Sizing Up the Latest Version of a Super-Spy Series

Look how bloated these once fast-paced action films have become: “For Your Eyes Only,” running time 127 minutes; “Octopussy,” 130; “A View to a Kill,” 131; “The Living Daylight,” 130, “Licence to Kill,” 137.

By contrast, “Goldfinger”, which many consider the best of the series, ran a swift 108 minutes and was packed with action and intrigue and exotic locales without seeming to have more subplots than “The Winds of War.” What the Bond series needs isn’t another Bond--it needs new blood behind the cameras.

JOHN CORK

BRUCE SCIVALLY

Los Angeles