Runtime:
125 minutes
Directed
by: Guy Hamilton
Starring:
Roger Moore, Christopher Lee, Maud Adams, Herve , Britt Ekland
From:
United Artists
Today
I decided to do some more Moore and watched this film, which I seem
to be easier on than many others are. Sure, this film is wacky in
that the buddy of the main villain is a midget (then again, in the
last movie the henchmen include a guy with a metal arm because a
crocodile chomped on him and a big black guy who happened to be in
Black Belt Jones as that dude who I say looks like Cedric the
Entertainer and wore hilariously loud patterned shirts) and there's
plenty of sexism but in a bit I'll explain my opinion.
The
plot is rather simple: A guy who is distinguished by being a lethal
assassin AND having a third nipple (no, really; Lee) is looking for a
real challenge so he makes it clear he wants to duel Mr. Bond. From
that you have a bigger than expected story-which you don't always
want to think too hard about-involving 007 in Southeast Asia,
fighting against such obstacles as a karate school, an agent who
isn't very good at her job (Ekland, who at least looks great), and
yes, the return of Sheriff J.W. Pepper, who just happens to be
vacationing in Thailand at the time.
Despite
some parts of the plot being groan-inducing, I don't hate this like a
lot of people seemingly do. Sure, Bond isn't afraid to slap around a
woman to get what he wants (think of that how you will) but to me, I
think the Southeast Asia setting is what makes this appealing. It's
quite the colorful and unique world, this being set in Thailand,
Macau, and some very pretty islands in the area. You get then-topical
talk of the energy crisis... then again, that topic is probably still
current today, with people being interested in alternate energy
sources, such as solar power, which is a key plot point here. You
also get kung-fu and martial arts, which was a huge craze back then.
You do have nice action sequences, such as a close-quarters brawl in
Beirut, car chases, and the return of a boat chase. The practical car
stunt that corkscrewed around 360 degrees was awesome... except for a
needless slide whistle. Someone online edited the scene to take out Pepper's involvement and the slide whistle; it is better. No offense,
but I don't really need to see old J.W refer to Thai cops as
“pointyheads”, which sounds like some sort of old racial slur to
me.
There
are also some cool sets, especially the secret base that's in a
partially submerged ship. It's sideways so they had to build it
specially, and it just looks sweet. Lee is awesome as the villain and
in the list of Moore Bonds, this also goes somewhere in the middle.
One
thing I will admit is that the title song (by Lulu! I had no idea she
even had a career in '74) is pretty crappy. Alice Cooper actually
recorded a song for the movie but it wasn't used. That's unfortunate,
as it's much better. The tune still has the same title as the film
and it can be found on the greatly-named Muscle of Love album. You can check it out for yourself on YouTube.
I'll
be back Wednesday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment