When you ask a fan of the series which Bond film is the best, you get different answers depending on what kind of Bond they like. The fans who love the gadgets and over-the-top villains with a sprinkling of camp often cite "Goldfinger" as the best. "GoldenEye" and "The Spy Who Loved Me" are usually up there, too. But for those who liked a bit more realism in their Bond movies while keeping it exciting, it never got better than "From Russia With Love."
"From Russia With Love" introduced aspects of the series that became standard, including the introduction of Desmond Llewelyn as Q, and the first appearance of Blofeld, although we don't see his face or even know his name at this point. There's a theme song featuring the title of the movie (which is, eh, meh at best. It's okay). There's also a boat chase, a helicopter attack, and a train sequence, all of which are very common in later entries. It was also the first Bond movie to have gadgets, and even though Bond's briefcase isn't exactly a car that turns into a submarine, it's still nifty, useful, and ends up saving the day. And while some might say that the briefcase doesn't count, allow me to submit that any device which features a smoke grenade automatically counts as a 'gadget.'
"Very good, Bond. Now allow me to show you - if I may be so bold - a dash clever innovation. It's called a briefcase. It holds papers."
"Q, you're quite mad."
All of these elements that are prevalent in later, more outlandish entries got their start here. But "From Russia With Love" is, at its core, a relatively grounded in reality spy thriller. And it's a pretty good one at that. And that's where "From Russia With Love" gets interesting, because it exists at a crossroads in the Bond franchise. From here, it could have gone either way. We could have ended up with a Bourne style series in the 60's had they decided to continue keeping their feet on the ground. Instead they went the other way until Roger Moore boarded a ship to outer space, and whether or not you think that's to the series' credit or determent is a matter of opinion and taste.
The story concerns a Soviet agent, our Bond Girl Tatiana, luring Bond into a trap using a Lektor coding machine, and her defection, as bait. The possibility of MI-6 getting their hands on one is too much for them to ignore, despite them assuming that it's a trap. Tatiana makes it clear that the only one she'll trust is Bond, so he is given the mission to meet her in Istanbul, recover the Lektor, and bring her to England.
Unbeknownst to Tatiana but knownst to us, Klebb, Tatiana's superior, is a double agent working for both the KGB and SPECTRE, and is using Tataina's loyalty to the KGB to manipulate her into serving SPECTRE's needs. Their objective is to humiliate and kill James Bond in retaliation for the death of Dr. No, another SPECTRE member, hence them having Tatiana make sure it's Bond who is sent.
This makes "From Russia With Love" a direct sequel to "Dr. No," which means that I'd been operating under incorrect assumptions for some time now. I had always thought that "Quantum of Solace" had been the only Bond film to directly follow another one, but I was wrong. Not only is Dr. No referenced by name, but there is a possible reference to Honey Rider, as Bond is sporting a knife scar on his back, we presume to be a result from her not being a fan of his less-than-monogamous ways. That's pretty cool.
"Yesh, room schervish? This ish Jamsh Bond, room 204. My phone ish entirely too schmall."
Sean Connery is the same stoic James Bond as he always is, with the same swagger and machismo that endears him to so many fans. Daniela Bianchi was a tolerable, if somewhat forgettable Bond girl despite having one of the more interesting stories to go along with her. She wasn't bad, and there is some sympathy to be felt for her as she is being manipulated by her superior to basically degrade herself and betray her country for no good reason other than revenge by an evil organization bent on world domination.
But the real story in "From Russia With Love" is all about the great Robert Shaw as Grant, the assassin sent to do Bond in. This guy, and what they do with him, is amazing. I don't believe he utters more than a few words for the first 2 acts of the film, if that. He's this silent, steel-eyed demon who seems more robot than man. He calmly dispatches his victims with hardly an emotion on his face at all, which makes him freaking intimidating as hell. He reminds me a bit of Ivan Drago, now that I think of it. I think it's the fact that so much is conveyed by his physical performance that words are unnecessary. Or maybe it's the white/blonde hair.
This dinner is about to get...awkward...
But then, something awesome happens: Grant speaks. At the beginning of the final act, Grant boards the Orient Express with Bond and Tatiana after killing the MI-6 agent sent to meet him and taking his place. We then see that Grant is a pretty smooth talker and pulls off a pretty convincing MI-6 agent act, as Bond is duped, at least for a time. Not too far into the ride he begins to suspect something, not so much because of anything Grant did, but more likely out of intuition. But the act is still great, and it was quite a nice surprise when the facade is thrown over this stone faced killer, and we see there is more to Grant than first anticipated.
I loved Robert Shaw in "From Russia With Love." He was fantastic, especially in the lead up to him and Connery's fight scene on the train. Once Bond switches around some things in his briefcase in anticipation of things going south, the tension really starts ratcheting up. This is especially true in the dinner scene right before the fight. It's one of those scenes with a lot of unspoken tension, as both Bond and Grant are suspicious, but neither one is dropping their act of chivalry and politeness. And Shaw is able to convey so much with a simple glance or a glint of emotion in his eyes that he doesn't have to say anything at all. He was an amazing actor.
You wonder if he told SPECTRE he'd find Bond for three, but catch him and kill him for ten...
That dinner scene also leads up to what is one of the best fight scenes in Bond history. When Bond and Grant go at each other in their cabin, it's a realistic, rough and brutal fight that looks like it hurts. The lack of music, the hard hitting sound effects, and the lights getting shot out to flood the room in an eerie blue hue add to the experience, and it really seems like a scene more in line with the later Daniel Craig films than something from the 60's. It's an intense fight, and there weren't any stunt doubles, either. It was all Connery and Shaw.
If I were to make a list, like most other fans of the series I'd have to put that fight scene up there among the best of the best. I think the only thing that I wasn't a fan of during that fight is the fact that Shaw basically gets done in by his own greed and stupidity, which seemed a bit odd. Then again, I probably wouldn't suspect a smoke grenade in a briefcase. Then again, I might have suspected something. Good thing Grant didn't insist on Bond opening that thing, eh? That may have come across as...intelligent.
As far as other problems I had with the movie, there really aren't that many of terrible importance to note. Maybe the helicopter scene was a bit lame, as I couldn't really tell what the bad guys were attempting to do. Yes, it does make for a dynamic shot whenever the helicopter swoops low over Bond, forcing him to duck slightly, but last I checked buzzing a person isn't lethal. Maybe if they angled the nose down so that the blades were in a position to cut him, that might work. Maybe they could use the fact that a helicopter can hover to help them with that instead of only zooming past him, since this pilot is under the impression that a helicopter operates exactly like an airplane.
Or here's a pro-tip: Use that freaking machine gun you were just shooting the truck up with.
There's also the issue of the final boat chase. Bond and Tatiana get on a speedboat with about 6 barrels of gasoline (!) on it, and when they're being chased, he dumps the barrels over the side. When the bad guys see the barrels, they inexplicably stop right next to them for no good reason I can determine other than to look at them as closely as possible, which they do for no good reason expect to make sure that when Bond uses a flare gun to explode them, they all die. I mean, yeah it's cool and all, and the explosion is pretty boss, but really, come on. There was absolutely no reason at all for the bad guys to stop.
Also, we're now out of gas. Oh right. Venice is a long ways away. I guess all that fuel was there for a reason. Crap.
Do these little gripes ruin the movie? Nah. It's still a neat spy thriller. If anything will drag the movie down it's the fact that honestly, it does have a slight tendency to drag, especially around the part near the middle when Bond visits a bunch of gypsies. The whole point of that scene is to introduce a minor villain that they have a shootout with, and whom Bond and his contact in Istanbul subsequently kill in retaliation for the attack. This whole 20 minute sequence has pretty much nothing to do with anything that I could determine, and it's unwelcome upon reflecting on the rest of the great Robert Shaw moments. Go figure the parts where "From Russia With Love" drags is when the best villain isn't around.
In the end, "From Russia With Love" ended up being a great success critically and in the box office, and many Bond affectionados count it as the best Bond movie ever made. My opinion? It's good. Damn good. Especially when compared to the lackluster "Dr. No." It's a great entry in the series.
But it's not my favorite, and I wouldn't list it as the best. I'm too much of a fan of the gadgets and the fun hyper-realism. It's a great time, but in my opinion, it can't compare to what came next...
THE BOTTOM LINE - "From Russia With Love" is a really good flick. It's more for those who like their Bond on the more realistic side, but it merges the more outlandish aspects of the series together with that realism arguably better than any of the others. Defiantly worth a look if you don't mind a slower, more deliberate pace than you're used to in these movies.
JAMES BOND WILL RETURN IN GOLDFINGER
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