This is one of the lesser regarded 007 adventures, and I’m slightly at a loss to know why. There’s an effective, if convoluted, plot involving a renegade Soviet Union General, treasure smuggling, a circus and an atomic bomb! Louis Jourdan makes a good, if effette, baddie and Steven Berkoff overacts to marvellous effect as a renegade Russian Army General who, tired of seeing the USSR’s enormous advantage in traditional weaponry and troops neutured in treaty talks, wants to end the USSR’s policy of detente, even if it means nuking half of West Berlin to do so.
There is, it has to be said, some cheesyness in the film (”fill her up please”) and despite the fantastic setting of the Summer Palace in India the script uses a lot of lazy stereotypes in this portion of the film - Vijay playing the 007 theme on his snake chanter, the comments about curry etc coming over as a little xenophobic . But there’s a lot to enjoy, the plot and pace rarely sags, there is always a prevailing sense of threat that is built from the first scenes when 008 is ruthlessly knifed in the back by one of the sinister knife-throwing twins from Octopussy’s circus and it builds right until the big top ‘bomb’ scene. There’s a brilliant stand-off between Bond and General Orlov where Berkoff chews scenery and Moore really does exude authority in this - (he may be suave in comparison to Connery’s bit of rough, but he IS Bond), a superb fight on top of the speeding circus train and the car chase/race to defuse a bomb with a brilliant car chase in which Bond nicks a local’s Alfasud and hangs the back end out something lovely whilst being pursued by what seems like half the West Berlin police (I’ve loved that car ever since that scene- “Nein, meine automobile”).
The stunts performed in the end scenes, and indeed throughout the film, are superb and knowing they were performed for real, with real danger inherent in the work (a stuntman sadly lost a leg filming the train-top portion of the film) makes them, to my mind, more involving than their CGI equivalent. If any proof was needed that CGI useage in a Bond movie should be kept to a minimum, the surfing scene in Die Another Day is a great example. This is not a full-on rant against CGI which is merely a tool, but my belief after seeing that 007 nadir convinced me that this series can stand-out by ignoring cgi actors for real stunt work where possible. It appears the 007 producers formed a similar opinion, given the reduced use of CGI in Casino Royale.
This is simply great entertainment and Moore, despite looking his age, delivers perhaps his most forceful 007 performance. Moore, realising the inevitable march of time, was perhaps right to want to make this his swansong and hang up his PPK - only to be coaxed out of retirement by EON for one last film….
Hardly Xenophobic, Those stereotypes were the norm in 1983, with shows like Mind Your Language and It Aint half hot mum. It was pure comedy better than the filth Catherine Tate and Little Britain produce.
Sakib Salesevic
February 19th, 2008