Review of For Your Eyes Only: Ultimate Edition (James Bond)

Introduction

Although many of Roger Moore`s performances as Bond have been slated, some of them were rather good. For Your Eyes Only was the last good Bond film that he appeared in, as the films that followed really went downhill faster than the skiers in this film.

For Your Eyes Only is a bit of a "back to basics" style Bond, as the story was based on one of Ian Fleming`s Bond short stories. This seems to help the story a lot, and the lack of superhuman villains and characters with silly names helps you to take the film more seriously.

That`s not to say that it`s perfect, because there are still some flaws, particularly having Janet Brown, who was famous for her Margaret Thatcher impressions (and not much else), appear as Thatcher in the film. It only adds minimal comic value, and cheapens the film.

This is the another of the new "Ultimate Editions" from Sony - I`ll try and highlight what`s different between the ultimate editions and the original DVD releases.

Video

Another very good 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer, with a very clean print (considering the age). It just looks that bit better than the previous edition. Detail levels are very high, and colours look very good. It certainly shows off some of the excellent locations used, namely Greece and Italy, which also double for other European areas, such as Madrid. Most of the underwater scenes were shot in the Bahamas.

Lots of nice big action scenes on show here, with chases galore (a common Bond ingredient), and of course the always sad sight of a Lotus blowing up.

Audio

We are presented with a DD5.1 soundtrack, which has obviously been remixed from the original. This remix, whilst it may offend some purists, really brings the film to life, adding extra depth to some of the action scenes and filling your room with gunfire and explosions. Just what you need with an action film. There is also a dts option, which sounds very similar to the DD5.1 soundtrack. I think they differ slightly from the original release.

The title song "For Your Eyes Only" was performed by Sheena Easton (who actually appears in the opening credits sequence - the first time that this had happened). Sheena Easton was actually quite famous at the time, and this is certainly one of the more memorable Bond themes.

The music for the title song (and the film istelf) was written by Bill Conti. Although his name may not be familiar to you, he has composed for over 100 films stretching over 30 years. The score for this film is not his best work though!

Features

Yet another feature packed Bond DVD. Once again, commentaries on disc one, everything else on disc two.

There are three audio commentaries. The first one features director John Glen, who was directing the first of his five Bond films, after working on the Second Unit on previous films. The second commentary track features producer Michael G. Wilson and various other crew members. Both commentaries are interesting and informative, and very worthwhile for Bond fans. Both were on the previous release.

The third commentary track is a brand new one, featuring Roger Moore reminiscing about his time as Bond.

Carried across from the previous release is another excellent Bond documentary, which concentrates on the making of the film. These documentaries have certainly been highlights of the Bond DVDs. Also from the previous release are two radio spots, four trailers, two animated storyboard sequences, Sheena Easton`s video for the title song, and a very reasonable photo gallery.

New extras are as follows:-

007 Mission Control - this one is not as good as it sounds. It`s just a collection of clips from the film, mostly organised by character, which seems pointless to me. Who wants to watch lots of Miss Moneypenny scenes?

Producer Michael G Wilson features heavily on the next clips, which are basically location footage which he narrates. There`s some footage of Greece and underwater scenes too.

Director John Glen introduces a death scene, which is then presented in split screen, and then some deleted scenes.

Conclusion

Another solid addition to the Bond DVD collection. For Your Eyes Only was one of Moore`s high points as Bond (if not the highest), although the film itself still has some low points (the whole ice-skater thing). But for once, the plot isn`t one of them, as there`s no mad "world domination scheme" or barmy "destroy the population and repopulate the Earth from colonies in space" in sight. Instead we have a much more toned down and believable story.

The DVD istelf is another good one, with a very good picture, good sound and the obligatory excellent collection of extras. As such this DVD should end up in the collections of Bond collectors everywhere, and is also recommended for more casual viewers looking for a good example of a Bond film.

Is it worth the upgrade? Possibly for the Roger Moore commentary, but not really for any of the other extras.