Review of For Your Eyes Only (1981) by Errick S — 19 Feb 2012

Not Bond's finest hour, but a decent stab none the less. Moore is a Bond that many find hard to fully get to grips with, as his almost knowing sense of self parody makes serious drama or action a very hard thing to pull off.

Here he is tasked with a rather ludicrous mission involving a terrifically convoluted plot and some really rather two dimension characters who are little more than window dressing, but it all meanders along quite nicely regardless.

Moore can be knocked for may things, but you can't say he doesn't have a certain charisma that keeps you on his side even at the silliest of moments, that said however, in this film silly moments do tend to come thick and fast, and I would be lying if I said my patience wasn't being tested at points.

The late 70s and early 80s were a trying time for lovers of the Bond series, and the films range from the sublime to the ridiculous, on the whole though this instalment acts as something of a bridge between the good Moore films (Live and Let Die, Man with the Golden Gun) and the perhaps less good ones (Moonraker, Octopussy), with a foot in either camp (camp perhaps being the optimum word).

For your eyes only won't be on many critics, or fans, list of great Bond films but it is good harmless fun, and it does just enough to keep you coming back for more.