From Russia With Love

From Russia With Love is the second 007 film, and I can't for the life of me remember the plot. Something about SPECTRE going after Bond with some blond-haired tough guy and sending some blonde-haired woman...not that plot matters, but here's the IMDB logline:

"James Bond willingly falls into an assassination ploy involving a naive Russian beauty in order to retrieve a Soviet encryption device that was stolen by SPECTRE."

As in Dr. No, the 007 theme music appears frequently, though not enough to be as much of a distraction as in the previous film. Still, sometimes I notice James Bond's most trivial movements accompanied by the theme. Walking into a hotel — play the Bond theme. Drive a car — play the Bond theme. Raise an eyebrow — play the Bond theme.

I'm rather glad the Daniel Craig iterations don't feature the Bond theme so prominently.

Watching early Bond films can be difficult, thanks to the efforts of Mike Myers and the Austin Powers franchise. Frau Farbissina, Dr. Evil, and Number Two all have equivalents in this picture. I can't help some inadvertent laughing.

I can forgive the quaintness, but I can't get past my inner monologue, saying the name "Frau Farbissina" while impersonating Dr. Evil. It got weird.

The "chick fight" at around the 43:00 mark? The two women who fight for a husband? Yeah, that fight looks pretty bad now. I get the impression that fight was choreographed by a man. There's just not enough screeching and hair-pulling. They look like two members of G.L.O.W.

Speaking of appearances, how about Robert Shaw as Donald Grant, the Bond heavy here? He looks like a congressman from my home state of Indiana:

My biggest complaint with From Russia With Love is the rather abrupt ending. Stuff blows up, then Bondandthegirlrideawayinaboattheend.

Again, though, that complaint sort of gets at the writing, and criticizing the writing of a Bond film is rather like kicking a baby. All of the Bond films have varying degrees of bad writing, from cheesy dialogue to general implausibility. Who gives a crap?

Caring isn't worth the trouble. I like Bond films for the escape they deliver, and as I'm going through the grieving process and settling my mother's estate, this stupid stuff is the perfect antidote.