I haven’t seen this movie in probably 15 years, so when I saw it available to stream on Netflix, I knew I wanted to see it again as an older, more sophisticated viewer. This is the first film in the series that’s a direct sequel to the previous one (until Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace) and the only one I can think of where the villain’s primary objective is to kill James Bond. The secondary concern is disgracing the British government, but it is never given equal weight to killing 007.
Bond (Sean Connery) is dispatched to Istanbul to pick up a Soviet defector, Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi), who is in possession of a Russian decoder. Romanova is actually bait and unaware of her role: Colonel Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) has herself defected from the USSR and now works for SPECTRE and its leader, Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Klebb has recruited assassin Red Grant (Robert Shaw) to trail, intercept, and kill Bond. It’s fascinating to watch a Bond movie where the antagonists are one step ahead of him pretty much the whole time. This is a very suspenseful film.
4/5
Brian's Film Log 