An evil organization called "SPECTRE" has stolen a soviet encryption device and plan to kill Bond. The organization also set up Bond by having a girl who's on their side to help them defeat our hero. Can Bond stop "SPECTRE'S" plan, defeat the bad guys, get the girl to go on his side and steal back the device?
Sean Connery as Bond is just as awesome as he was in "Dr.No". He's smart, he's clever, he's tough, he's great at negotiating with people, he always has a plan, he's charming, he deliveries some great humor and he's always smooth and great with the ladies. Unlike in "Dr.No" where he can get out of things, here he's actually venerable in a few moments in the film, epically in the ending. With that said, he's still just as great as we remember him in the first film. Bond only carries one gadget which is a case but without giving away what kind of case it is, all I'll say is "big things come in small packages".
Our lead Bond Girl in this film named Tatiana(Daniela Bianchi) is perhaps one of the best Bond girls of all time. While being on the villains side, you don't know for sure until the end. Sometimes you don't know if she's lying to Bond, other times you're not sure if she truly loves Bond and most of the time you're puzzled on who's side she's really on. Tatiana is very hot, very puzzling, has a beautiful voice and the chemistry between her and Bond is really great. We also get to see for the second and final time, Sylvia Trench who we first met in the beginning of "Dr.No" is with Bond when we first meet him only this time she's more comical. Oh and Bond also briefly dates two Gypsy women that are fighting against each other.
The villains in this film are truly awesome! This is also the first time we're introduced to the evil organization "SPECTRE" and the head of the organization Blofeld who's really intimidating, we never see his face, he has an evil voice and even how he strokes his Cat seems and feels very unsettling. Next we have Rosa Klepp (Lotte Lynea) who's really cool, has a deadly weapon, is just as intimidating as Blofeld and has lesbian over tones (Look at the scene on when she first meets Tatiana for example). Before we had great henchmen such as Oddjob and Jaws, we had Red Grant (Robert Shaw) who's really tough, commits tons of murders, is a really creepy stalker and carries some of Bonds talents. By the way, sometimes I can't believe that this is the same guy who played Quint in "Jaws". Kronsteen the guy who plays out the plan to kill bond like a game of Chess, shows up very little but he's still awesome and his fate at the end is a really cold blooded death. Morzeny only shows up in two scenes but man is he just to scary looking, he's like the Luca Brasi of the film, shows up very little but is just to damn cool and scary to forget! Finally there's Krilencu who's another cool and clever assassin but the way he dies is so cool that it's jaw dropping.
The supporting characters in the film are all enjoyable. Bernard Lee as M is just as great as we previously saw him in the first film. Lois Maxwell as Miss Moneypenny is really enjoyable and of course who cannot enjoy the scenes with her and James? This is the first time we're introduced to Q (Desmond Llewelyn) who only shows up for a few minutes but it's a great introduction to him. The only real and big supporting character is Bond's ally Kerim Bey. This character is a really fun and enjoyable, every time I see him he always does something fun or has something interesting to say. On top of it, he also assists our hero in shoot outs and to kill a hitman. He's in my opinion one of the best allies in the whole franchise.
While the action in the film is great, there's really more murders then action sequences, in fact most of the murders happen offscreen. In the teaser to the film (Which is the first teaser to ever appear in a Bond film) I love how there's a match between Bond and Grant which has a really good twist! The action sequences such as the shoot out in the Gypsy camp, the boat scene and the fight between Rosa and Bond are all really cool but for me the highlight in the film is the fight on the train scene between Bond and Grant. It's so well choreographed, shot and written that it takes the cake to any train fight in a Bond film.
We finally go to the films title song "From Russia With Love". Sadly the song is not played in the title sequence. All we really get is an instrumental, as we see the title and opening credits over hot half naked women who we barley get to look at, which is a really great opening. The song sung by Matt Monro is not played until the closing credits and while not being one of my all time favorites, it's still pretty great. The singing is great and it really brings the romance to the closing of the film.
This is truly one of the best bond films ever made. It introduced so many new things to the franchise, Sean Connery is always awesome, the Bond girl is well written, the story is fantastic, it has a great collection of villains, has a fun supporting character, while not having to much action, the action that happens is really great and the song is lovely.
RATING 5/5
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