FanFiltration said:
"Octopussy"
This is one of the worst of the Bonds. The theme song lyrics should have been "He's an old time guy", not "It's an all time high". Moore is way too old, and I was truly embarrassed for the younger females that had to faun over and suggest they slept with this geezer. The back-screen effects are particurly horrendous and obvious in this film. I don't know why people rate "Moonraker" as worse then this one. I'll take a Space Station over a second rate Circus motif any day.
The song is lounge music crap, the Indian portion was completely unnecessary and showed how much they tried to copy Raiders, Roger looks worse than in FYEO, the plot is horribly overcomplicated, and overall the whole thing is just very dull. But it is a throwback adventure mixed with a Bond film which has an energy unlike the beyond tpeid Never Say Never Again.
FanFiltration said:
"For Your Eyes Only"
One of the better of the Moore era Bond's. This film has much more of the Ian Fleming styles sprinkled over it, yet it still suffers in places. Moore is again too old to be playing this role, and it's a bit distracting. A wispy romantic John Barry score is sadly missing, and what we do get (brass heavy disco themes and synthesizer muzak for low budget orchestra) dates the film. The director John Glen, is well suited for action, but his character interaction scenes are dull and un-inspired. This film had great locations, a good cast (excepting the bratty sex-starved skater and the stuffy fop that is replacing "M"). Topol is one of the best Bond allies in years, and the actor has so much personality that a bad director can do little to harm his reputation. The ice rink fight scene, the chopper vs. Wheelchair villain with cat (Blofeld?), "Q"'s segment, the Indentigraph scene, and the Olympian Hit man hurling his broken motorcycle at Bond sticks out as being the only cringe worthy and un-needed segments of this film. Bond and Girl being dragged over a coral field in shark infested waters, the climb up the rock face, the assault on the villains' dock-side warehouse, and the ski chase on the bobsled run, are some of the best moments in the entire Bond series.
This suffered from being John Glen's fist Bond to direct and coming off the heels of Moonraker. They went too far in bringing it all back down to Earth and the resulting film is very Made-for-TV in aspects. The score is awfully cheesy but this film comes alive when you crank the sound and watch on a big screen. The definition of a serviceable Bond film.
Police Story II-Lacks a really great villain, but this one crams in so many stunts and setpieces that you can't help but like it. Pure fun.
3.5 kung-fu deaf mutes out of 4 balls.