Gareth
Hunt takes over for Nicky Henson as secret agent Charles Bind, “Number One” in
this sequel to Her Majesty’s Top Gun.
This time out, Number One must stop a corrupt Senator (Gary Hope) from
replacing the Vice President with an evil double. He also contends with the Senator’s ruthless
henchman, Jensen Fury (Nick Tate), who’s just itching to prove he’s a quicker
draw than Number One.
It’s
always fun when someone from the legitimate James Bond series appear in these campy
007 knockoffs. In this case, it’s
Geoffrey Keen playing the M role. There
are lots of Bond tropes that are lovingly sent up. We have a Q-like inventor named Merlin, a
sexy love interest with a double entendre for a name (“Carlotta Muff”), karate
fights, oddball henchmen, cool gadgets (including a flying car), and a Bond-style
opening credits sequence. (The song itself
doesn’t sound like it would belong in a Bond movie, but it’s quite rocking.)
As
far as Bond spoofs go, you can do much worse.
Although, it’s not exactly a spoof, but rather another version of a Bond
movie done on a smaller budget, with more desperate puns, weirder gadgets, and a
few topless scenes. Some of the
highlights include a car equipped with a buzz saw, exploding women, and flamethrower
lighters. The best scene is when a stripper
with razor blades fastened to her tassels begins twirling them so fast that they
become deadly buzz saws. Number One
protects himself by holding up a wooden table and she literally turns it into a
toothpick! To which he quips, “You
wouldn’t happen to have an olive?”
She
replies, “No but I have a pair!”
Genius.
The
movie really fires on all cylinders during the first act, but the fun slowly dries
up as it goes along. I guess you can say
that about many legitimate Bond pictures though. The third act is weak too, which is probably
the only thing preventing it from receiving a *** rating. The good news is it’s funnier and more
effective than Her Majesty’s Top Gun.
AKA: Licensed to Love and Kill. AKA:
Undercover Lover.
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