Nerds That Geek Movie Review: ‘From Russia with Love’

Written by John Edward Betancourt

​It was a time of celebration for Eon Productions. They had managed to wow the world with a spy named James Bond and the success that came from Dr. No paved the way for something incredibly important... a green light for a sequel. Yes, the franchise was born at last, and a grand question was now before the filmmakers. Specifically, where to go with 007's adventures next?

After all, the charming spy had just thwarted the grand plan by the good doctor to disrupt space travel with his atomic powered radio beam, so the options were simple. Top that, or give us a simpler story and as it turns out, Eon Productions went with that latter option, giving us a far more down to earth spy story in From Russia with Love.

Once again, we won't spend much time on the plot for this film, you've seen it, you know it and this review and the many that will follow it are designed to serve as a celebration of the adventures Bond has taken us on over the years. And what we need to genuinely celebrate when it comes to this second outing… is the outright quality story, one that is tense and one that captivates you. Part of that is is related to the fact that this particular Bond story almost serves as a history lesson, with its heavy Cold War overtones that were completely relevant to the time.

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​For there is a grand tension here between the people of Russia and the people of Great Britain and that tension serves the story well as Bond races against time to retrieve the Lektor device. For you can feel the distrust of the era, and the confusion of these two worlds colliding and it's just wonderful to say the least because that kind of storytelling simply no longer exists. But, despite the fantastic history lesson, the simplicity of the story gives it a special charm. After all the gadgets here are far and few between once again, despite the first time ever appearance of Desmond Llewelyn as Q in the series and even the villains are scaled down here. Red Grant is merely a talented assassin as opposed to the over-the-top madmen that were coming soon.

All these elements blend together nicely to give us a small, intimate story with 007, one where we get a better understanding of who the man really is professionally, and how incredibly talented a spy he truly is. It's a wonderful contrast to the first film which came out guns blazing if you will, and I truly appreciate the filmmakers taking the time to do go this route. Yet, in a way, it seems as though the franchise was still trying to find an identity here and I would venture to say that's true, after all, only being two motion pictures in, they were still fleshing out the character and where the franchise needed to go.  

In the end however, From Russia with Love serves as an important piece to the Bond mythos. I can't emphasize enough the wonder of meeting Q for the first time, and learning his name for that matter and seeing Connery play the role in keyed down fashion, really is a big deal. It wasn't the last time we would see Bond take on a smaller story, but it was the first and last time we would see Connery do it, for what was to follow after this film were stories that gave the franchise its focus and that makes this one a special part of the Connery era. 

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