A Disappointing Continuation

A Brilliant Conflict

if their story seems completely bonkers, almost like a feverish work of fiction, you ain't heard nothing yet.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

Bond movie fans all learn to love the occasionally silly excess of the genre. By the time Spy was produced, Roger Moore was no stranger to those trademark hilarities. Here production is restrained, in some respects. The visual gags and stock themes are hackneyed enough but not overamped in compensation. Instead the strength of the movie relies on a measured recipe with great casting and location shots, minimalist dialogue, and cinematographic excellence overall. In the DVD version one can appreciate the stunning vintage colors and tones produced by natural and incandescent lighting, 24p filmstock and all-analog sound tech. Nature's imperfections are an advantage in the medium itself, but are scarcely visible in the lead and supporting cast, who all fit their roles perfecty. Barbara Bach stole millions of disco hearts with her understated character and exotic beauty in the role of Agent XXX, and Richard Kiel is unforgettable and quite funny as Jaws, the 7'2" steel-toothed, deadpan monster assassin.This is not a Bond movie to lampoon, but one to savor as an outstanding representative of genre and 70's cultural era.

...And he's got some great help along the way!Meet Jaws, the extremely tall, tin-toothed assassin, able to rip apart a shark without the help of John Williams music. Richard Kiel made his first of two appearances in James Bond films, and he's a force to be reckoned with. In fact, he's even more fascinating than the main villain, played by Curd Jergens, the reclusive billionaire who lives in a spider shaped compound somewhere in the middle of the ocean. Once again, he wants to destroy mankind whom he blames for the destruction of civilization, determined to live at the bottom of the sea in harmony with marine life. It's up to the spies of the world to take this villain down, and of course, it will be England's James Bond (Roger Moore at his best) with the help of a beautiful agent from another country who gets to be the one to hopefully do it.With a backpack he wears skiing that can turn into a parachute just in case he happens to fly off a Swiss mountaintop, Bond escapes from his pursuers and lands in the middle of another wacky adventure. He's all over the world with a bevvy of beauties (most notably here the Russian spy Barbara Bach) who seems to be trying to dispose of him even when trying to seduce him. Jergens is first seen taking care of a beautiful employee whose carelessness threatened his mission, giving two horrified eye witnesses a front row seat to how he takes care of those who can't do their job, obviously quickly dispatching of them as well. Along comes Jaws who pursues Bond with his razor sharp teeth, seen literally becoming a daylight accessible vampire as he deals with those who step in his way. Bond and Bach quickly figure out how to deal with escaping from fancy cycle riders pursuing them, thanks to the special Chitty Chitty Bang Bang like automobile given to him by the agency. (Not a surprise, considering that Chitty was created by the same man who created Bond...) Down curvy European highways, into the water, and finally, onto a crowded beach, this adventure just gets more and more riveting and often hysterically funny.With a great theme song ("Nobody Does It Better") sung by Carly Simon over the very creative credits, this is one to be seen hopefully as part of a marathon with the over-the-top "Moonraker" (not even credited in the end) and the credited "For Your Eyes Only" which took four years to come out even though it got the "James Bond will return in...." reference. This is fun, non-stop from start to finish, and I'm sure would still play wonderfully on a big movie screen, accompanied by a ton of popcorn. "Moonraker" was a slight disappointment after this, but "For Your Eyes Only" managed to top even this. As usual, Moore has his tongue in his cheek, enjoying every minute of dropping clever wisecracks and acknowledging the goings on around him with an acerbic wit that for me makes him my favorite of all the Bonds.

The first Bond film I watched in the cinema and maybe one of the most audacious Bond movies made so far starting with a pre credit sequence where Bond skis off a cliff and then unfurls a Union Jack parachute. Nobody does it better even with a disco infused James Bond theme.In the spirit of detente Bond (Roger Moore) is teamed up with beautiful Russian agent Anya Amasova (Barbara Bach) to solve the mysterious disappearance of a British and Soviet nuclear submarines.Their adventures lead to the underwater lair of megalomaniac Karl Stromberg (Curt Jurgens) an elegant psychopath who wants to create an underwater empire with a much reduced world population.However Anya also has an agenda to kill Bond as he killed a fellow KGB agent who was also her boyfriend.Hot on their heels is the indestructible deadly henchman Jaws (Richard Kiel) with teeth of steel. There is also the beautiful Naomi, Stromberg's scantily clad assistant who pursues Bond in a helicopter.The film has it all. Director Lewis Gilbert added an element of fantasy to Bond and was also inspired by what was big in the cinema. None bigger at that time than the film Jaws, so why not have killer sharks and a killer assassin called Jaws.Gilbert also makes great use of international locations such as Egypt with allusions to Lawrence of Arabia. Then there are the gadgets such as the amphibious Lotus which can also fire a missile or the digital watch which transmits information by ticker tape.The art direction and the sets built for this film are magnificent which rightly deserved their Oscar nomination.More importantly, Moore feels comfortable in the role. He delivers action as well as the quips.

Every film installment in the long-running James Bond series, regardless of its overall quality level being good or just mediocre, has at least one element that is unique and downright fantastic. Whether it's an unforgettable filming location, a legendary flamboyant villainous character or absurdly inventive gimmicks; ALL Bond movies are worth checking out in order to discover the particularities. In "The Spy Who Loved Me", it's the presence of a trio of exceptionally beautiful ladies and – to make it even more special – all three of them are iconic cult/horror wenches! The primary Bond girl, Barbara Bach, is an unearthly ravishing Italian actress who appeared in several genre highlights like "Don't Torture a Duckling", "Island of the Fishmen" and "Big Alligator River". But there's also the feisty Caroline Munro ("Maniac", "Captain Kronos: Vampire Hunter") as one of the evil opponent's most remarkable accomplices, and there's a sadly way too small supportive role for the exquisite Valerie Leon (Hammer's "Blood from the Mummy's Tomb") as a luscious hotel receptionist. On average 007 sleeps with 3-4 women per film, but in this one he even has severe difficulties to lure just one into bed, and that probably is because they're all way out of his league! Anyways, I think I'm in a minority, but "The Spy Who Loved Me" is one my most favorite James Bond titles in the entire series! The film features a fantastically over-the-top evil mastermind, with a fantastically over-the-top evil plan to destroy the world and receives help from a couple of fantastically over-the- top evil accomplices (the aforementioned Caroline Munro but obviously also the legendary metal-toothed and indestructible Jaws). When both an English submarine and a Soviet submarine simultaneously vanish from the radars under inexplicable circumstances, the two nations naturally blame each other and each assigns their finest secret agent to investigate the case. 007 and his yummy female Russian counterpart Triple-X quickly discover – in Cairo – that both underwater vessels and their entire crews were hijacked by the multimillionaire marine biologist Karl Stromberg He turns out to be a dangerously deranged version of Jules Verne's Captain Nemo (from "20,000 Leagues under the Sea") who built a bizarre beautiful hi- tech headquarters in the middle of the ocean from which he catapults his enemies straight into an aquarium where hungry tiger sharks finish them off! But contrary to Captain Nemo, who merely just turned his back to the world, Stromberg intends to destroy the world with nuclear missiles and create a brand new Atlantis type of community under the sea! Delicious Bond- material, in other words, brought to an even higher entertainment level thanks to a wide collection of great gimmicks (the transforming Lotus car is awesome) and numerous impressively staged action sequences. The battle beneath the sea, between the freed submarine crew and Stromberg's troops is very spectacular as well! I always wonder how these evil geniuses manage to recruit so many docile and disposable employees who are practically volunteering to get slaughtered. The casting of Barbara Bach in a substantial role also results in an interesting sub plot, as she has a secret and very private mission to search for the bastard who killer her KGB-lover… And can you guess who that is? I'll give a hint: he fled from the scene hanging from a giant Union Jack parachute! This is Bond at his very best, and did I mention it has sharks!?!