Octopussy (1983)

Octopussy is the thirteenth bond film and is the sixth one to feature Roger Moor e as James Bond. It was a relief that For Your Eyes Only was a return to form because Moonraker had been such a comical film and For Your Eyes Only was more like older Bond. Sadly it seems like the franchise has taken a step back in Octopussy. First of all let’s address the title, if it weren’t a Bond film you would say it was an Austin Powers movie. The theme song is also something that is important in a bond film and here it’s not as impressive as the last one. The plot itself isn’t as interesting because For Your Eyes Only had a plot and also an underlying tone about revenge whereas in Octopussy the film centres on Bond following a Russian general who is stealing jewels and relics from his own government and is trying to effectively start a new war.

Roger Moore seems to be liking going back to being the ladies man bond as opposed to the 100% series one that we had in the last film. It wasn’t his best performance. It was good to have a lot more Desmond Llewelyn in this movie than we have for quite some time. Q is a very enjoyable character that doesn’t get enough screen time and this seemed to be put right. Robert Brown does well as the new M. It was always going to be hard to replace to replace Bernard Lee as he was so believable in the role but Brown does a good job. Steven Berkoff is the main baddie as General Orlov and I must be honest but I didn’t find him 100% believable. He was good but it just didn’t work for me. As the titled Octopussy, I thought that Maud Adams was a good ‘Bond Girl’ she was someone who seemed to be shrouded in mystery and it was only when it was clear that she was being cheated that she really stood up to the action.

The decision to move the story to India was quite a good one as the story as it meant we got some really nice location footage. It seemed to be quite a contract to move the story from India to East Germany but it did seem to flow quite well.  When the story moved to Germany it seemed to step up a gear and I found the story more enjoyable which is surprising when we have Roger Moore dressed up as a clown trying to convince some American about the impending bomb exploding.

Octopussy isn’t the terrible film that I remember. It’s not as good as For Your Eyes Only but there is a lot to like about this film and I think that it does a perfectly decent job in the franchise.

For Your Eyes Only (1981)

For Your Eyes Only is a return to form of some sorts after the space romp that was Moonraker. It was seen as an attempt to avoid going to far down the slapstick route that it would have inevitably done and become an Austin Powers movie 20 years early. This is the twelth bond movie and the fifth featuring Roger Moore as James Bond and it starts off with a rather curious pre-title sequence because there is a lovely nod to On Her Majesty’s Secret Service where Bond attends the grave of his wife who got killed at the end of that film. It then moves into a weird but very impressive helicopter action piece which sees Blofeld return to the franchise after his last appearance in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service back in 1969. It’s a weird scene because we don’t actually get to see Blofeld’s face and instead get a rather camp voice for the bald guy in a wheelchair. It ends with a rather effective way of killing off the character but its curious why they didn’t try and make a movie around it and not finish him off in such a quick and careless way. As Bond theme’s go, this was a very good one by Sheena Easton which considering its an 80’s track still holds up better than even the Alicia Keys and Jack White’s collaboration from just four years ago.

he plot sees 007 try and retrieve ATAC which has been stolen after the ship it was on was sunk. The film has a theme of revenge as the Bond girl for this movie (Melina Havelock) is out for revenge after her mother and father where murdered. As Bond Girls go she is the least annoying for quite sometime. I wouldn’t say she the perfect Bond girl but she serves a purpose. The story has some impressive sequences which take place in snow (in particular in a slalom) and also on the side of a cliff which I thought was especially well done. Julian Glover is superb in this film and has a real knack for playing totally unlikeable characters such as Walter Donovan in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade and here he plays Aristotle Kristatos who starts off as the protagonist but then becomes the actual villain. I must say he was more convincing as the baddie than the goodie. Roger Moore gives I think his best performance since The Man With The Golden Gun as this is a far more tamed version of 007 than we have seen for some time. Certainly without any of the humour from Moonraker, Moore is able to show a more serious side to the character than we have seen for a while.
The end of the film is rather odd. After the day has been saved and Bond has got the girl there is a scene where someone playing Margaret Thatcher is talking to Bond. I know this was made in 1981 when she was still relatively popular but I just thought that it was one of those instances where reality and fiction mix when they really shouldn’t. It doesn’t add anything and just comes across as a bit indulgent and silly. However For Your Eyes Only is a perfectly decent Bond film with some good chase scenes, a Bond girl that has a purpose for being there and a plot that worked rather well. It was odd that it was the first Bond film that Bernard Lee was in this film but obviously since he died before it was made it was clear he wasn’t going to be in it but I liked how they didn’t rush to replace him and instead wrote him out cleanly and effectively.