James Bond dons the training wheels in his first appearance on the screen, heading off a surprise threat in Jamaica... where everyone speaks with a British accent. Without the kind of galactic-sized budget or recklessly eccentric touches that would come to define the series in later installments, I was impressed with the film's ingenuity in filling those holes. Though Bond lacks his usual cache of gimmicks and gadgets, that time is instead spent inspecting the finer points of his espionage work, which I appreciated. There's something to be said for firing lasers from a pocket watch, but I was just as captivated watching Sean Connery booby trap his closet with a single strand of hair or set up a would-be assassin by rolling his bedsheets into a bundle and laying in wait. It loses touch with that grounded sensibility in the third act, though, which is much more in-line with what one would expect from the series. Bond's dastardly eponymous foil is comically run-of-the-mill, although he doesn't truly get enough screen time to explain himself and seems far too easily defeated. This is such a Connery showcase, though, that I doubt there'd have been room for such elaborations to stick anyway.
Review of Dr. No
