From Russia With Love Review

From Russia With Love is the second movie in the James Bond franchise, and can be considered a direct sequel to Dr. No. The film came out in 1963, only a year after its predecessor and with double the budget.

The Plot

SPECTRE is at it again, this time planning to steal a cryptographic device called a Lektor from the Russians and sell it back to them, and exact revenge on James Bond for killing their operative Dr. No. SPECTRE’s leader, referred to only as Number 1, enlists the services of ex-counter intelligence officer Rosa Klebb (Lotte Lenya) to trick Tatiana Romanova (Daniela Bianchi) a cipher clerk working in Istanbul, Turkey, into defecting to British Intelligence with the device, and luring James Bond into their web.

The Villains

The main villains in the film are Rosa Klebb and a SPECTRE assassin named Donald Grant, but unfortunately neither of them is used to great effect, from an action standpoint. Grant attempts to kill Bond on a train by pretending to be his British contact, which leads to a pretty exciting fight, but it is one of very few in the movie, and despite being referred to as one of the organizations top assassins, he never really seems very threatening or dangerous. Grant only gets one attempt at Bond before he is killed and while the scene is well done, it doesn’t really make Grant out to be a great killer. Klebb is the most interesting villain in the movie. She is a cold, stern, rock faced Russian woman who brings a sense of menace and steely soviet power into her scenes. She’s definitely more serious and threatening than Dr. No, but she really only has one actual confrontation with Bond near the end. She is basically the “brains of the operation” and it’s understandable that she wouldn’t really get her hands dirty in this matter, but her scenes mostly consist of dialogue between her and her boss. The biggest villain however is the barely seen Number 1, the leader of SPECTRE. This is the character that is most recognizable as the archetypal Bond villain. He is only seen from the chest down, stroking a white cat. Most people would instantly recognize him as the character that the Dr. Evil character from the Austin Powers movies is based on. From Russia With Love is the first time this staple of the Bond series is seen in the films, and does a great job foreshadowing his larger role in the films to come.

The Girl

Tatiana Romanova is a cryptograph clerk who is used as a pawn to deliver the Lektor and to ensnare Bond and bring him to SPECTRE. She goes along with the fake defection plan, under threat of death, but upon meeting Bond and spending time with him, she falls in love, betrays Klebb and SPECTRE and ultimately helps Bond defeat his enemies. This is the classic Bond girl. She’s not just a bystander who gets mixed up in Bond’s adventure by chance, she’s not an empty headed bimbo, she’s a smart, competent, and loyal companion to Bond and she sets the gold standard of what a Bond girl should be. Unlike Honey Ryder from Dr. No who stumbles into Bond’s mission near its completion and flounders alongside him until it’s finished, Tatiana is there from the beginning, and is essentially the biggest part of SPECTREs plan, and it’s only because of her that Bond was able to survive in the end (spoiler alert).

My Thoughts

From Russia With Love is considered by many to be the best James Bond film ever made, and I can see why. It has the smooth pacing of Dr. No, but with more action, stunts, and excitement, but not so much that it seems like a dumb action film. The characters are interesting and memorable and Sean Connery gives an amazing performance yet again. This movie had a much larger budget than the first in the series, and it’s very apparent from start to finish. There are more explosions, the scenery is more exotic and the boat chase at the end is one of the best in the series. At 115 minutes, the movie is the perfect length, and there seems to be more music than in the previous film. The opening credits also begin to resemble more modern Bond openings, with dancing women, psychedelic colors and interesting camera tricks. Matt Monro’s theme song is heard in instrumental only at the beginning, and is played again during the ending with full lyrics, using traditional Russian instruments to give that real soviet feeling.

Unlike the previous film, Dr. No, From Russia With Love’s plot is easy to follow, simple and flows nicely from the start of the movie until the end. The characters motivations are clear, their goals are realistic and logical and everybody acts the way they’re supposed to. This might sound like a cold and formulaic analysis of a story, but it’s a refreshing change from the murky, unclear motivations and actions of the previous film. At this point the James Bond series was off to a strong start, and it would only get stronger with the next in the series, Goldfinger.