For Your Eyes Only in Review

She might be plain, yet she has a beauty to her. At least I thought so when seeing her in Spin (this French thriller series we got here on More4), I forget the French title without googling.

A lifetime ago someone made a hilarious crack about Melina and her moustache on Old MI6. Can't remember the substance of it, but I just remember that LOLs were had.

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Weakest villain? Not compared to Gustav Graves and Waltz's unthreatening take on Blofeld, he isn't.  

Gustav Graves is a much stronger villain than Kristatos and the difference is night and day. Kristatos is a guy who wants to sell the ATAK and make money, and all that is really revealed about his character is that he wants to get horny Bibi into the Olympics for some unspecified reason. That's a terrible backstory.

Graves is a guy who keeps seeking the approval of his father and ends up betraying him as a cost for wanting to take over the western world. Not the greatest backstory ever, but so much better than the Bibi one. I think Graves has a lot more emotional investment in his goal, and Kristatos just seems so bland in comparison.

As for Waltz, he was on the same level as Kristatos I guess but I found him to be a slightly more pleasure to watch, performance wise. But I think the director just doesn't give Glover enough to do.

As for Melina, I still find her performance to be very wooden, and she seems tired to be on the set, or something.

In DAD, we could've had a martial-arts expert with anger-management issues as the villain. Instead, we ended up with a sneering public schoolboy who basically becomes Robocop for the finale.

I didn't mind the public schoolboy but I agree that maybe the robot suit was a bit much.

Graves was David Cameron with better international diplomacy skills.

Oh okay. I don't know who David Cameron is but can look him up. Well a lot of fans of FYEO say that Kristatos is a really good villain, and that Melina is a really good Bond girl, but what is it that makes them so good?

I mean they are okay as characters I guess, but I thought the performances are bland, so I did I miss something?

It's worth remembering that FYEO was literally meant to be a more down-to-Earth Bond after Moonraker's excesses. Hence why Kristatos wasn't written to be more grandiose and OTT.

I understand that but I felt he was kind of bland grandiose instead of interesting grandiose. For example, Max Largo in Never Say Never Again is grandiose and down to Earth, but the actor still gave a much less bland performance, if that makes sense.

David Cameron must have been very forgettable then.

Cameron? You mean Graves? Well Stephens showed different emotional sides, to his character's personality though, where as Glover just has the same blank expression and monotone voice, throughout the movie.

ironpony wrote:

Blunt Instrument wrote:

Weakest villain? Not compared to Gustav Graves and Waltz's unthreatening take on Blofeld, he isn't.  

Gustav Graves is a much stronger villain than Kristatos and the difference is night and day.  Kristatos is a guy who wants to sell the ATAK and make money, and all that is really revealed about his character is that he wants to get horny Bibi into the Olympics for some unspecified reason.  That's a terrible backstory.

Graves is a guy who keeps seeking the approval of his father and ends up betraying him as a cost for wanting to take over the western world.  Not the greatest backstory ever, but so much better than the Bibi one.  I think Graves has a lot more emotional investment in his goal, and Kristatos just seems so bland in comparison.

As for Waltz, he was on the same level as Kristatos I guess but I found him to be a slightly more pleasure to watch, performance wise.  But I think the director just doesn't give Glover enough to do.

As for Melina, I still find her performance to be very wooden, and she seems tired to be on the set, or something.

Until Christoph Waltz's Blofeld, Graves was considered one of the worst by most, myself included - and this is coming from someone who is a DAD defender. I would have been perfectly happy with Col Moon as the villain instead of Stephens' Graves, and focus on Bond finding the mole within MI6. The daddy/son Moon dynamic is ok I suppose, and I suppose something like that probably needed to be included to show that not all NKs are villains (to remain apolitical like they did with the Soviets in earlier eras), but I much prefer Kristatos as a villain. A more connected performance from Glover (I've always thought Stephens played an idea of a mad man as opposed to Frobe, Lonsdale or Pryce who connect more to their material and make it their own), better writing, and the WWII backstory and relationship with Columbo is much more interesting. Not to mention that perhaps Kristatos is used as a vehicle to pit Bond up against the Russians directly for the first time, and what little is said about Kristatos and Gogol's connection makes it more involving, in my opinion. 

I'll give you Melina, though I think she does have her moments. The "Greek women, like Electra" and the torture by sea scenes in particular. 

BI wrote:

It's worth remembering that FYEO was literally meant to be a more down-to-Earth Bond after Moonraker's excesses. Hence why Kristatos wasn't written to be more grandiose and OTT.

Exactly. It finally feels like I'm watching people again - people I can care about. Lisl is probably one of most intriguing characters in FYEO.

But isn't Col Moon the same villain as Graves? Both actors play the roles as if they are the same person, with that mustache twirling smile and all. Not that is an insult, I thought they both did it well and consider it to be the same villain.

As for Kristatos, I feel that maybe the reason I am not getting why he is so good, is because everyone seems to compare him to someone else. He's better than other villains cause he doesn't want to take over the world. Okay, sure, but can't he defended on his own merits as to why he is good specifically, without being compared?

But then again the WWII backstory was good. I thought maybe it wasn't developed enough though maybe, or they didn't do enough with it, and actually concentrated more on the Bibi suplot in screen time, by comparison.

There is also a plot point in FYEO that bothers me though. When Bond and Melina retrieve the ATAK underwater, they are attacked and the villains to try to take it from them, but Bond and Melina manage to prevail and keep them from taking it, and escape them.

Then for some reason, Bond and Melina decide to go back to the surface and back to Melina's boat. Wouldn't they have assumed that Kristatos and his men have most likely spotted the boat, and have taken it over, and will be waiting for them?

Why go back to the boat! Why not just slip away or something? Wouldn't it have been better in the writing, if they just wrote so the villains took the ATAK from them while underwater, and then Bond and Melina waited till way later to come back up, and then later on catch up with Kristatos at St. Cyril's?

ironpony wrote:

Cameron?  You mean Graves?  Well Stephens showed different emotional sides, to his character's personality though, where as Glover just has the same blank expression and monotone voice, throughout the movie.

No, I was merely referencing the fact that you weren't aware of who David Cameron is.

ironpony wrote:

But isn't Col Moon the same villain as Graves?  Both actors play the roles as if they are the same person, with that mustache twirling smile and all.  Not that is an insult, I thought they both did it well and consider it to be the same villain.

As for Kristatos, I feel that maybe the reason I am not getting why he is so good, is because everyone seems to compare him to someone else.  He's better than other villains cause he doesn't want to take over the world.  Okay, sure, but can't he defended on his own merits as to why he is good specifically, without being compared?

But then again the WWII backstory was good.  I thought maybe it wasn't developed enough though maybe, or they didn't do enough with it, and actually concentrated more on the Bibi suplot in screen time, by comparison.

There is also a plot point in FYEO that bothers me though.  When Bond and Melina retrieve the ATAK underwater, they are attacked and the villains to try to take it from them, but Bond and Melina manage to prevail and keep them from taking it, and escape them.

Then for some reason, Bond and Melina decide to go back to the surface and back to Melina's boat.  Wouldn't they have assumed that Kristatos and his men have most likely spotted the boat, and have taken it over, and will be waiting for them?

Why go back to the boat!  Why not just slip away or something?  Wouldn't it have been better in the writing, if they just wrote so the villains took the ATAK from them while underwater, and then Bond and Melina waited till way later to come back up, and then later on catch up with Kristatos at St. Cyril's?

They are playing the same character, but the character would have had more focus if they scrapped the idea of Moon becoming "Graves" (who is modelled supposedly on Bond). Bond taking on the North Koreans was a great idea so that should have been explored more. For example, the Sydney Olympics back story with Miranda is something I'd like to know more about. How and why they became an alliance, etc. 

I've stated many times why I think Kristatos is a good villain. And in my previous post I was coming Graves with Carver, Drax and Goldfinger. To recap, I like Kristatos because he's more rounded, his goal is rooted in true Cold War espionage, his WWII backstory and relationships with other characters are interesting, and Glover delivers a good performance in the role. Is he my favourite villain? No. But he's definitely a worthy addition to the Bond canon. 

Not much time is spent on the Bibi subplot as far as Kristatos is concerned. He watches her when Bond meets him and then again at St Cyrils. 

Hindsight is 20/20. How was Bond to know that there were more men than the two who tried to attack them? And of course Bond and Melina had to surface. They're not going to stay in shark-infested waters all day. Admittedly, the underwater scenes do slow down the film. Personally, I'd have Bond and Melina retrieve the ATAC without any fuss board their boat, and then be confronted with Kristatos, scrapping the encounters with the two underwater machines.

Bond was not suppose to know that there were more men, but he still would have taken a what if guess, and the chance was too much to take to resurface to the boat. They could still resurface somewhere else, but not there.

As for Kristatos, yeah the WWII and cold war backstory is good I suppose overall. But did you find that the actor played him kind of bland and monotone, without bringing much to it possibly?

They're in the middle of the ocean. With sharks. I'd want to get out of the water as quickly as possible. 

No I don't. Just take a look at the dinner scene with Bond at the casino. Layered and nuanced.

Okay, I'm going to watch the movie again. I found a lot of Glover's lines and delivery to be very on the nose, and not much more. But I think it was the script and director's fault. But I will watch the movie again.

Even if Glover is bland on the bad-guy front, Topol more than compensates on the ally front.

Well I am not sure if he compensates cause I feel that a good villain may be more important for a movie, than a supporting ally character. But Topol is very good and possibly my favorite Bond ally. Some have said that he is a Kerim Bay rip off, but I disagree, and think he stands out on his own.

Some do say that a Bond film is as good as it's villain. Personally, I like Kristatos, but I like FYEO even more. 

And as for Columbo, considering we're supposed to think he's the villain for half of the film, he definitely delivers when the truth comes to light, distinguishing himself from Kerim Bey. There's something about the European ally that Eon does right - Kerim, Draco, Columbo, Zukovsky, Mathis...

Yep I agree with that, all good allies there. Which one is Zukovsky, I can't remember?

Russian gangster in Goldeneye and The World Is Not Enough, played by Robbie Coltrane.

Oh right, he's a good ally.

Watched this last night and had forgotten how good the action is in this film. Now I'm not wild about the PTS and the Citroen chase--although Conti's cheesy score has something to do with that--but the Kriegler ski jump/chase, the diving bell/sub sequence, Bond and Melina as shark bait, the shoot 'em up in Kristatos' warehouse and the St. Cyril's sequence are all absolutely top notch.