Bond Goes Hunting
The premise behind For Your Eyes Only is a British encryption device that has the ability to control nuclear submarines, known as the ATAC. When the ATAC is lost at sea after a MI-5 ship goes under, Bond is deployed to get the secretive device back before it falls into the wrong hands. During his adventure Bond meets up with a contact in Greece known as Melina Havelock, played by Carole Bouquet. Melina and Bond team up to thwart the efforts of other nations in finding the device, including the Russians. Two other contacts that Bond meets are suspicious at best, each calling the other a Russian contact, and so Melina and Bond must also deal with that mistrust and suspicion.
I actually had never seen this Bond film before, and I can’t say it’s one of my favorites. I thought the story wasn’t bad, but the execution seemed a little dry and it ran on just a bit too long. Still, it’s a fine film, just not quite up to the high bar that many other Bond films set.
Bond On Blu-ray
This Blu-ray release features the same style box art and menus that the others released this week have, which is great for consistency. You can also expect the same fantastic visual and audio experience, too. This dual layer Blu-ray disc is put to good use with a superb transfer in the form of a vibrant, sharp 1080p picture and 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound. As far as extras, there are many, but nothing exclusive to this Blu-ray, i.e., that hasn’t been released before on previous DVD releases as far as I know:
-Three Audio Commentaries – A commentary track with Roger Moore, one with co-screenwriter Michael G. Wilson and crew members, and a third with Director John Glen and members of the cast… quite an earful.
-Deleted Scenes and Expanded Angles – Don’t get your hopes up too high here, there are just a pair of brief scenes included here.
-Bond In Greece / Bond In Cortina – These two five minute or so SD features just have some vintage footage of Roger Moore on location during filming.
-Inside For Your Eyes Only – Similar to the Inside Live And Let Die feature, this is relatively recent thirty minute making of feature.
-Image Database, Trailers, etc. – Another collection of vintage images, some storyboard art, old trailers, TV spots, radio ads – interesting promotional material for the fans.
Once again, this is a well rounded James Bond Blu-ray release. This isn’t Bond at his best, but the presentation quality is once again stellar, and the extras, while none are in HD and none are new, are welcomed.