Why do so many fans seem to like Kara as a Bond girl?

I've always thought she was one of the weaker ones, as she doesn't seem to have any chemistry with Dalton, and Dalton often seems annoyed with her, and is only getting together with her cause the movie requires it.  It felt tacked on.   He's mostly annoyed with her cause she seems dumb.  Like when she says "you were fantastic, we're free!", she says it literally like a wide eyed 8 year old, and it's painfully jarring to watch.  She also does other dumb things, like not realize she is flying towards a mountain, and Bond has to tell her, and when Bond tries to pilot the plane, she tries to cover his face to hug him, blocking his vision of flying.  And I'm thinking really???

She also seems to too smiling and too happy in situations, where she should not be. Like smiling to Bond on the plane, when he tells Koskov he is full of it, even though Bond is captured, and her boyfriend betrayed, and she should not be smiling at quips at this point...

She's not as much of a bimbo as Mary Goodnight, but she's not too far off either.  So that is why he seems annoyed with her, and that it feels tacked on, and my gf agreed with me when we watched, saying that she really brought the movie down.

But a lot of fans like this Bond girl, and like the romance they say, so I am wondering, are we missing something?

I agree with you. The actress is good, hence why people accept this dumb portrayal of a character.

Yeah it was not the actress's fault at all I figured, and was just playing the character as directed to.

On the quiet Maryam D'abo does a very fine job. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, and in the day I got irritated by Kara, but if you look at it, it's a good job. Kara is an ordinary girl, a musician in the Eastern Bloc, that gets waylaid -so to speak- by this charming Koskov and next thing you know, she's swept into pretending to shoot the man and will, along the way, blindingly follow him out of love. Then Bond is thrown into the mix, pretending on his end to be a friend of her lover, and by the end she comes out on top whilst being completely bewildered at points you'd imagine. Compared to some before, and after, Kara is one of the best I think now.

At first Kara kinda irritates the viewer but after a while that softens and you realize she's supposed to be a normal Stradivarius playing gal with a defecting General boyfriend caught up events way WAAAAAY in over her head.

It could always have been Stacey part 2 but I think they had learned a bit from that.

hegottheboot wrote:

It could always have been Stacey part 2 but I think they had learned a bit from that.

ANYONE after Stacey would have to be an improvement. As it is, Kara was refreshingly ingenuous, without being shrill and annoying.

She used to be one of my favourites but the feeling I get these days is that it's a missed opportunity not to have a sexier cellist as I imagine from the book.

Stacey Part II sounds perfect to me.

Dare I say it, the visual I had of Fleming's cellist looks more like Tanya Roberts than Maryam d'Abo.

Well I feel that she acts too school girl like and she is an older less horny version of Bibi Doll. But still over the top school girl like still for me.

I feel that when it comes to that naive innocent Bond girl, who is caught up in the suspense and in over her head, Honey Rider or Tatiana Romanova are much better in comparison.

Well I feel that she acts too school girl like and she is an older less horny version of Bibi Doll.   But still over the top school girl like still for me.

I feel that when it comes to that naive innocent Bond girl, who is caught up in the suspense and in over her head, Honey Rider or Tatiana Romanova for example, are much better in comparison.

I tend to agree with Tanya being much more interesting and perhaps Honey might overtake Kara too on my list. The problem with Honey for me is the dubbing but then perhaps it's the dreamlike quality of the voice that continues that fantasy element of her character.