Review of For Your Eyes Only (1981) by Ken S — 25 Nov 2012

As Moore-era Bond films go, this could be worse I guess. I appreciate the fact that it shed a lot of the campy humor and ridiculous plots and settings that made "Moonraker" such a mess. I consider it lucky that even though "Moonraker" had made a bunch at the box office, they decided to shed it's style and return to the basics of the franchise.

The plot is a little more down to earth, and while it isn't completely humorless, it is a lot more serious in it's interpretation. If I had a complaint, it would be that Moore should have left the role and let a newer Bond take on this slightly grittier version.

This would've been a great start for Dalton, and maybe we could've avoided the next two films! I'll give Moore credit, he does his best, but he isn't well suited to the action scenes, and he is looking a little too old for the love scenes at this point.

"For Your Eyes Only" is a decent Bond outing, and if Moore had been able to leave the franchise after this as he had intended, then he would've had a solid end to his reign as 007...but the film is rather forgettable at times, and Moore's age is beginning to take it's toll.

Could've been worse, could've been better, but definitely on the better end of the Moore films, just somewhere in the middle where the whole franchise is concerned.