Is 'For Your Eyes Only' the most boring James Bond film?

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  • Posts: 11,216
    No. It's probably my favourite 80s Bond film actually.

    A more grounded performance from Roger and some lovely locations (I've actually booked a holiday to Corfu because of the film next May).

    Roger "leading the troops" to St. Cyrils is one of his best Bond scenes imo.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 17,609
    The thing which does frustrate me slightly about the climb up to St Cyrils is that the film can't decide on the scales of things. One minute he's a mile up, the next he can see Columbo waving at him telling him to wait because a guard's coming, it takes him about five minutes to climb up the thing, the basket even less... it's not very coherent. Even when they arrive together and Bond goes off on his own to start the climb; they're still about a mile away from the thing. Do the other just have a picnic while Bond walks there?
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,626
    mtm wrote: »
    The thing which does frustrate me slightly about the climb up to St Cyrils is that the film can't decide on the scales of things. One minute he's a mile up, the next he can see Columbo waving at him telling him to wait because a guard's coming, it takes him about five minutes to climb up the thing, the basket even less... it's not very coherent. Even when they arrive together and Bond goes off on his own to start the climb; they're still about a mile away from the thing. Do the other just have a picnic while Bond walks there?

    You're right...it probably would have been better if Columbo and Melina got up there another way. I agree that the scale is all off.
  • Posts: 8,012
    I've always enjoyed FYEO, there are many great set pieces, but it lacks any real standout dramatic scenes, if that makes sense! But it's a very easy watch!
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 17,609
    Julian Glover turns 90 today =D>
  • DragonpolDragonpol https://thebondologistblog.blogspot.com
    Posts: 18,580
    mtm wrote: »
    Julian Glover turns 90 today =D>

    That's great. Happy 90th Birthday to one of my favourite Bond villain actors! I wrote to him in March 2002 and got a lovely B/W signed photo of him as Kristatos back in less than a week. A lovely man and a great actor.
  • Posts: 2,225
    Love FYEO, especially the action set pieces and of course the more grounded Cold War plot. What I would give for a John Barry score though...

    As much as I love Barry, Conti makes FYEO really unique whilst following the Bond soundtrack template well. Great title song which is well used throughout the score, a great Bond theme intro for the gunbarrel, and some great action cues... A Drive in the Country and Runaway being particular highlights.
  • Posts: 1,782
    I like disco music but the score dates the movie a lot, and it wasn't even the 70s which makes it more shocking.
  • edited March 27 Posts: 15,478
    mtm wrote: »
    Julian Glover turns 90 today =D>

    Happy birthday to him.
    Dragonpol wrote: »
    mtm wrote: »
    Julian Glover turns 90 today =D>

    That's great. Happy 90th Birthday to one of my favourite Bond villain actors! I wrote to him in March 2002 and got a lovely B/W signed photo of him as Kristatos back in less than a week. A lovely man and a great actor.

    He was also amazing in Tar. Small role, but absolutely perfect. As Kristatos he managed to come off as a restrained old perv, even though he was younger than Moore.

    Come to think of it, he often played old degenerates: in Game of Thrones, in FYEO, there's also shades of this in Tar, where it's implied he may have committed a few sexual indiscretions a long time ago.
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    edited March 27 Posts: 69
    A mixed bag but overall a good movie. The direction is quite good, but some parts of it fail - a typical frustration with John Glen.

    The opening sequence sets the tone. What starts with poignant, serious tone with added menace (the ominous priest blessing a startled 007) descends into a farcical chase with Bond tossing Blofeld down a chimney. The reason Blofeld, played for laughs, is involved is a legal dispute which has nothing to do us in the audience. The theme song is a dirge, too, though Conti's score is good.

    The next part is why I ultimately love Glen's films. The St George's sinking is truly terrifying. Then the Havelock's murder. We get some exposition and we are off for a brilliant chase. Glen built his movies superbly but, LTK aside, they dither, almost refusing to deliver on their promise.

    It's the characterisation which lets us down. Aye, Topol and company rock, but others meander. We don't need Brink or Bibi on St Cyril's. Kriegler is just Red-ish Grant. Charles Dance is as wasted as Julian Glover and the tragic Michael Gothard. Lisl excites but is plot-disposed.

    Melina is the biggest waste. Being half-Greek and citing Electra doesn't make you deep, especially if you spend the remainder essentially whining in an obviously dubbed voice. Carole Bouquet is visibly old enough to be Roger's adult daughter, so there goes the impact of the Bibi scenes. A(nother) misjudgement.

    The mountain assault is another good sequence but when the group ascends, it goes all FYEO and doesn't quite deliver. Underwhelming fights. Krisatatos whacked. Bibi smiling. Fisher Price McGuffin destroyed. Pistachios all round.

    Back to the boat for a politically awkward tryst 007 probably shouldn't be having considering Melina's personal trauma.

    More good than bad.
  • Posts: 1,716
    TLD and LTK are quite boring. Great actor there to portray Bond but the scripts lame and LTK, in particular, plays like a rogue-cop-vs-drug-dealer TV movie of the week. It also had that inane pre-teen jealous girl drama
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    Posts: 69
    Since62 wrote: »
    TLD and LTK are quite boring. Great actor there to portray Bond but the scripts lame and LTK, in particular, plays like a rogue-cop-vs-drug-dealer TV movie of the week. It also had that inane pre-teen jealous girl drama

    Possibly the worst take on LTK I've ever read, chief, and there's been plenty.
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    Posts: 69
    mtm wrote: »
    Julian Glover turns 90 today =D>

    Many happy returns.

    Hadn't much to work with in FYEO yet still handled it with brio.

    Brilliant actor.
  • Last_Rat_StandingLast_Rat_Standing Long Neck Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart
    Posts: 4,680
    If MR is a hot fudge sundae. Then FYEO is plain ice cubes. I will never like this movie.
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    Posts: 69
    If MR is a hot fudge sundae. Then FYEO is plain ice cubes. I will never like this movie.

    I like sundae ice cubes, chief! Enjoy both!

  • Posts: 1,716
    Since62 wrote: »
    TLD and LTK are quite boring. Great actor there to portray Bond but the scripts lame and LTK, in particular, plays like a rogue-cop-vs-drug-dealer TV movie of the week. It also had that inane pre-teen jealous girl drama

    Possibly the worst take on LTK I've ever read, chief, and there's been plenty.

    Apparently you're a Dalton fan - understandably - but I truly doubt you like the fact that the productions at that time were wan, lost, lame and that LTK smacked of TV rogue-cop-vs-drug-lord story, and the jealous girl drama was immature and inane.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    Posts: 3,872
    Since62 wrote: »
    Since62 wrote: »
    TLD and LTK are quite boring. Great actor there to portray Bond but the scripts lame and LTK, in particular, plays like a rogue-cop-vs-drug-dealer TV movie of the week. It also had that inane pre-teen jealous girl drama

    Possibly the worst take on LTK I've ever read, chief, and there's been plenty.

    Apparently you're a Dalton fan - understandably - but I truly doubt you like the fact that the productions at that time were wan, lost, lame and that LTK smacked of TV rogue-cop-vs-drug-lord story, and the jealous girl drama was immature and inane.

    Plot wise, I do prefer LTK to TLD, if going by Dalton's films, while LTK's plot was very dated of course with the Miami Vice/Die Hard kind of plot that's very much trendy in the 80s, it's not as convoluted as the one in TLD.

    As for Pam, which I do agree became a bit of childish in the end with the love triangle plot between her and Lupe, at least has more competence and agency than Kara Milovy, I do think that Lupe is a quite a distraction in there, she literally did nothing, and she's the one who started that love triangle, in all of the villain's mistresses that they could've saved (Andrea Anders, and while not a Bond villain mistress, Corrine Clery), they've saved the nonsense secondary Bond Girl of them all, she's more like a trigger to Bond in that she could've put him in danger because she's clingy to him.

    Would've been better if she died in that climax, making Sanchez all the more angry towards Bond and would've been hungry for revenge to kill him because Lupe died.

    But I agree, Dalton deserved more better scripts, one is a Rambo with a very dated plot about Mujahideen (TLD) and one is a Miami Vice/Die Hard (LTK).
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    edited March 27 Posts: 69
    Since62 wrote: »
    [l
    Apparently you're a Dalton fan - understandably - but I truly doubt you like the fact that the productions at that time were wan, lost, lame and that LTK smacked of TV rogue-cop-vs-drug-lord story, and the jealous girl drama was immature and inane.

    I think you are lumping LTK in with too many inferior productions. There's no doubt LTK takes after the hard-nosed boiled thrillers of its era. It practically steals the cast of Die Hard and Kamen's score is redolent of Lethal Weapon, but it's a cracking film on its own merit.

    Not the first not the last time 007 took on the box-office.

    I do agree about the jealous routine. It works once (in the hotel) but lingers into the ending sequence.

    Man, the ending sequence. It's dangerously close to flummoxing the film outright. Leiter eyeing up his nurse like his wife hasn't been recently murdered. Who does he think he is? Bond?

    The winking fish is Glen's p45. Poor end sequences were an unfortunate staple of his tenure, TLD easily the worst offender.

  • Posts: 1,782
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    Since62 wrote: »
    Since62 wrote: »
    TLD and LTK are quite boring. Great actor there to portray Bond but the scripts lame and LTK, in particular, plays like a rogue-cop-vs-drug-dealer TV movie of the week. It also had that inane pre-teen jealous girl drama

    Possibly the worst take on LTK I've ever read, chief, and there's been plenty.

    Apparently you're a Dalton fan - understandably - but I truly doubt you like the fact that the productions at that time were wan, lost, lame and that LTK smacked of TV rogue-cop-vs-drug-lord story, and the jealous girl drama was immature and inane.

    Plot wise, I do prefer LTK to TLD, if going by Dalton's films, while LTK's plot was very dated of course with the Miami Vice/Die Hard kind of plot that's very much trendy in the 80s, it's not as convoluted as the one in TLD.

    As for Pam, which I do agree became a bit of childish in the end with the love triangle plot between her and Lupe, at least has more competence and agency than Kara Milovy, I do think that Lupe is a quite a distraction in there, she literally did nothing, and she's the one who started that love triangle, in all of the villain's mistresses that they could've saved (Andrea Anders, and while not a Bond villain mistress, Corrine Clery), they've saved the nonsense secondary Bond Girl of them all, she's more like a trigger to Bond in that she could've put him in danger because she's clingy to him.

    Would've been better if she died in that climax, making Sanchez all the more angry towards Bond and would've been hungry for revenge to kill him because Lupe died.

    But I agree, Dalton deserved more better scripts, one is a Rambo with a very dated plot about Mujahideen (TLD) and one is a Miami Vice/Die Hard (LTK).

    I think the one who deserved better scripts was Brosnan.


    TLD and LTK are above average.


  • AceHoleAceHole Belgium, via Britain
    Posts: 1,738
    No
  • In a word no
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    edited March 27 Posts: 69
    SIS_HQ wrote: »

    Plot wise, I do prefer LTK to TLD, if going by Dalton's films, while LTK's plot was very dated of course with the Miami Vice/Die Hard kind of plot that's very much trendy in the 80s, it's not as convoluted as the one in TLD.

    As for Pam, which I do agree became a bit of childish in the end with the love triangle plot between her and Lupe, at least has more competence and agency than Kara Milovy, I do think that Lupe is a quite a distraction in there, she literally did nothing, and she's the one who started that love triangle, in all of the villain's mistresses that they could've saved (Andrea Anders, and while not a Bond villain mistress, Corrine Clery), they've saved the nonsense secondary Bond Girl of them all, she's more like a trigger to Bond in that she could've put him in danger because she's clingy to him.

    Would've been better if she died in that climax, making Sanchez all the more angry towards Bond and would've been hungry for revenge to kill him because Lupe died.

    But I agree, Dalton deserved more better scripts, one is a Rambo with a very dated plot about Mujahideen (TLD) and one is a Miami Vice/Die Hard (LTK).

    It's unfair to assess LTD as 'dated'It should be seen as more contemporaneous. A product of its time. I doubt EON knew the Wall would soon collapse.

    LTK is the same as many other Bonds insofar it is only reacting to box-office stimuli. Is NTTD 'dated' because it ribs on The Avengers franchise, Skyfall The Dark Knight?

    Also, Lupe's frivolity is an important part of her character. She doesn't 'love' anybody. She cheats. She cheats on Sanchez. She cheats on Bond and I can guarantee you she'll cheat on El Presidente.

    Doesn't mean she should be branded 'inane' and 'childish'. Her duplicity gives her character mystique and suspicion.

    I do agree about Pam 'I've flown to the toughest hellholes in South America' Bouvier going 'Oooh James' on us at the end, but Bond was right to make a splash over her. Her 'bullshit!' retort to Q's bullshit is interminably sexy, as is her jealous manner beforehand.



  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,420
    Not sure how a FYEO thread can derail to a Dalton era (bashing) thread, but the Dalton films are my top 2 entries in the franchise and I will defend them to the grave. This is probably the wrong thread for it though.

    FYEO, last time I watched it, was excellent. Great Bond girl, charismatic ally, amazing stunts, gorgeous locations, funky music and a welcome return to spy thriller territory. Not up there with the Dalton films of course, but what is? ;)
  • Posts: 8,012
    GoldenGun wrote: »
    Not sure how a FYEO thread can derail to a Dalton era (bashing) thread, but the Dalton films are my top 2 entries in the franchise and I will defend them to the grave. This is probably the wrong thread for it though.

    FYEO, last time I watched it, was excellent. Great Bond girl, charismatic ally, amazing stunts, gorgeous locations, funky music and a welcome return to spy thriller territory. Not up there with the Dalton films of course, but what is? ;)

    I hear ye mate. If I had to only save 2 Bond movies, both of Daltons would be the choice, and I would still be a very happy Bond fan! Even with a new Bond actor incoming, I sincerely doubt they will replace Timothy Dalton as my favourite!
  • echoecho 007 in New York
    Posts: 6,626
    Poppycock! Dalton's movies are much nearer the top than the bottom of Bond films.

    Just considering the Eon films...

    I'd put TLD and LTK down as the best of the '80s, better than all of Brosnan's, better than half of Craig's, better than all but one or two of Moore's, and better than at least two of Connery's.
  • In my rankings TLD found itself at #11 while LTK at #8. Even then TLD could just as easily jump back into my Top 10.
  • SIS_HQSIS_HQ At the Vauxhall Headquarters
    edited March 28 Posts: 3,872
    One thing is for sure, both Dalton films looked better (cinematography and aesthetics) than FYEO, still, why FYEO looked like its a TV episode? It's too lowkey and minimalistic that it doesn't looked and felt like a Bond film at all, more like a TV Action Drama Series 😅.

    That's my impression of FYEO, it's too small for a Bond Film, it's a departure from the James Bond films spectacle, hence, it tends to be the least impressionable and memorable of all the Bond Films, it was stuck between the more memorable and bigger MR and OP, even AVTAK, in comparison (while still looked like a TV movie in places, still felt like a movie, especially the Climax at the Golden Gate Bridge and the Paris Scenes), but FYEO, aesthetically, just lacked it, the locations in FYEO seemed promising (especially Greece and Cortina D'Ampezzo) but they've failed to get good shots out of those.

    For me, it's a pretty dull looking Bond Film, anemic.

    Even QoS, for also how low-key it was, still felt and looked like a movie, because the aesthetics are still good (despite of the Frenetic action scenes), it's still had that James Bond Film feel in it, something that FYEO lacked.
  • AnotherZorinStoogeAnotherZorinStooge Bramhall (Irish)
    edited March 28 Posts: 69
    SIS_HQ wrote: »
    For me, it's a pretty dull looking Bond Film, anemic.

    Robert Bresson, the great French director whose work I have, of course, never watched, reckoned FYEO was a beautiful film, wonderfully shot. He was famed for minimalism.

    I tend to agree. It does look beautiful, with a wide variety of locations used well and fabricating a neat early 1980s aesthetic.
  • mtmmtm United Kingdom
    Posts: 17,609
    It’s the closest Bond got to a Euston Films look: that particular late 70s/early 80s style of British films. Sort of Long Good Friday, Who Dares Wins texture.
  • GoldenGunGoldenGun Per ora e per il momento che verrà
    Posts: 7,420
    Locationwise I think it's one of the best Bond films. Purely personal taste of course, but Italy and Greece are just really my kind of thing.

    Having said that, I think regardless of that personal taste Cortina and Corfu are very Bondian places anyway, and the underwater scenes look superb here too (shot in the Bahamas though, right?)
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