10th James Bond movie! Incredible.
THE SPY WHO LOVED ME, in which Bond must team up with a KGB agent in order to stop the villainous Karl Stromberg from destroying the world with nukes so that he can remake it in his own aquatic-based image.
I am not sure if this movie is better on its own merits or if it just manages to avoid so many of the pitfalls that plagued its immediate predecessor and so seems much better in comparison. It's doubtless better from the start, as we have a cold open that pulls off some action/chase scenes with 100% less silliness than The Man With The Golden Gun (culminating in the famous Union Jack parachute jump off a ski cliff which is just an absolutely terrific moment). Moore as Bond is fine here, steady as she goes, nothing offensive, or to write home about. The pairing with Russian KGB Agent Triple X is great - she's easily one of the most competent Bond-helper yet, and features as his only will-they-won't-they love interest through the whole film. We get some nice set pieces in Egypt and maybe a few other locations that I've already forgotten? We get a henchmen with metal teeth that just look so so painful. And we get a villain with honestly a pretty interesting plan who gets the short end of the stick - we don't actually know what his plan is until 3/4 of the way through the movie, which makes it feel kind of like an afterthought. It becomes high stakes, and helps carry the last quarter of the movie, but wished it had been there for more of the movie.
Poor guy gets an extremely quick climax scene as well as Bond finds him and kills him in the space of about two minutes. They really lean into the action here with a massive gun battle inside the submarine/supertanker bay. Then we go full Hunt for Red October mode as we engage in the Search for Wayward Nuclear Submarines.
Observations
- Leaning more and more into the 70s aesthetic dropping some of those F U N K Y disco beats in the soundtrack!
- They use a stunt double for some stuff obviously but Roger Moore stays pretty athletic as he hits the 50yr old mark
- Bond goes monogamous again - 2 bonks both with Agent Triple X, so our totals are 30 with 23 by now.
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