For Your Eyes Only

(Here be spoilers if you are yet to see the James Bond movies...)

The Mission
James Bond (Roger Moore) is sent to investigate the disappearance of MI6 contacts off the coast of Albania after the accidental sinking of a surveillance ship. His mission is to retrieve or disable the ship's A.T.A.C. system before Soviet agents can get to it.

Jimmy Bond Yo!
As expected, Bond is very well briefed on British operations. He's good at Baccarat (echoing Peter Sellers in Casino Royale), drinks ouzo while in Greece, and has no real issues with organising a cartel of Greek gangsters into a crack force to infiltrate a clifftop fortress. He hypocritically tells Melina that "revenge isn't the way" despite the film's pre-credit sequence, which depicts him visiting his wife's grave shortly before killing Blofeld once and for all.

Roger Moore takes his age onscreen as Bond for the first time, giving a more subdued and introspective performance. Bond is almost paternalistic, showing an uncharacteristic jocularity whilst driving with new Bond girl Melina - his one-liners taking on a more corny Dad's joke-like tone (as opposed to his usual dark puns). He even enjoys a mug of coffree with Q (Desmond Llewelyn) at one point, and seems resistant to chaperoning Kristatos' niece (it's as if he knows he won't be able to help himself and is restraining himself by avoiding the situation). In fact, he's downright embarrassed by Bibi's (Lynn-Holly Johnson) come-ons and is more assertive and protective towards her then he has been with past Bond girls. He also actually makes an effort to get to know the main Bond girl, Melina.

Moore seems to be becoming increasingly aware that he may be too old for the role. It's interesting to note that Sean Connery is actually younger than Roger Moore yet it's still harder to imagine him playing Bond in the 1980s (indeed, check out Connery's rather neutered performance in the unofficial 1983 Bond film Never Say Never Again).

Villainy
Blofeld (John Hollis/Robert Rietty) cameos in the pre-credits sequence but he's neither named or seen from the front due to behind-the-scenes copyright issues. He's bald and still wears the grey nehru-styled suit. His incessant and menacing chuckling suggests the shared history between himself and Bond, as does the opening scene where Bond visits Tracy's grave, so there's no mistake about who it's meant to be. Blofeld is now in a wheelchair and neck brace (the resul of Bond's crane mischief back in Diamonds Are Forever?).

The film's main villain, Kristatos (Julian Glover), is initially presented as an ally - with he and Bond establishing a friendship over a shared taste for fine food and wine. He's a British-decorated Greek double-agent with schemes to sell the stolen A.T.A.C. system to the Soviets. He's wiley, urbane and there's a suggestion that he desires his niece. The relatively small scope of his plans (he just wants to make a bit of money) makes a nice change to previous Bond villains, but it doesn't really go anywhere.

The main henchman for the film is Emile Leopold Locque (Michael Gothard), codenamed 'the Dove'. He's a rather nasty hitman with fascistic octagonal glasses who works as an enforcer in the Greek underworld. He looks like Peter Fonda, and like most memorable Bond henchmen (amongst which he doesn't really number) he doesn't have any dialogue.

Buddies and Babes
M is written out of the series with a throwaway remark that he's "aways on leave" and the Minister of Defence (Geoffrey Keen) stands in for him to give Bond his latest briefing. Q goes into the field once again, this time disguised as a Greek Orthodox priest, and Bond's main contact is a rather nondescript Italian agent named Luigi Ferrara (John Moreno).

There are three Bond girls featured in For Your Eyes Only. Bibi, the villain's niece, is a boisterous American iceskater who Bond deems too young for his tastes, the Countess Lisl von Schlaf (Cassandra Harris) is a significantly older woman who gets killed shortly after Bond 'meets' her, and then there's Melina (Carole Bouquat). Melina is the main female character featured, and her proactive action role mirrors the last two Bond films and the franchise's (slowly) changing attitudes to women. She's a half-greek marine archeologist seeking revenge for the death of her parents, and more than a little handy with a crossbow.

Rounding out Bond's team of allies is Columbo, a pistachio nut-eating greek gangster played by the larger-than-life Topol. Bond isn't initially on board with accepting Columbo's help as the Greek is a smuggler, but as he doesn't smuggle it somehow makes him a good guy and the two become firm allies against their mutual enemy, Kristatos.

Locations
Most of the film takes place in Mediterranean settings - showcasing Spanish hillside villages, Corfu and the sparkling waters of the Greek Islands. The archeology aspect lends itself to underwater filming involving ancient ruins and deep sea machinery. There are also some scenes set in the snowy countryside of Italy, with requisite outdoor ice skating rink.

Gadgets and Tricks of the Trade
Not really much to say in this department. Bond poses as a writer at one point but his quarry, the Countess, doesn't buy it. He also uses a shoelace to help climb a cliff (one of the franchise's more ridiculous moments) and has an explosive self-destruct system built into his car as a theft deterrent.

Licence to Kill
Bond starts out the film by dropping Blofeld down a chimney stack to his (presumed) death. He trips up a motorcyclist and sends him flying through a florist window, and shoots the Dove in the shoulder before kicking his teetering car over a cliff edge (probably one of Bond's all-time coolest moments - incidentally, Moore hated and was against filming this scene as he felt it was out of character with his version of James Bond). He also inadvertantly pulls one of Kristatos' men into the water where he's eaten by sharks, drops another off a cliff face whilst climbing, and knocks a Russian agent out of a window over same said cliff.

Shag-Rate
After deflecting the attentions of the rather nubile Bibi, Bond gets cosy with the Countess - a woman of a somewhat more suitable age. He also takes his prize from Melina on her boat at the film's end with sequence seedily shot through a glossy filter - most likely to disguise their age difference.

Quotes
PRIEST: Mr. Bond, so glad I caught you. Your office called and is sending a helicopter - apparently some kind of emergency.
BOND: It usually is.

BIBI: Uncle Ari? He thinks I'm a virgin.
JAMES BOND: Yes... well... put your clothes on and I'll buy you an ice cream.

JAMES BOND: Forgive me father, for I have sinned.
Q (disguised as priest): That's putting it mildly, 007!

JAMES BOND (sharing a laugh with KGB official after destroying the A.T.A.C. system): That's detente comrade - you don't have it, I don't have it

How Does It Rate?
Thoroughly underwhelming. The contuinity-heavy and plot-irrelevant pre-credits sequence feels like James Bond fanfiction. The premise of pitting Bond directly against the KGB for the first time might've had some merit if the film didn't feel like such a massive stepdown after the rather epic Moonraker and The Spy Who Loved Me. It probably was neccessary to go smaller after the exponential spectacle of these two previous films but For Your Eyes Only is nothing short of supremely mediocre. I mean, come on, Kristatos tries to kill Bond by dragging him through water over some coral... is that the best they could come up with? I admire this film's attempts to ground the franchise in something that more closely resembles reality but in the end it just feels a bit too telemovie.

I had to laugh at the rather 1980s theme song (during which we actually see Sheena Easton singing it) and the 'cutting edge' computer graphics in Q's lab, both things that date the film rather badly. Julian Glover is a quality if low-rent choice for a supervillain but the nature of the character isn't explored sufficiently enough to be of any real interest. In the end, For Your Eyes Only is just too slow and too small-scale for a Bond film. Sure, there are lots of action sequences but none of them really lead anywhere or advance the plot, nor are they particularly memorable. As mentioned earlier, Moore's age is starting to show as well.

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DIRECTOR: John Glen
WRITER/SOURCE: Script by Richard Maibaum and Michael G. Wilson, based on two short stories by Ian Fleming.
KEY ACTORS: Roger Moore, Julian Glover, Topol, Carol Bouqual, Michael Gothard, Lynn-Holly Johnson, Desmond Llewelyn, Lois Maxwell, Geoffrey Keen

RELATED TEXTS:
- Loosely based on two James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming - For Your Eyes Only and Risico.
- Bond previously went underwater in The Spy Who Loved Me and Thunderball.

AWARDS
Academy Awards - nominated Best Song (For Your Eyes Only)
Golden Globes - nominated Best Song (For Your Eyes Only)