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When a British spy ship is sunk in the Ionian Sea, James
Bond must recover a piece of top-secret equipment before the
Russians have a chance to obtain it...
After
the high-blown fantasy of Moonraker, this movie brings
Bond literally back down to earth, as the documentary features
explain. Debut director John Glen and writers Richard Maibaum
and Michael G Wilson forgo the usual reliance on gadgets,
a policy decision that is graphically demonstrated by the
self-destruction of 007's Lotus Esprit. The creative team
also attempt to restore a harder edge to Bond. There is a
limit to how far this added grit can take hold with Roger
Moore still in the role - witness how Bond kicks the villainous
Locque (Michael Gothard) over a cliff, but only after Locque's
car has already begun to fall. However, we do see the seeds
of a style that would reach fruition in the (woefully underrated)
Timothy Dalton films. This is also the movie in which Moore's
age really begins to show, so we should be thankful that 007
has the decency to resist the sexual advances of the youthful
Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson).
A
curious aspect of this movie (and also its successor, Octopussy)
is that while certain scenes strive to ensure that the story
is taken more seriously, others just seem to get sillier.
On the one hand we have a tense rock-climbing sequence and
the scene in which Bond and Melina (Carole Bouquet) are dragged
across the coral reefs, while on the other we have Janet Brown's
comical impersonation of Margaret Thatcher, and Blofeld offering
Bond "a delicatessen in stainless steel".
No
review of For Your Eyes Only would be complete without
mention of Bill Conti's disappointingly lightweight music
score, which, with a few exceptions, actually distracts the
viewer from the action sequences rather than heightening one's
enjoyment of them. An interesting extra feature that we don't
get would have been an alternative soundtrack by the likes
of John Barry, Marvin Hamlisch or David Arnold. Congratulations
to the makers of this DVD's menu screens for finding some
relatively catchy excerpts to play in the background.
Also
on a musical note, this is the earliest of the Bond films
on DVD to include a pop video among its extra features. In
this instance, however, the "video" to Sheena Easton's song
is merely Maurice Binder's title sequence without the titles.
Interestingly, this reveals some naughty bits that the credits
were intended to cover up, so one wonders if this video was
ever shown on Top of the Pops! In addition to the usual
features, there are also animated storyboard sequences of
the snowmobile chase and the underwater retrieval of the ATAC.
For
dedicated fans only.
Richard
McGinlay
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