11 Things You Learn Rewatching The Spy Who Loved Me

2. It's The Laziest Bond Film To Date

Though The Spy Who Loved Me certainly isn't anywhere near as bad as the weakest Bond movies, it is definitely the laziest in terms of shamelessly pilfering plot points, characters and action beats from earlier entries in the franchise.

Where to begin? Stromberg is a literal Blofeld stand-in, the water-heavy narrative has shades of Thunderball, countless plot elements are lifted almost wholesale from You Only Live Twice (also directed by Lewis Gilbert) to the point some consider it a "loose remake", and the climactic shootout and bomb defusal are pretty similar to Goldfinger.

There have been many low-effort Bond films over the years, but never has the series self-plagiarised quite so blatantly as it does here. Sure, the Bond girl's a singular success and the aforementioned car chase is a unique hoot, but the spine of the plot is just a hollow facsimile.