For Your Eyes Only Blu-Ray Review

Posted by Shawn S. Lealos on 10.31.2008

James Bond is making its way to High Definition. How does Roger Moore's darkest hour hold up on Blu-Ray?

Director: John Glen
Writer: Richard Maibaum
Cinematographer: Alan Hume

Cast:
Roger Moore ... James Bond
Carole Bourquet ... Melina Havelock
Topol ... Milos Columbo
Lynn-Holly Johnson ... Bibi Dahl
Julian Glover ... Aristotle Kristatos
Cassandra Harris ... Countess Lisl von Schlaf




Casino Royale was noted as transforming James Bond more into the real world, away from the crazy high tech gadgets and unrealistic plot and more into a gritty, realistic thriller. However, Casino Royale was not the first time this has happened. In 1979, James Bond went into space in Moonraker and the movie was almost more science fiction than a James Bond spy thriller. The producers felt it was time to reground Bond and take the character in a more realistic direction. The result was For Your Eyes Only and the film seems very similar to Casino Royale when you look at the action sequences compared to previous movies in the series.

The pre-title sequence keeps the movie in the strange, gadget filled world as a man has Bond picked up in a helicopter as Bond is visiting his late wife’s grave. The man behind this is obviously Blofeld but, thanks to a lawsuit, the film’s producers were unable to secure the rights to the character. In what should not be a spoiler to anyone, this sequence would finally kill off the man who tormented Bond in so many films leading up to this sequence. This scene could have been taken straight out of a spoof movie and really has no merit in this film, aside from letting people know the franchise could survive without this one bad guy.

The plot of the film is pretty simple and could have been taken directly from the Hitchcock style of plotting a movie. There is a McGuffin, an ATAC that has sunk following an accident at sea. The British government is after it but so are other less friendly governments and Bond sets out to find this weapon before someone else can. There are also, of course, the Bond girls. The first is the beautiful Melina Havelock (Carole Bouquet), a woman whose father was killed by the men looking for the ATAC. She is the most reliable of the girls and saves Bond’s life on a number of occasions. Countess Lisl von Schlaf (Cassandra Harris) is a high society woman who is probably best known for being Pierce Brosnan’s wife at the time. Finally, we have Bibi Dahl (Lynn-Holly Johnson), a young girl infatuated both Bond. It is Bibi that seems most out of place in the movie and only adds slight comic relief to the proceedings.

With the McGuffin and the Bond girls in place, it is time for the movie to hit on what makes Bond great - the action sequences. Without the use of the overdone gadgets, this movie is a thrill ride from start to finish. In what can only be described as one long chase movie, Bond finds himself one step behind the entire film. No matter where he goes, the bad guys know he is there and every grand location is just another chance for him to run for his life.

The film travels to Greece, Italy, the Bahamas and Italy. Along the way, there are spectacular chase scenes through winding hills in a VW Bug, down ski slopes and onto a bobsled track, underwater through some Greek ruins and finally up the side of a giant cliff to a monastery. First time directory John Glen was able to shoot these amazing scenes with a deft hand and it comes across thrilling and beautiful. The tension is racked up and with no super spy weapons available to bail Bond out of the situations, you actually believe he could fail.

The bad guys are also grounded. There are no super villains here, only shrewd businessmen and manipulative bad guys. With everything coming back to Earth, the movie was able to set Bond on a new course that would keep it fresh for a few more years. As with Casino Royale, it was time for a change and that change was just what the doctor ordered.

The movie is not perfect. The score is very outdated and the music during the chase sequences is very poor to listen to today. The Sheena Easton title track still holds a nostalgic spot, but the rest of the music is just a bore. The use of technology is also suspect in this film and the one point where Bond goes to Q to use a machine called the Indentigraph, it is just laughable today. The one gadget that still gets a laugh today is Bond’s car’s security system. Brilliance.

What makes this movie work so well is the change in Bond’s character. Roger Moore was always the kitschiest of the Bond actors. That is what made his choice in this movie to either save a bad guys life or kick him over a cliff very shocking. It was a change in the character that still resonates today. I believe this movie is most similar to the direction Bond is now travelling down and remains a high point in the career of Sir Roger Moore as 007.


The Video

The video quality is beautiful. Presented in 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode, this very scenic movie looks great. If there was any grain at all it has been wiped clean here. It looks just as prestigious as any movie made today with scenes tracking through jungles, mountaintops and ocean floors looking crisp and clean.

The Audio

The audio seemed a little up and down to me. It is presented in DTS-HD Lossless Master Audio 5.1 Surround (48kHz/24-bit). The action sequences were amazing and produced some great sound especially considering the age of the movie. However, they were so great they overpowered everything else. Either they were too loud or the dialogue scenes were too low. The balance needed to be worked on to keep it at a level pace but when it was on, it was great.

The Package

Commentary Track with Sir Roger Moore - Roger Moore stated at the start of this track that he wants to use the commentaries as a conversation with the viewers since he really has little recollection of the making of the film. Moore actually says at the beginning that it is Blofeld, although his name is never given in the film. Most of the movie is just Moore reminiscing about nearly everything that came to his mind. It is not really cohesive but it is nice to hear a legend talk.

Commentary by Director John Glen and the cast (Roger Moore, Topol, Lynn-Holly Johnson and Julian Glover) and Commentary with Producer Michael G. Wilson and various crew members - Unlike the conversational track with Moore, these two are more informative, almost like trivia tracks. The tracks are also quite boring at times as the narrator’s voice is very monotonous and droning. However, between these two tracks and Moore’s comfortable track, you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about the movie.

Deleted Scenes and Expanded Angles - There are two deleted scenes, Hockey 007 Style (02:05) and Joining Forces (01:07). They are included with an introduction by director John Glen. The first is an extension of a scene that was already in the movie, the second is just fluff between Bond and Melina that is neither needed or even necessary to its inclusion here. Everything here is the original grainy tracks with no touch ups on the audio or video. Expanded angles is only one scene, Death of Locque (00:43). You can see it in its original form, an expanded angle or multi-angle format. It is also given an introduction by Glen. You can switch between the angles with the RED button on your remote. It is a nice little feature showing how it was shot from various spots.

Bond in Greece (05:58) / Bond in Cortina (04:17) / Neptune’s Journey (03:33) / Credits (01:17) - Producer Michael Wilson explains the process of making the movie with various scenes laid over his dialogue concerning the specific locations. All this footage is presented in Standard Definition, not HD, but the discussion of the making of compensates for that if you are interested in behind-the-scenes stuff. Neptune’s Journey is a fun one as it goes through all the underwater cinematography and the Greek Temple built for those scenes. Credits are just the credit sequence for this portion of the features.

007 Mission Control - This is just like the Music Track Options in animated films, where you choose a song and that scene from the movie plays. The choices are 007, Women, Allies, Villains, Q Branch, and Mission Combat Manual. Each section allows you a variety of options. For example, if you choose 007 and then choose Title, you can watch it either with or without the credits playing over the scene.

Inside For Your Eyes Only (29:48) - This feature talks to a number of the original players, including director John Glen, Producer Michael Wilson, Roger Moore and many, many more. It isn’t the longest documentary in the world, but it really touches on everything you want to know.

Animated Storyboard Sequence - Snowmobile Chase (01:14) - These are storyboards for the original scene where the bad guys chase Bond on snowmobiles. For the final draft, they used motorcycles instead of snowmobiles.

Animated Storyboard Sequence - Underwater (01:46) - The storyboards for the sequence with Bond and Melina underwater.

Sheena Easton Music Video (02:46) - Hey, look! It’s the opening title sequence again, with no credits. This is the second place in the special features you can see this (007 Mission Control is the other).

Ministry of Propaganda - This includes the Theatrical Trailer (03:49), TV Trailer (03:55), Second TV Trailer (03:55), and TV Teaser Trailer (03:55). Also included are two Radio Communications (01:11).

Image Database - Finally, there is a huge photo gallery with over a hundred photographs concerning the making of the movie. My one problem with this is it would have been nice to have some music playing over the background while the pictures appeared on the screen. Also, a PLAY ALL for the photo gallery would have been nice too.

The 411: For Your Eyes Only was a nice grounding of the character of James Bond, eliminating the hokey gadgets and overblown plotlines and letting the action sequences speak for themselves. This is probably the darkest Roger Moore outing as 007, and as a result the movie is a satisfying spy thriller. It doesn’t lack in humor, though, and Roger Moore is still the suave secret agent, but the movie works so much better than his other offerings. The direction by John Glen is staged brilliantly and the chase sequences are breathtaking. The extras prove that sometimes little is more as the features are short and to the point but leave no stone unturned. This is a great start to the introduction of Bond on Blu-Ray.

Final Score:  8.5   [ Very Good ]