Once again the Bond series passes off recycled material as a new film, but For Your Eyes Only somehow makes it work. When a covert British naval ship carrying a ballistic missile control system onboard is sunk, Bond is tasked with recovering it before it's found and sold on the black market by mercenaries. The film hits the usual action beats, and they're done pretty well; adding intensity and danger to the film. And, Carole Bouquet's performance is fairly strong (as far as Bond girls go), but the henchmen are nothing special. For Your Eyes Only delivers all the usual Bond tropes, but mixes things up enough to stay adventurous and exciting.
Before I started my current marathon, the last time I watched a lot of the 007 films was just before I started joining rating sites (well just IMDB and Letterboxd). As it appears, this was the only one I didn't rate mainly because... I must assume that I completely forgot about this one. And after watching this once again, I can safely say I can confirm my assumption. This was way too dull, way too boring. This followed Man With The Golden Gun's method of trying to put in so much content into such a lacking plot, this time with no interesting villain attempting to save the movie. I must quickly put in my rating before I completely forget about this edition in the Bond series again.
One of the best of the Moore stage. Great improvement over Moonraker
The James Bond Films
1 Eon films
1.1 Dr. No (1962) https://trakt.tv/movies/dr-no-1962
1.2 From Russia with Love (1963) https://trakt.tv/movies/from-russia-with-love-1963
1.3 Goldfinger (1964) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldfinger-1964
1.4 Thunderball (1965) https://trakt.tv/movies/thunderball-1965
1.5 You Only Live Twice (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/you-only-live-twice-1967
1.6 On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969) https://trakt.tv/movies/on-her-majesty-s-secret-service-1969
1.7 Diamonds Are Forever (1971) https://trakt.tv/movies/diamonds-are-forever-1971
1.8 Live and Let Die (1973) https://trakt.tv/movies/live-and-let-die-1973
1.9 The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-man-with-the-golden-gun-1974
1.10 The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-spy-who-loved-me-1977
1.11 Moonraker (1979) https://trakt.tv/movies/moonraker-1979
1.12 For Your Eyes Only (1981) https://trakt.tv/movies/for-your-eyes-only-1981
1.13 Octopussy (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/octopussy-1983
1.14 A View to a Kill (1985) https://trakt.tv/movies/a-view-to-a-kill-1985
1.15 The Living Daylights (1987) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-living-daylights-1987
1.16 Licence to Kill (1989) https://trakt.tv/movies/licence-to-kill-1989
1.17 GoldenEye (1995) https://trakt.tv/movies/goldeneye-1995
1.18 Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) https://trakt.tv/movies/tomorrow-never-dies-1997
1.19 The World Is Not Enough (1999) https://trakt.tv/movies/the-world-is-not-enough-1999
1.20 Die Another Day (2002) https://trakt.tv/movies/die-another-day-2002
1.21 Casino Royale (2006) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-2006
1.22 Quantum of Solace (2008) https://trakt.tv/movies/quantum-of-solace-2008
1.23 Skyfall (2012) https://trakt.tv/movies/skyfall-2012
1.24 Spectre (2015) https://trakt.tv/movies/spectre-2015
1.25 No Time to Die (2021) https://trakt.tv/movies/no-time-to-die-2021
2 Non-Eon films
2.1 Casino Royale (1967) https://trakt.tv/movies/casino-royale-1967
2.2 Never Say Never Again (1983) https://trakt.tv/movies/never-say-never-again-1983
The best of the Roger Moore Bond films. I can't be the only one spotting the subtle nods to OHMSS: the "countess", a villian-turned-ally, a mountain-top villian's lair, a strong Bond "girl". The only downside was the innane ending with Janet Brown bringing her Margaret Thatcher impersonation to the big screen.
At 54 though Sir Roger was already older than any other Bond actor (and would still continue for another couple of films) and should have finished with this one.
After a disappointing Moonraker, For Your Eyes Only brought an improvement into the Bond franchise.
This James Bond adventure is very thrilling with a lot of action from start to finish and we can see a much more serious and engaged James Bond and not the most seductive as usual. It's interesting how Roger Moore is more charming when he is not trying to be charming.
I really liked the fantastic helicopter opening sequence with Blofeld and the underwater scenes are beautiful.
Overall, a great film that in my opinion brought a much more realistic tone to the franchise.
One of the best bonds: thrilling plot, fast pacing and with a good plot twist!
More serious and credible, but a bit less fun.
I think this is probably my favourite of the Bond films I'm so far. It has so many spectacular action sequences, like the helicopter bit at the beginning or the the climatic battle when Bond crashes through that stained glass window, and one of the greatest Bond girls of all time in Melina Havelock. It's one of those films that just keeps going and going, and never seems to slow down.
Better than all Roger Moore Bonds that came before!
Like I've said, with Bond movies it's not about the story. That's pretty much always the same. It's about the action/stunts and the women (sorry but that's how it was).
The stunts are again amazing and there are lots of it. You really appreciate them even more if you watch the Making-offs. The helicopter stunt at the beginning was great. Althought it felt shoehorned in storywise. As if they desoerately wanted to close the chapter Blofeld once and for all. One big problem with the Bond movies was always the timeline, or the lack of one. But as mentioned, not important really.
I love the car chase. There are car chases in many (all ?) Bond movies and they can be repetitive. But do one in a 2CV at it adds an entertaining extra.
Concerning the Bond Women I have to admit that Carole Bouquet was one of the most stunning for me.
And as an added extra "For Your Eyes Only" was my favorite Bond song until Adele's "Skyfall".
So, yeah, I liked this one a lot.
Melina has to be my favorite Bond girl
Suddenly Roger Moore has a fairly realistic Bond film. Whhhhaaaaat? What is going on here? Such a surprise. I've gotta admit, I do really like it, but it isn't quite as engaging as I'd hope. Only one big problem in my eyes, and that would be the music. Terrible soundtrack. John Barry should have done every single soundtrack in this franchise until the day he died if you ask me. But instead they switch it out every once in a while and it is subpar.
Anyway, about the film. I like almost everything in this movie. realistic plot, nice switchups, Bond girl has a purpose. I really enjoy the sets and locations too. Unfortunately though, I just like the aspects of the movie, not love. If notches were turned up just a... notch, I'd probably list this one high up on the Bond rankings.
We’ve taken a short break after the painful Moonraker in order to regroup and continue on our Bond bonanza.
Bond enters the 80s with For Your Eyes Only and the producers felt the need to shake things up a bit. Second unit director John Glen is brought in to helm the whole project, his intention being to dial back the wackiness and try to revive some of the more successful aspects of the older films.
The pre-title sequence shows that this isn’t going to happen straight away. Bond winds up in a helicopter remote-controlled by a bald person with a white cat. Stuff happens, the whole thing ends with Bond dumping [Blofeld] the man into a chimney. It’s a childish ‘fuck you’ from the producers, angered at the licensing issues banning them from using Blofeld and SPECTRE in their films.
Once things get going though the new tone does start to come through. A British spy ship containing nuclear decryption codes sinks, and the man sent to investigate is assassinated. Bond needs to find out what happened and recover the information.
Yes, Bond is sort of saving the world but this is definitely more of a Cold War style thriller. It’s a bit more grown up, harking back to films like From Russia With Love where Bond does what you might actually call spying instead of just cocking about.
Bernard Lee died before his scenes as ‘M’ could be shot, so this is sadly the first film where he is not present. His performances were consistently good and often provided much needed relief from some otherwise awful productions.
Roger Moore comes back for the fifth time and despite looking a little older these days he’s still got the charm and wit we’ve come to enjoy.
The stand out role for me is Topol, who plays the pistachio-chewing bad-guy-ally Milos Columbo. He lends a personable air to the role, larger than life but realistic.
Julian Glover is also well cast as the smooth smuggler Aristotle Kristatos.
There’s a revenge plot running through the film. Leading lady Carole Bouquet is supposed to be out to get her father’s killer, and Bond is trying to stop her from doing so prematurely. This feels like a neglected story line; we get glimpses of Bouquet’s character looking mean, nothing more.
She makes the most of the screen time she gets though, providing some depth to the film where others would have failed.
Unfortunately, For Your Eyes Only tries too hard to mix the spectacular sequences of yore with a gritty spy-thriller. What results is a convoluted story, a very confusing tone and ultimately a forgettable film. At least they finally did away with the wild shootout at the end…
A good entry into the catalogue, but unlikely one that makes many top ten lists.
http://benoliver999.com/film/2015/07/04/foryoureyesonly/
Trend sticks that I am digging the Roger Moore films more than the last Connery outputs. This one is pretty average. Isn't Moore's best or worst, but a quality entry, nonetheless.
Rating: 3/5 - 75% - Worth Watching
A welcome return to Earth after the nonsense of the Moonraker space situation. However, the trip underwater was tedious.
And the rock-climbing section could have been cut in half easily.
The strange plot line with the man eater child skating prodigy was uncomfortable to watch... And Roger is starting to look a little TOO old for the role.
The first 2/3 of the movie was enjoyable enough though and it trotted along at a decent pace.
I am a huge Bill Conti fan but even I cannot defend the soundtrack...!
6.25/10
James Bond: "And have you?"
Lisl: "Have I ever."
I've seen many Bond films that are sometimes brilliant, some of them are alright, or some of them are awful, and this movie isn't terrible or good, but mediocre in my opinion.
Let's start of what I like in this film: The theme song to film was really good and well done as well. It's a great song if I have to be honest. Roger Moore once again did a good job in this movie, not as good as Connery but still good.
Now for my problems with the film, and boy is they a lot: The movie lost it's sense of fun in the middle and the end of the movie, because the film started off strong and ended weak. The villains in the film are so boring and really bland, and let's not forget that this is a James Bond movie and that means you got to have a great, chilling or cool villain, but here we got boring villain who doesn't do anything special and we go bland sidekick in the background looking mean. The characters were just there to fill up screen time for the movie. The plot has been done before in different and better films.
Overall rating: 'For Your Eyes Only' is a mediocre, bland Bond film.
Bond gets a little more grounded, after going way, way off the deep end in 1979's thoroughly awful Moonraker. Of course, I'm using the word "grounded" in a strictly relative sense, as this film still features 007 outpacing Olympic athletes in specialized sports, smoothly free-climbing a vertical cliff face and working a helicopter like a crane game in his particularly rude farewell to longtime nemesis Blofeld. He's a renaissance man, after all. It's trashy but entertaining, in the mold of several earlier entries in the Roger Moore catalog, and there's a distinct lack of overly ambitious action sets in outer space, so I felt comfortable and content with what I got.
Moore is really pushing the boundaries of plausibility as a dashing young action hero here, an issue which would only grow worse as he clung to the role for four more years. I could almost hear his bones creak during a few of the physically-demanding scenes, and he looks old enough to be costar Carole Bouquet's father (turns out there's some truth to that one; he's thirty years her senior) but still, he wears those wrinkles with pride and hasn't yet lost the charisma that made him the longest-running MI-6 man ever. A promising improvement for the franchise, which had previously lost its way, but still a far cry from the glory days of Goldfinger and From Russia With Love. The franchise is absolutely starving for new blood and a fresh start.
This was rather boring. I didn't care about any of the characters.
Roger Moore's Bond is really getting long in the tooth at this point. It's most apparent when Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson) whose about 18 years old tells him that she could just "eat him up". It comes off as gross; I guess she's into older men…like grandpa old. The action sequences and there are plenty of them don't work as well when they require Moore to be physical. Of course Moore's Bond has always been a little lighter in the loafers than Connery Craig or even Brosnan. Fans of a softer more humorous 007 will enjoy this more than others. The action and scenic locations make this a decent Bond adventure.
Shout by ResidentEvilFanBlockedParent2024-02-26T21:48:37Z
This is perhaps Roger Moore's best Bond film in terms of his acting. He is funny when he has to be, but you can see a tenderness in his blue eyes that you know he will not let you down.
I also love Sheena Easton's theme song as it brings tears to my eyes. The soundtrack as a whole is one of the best, if not the best, in the whole series.