Diamonds Are Forever

'''This page is dedicated to Sean Connery, who died on October 31st, 2020. May he Rest In Peace.'''

Diamonds Are Forever is a 1971 British-American spy film based on the 1964 novel of the same name by Ian Fleming. The film was directed by Guy Hamilton and distributed by United Artists.

Plot
After trying to avenge Tracy Bond's death, James Bond's mission is to find out who has been smuggling diamonds, which are not re-appearing. He adopts another identity in the form of Peter Franks. He joins up with Tiffany Case, and acts as if he is smuggling the diamonds, but everyone is hungry for these diamonds. He also has to avoid Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd, the dangerous couple who do not leave anyone in their way. Ernst Stavro Blofeld isn't out of the question. He may have changed his looks, but is he linked with the heist? And if he is, can Bond finally defeat his ultimate enemy.

Why Diamonds Are Forever

 * 1) Good direction by Guy Hamilton.
 * 2) Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd are pretty intimidating villiains since they leave almost no one alive. The acting of Bruce Hlover and Putter Smith makes them all the creepy given their almost emotionless enuciances when talking.
 * 3) Good soundtrack, especially the theme song by Shirley Bassey.
 * 4) Although some of the action scenes are kind of cheesy, the fight in the elevator and the scene where Bond drove the Ford Mustang Mk1 sideways are entertaining.
 * 5) Good acting, especially from Bruce Glover and Putter Smith who both really sell their performaces as Mr. Wint and Mr. Kidd.
 * 6) The production is the best of the Connery Bond films which is impressive when you consider how much money they had to work off of.
 * 7) Good cinematography.
 * 8) Fine pacing.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Plot Hole: How did Plenty know where Tiffany was?
 * 2) Missed Opprotunity: The idea of Bond avenging his wife and destroying Blofeld and SPECTRE once and for all would have made a hell of a movie and a nice finale to the Sean Connery era. Too bad the revenge angle all but disappears after the opening.
 * 3) While most of the acting is good, Sean Connery once again looks bored most of the time. Unsurprisingly, Sean only came back because of the massive paycheck.
 * 4) Connery's increased salary for the movie meant that a cheaper effects company had to be used to cut costs. This leads to things like the explosions being worse than the ones in previous Bond films like Dr. No.
 * 5) Despite the serious tone, the film takes a turn towards the midway point where it starts to become a lot more cheesy and campy than other Bond films. This first starts with Bond trying to escape security in a moon buggy, which leads to chase with the cops that comes off as comical, the idea of their being multiple Blofelds, and more.
 * 6) The reveal that there are multiple Blofelds and that Bond didn't kill the right one in the beginning, feels like a cop out and would've been better if Mr. Whit and Mr. Kidd were instead the main villiains.
 * 7) Tiffany Case goes from a no nonsense character into another bumbling sidekick after pairing up with Bond.

Reception
On the review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 73% based on 49 reviews with an average rating of 6.53/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "With exotic locales, impressive special effects, and a worthy central villain, Diamonds Are Forever overcomes a messy and implausible story to deliver another memorable early Bond flick." James Berardinelli of ReelViews said that the first half was good, but "It's only during the second half, as the plot escalates beyond the bounds of preposterousness, that the film starts to fragment", criticising Blofeld's appearance and stating "rockets that swallow up spacecraft are a bit too extravagant." Ali Barclay of BBC Films lightly criticized Dahl's script, writing that Dahl had "clearly helped thrust Bond into a whole new world of villainy and technology, maybe his concepts were slightly ahead of themselves, or maybe he just tried too hard." Leo Goldsmith lauded the volcano base as "the most impressive of Ken Adam's sets for the franchise." Danny Peary wrote that Diamonds Are Forever "should have been about twenty minutes shorter" and described it as "not a bad Bond film, but it doesn't compare to its predecessors – the formula had become a little stale."

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