Review of For Your Eyes Only (1981) by Stephen J — 23 Mar 2008

Definitely a real Bond film, probably one of Moore's best efforts in the role. The action was intense, and Bond was not infallible throughout the skiing, diving, and rock climbing action that unfolded. There were a couple of points where the audience could not help but be scared due to the realism of the danger unfolding on the screen.

It took an hour into the picture before the conquests of the female kind began to take shape, and this may have been one of the few times Bond ever turned a willing female down. Of course, the fact she didn't look legal in all fifty states was probably his motivation for this. Regardless of that, seemed a little out of character for 007 in my opinion. I'm referring to the cute blonde figure skater played by Lynn-Holly Johnson, of course.

This film opens with Bond grieving at his wife's grave (remember what happened in '...Secret Service'), and before the credits have rolled we see the demise of Blofield (rather pathetically, and this seems like a part of the film put in there just to please EON's legal team which was battling it out with the owner of Thunderball for which parts of the Bond franchise were whose).

All in all, a great entry in the Bond film, and probably part of the reason the franchise kept a future. After the sheer ridiculousness of Moonraker, this fifth outing for Moore brought James Bond back to his brass roots. In fact, certain elements of this film were very reminiscent of 'From Russia With Love' arguably the best film in the franchise history.