Information for Parents
Common Sense Media says Iffy for 12+
Sea and ski with 1981's Bond in an average outing.
What Parents Need to Know
Parents need to know that beautiful and sexually available women continue to be part of the 007 furnishings here, just like the decorative nudes in the opening credit sequence. One of the women who attempts to seduce James Bond is a perky teenage figure skater, which is even too much for the secret agent. A phony countess does manage to get the spy into bed, but she's figuratively punished the next day, run over by an assassin in a dune buggy. Other deaths result from arrows, bombs, knives, and machine guns.
- Families can talk about the way Bond settles a Cold War standoff at the end, enforcing "détente" so that even the villainous Russians go away satisfied. You might have to explain to younger fans exactly what the Cold War was anyway (and the joke appearance at the end by a Margaret Thatcher impersonator). Of course, Bond kills numerous henchmen and attackers throughout; does this make his negative attitude toward the heroine's quest for revenge seem a little hypocritical? Also, do kids think James Bond is a good role model? Why has this movie franchise been so successful?
The good stuff
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Positive messages: Bond turns down an offer of easy sex with an underage girl, but she's about the only one. Otherwise, though, 007 is fearless, worldly, gambling, fond of fine cuisine, and as indestructible as ever. Melina, the leading lady, is revenge driven for most of the film, but is still strong and resourceful, as Bond girls go. A secondary heroine, a young American figure skater, functions as barely more than an alarmingly underaged sexpot. Germans seem particularly stereotyped as nasty and unsympathetic.
What to watch for
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Violence: Much fighting, clubbing, and (in a hockey rink) body-checking. People are shot with machine guns, blown up with bombs, and pierced with arrows, the crossbow-toting heroine's specialty. Spooky dead bodies float in an underwater shipwreck.
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Sex: Nude women (mostly in shadow and seemingly underwater) are in the opening-credit montage, and an assortment of bikini girls are hanging around a villain's swimming pool. James Bond is a ladies' man as always, and goes to bed with a countess whose nightie barely stays on. A saucy teenage figure skater (who brags of not being a virgin) tries to seduce Bond, but he refuses her.
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Language: The villain told to "go to hell."
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Consumerism: Lotus sportscars get special attention.
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Drinking, drugs and smoking: Recreational drinking.