Movie Review: From Russia With Love (2/23)

This is movie two in our James Bond box set. If you want to read the review of Dr. No you can go to the blog I posted for it here.

The story-line is a little more complex than the first, but still a one liner: Bond purposefully lets himself get involved with an assassinator in order to retrieve an encryption thingy that was stolen.

With twice the budget of Dr. No, I can't really see any improvement. Although I do find it a little ironic that a chunk of that budget was spent on a fun helicopter chase scene. Too bad the pilot wasn't very experienced and not only nearly killed Sean Connery but also crashed in the water trapping the director for a very long time. Good use of money.

RUN!! RUN FROM THE MURDEROUS HELICOPTER!!! 

Here's the lady sequence: the "Bond Girl" is named Tatiana Romanova. I don't get it. I know it's supposed to be an innuendo, but I guess I don't have a dirty mind! Yes! She shows up to seduce Bond and give him whatever information he wants. So Bond catches a naked girl in his bed, suspects nothing, and sleeps with her. Bond will die of a sexually transmitted disease before he ever gets killed in action. For his sake I will say, he only slept with two women in this movie and by the end it was almost like him and Tatiana were a couple. Maybe that's growth? But it's only the second movie of 23 and the count, on screen, is already up to 5. It doesn't look good for Bond.

Tatiana Romanova

Best part of the movie happens while Tatiana is trying on outfits. Yes, they go on a fake honeymoon and to pass the time he bought her a suitcase full of lingerie that she proceeds to try on. Sure, it's the 60s so it's like she's trying on nightgowns, but what's the point? She gets bored waiting for Bond and I'm pretty sure she was the very first women to ever do this:

I rewound and paused to take this picture with my phone! HaHa! Best part of the movie. This supermodel (seriously) Bond Girl is seeing what she looks like with a mustache while making duck lips. And I thought this was a new thing! If it's been happening since the 60s, at least, the chance of it ever going away is minimum. 

So, hotels, train ride, fight scene, helicopters, nightgowns, gypsy girl fight in the dirt, belly dancing, duck lips, awkward fight scenes with shoe knives... Yep, I think you're caught up. And, yes, the last fight scene was awesome and awkward. Imagine an old lady trying to kick James Bond in the shin with very dramatic music playing. 

Not the best movie, but it was OK to watch. It's still a Bond movie: little plot / big action. That's really all we're looking for here, anyway.