Is there one unpleasant moment? Sure, a lot of people die, but death in Bond – in cinema even – is an emotionally flexible concept.

The entire film has a great big smile on its face from start to finish. The Spy Who Loved Me can be described in one word: fun. Such moments illustrate why the franchise has lasted 52 years and counting. Cue the Union Jack parachute and Monty Norman at full blast. Bond’s silent freefall after skiing off a precipice might be the signature stunt of the series. Impressive, especially for a series hardly renowned for narrative economy. As well as a submarine abduction, a double portion of chalet loving, a ski chase and a very famous parachute, it manages to construct the two key plotlines of the stolen sub and Anya’s dead lover. And, after ten minutes, it reall hit me: it’s really bloody good, isn’t it? Watch The Spy Who Loved Me on Amazon After all, there’s nothing like mass adulation to provoke instant prejudice. So I settled down to watch, hackles raised and teeth bared. I hadn’t seen the film for years, and for some reason I harbored vaguely negative memories. And people say it a lot.Ī confession: I really wanted to dislike this one. Every time anybody says it, a shirtless Vin Diesel must be banished from my mind. Although the Russian accent is tolerable, her codename ‘Triple X’ is more problematic. Holds only a brief grudge over Bond killing her long-term boyfriend.

Theirs is an enjoyably complicated relationship: she dislikes Bond, then likes Bond, then hates Bond, then likes him again. She is the female equivalent of James Bond, although naturally not quite as good. Anya Amasova is an extremely high calibre heroine and just the tonic needed after a succession of drips. The Girl: As fierce as Pussy Galore, as beautiful as Solitaire.

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