Bond Secret File #2 - From Russia With Love

Introduction: 6/10
From Russia with Love begins the Bond introductions that we have all come to know and love, starting out with a "teaser" that gives a sneak peak into the film, like a TV series that attempts to grab you prior to the title sequence. The title sequence is a step above Dr. No... barely. We get the female silhouette in the background with the credits projected on her, but it's still a quite rudimentary opening sequence compared to later films.

Title Song: 10/10
I have nothing bad to say about the title song, it by far ranks among the top 10 Bond songs of the franchise. It gets you pumped up, and is not intruded upon by mixing in other genres or styles of music, such as Dr. No did, expect for the classic Bond piece that concludes the song at the end, which always works.

From Russia with love, I fly to you. Much wiser since my, goodbye to you. I've traveled the world to learn, I must return from Russia with love.

I've seen places, faces, and smiled for a moment, but oh, you haunted me so. Still my tongue tied, young pride, would not let my love for you show, in case you'd say no.

To Russia I flew, but there and then, I suddenly knew you'd care again, my running around is through, I fly to you from Russia with love.

Bond: 10/10
Connery does not fail to please, giving the same suave, mysterious, and classic sarcasm that makes him a truly great secret agent. Bond is given a lot more action in this film, really showing the role of a secret agent, whereas Bond was more of a detective in the first film.

Bond Girl:

Tatiana Romanova: 7/10
The only true Bond girl in the film, in my opinion, Romanova is ordered to meet with James Bond and steal the Lektor, providing Britain (Russia's enemy) with false information. What SPECTRE did not count on was that Tatiana would fall for Bond and turn into a clingy, sponge. Romanova is the co-star character in the film, where as in Dr. No, Honey had a rather small part at the end of the film. Overall, I liked Honey much better than Romanova, who was either whining, crying, or was acting clingy like a little girl having her first crush. Needless to say she got rather annoying after a while.

The Villains:

Donald "Red" Grant: 6/10
Once again this film has too many insignificant villains, so the following villains are the two I felt stood out the most. Grant is a muscular assassin hired by SPECTRE to take out James Bond, as we are shown in the beginning of the film where Grant is training against a guy in a Bond mask. Throughout the film, Grant tails Bond and the girl until it's the right time to intercept them and steal the Lektor as well as kill them both. Grant's a descent villain, he has the look, but he hardly has any lines, and wasn't all too bright, which ultimately didn't make him too hard for Bond to outsmart.

Rosa Klebb: 5/10
A former Soviet Agent, turned SPECTRE, Klebb is put in charge of setting up Romanova and the plan to get the Lektor. Her part is relatively small, smaller than Grant who had the largest role among the villains. She definitely has the villainous look (as did Grant), but ultimately she's flakier than Grant. She's armed with poison tipped shoes, but they don't happen to be very useful when you aren't strong enough to overpower James Bond! She ultimately meets her demise as she is shot in the back by the very girl she sent to set up Bond, should have stayed with the Soviet Secret Service.

Total Rating: 7.3/10

Overall (Including Film Rating): 7.7/10

8/10