Review of From Russia with Love (1963) by Thomas D — 11 Aug 2011

--=[007 BOND WEEK 3: Connery]=--.

From Russia With Love (1963).

The following year after the success of 'Dr. No' in box offices, The world was introduced to the second of the James Bond films, 'From Russia With Love'! It is a truly memorable, action filled movie that basically took all of the elements originally created in 'Dr. No' and made them better and more stylized. This was also the first of the Bond films to include musical scores by John Barry who would later lend his musical talent to many other James Bond films. The thing I really enjoyed about this film is the spy-esque plot. It is about a device called the Lektor that holds prescious military information. The terrorist organization S.P.E.C.T.R.E (briefly mentioned in the first film) is out to find the Lektor for their own evil desires (yes, you guessed it, to take over the world). It is up to 007 to intervein, find the Lektor, and put a stop to SPECTRE's ruthless measures. Tatyana Romanova plays the Bond girl Bianchi who does her share of wooing and double-crossing Bond through most of the film. One of SPECTRE's main agents, Colonel Klebb, aka #3 is in hot pursuit of the Lektor and will stop at nothing to get it. Lots of espionage, lots of action, lots of good car chases and also some excellent fight scenes between Bond and The Henchmen, Grant played by Robert Shaw (JAWS) aboard the train toward the end. The movie also landmarked the first appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Q who hooks Bond up with one of the most memorable, original Q-gadgets, the attache briefcase with a built in self-destruction bomb as well as a slide-out throwing knife, a fold out AR7 Sniper Rifle, 40 rounds of ammunition, gold sovereigns and hidden tear gas grenades! Now that is a freakin' briefcase!

Overall: continuing director Terence Young compiles a lot of the first movies main themes and formulas and makes them even better for this second Bond outing. Basically many elements you will find in a Bond film nowadays is directly from the pioneer work that Young did here in FRWL. A very awesome adventure, a very excellent performance from Sean Connery and an overall unique, enthralling plot make this one of the best Bond films ever. "Nobody does it better" is just an understatement.