Review of The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) by I Don't Know W — 08 Jun 2011

The Spy Who Loved Me (1977).

Surprisingly this Roger Moore, 007 adventure was far better than some of Moore's other retro 70's Bond stinkers (Moonraker, Octopussy). The Spy Who Loved Me is Roger Moore's third shot at playing Bond. The story holds strong as a Russian spy, agent Triple-X (Barbara Bach) encounters the always delightful British secret agent James Bond. Together they foil the evil plot of a tyrant called Stromberg who operates from a remote base underneath the ocean. His plan is to destroy the world with nuclear weapons (What else is new??) Anyways, the filming, acting, stunts and action were all great in this one. We also get to see a more defined, tough Bond in this film who uses more hand-to-hand combat techniques and like always is well equipped with some awesome high-tech gadgets. My fav is the underwater Lotus Espirit that turns into a fully functional submarine equipped with surface mortars, missiles and torpedoes! Absolutely epic! The fight sequences with Jaws were filmed much better and were all around more action packed than other previous or prior encounters. Actually, my one and only complaint about 'TSWLM' is the opening theme song. It's main strums and chorus play out as almost too 'lovey-dovey'. It isn't until the middle of the opening song that it hits some dangerous spy-esque notes that make you feel like you are once again neck-deep in a James Bond movie.

Overall: 'The Spy Who Loved Me' hails as one of Moore's best run's as 007 and holds true as one of the better Bond films in all of the series. In my opinion, this movie captures Moore in his prime as Bond.