Buy posters from this movie

In the intriguing pre-credit sequence (Bond doesn't feature) we see 3 murders happening within 24 hours. One at the UN, one in New Orleans and one on the Caribbean island of San Monique.

Paul McCartney and Wings provide the stonking title track (probably the best yet) and we get introduced to our new Bond (Roger Moore) at his flat, about to be paid a visit by M. The murdered victims are all MI6 agents and all have connections to San Monique, which would seem to be an inconsequential island, governed by Dr. Kananga (Yaphet Kotto), who is always accompanied by his tarot-reading beauty, Solitaire (Jane Seymour).

Bond is therefore assigned to find out just what Kananga has to do with the killings and why San Monique is so important and secretive. If there was ever a sign of the changing times and the influences on Bond, then 'Live and Let Die' represents these changing times best. Heavily influenced by blaxploitation flicks car chases, fights and visits to seedy clubs are all scored by jazzy funk and wah-wah guitars, whilst words like 'nig', 'pimp car' and 'honky' are flung about to try and gain Bond some streetwise cred. Retrospectively, this is all hilarious and unfortunately means that this is one of the few Bond films that has really dated.

It's not a completely ruined experience however. Guy Hamilton's second return to the series was thankfully a return to form for him, after the turgid 'Diamonds Are Forever'. His action sensibilities are fully back in place from a motorboat chase across swamplands to a brutal punch up in a train. If these elements are essentially stolen from 'From Russia With Love' at least they're stolen with panache.

'Live and Let Die' also has a rare atmosphere that's missing from most Bonds. The voodoo backdrop isn't there to simply frame the action, it adds a mysterious and foreboding quality to the film which helps to prop up the thin plot. It's one of the very few Bond films that's actually scary in places. This departure means that the series gets a breath of fresh air (no SPECTRE villain here for the first time since 'Goldfinger') which helps to settle Moore into the role.

And how does he do? Well he's certainly comfortable and assured in the role, looking more relaxed and at ease than Lazenby did. But this comfort is total and is at the expense of the film. Gone is the hard edge that Connery and Lazenby both had and the sense that Bond is a ruthless killer. Moore breezes through like he could charm the birds out of the trees, but he lacks a killer touch. He's too lightweight and essentially he looks like he couldn't really take anyone down in a fight. He's easy to watch but Bond should never be too 'easy' to empathise with.

He does have an instant rapport with Lee and Maxwell as M and Money penny (Q is strangely absent) and has the lovely and affecting Seymour to hang off his arm. He also has the benefit of the best Felix since Jack Lord, David Hedison in this instance.

So with a flimsy Bond and a lightweight plot (no bombs, lasers, or nuclear threats here) we do get a trio of great villians to add some dramatic weight to the film and give Moore a real problem to deal with. Geoffrey Holder gives the film a spooky shiver as the voodoo priest Baron Samedi (great cackling laugh by the way) and Julius W Harris is great as the pincer-handed Tee-Hee who wants to happily feed Bond to the crocodiles. If there's one thing Moore always had as Bond, it was great henchmen to go up against. And Kotto as Kananga is one of the best villains. A terrific performance, he gives Kananga a real sense of barely contained lunacy, egotism and crucially intelligence. It shows again, that the best Bond villains are always the best actors.

Ultimately then, Bond was back and thanks to Moore's assured performance he was going to be back for a while. But again thanks to Moore and the direction that his films took, Bond was never going to the same again. Gone was his very real sense of ruthlessness and intelligence instead was zany plots, bigger stunts and gadgets. Lots of gadgets. Although Moore's later films developed into too much spoofery and silliness, 'Live and Let Die' is proof that at best, his Bond films were always watchable and decent entry's. But shouldn't the best of Bond be better than 'watchable' and 'decent'?

link directly to this review at https://www.efilmcritic.com/review.php?movie=1222&reviewer=293
originally posted: 07/23/04 20:43:37
 printer-friendly format