The Bond Project - The Spy Who Loved Me - Part 2
Major plot points revealed (especially since this talks about plot!)
The Plot
After the initial disappearance of the submarine, The Spy Who Loved Me is divided into two halves. The first half tells the story of how Bond and Agent XXX compete to track down microfilm that will hopefully lead them to an evil world-destroying villain. This section of the film is the most fun. It takes place in Egypt and involves double crosses, multiple assassinations, and lots of chases. Bond and XXX form an uneasy alliance and each tries to one up the other in order to get the upper hand.
In the second half, Britain and Russia decide to work together in order to stop this national threat. Bond and XXX are paired together and follow clues from the microfilm that leads them to Stromberg, a billionaire oceanographer in Sardinia. This section becomes much more conventional and the relationship between XXX and Bond is far less playful. Essentially, the film turns into a trying-to-beat-the-clock film as Stromberg threatens to annihilate the world with nuclear missiles.
I have to admit that I was very disappointed at how little payoff there is to the “Bond killed XXX’s lover” subplot. She threatens to kill him once the mission is over, but there’s never a moment where you believe she has any intention of killing him. The whole mess is glossed over with a few quick smiles and some roguish Bond charm. Why even introduce it?
Overall, the simple uncomplicated plot provides a nice framework for some good action scenes, but never really tackles the more complex, interesting story lurking beneath the surface.
3 out of 4
The Action Scenes
Skiing away from Assassination – James Bond gets called away from his mountain love shack in order to serve his country. Too bad his lady friend is playing for the Russkies, and in moments a hit squad, on skis, is after Bond. It’s a very short action scene that has some awful music. While I liked seeing Bond ski through some narrow passages and kill a guy with his ski pole gun, it’s all filler for the moment right before the credits when Bond skis off a cliff. That’s right, he goes full tilt suicidal and skis right off of a mountain…until a British Flag parachute pops out! Ho hum till the eye popper of an ending.
2.5 out of 4
Sandor Fight - Bond fights one of Stromberg’s henchmen , Sandor, on a rooftop in Egypt. A good time to take a bathroom break as the fight offers very little in terms of creativity. Bond gets smacked around a lot into a trellis or two. A funny gag at the end involving Sandor’s tie is kind of clever, but Sandor ends up coming across as one of Bond’s weakest opponents.
1.5 out of 4
Jaws in the Ruins – Jaws leads Bond and XXX into a trap at some ancient Egyptian ruins which leads to a nifty fight scene. The massive columns of the ruins provide some nice suspense, as Jaws could be hiding behind anything and everything. When Jaws finally makes his appearance there is a short fight involving scaffolding. Five bucks says you can figure out what will happen when a giant man who swings his arms a lot will do when placed under rickety scaffolding. Just when you think the fight is over, the real fun begins as Jaws takes on Bond and XXX’s van. He rips the thing to shreds even while being hit and run into walls.
3 out of 4
Jaws Train Fight – Jaws tries to kill XXX when she is in her train room. Bond stops him and they engage in fisticuffs for a few minutes, with Jaws battering Bond around. It’s reminiscent of the much superior fight scene in From Russia With Love, and doesn’t really add anything to the movie.
After the initial disappearance of the submarine, The Spy Who Loved Me is divided into two halves. The first half tells the story of how Bond and Agent XXX compete to track down microfilm that will hopefully lead them to an evil world-destroying villain. This section of the film is the most fun. It takes place in Egypt and involves double crosses, multiple assassinations, and lots of chases. Bond and XXX form an uneasy alliance and each tries to one up the other in order to get the upper hand.
In the second half, Britain and Russia decide to work together in order to stop this national threat. Bond and XXX are paired together and follow clues from the microfilm that leads them to Stromberg, a billionaire oceanographer in Sardinia. This section becomes much more conventional and the relationship between XXX and Bond is far less playful. Essentially, the film turns into a trying-to-beat-the-clock film as Stromberg threatens to annihilate the world with nuclear missiles.
I have to admit that I was very disappointed at how little payoff there is to the “Bond killed XXX’s lover” subplot. She threatens to kill him once the mission is over, but there’s never a moment where you believe she has any intention of killing him. The whole mess is glossed over with a few quick smiles and some roguish Bond charm. Why even introduce it?
Overall, the simple uncomplicated plot provides a nice framework for some good action scenes, but never really tackles the more complex, interesting story lurking beneath the surface.
3 out of 4
The Action Scenes
Skiing away from Assassination – James Bond gets called away from his mountain love shack in order to serve his country. Too bad his lady friend is playing for the Russkies, and in moments a hit squad, on skis, is after Bond. It’s a very short action scene that has some awful music. While I liked seeing Bond ski through some narrow passages and kill a guy with his ski pole gun, it’s all filler for the moment right before the credits when Bond skis off a cliff. That’s right, he goes full tilt suicidal and skis right off of a mountain…until a British Flag parachute pops out! Ho hum till the eye popper of an ending.
2.5 out of 4
Sandor Fight - Bond fights one of Stromberg’s henchmen , Sandor, on a rooftop in Egypt. A good time to take a bathroom break as the fight offers very little in terms of creativity. Bond gets smacked around a lot into a trellis or two. A funny gag at the end involving Sandor’s tie is kind of clever, but Sandor ends up coming across as one of Bond’s weakest opponents.
1.5 out of 4
Jaws in the Ruins – Jaws leads Bond and XXX into a trap at some ancient Egyptian ruins which leads to a nifty fight scene. The massive columns of the ruins provide some nice suspense, as Jaws could be hiding behind anything and everything. When Jaws finally makes his appearance there is a short fight involving scaffolding. Five bucks says you can figure out what will happen when a giant man who swings his arms a lot will do when placed under rickety scaffolding. Just when you think the fight is over, the real fun begins as Jaws takes on Bond and XXX’s van. He rips the thing to shreds even while being hit and run into walls.
3 out of 4
Jaws Train Fight – Jaws tries to kill XXX when she is in her train room. Bond stops him and they engage in fisticuffs for a few minutes, with Jaws battering Bond around. It’s reminiscent of the much superior fight scene in From Russia With Love, and doesn’t really add anything to the movie.
2 out of 4
Lotus Chase – Bond’s new car gets a lot of screen time in a chase along the Sardinia Cliffside. While not the best car chase in the series, it still provides some cool moments. The biggest problem I have with the scene is that the villains take Bond on one at a time, so the action never becomes anything more than controlled chaos. The first vehicle tries to kill him with a motorcycle sidecar torpedo. The second vehicle (with Jaws riding shotgun) tries to take him out with gunfire. And the third vehicle, a helicopter, decides to go the gunfire route as well. Fortunately, for Bond and the audience the Lotus has a pretty amazing surprise in store – it’s also a submarine! Just when Bond has run out of road, he flies into the ocean, and the car transforms into a submersible that shoots a missile at the menacing helicopter. And the best part is, the chase isn’t over. After basking in the glory of the underwater beauty, Stromberg’s minions come after Bond in their own submersibles. It’s nothing an oil spray and a few mines can’t take care of though, and Bond makes a fast and memorable getaway to a local beach.
3 out of 4Supertanker Warzone - Stromberg’s supertanker is about to cause World War III. He must be quite the oceanographer because he’s got an army of heavily armed henchmen ready to die for his ocean crusading plans! With a little careful maneuvering Bond is able to evade his captors and begin an armed rebellion. This is a pretty impressive battle sequence complete with flamethrowers, lots of machine gun fire, and some suspenseful bomb re-rigging. In all of the Bond films it’s probably one of the biggest and most chaotic action scenes. It does feel awfully similar to the ending of You Only Live Twice though, just replacing the volcano fortress with a supertanker.
3.5 out of 4
Final Confrontation - Bond confronts Stromberg and Jaws onboard Stromberg’s massive Submarine fortress. The problem is, the villains have Agent XXX and the military has threatened to blow up the sub if Bond isn’t back in an hour. The one on one with Stromberg is pretty disappointing, but the Jaws fight is kind of fun. Jaws and Bond fight atop a shark tank. While the action is a little clunky, and Moore’s stunt double is pretty apparent, it does end with Jaws fighting a shark, and in my book…well…that’s pretty cool. Agent XXX and Bond make their way to safety in the midst of the military attack which means they have to run through waterlogged corridors and lose their balance a lot. It’s not the best final action scene, but it doesn’t take away from the movie either.
2.5 out of 4
Total Score for Action Scenes – ratings added together divided by the number of action scenes.
2.5714 out of 4
Having just read through Entertainment Weekly's list of the best Bond films (How in the world is Live and Let Die third?) and having completely disliked the critically acclaimed Casino Royale (see review below) I thought it was a good time to introduce something new to this blog: The Bond Project.