BlogalongaBond: The Living Daylights

Way back in 2011, my favourite film critic The Incredible Suit figured out there were exactly the same amount of months preceding the release of Skyfall as there were Bond films. And thus BlogalongaBond was born, in which international film critics from around the world (hence the international bit) reviewed one Bond film a month until Skyfall dropped.

Being the top bloke that I am, I convinced my then-girlfriend (now wife) to take part in BlogalongaBond with me, seeing as how she hadn't seen a Bond film before, or couldn't remember having done so.

Her: So what did you think?

Me: That was great. I loved it.

Her: Ha ha ha. No, really, what did you think?

Me: Seriously, it's excellent.

Her: You're pulling my leg aren't you?

Me: No, I'm not. Dalton's a great Bond, the plot is excellent, the stunts are great... what's not to like?

Her: Woah. Really? You actually liked The Living Daylights?

Me: Yes. I'm guessing you didn't....

Her: Of course I didn't! That was terrible. That was not James Bond. That was not a James Bond movie.

Me: So not a fan of Dalton then?

Her: No! Had he even acted before this movie?

Me: Bunch of films, Shakespeare, theatre, TV... he was actually asked to play Bond back as far as On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Her: Well, George Lazenby did a much better job than Dalton.

"Say Lazenby was better again, I dare you, I double dare you motherfucker."

Me: Wow. I have to disagree. Dalton is a darker, steelier Bond. He's edgier.

Her: No, he's not. He's soft. He's a teddy bear. James Bond does not win stuffed toys for girls at carnivals. He shags them and moves on. He doesn't fall in love. Dalton's Bond is weak.

Me: Rubbish. He's a more-rounded character, bringing some much needed edge to the series. He tells another agent "stuff my orders", he interrogates Pushkin at gunpoint with barely contained rage, he supercedes another spy's plan so it can be done better and doesn't give a damn about what M thinks. Dalton plays Bond as a proper spy, not a winking comic relief that was on the verge of descending into parody.

Her: Barely contained rage? Is that what you called it? All I saw was a man unsure if he was going to be able to pull it off. He looked like he was about to wee his pants. And I don't think Dalton's Bond did any more rebelling against M than any other Bond. And I won't hear a bad word said about Roger Moore, who incidentally did not look like an onion in A View To A Kill, thank you very much the person who wrote that in their BlogalongaBond entry last month.

Me: Hey, I'm not bad-mouthing Moore - he did a great job. But the series had to evolve and Dalton was the Bond we had to have. As good as A View To A Kill was, it still felt like a '70s or '60s throwback, and Bond needed to modernise or the series would have died out. The Living Daylights actually feels like a proper action movie of the time, instead of another jokey, slightly goofy, "keeping the end up for the Queen"-style of Bond adventure. That type of Bond film had a used-by-date and it had arrived - Moore got out at the last possible moment before it got too ridiculous. But The Living Daylights and Dalton have got a style and a tone that fits with the actioners of the late '80s, the likes of Die Hard and Lethal Weapon, which is what the film was competing against. Yes, there aren't as many jokes, but it's not entirely humourless, and by getting back to a more realistic, espionage-focus, while not shirking on the great stunts, The Living Daylights ensured 007 would live to fight another day, and not become a farce.

Her: Bollocks to all that. The plot was rubbish, the villains were rubbish, the Bond girl was rubbish, and Dalton was rubbish.

"Even Q thought the movie stunk!"

Me: The villains were great. In Necros, Koskov and Whitaker we got the brawn, the brains and the bonkers you need in your Bond villains. And Maryam d'Abo was a strong Bond girl - she performed well and her character was interesting.

Her: Look, I don't agree with any of this. The filmmakers forgot what they were doing. They introduced a new Bond, a new Moneypenny, a new tone, and it doesn't work. Maybe if they'd introduced these things gradually, it would have been all right, but this lacks the humour and excitement and charisma of a proper Bond film. I don't approve of it at all. This is down there at the bottom of the barrel with those other Bond films I didn't like and whose names escape me because I have trouble differentiating one from the other after 15 bloody Bond films.

Me: You're probably not going to like the next one then.

Her: Probably not.

Me: And if you don't like change, then Casino Royale might be hard to take.

Her: I'm not opposed to change. This isn't about it all being new and strange and scary. It's about being Bond. And that wasn't Bond.

Me: Oh well. At least it might actually make this blog interesting for a change.

BlogalongaBond will return in Licence To Kill.

BlogalongaBond: A View To A Kill

Way back in 2011, my favourite film critic The Incredible Suit figured out there were exactly the same amount of months preceding the release of Skyfall as there were Bond films. And thus BlogalongaBond was born, in which international film critics from around the world (hence the international bit) reviewed one Bond film a month until Skyfall dropped.

Being the top bloke that I am, I convinced my then-girlfriend (now wife) to take part in BlogalongaBond with me, seeing as how she hadn't seen a Bond film before, or couldn't remember having done so.

Her: Ok, first up, here's something we've never seen in a Bond film before: a supervillain who's so evil that he shoots down his former employees with a machine gun while they're trying to escape a flooded mine. On the scale of Bond baddies, that's pretty up there.

Me: True. I wasn't sure about Christopher Walken as an antagonist because he was typically... well... Walken-esque, but that was indeed a new level of psychotic for a Bond villain. And he was reasonably charismatic throughout.

Her: I thought he was great as Max Zorin. One of the best Bond baddies ever, up there with Goldfinger and Blofeld. He's certainly the most purely evil antagonist. Everyone else is either a caricature or I can't remember them.

Me: You can't remember Scaramanga?

Her: Which one was that?

Me: The Man With The Golden Gun. His off-sider was the little fellow from Fantasy Island.

Her: Oh yeah. No, not as good.

Me: What about Dr No?

Her: Who?

Me: The first villain. Metal hands. Secret base on an island.

Her: Don't remember.

Me: Largo?

Her: Who?

Me: Eye patch. Shark pool.

Her: No.

Me: Do you remember any of the villains?

Her: Come on, we've seen 14 of these movies and you expect me to remember them all?

Me: "And you ekshpect me to talk?"

Her: Exactly. Also, your Sean Connery accent is still really bad.

Me: Shorry.

Her: Anyway, back to the movie. Zorin is a good baddie because he's actually hands-on with his mass murder. None of this "nuclear weapons from a distance" thing - he takes time out from his grand plan of wiping Silicone Valley off the face of the planet to get in a bit of a machine gun massacre. And still be "right on schedule".

Remember kids: always wear a hardhat when committing a machine gun massacre. Safety first.

Me: So if you liked Zorin so much, does that mean you liked the film?

Her: Yeah, I did. It felt a little long in places and there were still the obligatory silly moments but overall, I think A View To A Kill ticks all the boxes. It's up there with the better Bond films.

Me: Out of the 14 we've seen I certainly put it in the top seven. It did drag in places though, you're right. I mean, Bond spends an inordinate amount of time investigating horse race fixing, and while it does flow on to a larger plan, it takes up a lot of the first half of the film and actually turns out to be irrelevant.

Her: Agreed. Finding out why Zorin had such good race horses didn't add much to the plot, did it?

Me: No, not really. I did like Sir Godfrey, though. There was some good comedy in having a knighted secret service agent pretending to be Bond's put-upon man-servant.

Her: Yeah, he was a good character. And the Bond girls were pretty good. Stacy Sutton was alright and May Day was a good villain - even if her outfits were the epitome of everything that was wrong with '80s fashion.

Me: So, Bond girls good, plot good, villain good - anything else?

Her: Well, the theme song was cool although the title sequence was terrible. When was the last time there was a good title sequence in a Bond film?

Me: You know, I'm not sure....

Her: Also, the stunts were pretty good.

Me: How cool was the car chase? They landed that freakin' car on a bus and drove off the other side!

Her: The chase on the Eiffel Tower was pretty cool as well, although I don't see how you can kill someone with a butterfly on a fishing hook.

Well that's one way to deal with the queues.

Me: That one baffled me. But yes, the Eiffel Tower made for a decent set-piece... although using the Eiffel Tower and the Golden Gate Bridge as backdrops for action sequences may have been overkill, but they worked.

Her: You know what didn't work? Using a zeppelin as an escape vehicle.

Me: You're right. If you thought it took a long time to inflate in the movie... well, apparently it took 24 hours in real life.

Her: Yeah, what happened to supervillains using submarines or rockets for their getaways?

Me: Indeed. So, overall, we agree that A View To A Kill was all right?

Her: It was better than all right.

Me: Even with the jarring use of California Girls during the opening chase when James Bond invented snowboarding?

Her: I can see nothing wrong with that sentence.

Me: Well, I guess we're agreed that it was a good film for Roger Moore to bow out as Bond, even if he didn't like it very much.

Her: Wait a minute - that's his last film as Bond? But Roger Moore is James Bond!

Me: Sorry, honey, there's no more Moore.

Her: But I want more Moore!

Me: There isn't anymore Moore.

Her: Aww, but I liked Moore. I want more Moore!

Me: There's no more Moore.

Her: No more Moore?

Me: No more Moore.

BlogalongaBond will return in The Living Daylights.

BlogalongaBond: Octopussy

Way back in 2011, my favourite film critic The Incredible Suit figured out there were exactly the same amount of months preceding the release of Skyfall as there were Bond films. And thus BlogalongaBond was born, in which international film critics from around the world (hence the international bit) reviewed one Bond film a month until Skyfall dropped.

Being the top bloke that I am, I convinced my then-girlfriend (now wife) to take part in BlogalongaBond with me, seeing as how she hadn't seen a Bond film before, or couldn't remember having done so.

Her: Ok, let's get the obvious joke out of the way first - I was expecting a lot more eight-legged vaginas in that movie.

Me: Ha. It's a pretty schoolboy-ish title isn't it?

Her: We did get a laugh out of it though when Bond hears Octopussy's name for the first time and Roger Moore does a cool eyebrow raise. But you know what was really schoolboy-ish? Bond zooming in and out on that woman's cleavage while in Q's makeshift laboratory.

Me: Is it just me or was that a bit out of character for Bond? You know, just on the wrong side of sleazy?

Or was it just the clown costume?

Her: Oh come on - he's always been a bit sleazy. I think it was more schoolboy-ish, in the way that Bond always acts a bit bratty in those scenes with Q. He's always trying to push Q's buttons... often literally.

Me: I guess so. There is a grumpy old teacher/smart-arse student thing going on in those scenes, what with Q always telling Bond to pay attention and Bond doing something reckless or irresponsible.

Her: Like zooming in and out on a woman's boobs with a hi-tech camera?

Me: I suppose. That still just seems a tad too far over the line for Bond in my opinion. And it's part of the problem I had with Octopussy. It rides that line between bad Bond film and good Bond film pretty closely. While it's quite funny in places there are still a lot of groan-worthy gags, and while the plot is quite level-headed in places there are a few too many over-the-top moments. Like the crocodile submarine for instance.

Her: Are you kidding? That was cool.

Me: Or what about the fake horse' arse that flips up to reveal a light aircraft?

Her: That was also cool.

Me: And why was there an equestrian event so close to a military base?

Her: I have to admit I didn't get that opening sequence with Bond in the military base. Was that supposed to be connected to the main story? And where the hell was he?

Me: I think it was meant to be Cuba. And it wasn't connected to the main story.

Her: Oh good. I feel better about that now.

Me: But overall it's a solid story - a rebel Russian general using fake antiquities to fund his own private war on the west, including a plan to set off a nuclear bomb in an American airbase in West Germany.

Her: Yes, but don't you feel like it dragged in places?

Me: I guess. They probably spent too much time in India. I'm sure that could have been condensed down. I suppose that's another of the film's inconsistencies. The nuclear bomb plot moves at a cracking pace, yet the set-up beforehand in India takes too long. And while we're talking inconsistencies, some of the fight scenes were just terrible, and yet we get some great stuntwork throughout, such as the train sequence and that fantastic final battle on top of a plane at altitude.

Her: Wait - are you saying there was really a guy on top of that plane way up in the air?

Me: Yep. He probably had a safety rope and slim parachute on his back, but yes, there was definitely a guy on that plane way up in the air.

Tiger Airways' standards had really slipped.

Her: No way.

Me: Yep.

Her: No.

Me: Seriously.

Her: Whatever. My favourite stunt was the car chase sequence. That had some serious speed to it.

Me: It sure did. I assumed that was the freedom of the German autobahns meaning they could go as fast as they wanted. Now, let's wrap this up with a final Bond checklist: theme song?

Her: Rubbish.

Me: Agreed. Title sequence?

Her: Rubbish.

Me: Agreed. Bond girls?

Her: Octopussy was good, but the blonde one was terrible. And badly dubbed in places.

Me: I thought we had passed the days of dubbing. And yes, the woman playing Magda was bad while, Maud Adams was quite good. Did you know she had already been a Bond girl before in The Man With The Golden Gun?

Her: I knew she looked familiar. That was bugging me for ages!

Me: Ok, what about gadgets?

Her: Loved the croc-sub. And the acid-squirting pen was cool.

Me: Bond villains?

Her: Octopussy was kind of a villain, right? She was good. Kamal Kahn was ok I guess and his bodyguard was okay. The crazy Soviet general wanting to blow up the American airbase was okay too I guess. Nothing stand out, but totally adequate.

Me: That's probably a great way to describe the film.

BlogalongaBond will return in A View To A Kill.

Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol

(M) ★★★

Director: Brad Bird.

Cast: Tom Cruise, Jeremy Renner, Paula Patton, Simon Pegg, Michael Nyqvist.

"Yeah, you missed a spot. There's a smudge... just a little lower."

FOUR films into this franchise based on the old TV show and Mission: Impossible is starting to look like a poor man's James Bond series.

Not that the fourth entry is bad at all - it's actually pretty entertaining - but a certain genericness is creeping in. There's the gadgets, the save-the-world plot, the supervillian, the insane stunts, the cool car... all that's missing is the girls and a hero with an actual personality or some amount of charm or charisma and you've a 007 outing.

Instead, we've got Tom Cruise delivering a serviceable yet increasingly robotic performance as Ethan Hunt, America's awesomest spy when it comes to completing missions of an impossible nature.

This time it's finding out who bombed the Kremlin and why, with the added ingredient being that Hunt and his team are being blamed by the Russians for the attack, sparking a Cold War-ish scenario.

This takes Hunt and co (Pegg, Patton and Renner) to Dubai and Mumbai as they try to clear their names and save the world from nuclear war.

Brad Bird makes the transition from directing animated films (Ratatouille, The Incredibles, The Iron Giant) to action movies beautifully, particularly in Hunt's heart-stopping and head-spinning crawl up the outside of the world's tallest building. Other sequences, such as the opening prison break, a foot-and-car chase through a sandstorm, and the final showdown in a parking lot, are also riveting.

While Hunt is a more realistic spy than the boozing, womanising Bond has ever been, he's a bit too cold and emotionless to be entertaining, hence we have Pegg on hand for comic relief and the excellent Renner, who plays an analyst with a dark past, which makes for a much more intriguing character.

Overall, M:I 4 is good without being great. It's certainly on a par with number three, and the Burj Khalifa stunt is up there with the first film's iconic "hanging from the ceiling break-in", but the lengthy running time (150 minutes) and the aforementioned genericness prevent it from being a total success.

BlogalongaBond: For Your Eyes Only

Way back in 2011, my favourite film critic The Incredible Suit figured out there were exactly the same amount of months preceding the release of Skyfall as there were Bond films. And thus BlogalongaBond was born, in which international film critics from around the world (hence the international bit) reviewed one Bond film a month until Skyfall dropped.

Being the top bloke that I am, I convinced my then-girlfriend (now wife) to take part in BlogalongaBond with me, seeing as how she hadn't seen a Bond film before, or couldn't remember having done so.

Me: Wow, that was soooo much better than Moonraker. I know that's damning it with faint praise, but it's hard to believe they came from the same series because this one is so good.

Her: Absolutely. Moonraker is as bad as For Your Eyes Only is great.

Me: Indeed. After the extravagant insanity of Moonraker, this seems like a back-to-basics approach. Just good, old-fashioned Cold War shenanigans with the film following the classic spy formula - none of this "I'm trying to take over the world" nonsense or massive space battles with frickin' laserbeams or stupid sup-plots about giant henchmen falling in love.

Her: And thank the gods for that. But you can tell we're into the '80s for this one, which creates all new problems. I'm not sure that I like Sheena Easton's theme song, and some of the other music in the film is a bit too "holy crap, we've just invented synthesizers" for my liking.

Me: True. And the title sequence under the Easton song was pretty average.

Her: That's an understatement. I would have said it was crap.

Me: So '80s-bashing aside, what makes this a good Bond film?

Her: The stunts were amazing. The chase down the luge track is very cool.

Me: Hell yeah. I'm not sure who did a better job - the Bond stuntman skiing down the luge track with no ski poles or the motorcycle stuntman chasing him.

"I said, 'You can't park here'."

Her: Also the helicopter scene at the start was great - that was some tight chopper piloting.

Me: The stunt that blew my mind was in the mountain climbing scene where Bond is climbing up to the Greek monastery. The stuntman had to take a massive fall halfway down a cliff face and then hope that the rope would hold him - I don't care how many safety wires and back-up plans you have going on, it's still scary as hell. That was a 100-metre plummet, maybe more.

Her: As always, the stuntmen are awesome. And the stunt drivers.

Me: Oh yeah, the car chase is great. And I don't think I've ever seen a car chase where the characters have had to get out of the car, roll it back onto its wheels and then push-start it to get the chase happening again.

Her: Yes, that was very cool.

Me: So what else did you like?

Her: I dunno... it just felt more grounded and less silly. The plot was a lot more believable.

Me: Agreed. The race to recover a piece of secret military hardware is much better and more exciting then repeating the idea of starting a new society in space or under the ocean. Or whatever the hell Diamonds Are Forever was about.

Her: So what did you like about it?

Me: Aside from the slightly more realistic Cold War intrigue of it all, I liked that Bond was a little more ruthless and the film was less jokey... except for the ridiculous Margaret Thatcher post-script. Also, the Bond girls were better developed. Melina had her whole revenge plot, and even the ice-skater, for all her annoyances, felt like a fresh and unique character.

Her: The ice-skater wasn't a Bond girl. You're only a Bond girl if you shag Bond.

Me: I think you're a Bond girl if you get a decent-sized role in a Bond film.

Her: Nope. He's gotta shag them. That's the rules.

So none of these are Bond girls?

Me: Umm... OK. Anyway... overall, I think For Your Eyes Only was a strong, solid Bond film.

Her: I've got a couple of questions though. Bond visiting the grave at the start of the film - what was all that about?

Me: That was the grave of his wife who died in On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Her: Hmm, I thought so. But why put that in there?

Me: I dunno. I've always liked the theory that James Bond was a persona... like a position that you got promoted to at MI6. "Yeah, I started here on work experience, worked my way up to field agent, and now I'm James Bond."

Her: The grave scene doesn't fit with that theory.

Me: Unless this James Bond was doing it as a sign of respect to the previous Jame Bond....

Her: Wouldn't he just visit the previous Bond's grave?

Me: Ok, I think my mind's slowly blowing... let's stop talking about that.

Her: Another question: why the hell did Melina leave an oxygen tank on the bottom of the ocean?

Me: Lazy plotting?

Her: Final thought: my favourite bit was the villain dragging Bond and Melina behind a boat to kill them. That was cool.

Me: Yeah, but I wish villains would just shoot people, like in the wild west. Those were the days....

BlogalongaBond will return in Octopussy.

BlogalongaBond: Moonraker

Way back in 2011, my favourite film critic The Incredible Suit figured out there were exactly the same amount of months preceding the release of Skyfall as there were Bond films. And thus BlogalongaBond was born, in which international film critics from around the world (hence the international bit) reviewed one Bond film a month until Skyfall dropped.

Being the top bloke that I am, I convinced my then-girlfriend (now wife) to take part in BlogalongaBond with me, seeing as how she hadn't seen a Bond film before, or couldn't remember having done so.

Me: Wow, that sucked.

Her: Hey, don't I usually say that?

Me: Sorry. You go then.

Her: Wow, that sucked.

Me: Much better.

Her: Thank you.

Me: But that was just terrible. It's as if they forgot they were making a Bond film.

Her: Yeah, I mean, what's with the whole "Jaws falls in love" subplot? Seriously? They actually had them running to each other in slow motion. It felt like they were making a Bond parody. Although there was one scene I really liked.

Me: Let me guess - it was the sequence with the woman running through the forest while being chased by dogs?

Her: Yes, how did you know?

Me: I don't know, I just knew you'd like that bit. It was like something out of a horror movie, but it was beautifully shot and looked great, even if it was the result of a stupid idea.

Her: I know! Why the hell didn't she get back into the golf cart instead of just running into the woods? That was infuriating, but at least the bit where she ran through the woods looked pretty.

Me: I can't remember a film that isn't a horror movie where so many characters have made so many stupid decisions. "Hi, I'm James Bond. I know I'm on a super-important mission for Queen and country, but gosh I really want to ride in a centrifuge machine-thingy right now. What could possibly go wrong?"

Her: That wasn't terribly flattering for Roger Moore's face.

The face of someone who is too old for this shit.

Me: He's starting to look a bit old in places during Moonraker - maybe it was because of the centrifuge.

Her: How many more Bond films does he do?

Me: Three more.

Her: Good, I still like him. He still looks good.

Me: Did you like anything else in the movie?

Her: No, not really. Although, surprisingly, I thought the plot was quite good - the whole "destroy mankind and start again" thing. I liked that idea. But it was all sewn together terribly.

Me: Agreed. It's as if they had a shortlist of things they wanted to do and linked them all haphazardly. "Ok, parachute stunt, centrifuge machine, woman chased by dogs, gondola that turns into a car, Star Wars. Done. Print it."

Her: I'm surprised they didn't bust out lightsabres during the finale. They may as well have. I kept thinking I was watching one of your stupid Star Wars movies again.

Me: Wow, here I was impressed that you used the word "lightsabres" in a sentence and then you had to go and ruin it....

Her: Anyway... did you like anything about the movie?

Me: The parachute stunt was pretty cool. Strangely, I only just watched Point Break a couple of days beforehand, where they did the exact same stunt and thought it was cool then, so to know they got the idea from James Bond makes it even cooler. Also, the special effects in the final showdown on the space station were impressive. The moment when the gravity is turned off was pretty spectacular. But the whole thing is just too absurd. The Jaws romance, the centrifuge, the gondola-car, Q's "re-entry" double entendre, the double-taking pigeon....

Her: Oh come on, the double-taking pigeon was kinda cute.

Googled "Moonraker pigeon" and wasn't disappointed.

Me: It was ludricrous. And Lois Chiles was good as Holly Goodhead, but once again she wasn't given much to work with. And as far as villains go, Drax was kind of underwhelming.

Her: I liked his dogs. I thought his display of control with them was intimidating.

Me: Yeah, but he was an idiot. Drax tried to have Bond killed before Bond even had a clue that Drax had anything to do with the theft of the Moonraker. Talk about dead giveaway.

Her: So we're in agreeance that this was a crap 007 movie.

Me: The crappest. Which means things can only get better from here.

Her: Here's hoping. If any more of them feel like a lost Austin Powers movie, I'm outta here.

BlogalongaBond will return in For Your Eyes Only.

BlogalongaBond: The Spy Who Loved Me

Way back in 2011, my favourite film critic The Incredible Suit figured out there were exactly the same amount of months preceding the release of Skyfall as there were Bond films. And thus BlogalongaBond was born, in which international film critics from around the world (hence the international bit) reviewed one Bond film a month until Skyfall dropped.

Being the top bloke that I am, I convinced my then-girlfriend (now wife) to take part in BlogalongaBond with me, seeing as how she hadn't seen a Bond film before, or couldn't remember having done so.

Her: Well, that was terrible.

Me: Oh no - is the Roger Moore love affair over?

Her: No, he's still all right. But the movie was terrible.

Me: Really? I thought it was quite good... at least as good as The Man With The Golden Gun.

Her: Wow. I'm surprised to hear that.

Me: I'm equally surprised by your response. This is actually considered one of the best of the Moore years. And we all know how you feel about him....

Her: I can't see how it's highly regarded. It was just so stupid in places. I mean, look at Jaws. How dumb is this guy? He's trying to kill Bond and Triple X and all he decides to do is start tearing the panels off their truck. And whenever he goes to bite someone with his stupid metal teeth, he takes forever, like he's in slow motion. Jaws is a rubbish henchman.

"Cuddles!"

Me: Are you serious? Jaws is the first henchman that represents a proper threat to Bond since Red Grant in From Russia With Love - no hat-throwing, no mechanical arms, no acrobatic hot chicks with stupid names. Just a big powerful colossus who looks like he could squash 007 in one hand then bite his head off with his metal teeth.

Her: Yeah, a big powerful colossus with the IQ of wet towel. He doesn't pose a proper threat. The guy with the hat was more formidable. The guy with the mechanical arm was more imposing. The acrobatic hot chicks were... well, they were rubbish. And Jaws is equally rubbish.

Me: But he wrestled a shark! And then bit it to death! A freakin' shark!

Her: Whatever. Rubbish.

Me: Well, he's in the next one, so... ah... enjoy that.

Her: Oh great.

Me: Was there anything you liked about The Spy Who Loved Me?

Her: There were four good things, and only four.

Me: Ok....

Her: Number one - the theme song was really good.

Me: Indeed. Nobody Does It Better is one of the best.

Her: Number two - Triple X is the hottest Bond girl so far.

Me: Really? She certainly has the coolest codename, but I don't know if Barbara Bach is hotter than Ursula Andress or Jane Seymour or Britt Ekland. I mean, she's hot, don't get me wrong, but is she the hottest?

Her: Yes. And she's got the best wardrobe. That dress she wears in Egypt is amazing.

Me: That's all well and good, but her acting is terrible.

Her: Yeah, but who cares when you look that good in a great dress?

"Out of the way, Bond, we can't see the dress."

Me: If you say so. What's the third thing?

Her: Number three - the set design was pretty good. Stromberg's lair looked pretty cool and inside the supertanker was good.

Me: Agreed.

Her: And number four - the car that turned into a submarine? Awesome.

Me: Somehow I found that more believable than the car plane.

Her: But other than that, the movie was crap. Bad dialogue, bad story, Jaws, bad rear projection in the opening chase sequence... just bad.

Me: Well, I thought it was good. Even though there was a sense of deja vu with a lot of elements, I don't think the series has gotten too tired yet. Sure, the plot and villain are similar to You Only Live Twice and the idea of working and sleeping with the enemy has been done a fair bit and instead of a car-plane we got a car-sub, etc, etc... but overall I think it hangs together well. The film flows nicely, there are some great stunts such as the opening parachute escape and the car-vs-helicopter firefight, plus the locations are cool, Moore's still doing a bang-up job, and, although things are getting a bit cheesier, the campiness is generally kept in check. Plus, despite what you may say, I believe Jaws brings a real sense of danger. All in all, it's a solid outing.

Her: Well, I think that one's down near the bottom of the pile and they better start improving from here or else I don't think I can get through another 12 films.

Me: The bad news is that the next one is considered the nadir of the series.

Her: And it's got Jaws in it? How about we give it a miss and just tell The Incredible Suit that we watched it?

BlogalongaBond will return in Moonraker.