A real disaster of a flick that clearly reflects the uncertainty and disarray surrounding the franchise in the early ‘70s. With George Lazenby out of the picture and a small cavalcade of fill-ins dropping off for one reason or another, Eon pressed the panic button and brought Sean Connery out of mothballs for a swan song. It's a mistake from the very start. Not only does Connery look unreasonably old for the part, he badly overplays his confidence and worldliness, often coming off as desperate and smarmy. The screen is crowded with gaudy sideshow characters, including a trashy, ditsy leading lady and two villainous hitmen who seem far more concerned with excessively elaborate setups than actually doing away with anybody. Even longtime nemesis Blofeld, who may have been the sole beacon of excellence in the equally-forgettable You Only Live Twice, is ruined by an awful recasting, horrendous new personality quirks and a master plan that makes no sense whatsoever. But that's par for the course, really, as the plot at large is peppered with so many dumb jokes and absurd asides that just keeping up with this swerving, goofball storyline is a challenge worthy of MI-6. There's a good car chase midway through the second act (which loses some steam thanks to a similar pursuit, just a few minutes earlier, involving a freaking moon rover) and a few of the gags are so mind-blowingly stupid that I couldn't help but laugh. Otherwise, this is a completely insignificant chapter in the character's long, speckled history. Unless you're a dedicated completist, keep your distance.

It's tough to dislike a Bond film, especially one starring Sean Connery. And as disjointed and scattershot as the plot of this one is, I still like it. It's goofy and feels patched together, but more than anything, it tries much too hard to be funny. Sometimes it works but it really cheapens the adventure. This movie more than any other Bond entry, had me screaming at the bad guy to "just shoot Bond already!!!". The villains go to great lengths to let Bond wriggle out of jam after jam. I had to laugh at some of the effects. The explosions during the movie's climax look awful. I also laughed at a scene where security officers in old Ford LTDs chase Bond, who has hijacked some kind of moon rover-style vehicle. Bond leads them on a chase through the Nevada desert and car after car succumbs to the rough desert terrain. Bond's rover clearly loses a tire during one shot. The rover tire bounces across the screen but we flip back to Bond and he's still cruising along in the thing! A little editing would have been nice. I also thought there were way too many people standing on the sidewalks watching Bond rip through the Las Vegas streets in a shiny red Mustang. If I didn't know better, I'd think that everyone in the casinos were told that a movie chase was being filmed on the streets outside. It's really obvious and totally distracts from the car chase. It smells like "Cannonball Run" to me. Jill St. John prances around with next to nothing on which suits a Bond flick just fine, but she's an airhead and Bond girls are usually smart. But at second glance there' s a surplus of questionable casting here. Jimmy Dean as Williard Whyte and Norman Burton as Felix Leiter are truly awful in their roles. And Charles Gray's turn as big baddie Blofeld is ho-hum. Still, when you add up the good and subtract the bad, the balance sheet is still is in the black and it's because of Ken Adam's fantastic sets and of course, Connery's magnetism and charm.

I thought it was alright, but Sean Connery looks a bit like Rowan Atkinson in this one and I can't get it out of my head that this is just a Johnny English movie played straight.

This is the worst of Sean Connery's movies. Plot is confusing and boring but still sometimes entertaining.

Diamonds Are Forever is a Bond film going through the motions. The writing lacks focus, the story moves without purpose, and Bond has no sense of urgency. It feels as though everyone is leaning hard on the formula. Luckily, the quick pace softens many of these problems. Mr. Kidd and Mr. Wint are the story's strongest characters, and it's unfortunate they don't have a stronger movie. Diamonds Are Forever is not a bad film, it's just empty. It looks like Bond, sounds like Bond, but rarely feels like Bond.