was neither in the tone of CR/QOS nor a 'traditional' old-school-feel Bond film, but something different again. All friends and family I watched the film with in the theatre loved it. I was frustrated that it didn't click with me for so long.
This was the first Bond film since the new MI6 Community was launched, so there's many fond memories of piecing the film together with everyone here. I re-evaluated the film on its 10th anniversary and now consider it very good, and love that it has its own style. A modern classic. Favourite stretch of the film is from rooftop swim to leaving the casino. There was a real zeitgeist surrounding the film - Craig's Bondmania. It surpassed FRWL as the 'train Bond film', not just for the Turkey/London tube scenes, but including the early Heineken advert through to the real world East Coast train #91007. I had SF at #17.
For me, this is the best Craig Bond film, and I'm serious when I said it.
Great cast and acting, cinematography, score, directing, theme song by Adele, action scenes, effects, blending modern Bond with the old style, classic Bond, plot and story, characters, and the heartbreaking death of M is the cherry on the top (second next to Tracy's death in OHMSS), if Vesper's death failed to move me (which is a shame and I would talk about this when that film pops out), then M's death pulled my heartstrings in a way that only Tracy's death could do.
It's not without its flaws (of course, any Bond film has its flaws sans my #1 😊, which still consistently owns that throne even now).
Okay, again, it's not without its flaws like wrong character decisions, like Q plugging Silva's laptop to the MI6 motherboard, Bond taking M to his childhood home that not realizing that being Silva's target himself that he would also go to the house, the poor treatment of the Severine character, and Bond suddenly being 'too old for the job' despite of just being after two films had passed (where he's a rookie agent in both) without giving us more films in between for it to look more convincing (it's just rushed that from rookie agent to CR and QoS, suddenly, he's out of the game in SF, just confusing to say the least), I wish before SF, we've seen Bond in more non personal missions before this.
But aside from that, it's a great film, Craig's best in his tenure as Bond.
Number two in my ranking.
I just feel it's a little overhyped. I don't think it's as good as it thinks it is, or some fans put it on the pedestal it's often given.
FYEO comes in at 13 for me. A Bond film that I never used to care for much, but over the years I've come to appreciate this stripped back to the bare bones approach after the excess of MR.
It's a simple story, with more realistic and grounded characters. It's got plenty of stylish and inventive action and borrows quite nicely from Fleming at times.
The climax and keelhauling scene are true standouts, and some of the best of the series for tension and thrills. Also nice to see Roger given a more serious film and he plays it mostly straight as well.
Very good Bond film.
LALD came in at 12 in my ranking. Another Bond film that has soared over time. Roger Moore makes you completely forget Sean Connery immediately such is his ability as an actor. The story is more low key, but then so was Connery's debut in DN.
I've grown to accept the voodoo elements and go along for the ride.
The film has a wonderful list of villains, and a great script. The action is right up there, the crocodile jump and boat chase are truly exciting. Finally, the terrific score is one I find my toe tapping along to every time I watch this Bond classic.
I'm quite happy to see OP has made it into the top 10 at least. A higher score than it usually gets.
Maybe I would start to compose my long and deep thoughts regarding the Bond films that would come up next, either my criticisms if it's not my type, or my defenses, if something needs one 😊.
The story is about Bond losing his way and ultimately picking himself back up. The concept was there in Fleming's YOLT and to a lesser extent TWINE. I think this works better than either of those examples to be honest. SF is, in that sense, the maturation of many previous ideas in the Bond series. Another example is Silva - he's this twisted mirror image of Bond, more so than Scaramanga or Travelyan were (the latter feel more like characters with slightly similar professions or experiences as Bond, but often on very different sides of the fence as it were, and with a fundamental lack of morals. Silva, on the other hand, is essentially a version of someone Bond could conceivably become. He's been through more or less the same experience - being M's best agent, getting injured as a result of her actions, and ultimately 'dying' and going off grid. The only difference between the two is that Bond returns in the name of duty, while Silva pursues revenge and anarchy). I love how Bardem plays the character as this sort of psychopathic trickster with a vendetta/death wish. Such a contrast to the robotic killer his character was in No Country For Old Men, really comes off like they're played by different actors altogether. It feels like the vibe they wanted with Renard in TWINE. Also, much like GE we also get a sense of how Bond's childhood has impacted him, and it's very well done. It's not too hefty or melodramatic (indeed Bond never openly talks about it, even destroying his house with a sense of bravado).
Well crafted action sequences - love the PTS especially. Again, it's not unusual seeing references to Bond's 'death' in the series (we of course had YOLT and FRWL's openings) but this is way more impactful. There's also the Shanghai fight between Patrice and Bond (so well shot), the tube chase, the court shootout, and of course the final shootout at Skyfall. It's all quite low key, but it works and feels tense, but Bondian (love little moments like Bond adjusting his cuffs, the 'health and safety check' line).
Excellent cinematography. It feels modern but timeless. Score is very good, and it has one of the strongest title songs in the entire series. Craig's performance is really good - confident, charismatic, but very subtle and representative of what Bond is going through in this film. I think it's genuinely the best acting I've seen from a Bond performance. I don't think I can fault any of the supporting cast (it's quite amazing how Wishaw and Harris slip into these iconic roles and own them).
Personally, I can't understand some of the specific fan criticisms about this film. Is Q plugging in Silva's laptop or the train crashing into the tunnel any more contrived than what we usually see in a Bond movie? Bond is a 00 who seems to be about 40/very much in the mid career part of his life, in a job where the life expectancy isn't very high no less. Much like M he's part of the 'old guard' at this point (similar to Brosnan's Bond in GE). Mallory's 'it's a young man's game' comments make sense in this context. Bond taking M to his childhood home is something of a reckless (and last resort) decision even in the context of the film. By the end everyone in this film fails, which is a wonderfully Fleming-esque and fatalistic idea, but Bond is the only one truly redeemed.
There are a few 'wink-nudge' moments I'm not too fond of - Q's line about exploding pens, the ejector seat moment... that said I understand why they're there, and seeing the Aston Martin unveiled for the first time is really cool. I can understand criticisms about Severine/the treatment of her character (although I also get why she's killed off when she is) and the little homoerotic moment between Bond and Silva (it often gets a bit misread by some people - Bond is basically trying to get Silva to back off by playing along, which is a tactic people have used to avoid real life sexual assaults. Silva quickly looses interest and Bond grits his teeth/gives him a dirty look).
I enjoy CR, and QOS and NTTD have grown a lot on me. Even SP has its moments. But for me, SF is pure Bond - a real escapist blockbuster with some sophisticated character ideas at its heart. I'm half-surprised it's this low (although I understand it's just not to some fan's tastes - it's always had a much stronger reputation among general audiences). But yeah, I'm firmly in the camp who rate this one highly.
I completely agree that if you put the plot under a microscope then stuff like Silva's plan is hard to see how it makes sense, but as you say, that's the same of most Bond movies, especially CR, which you can bet will be very close to the top in this poll. What matters more is that it's compelling and thrilling and you care about the characters and are drawn along in the journey, and this is one of the very best for that.
My utter dislike of this one has been well documented here over the last 12 years. Some nice performances, fantastic cinematography, aaaand that's all it has going for it, a slog to get through. It'll take a new dud for this one to escape the #24 spot in my rankings.
Where the film fails is how it balances the seriousness with the light-hearted elements, which is always one of my major problems with Gilbert's direction. I get a serious film like this needs something to lighten up the mood, it succeeds in some places. I think the car chase is a brilliant example of how to do it good, as it doesn't destroy the credibility of the film. Controversially, I also think Lynn-Holly Johnson as Bibi works pretty well, she is cringeworthy, but never unbelievable. What puts me off is the pre-title sequence, the Thatcher ending, the ice hockey fight and the underwater fights.
Skyfall is my #3, it has one of my favorite villains in Silva, excellent dynamic between him, Bond and M. Some really strong themes about physical/analogue vs digital, old-school vs modern, with almost every decision in the story telling revolving around those themes. I like the parallel between Bond and Silva's backstories, where one character decides one path and the other does the opposite.
The visuals and sounds are amazing, it has some of my favorite scenes in the entire series, the PTS, the fight with Patrice, SIlva's introduction, the parliament shoot-out. The pacing and soundtrack is excellent. Only real complaint is that the climax isn't completely satisfying and bringing back the DB5 with all arsenal was a mistake.
Bond movies aren't meant to have airtight plots just by their nature, so long as it's compelling and it's not noticed in the moment as you said. For me, complaining about the logic of Silva's escape is like trying to analyse how exactly Bond is able to survive two bullets to his chest and a fall of hundreds of feet at the beginning of this film.
Oh yeah, the reaction to this film's release was crazy. I think people forget the disappointment felt when QOS didn't quite match up to CR. SF isn't a TSWLM or LALD in the sense that it stopped the Bond series from dying, but I think it was a film which put Craig's era back on track. I think at the time a film was needed with some of that good old Bondian flair that hadn't quite been there in the grittiness of QOS, or the new beginning that was CR - the gadgets, the traditional MI6 characters, the exotic but stylish locations, a healthy dose of more outlandish action sequences, and indeed stuff like the DB5, the Bond theme etc.
It's quite a relevant film for Bond 26 in that sense. It shows you can have a well written, character based, even dare I say 'sophisticated' Bond film that does something different while being fun and able to modernise those classic Bond elements.